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The sky is one of the
most challenging places to live.

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But all across the world,
extraordinary animals do

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something we can only dream of...

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..take to the air.

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Some spend their
whole lives up here.

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Others only visit for a moment.

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We'll discover how many incredible
animals thrive in the sky...

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..and what clever tricks
they use to get airborne.

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With the help of some
specially trained animals,

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the latest technology
and special effects techniques,

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we'll reveal brand-new discoveries

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that explain how animals
take to the skies.

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This is Life In The Air.

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Right now,
there are billions of creatures

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living in the three miles of air
above our heads...

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without us evening knowing
they're up here.

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They've overcome gravity,

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they've mastered flight and now
they live their lives up here,

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making the most of the opportunities
the skies have to offer.

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There are over a
thousand species of mammal

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and over tens of thousands
of species of birds up here.

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The biggest numbers
are the smallest players.

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And the closer you look,
the more of them you see.

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Insects, trillions of them,

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so many that 98% of everything
that flies is an insect,

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and most of them
don't even have names.

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The air above us is more crowded and
more dangerous than you might think.

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Predators are everywhere.

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At every level,
the skies are teeming with life.

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There are thousands of
creatures using

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the skies as super-highways,

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travelling huge distances

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to find food or to migrate.

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Butterflies.

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Even ladybirds.

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Over a kilometre above our heads
there are moths

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speeding by
at 80 kilometres an hour.

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But what happens
when so many lives collide?

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How do animals compete
with each other up here?

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How do they win a mate?

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How do they find food?

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How do they hunt,
and avoid being hunted?

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Up here, animals are pushed to
the limits of what's possible.

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Welcome to another world,

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a world of intense competition,

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of extreme lives in crowded skies.

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The coast of South Africa is home
to one of the most extreme

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fliers in the natural world.

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The Cape gannet has a unique way
of beating the competition

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when it comes to finding food.

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The size of
this island breeding colony

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shows the richness of the
seas around them,

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enough to supply the tonnes of fish
caught by these birds every day.

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But it's how they catch fish
that's so remarkable.

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Here, the competition
from other sea birds is intense.

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Most can only catch fish when
they swim close to the surface.

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But there are richer
pickings deeper down.

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And that's what
the gannets are after.

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It requires an extreme form
of flying that would kill most

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other creatures.

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Several kilometres
from the gannets' colony,

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a vast shoal of sardines is massing.

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And 20,000 gannets
are heading out after them.

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But most of the sardines are several
metres below the surface,

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completely out of reach
for the other sea birds.

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So the gannets prepare to perform

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one of the most dangerous
flying stunts in the animal kingdom.

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Climbing 30 metres
above the surface,

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they drop from the sky using
gravity to accelerate...

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Hitting the water at
100 kilometres an hour.

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with the same force as a bullet
fired from a handgun.

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The impact should kill them.

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At that speed,
it's like hitting concrete.

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So how can they possibly survive?

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Less than a second before contact,
they tuck in their wings and change

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their shape, streamlining their body
to slice through the water.

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The gannets have air-filled pockets
under the skin in their necks

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and chests,
thought to act like airbags to help

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cushion their bodies from
the impact of the water's surface.

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But their technique must be precise.

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If their shape isn't
perfectly streamlined,

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the impact of hitting the water
would crush them.

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The dive propels them down
to where the fish are schooling

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but they still have to catch them.

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Exactly how they do that depends
on a critical decision each bird

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made the second before it dived.

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In mid-air,
the gannet has two choices -

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to dive shallow or to dive deep.

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A quick, shallow dive
allows it to hit the water fast

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and instantly snatch any
fish near the surface.

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But once under attack,

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the sardines escape downwards,
and the gannets must up their game.

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..diving almost
vertically to give them

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the speed to reach 10m
underwater in a few seconds.

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Their extreme dive has taken
them to an alien world,

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far away from the competition
from the other sea birds.

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A world where wings become fins,
feet become paddles...

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Even their eyes change shape
so that they can see underwater,

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and special eyelids
act like goggles.

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They are the only birds down here,
and they reap the reward.

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Running out of breath,
they return to their sky world

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using the air trapped
in their feathers

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to carry them back to the surface.

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Risking death to dive deep allows
gannets to escape the competition

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and find food for their families.

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But using extreme flying to catch

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food is not just a
survival trick for gannets.

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There's plenty of food out there

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for the animals who can fly
well enough to catch it.

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An African skimmer goes fishing too,
flying with such precision that the

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lower part of its beak can feel for
fish just below the surface.

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If it snaps shut,
it's caught a fish.

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There's a fishing bat that expertly
deploys its enormous clawed

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talons as trawling fish hooks.

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But bats had better watch out or
they might become food themselves.

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Falcons use quick reactions

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and extreme control to catch
fast flying bats in mid-air.

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Food is not the only thing
animals in the skies compete for.

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When it comes to finding a mate,
there are some creatures

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who've taken this
to a record-breaking extreme.

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Meet the Anna's hummingbird.

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One of California's finest.

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He's no bigger
than a ping-pong ball,

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no heavier than a 20-pence coin,

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but he's a record-breaking
flying machine.

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His wings pump at
2,500 times a minute.

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His heart beats
at 1,200 times a minute

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and he can hover for
well over an hour.

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He needs to mate,

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but he has to prove that
he's fitter than the rest.

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He has a problem.

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There's another male
vying for the female's attention,

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and he's a record-breaking
flying machine too.

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Let the competition commence.

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Aggression drives the intruder away.

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But that in itself doesn't
impress her enough.

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Now he's going to have to pull
off the flying stunt of his life.

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First, he woos her to
his performance arena with a song.

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IT CHIRPS

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Now he's got her attention,

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the stage is set
for this tiny bird to perform

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the fastest courtship display
ever seen in the animal world.

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He climbs 30m above her...

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Then for the grand finale,
he dives straight at the ground.

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That was it, over in a
few hundredths of a second.

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And again.

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To see what he's doing,
we need to slow things down.

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This is much more than
just high-speed flying.

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By folding his wings in tightly,
he mimics a missile,

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travelling 20m and 400 times
his body length every second.

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At the last moment,
he pulls up sharply,

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pulling more Gs
than a jet fighter pilot.

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But it's not just the speed,
the height or

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the angle of his flight, it's
all about serenading on the wing.

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His tail is singing a sweet song
with jet-fighter force.

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The air screaming through his
spread-out tail feathers makes them

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vibrate in a very special way.

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BUZZING

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Slowed down,
this is the sound they make.

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BUZZING

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BUZZING

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It's far louder than any
of his singing.

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And the faster he dives,
the better it sounds.

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BUZZING

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Who'd have thought that
a sound like this...

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BRIEF CHIRP

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..or this...
BRIEF CHIRP

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..would make all the difference
and see off the competition?

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To her, it proves he's fit.

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This bird boy-racer has won
himself a mate by pushing

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himself to the limit and
proving he's got what it takes.

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But he's not the only one who knows
that a little showing off

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can go a long way.

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Aerial displays are
a serious business.

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The greater the effort,
the more lasting the impression.

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Meet the male
spatuletail hummingbird.

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It has to be said,
with a tail like that,

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he's already making
quite an impression.

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But to win over his female,

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he'll need to hover and
wave his enormous tail flags

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at the same time.

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It's such an endurance test,

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every now and then,
he needs to take a little rest.

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With every leap,

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this lesser florican is trying
to prove he's fitter

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than all the other males.

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And today, just to make sure,
he's going to do 500 of them.

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In the dense jungles of Costa Rica,

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there's little room for showing off.

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So one amorous male woos a female

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with an altogether
more cunning tactic.

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Meet the male glasswing butterfly.

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He's got see-through wings precisely

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because he doesn't want to stand
out from the crowd.

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There are just too many jungle
predators around for that.

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He too uses the air to show off,

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but it's an aerial display
like no other.

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He's going to use the air to carry
an irresistible message

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to a female
and to get her to come to him.

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On his wings,
he has little bunches of hair

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loaded with his
own distinctive pheromone perfume.

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The perfume wafts through the trees
carrying a specially coded message

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invisible to others.

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It tells the female who he is
and how many poisonous plants

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he's managed to eat.

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Because he stores
the poisons in his body

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and uses them to show how
distasteful he is to predators.

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So, to a female checking out
the males in the jungle,

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it's good to have bad taste.

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The secret message wafting invisibly
through the jungle says,

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"I'm here, I'm male and I taste
worse than all the others."

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She's hooked and follows the trail
of his irresistible odour.

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It's a clever trick,

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the male attracts a female
without attracting predators.

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When it comes to finding a mate,

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males will try anything that
works to give them an edge.

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And with the skies
so full of competition,

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it pays to be cunning
like the glasswing.

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But once animals have paired up,

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it's not long
before offspring arrive,

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and they need looking after.

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This is Oregon, USA.

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Home to the kingbirds.

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They're an ordinary looking couple
working hard to raise a family.

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But don't be deceived,

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these birds are remarkable.

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The male has picked
the perfect home,

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the air is thick
with insects to eat,

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but he'll have to work hard
to catch them for his family.

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He's agile enough to take insects on
the wing, and that's no mean feat.

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The top prize for a
kingbird is this.

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A big, juicy dragonfly.

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They're more manoeuvrable than him,

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and they're one of the fastest
insects in the world,

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topping 50 kilometres an hour.

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But the kingbird is faster.

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This is speed versus agility.

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He'll work hard like this
to feed his chicks

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for nearly for nearly two months.

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His commitment is total.

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But his true colours
are about to be revealed.

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He's spotted danger
in his neighbourhood.

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CROWING

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Ravens.

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They'd kill his whole family
in minutes given the chance.

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He's going to have to
defend his offspring.

247
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,960
Ravens are clever, and they're
four times bigger than him.

248
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,000
But no-one is going
to hurt his family.

249
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,280
As formidable as the ravens are,

250
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,600
the kingbird has an unexpected
side to his character.

251
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,840
Sheer. Obsessive. Belligerence.

252
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,320
What he's about to
do seems almost suicidal.

253
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,920
He manoeuvres
into the raven's blind spot.

254
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:33,240
He hassles it, landing on its back,
even stabs at its neck.

255
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:34,840
The raven could kill him.

256
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,520
But as long as he holds
this position, he's in control.

257
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,240
Those superb acrobatic
skills that helped him

258
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,920
chase down dragonflies are now being
used to help keep his family safe.

259
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,080
Kingbirds will take on anything,

260
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,120
including large birds of prey.

261
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:19,760
They've even been seen having a
go at low-flying aircraft.

262
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,080
A combination of spectacular
flying agility and an almost

263
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:40,000
psychopathic attitude makes
the skies above a kingbird nest

264
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,720
a little less crowded
than they might be,

265
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,280
and the chicks, a little safer.

266
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:48,560
That's dedication.

267
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,960
The kingbird takes huge risks
to give his young a flying start

268
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:01,360
in this competitive world.

269
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,600
But there's a tiny animal
from Texas that takes parenthood

270
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,520
to an even greater extreme.

271
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,160
The phorid fly.

272
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,160
Smaller than a pin's head,
she's a mother.

273
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,920
And right now, she needs to lay
her eggs and secure a safe future

274
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:25,200
for her offspring.

275
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:31,680
But to do this,

276
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,000
she must face one of the
most feared animals in Texas.

277
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:38,520
Fire ants.

278
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,080
In their thousands.

279
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,320
They have a vicious bite
and a venomous sting.

280
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,600
They'll kill any insect that
crosses their path.

281
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,600
But incredibly, these vicious
predators aren't going to eat

282
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,840
the phorid fly's young,

283
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,800
the young phorid flies
are going to eat them.

284
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,040
First, the mother must pull off
one of the greatest daredevil

285
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,720
flying missions
in the natural world -

286
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,520
she's going to lay her eggs
on living fire ants.

287
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,400
She's going to have to do some
serious precision flying,

288
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,240
or she'll be killed herself.

289
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,880
How she does it can only be
fully understood

290
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,360
by watching in slow motion.

291
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,600
First, she hovers as close as
possible to her victim

292
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,000
but just out of reach
of the ants' jaws.

293
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,920
The risk is finely balanced, just a
breath of wind and she's dinner.

294
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,520
Now she's ready to quickly
deposit an egg in a chink

295
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:13,520
in the ant's armour, at a leg joint.

296
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,280
From start to finish, it takes
just one sixtieth of a second.

297
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,880
Once attacked, the ants send out
a chemical alarm to warn the others.

298
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,960
They hide, crowding under
any available cover,

299
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,040
making it much harder for
the phorid fly to get at them.

300
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,040
But she has over 100
eggs still to lay.

301
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,440
She's going to have to up her game
and test her hovering skills

302
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,880
to the max if she's going to deliver
her cargo successfully.

303
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:39,560
Her daredevil mission
is accomplished.

304
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,120
But the story
isn't over for the ants.

305
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,440
Inside each ant,

306
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,920
the fly larva has taken
over the ant's mind,

307
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,440
reprogramming it
to walk off like a zombie.

308
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,080
The ant finally dies
safely away from its colony

309
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,360
where the fly larva
can grow up in peace.

310
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:10,360
The ant's zombie body now becomes
perfect phorid fly baby food.

311
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,000
For two weeks, the fly larva eats
the ant from the inside.

312
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,480
A tiny new phorid fly stretches
her wings for the first time.

313
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:40,840
Soon, like her mother, she'll fly
her own mission impossible,

314
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,520
a hair's breadth
from a fire ant's jaws.

315
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:56,040
At every stage of their lives,
animals are doing what it

316
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,480
takes to stay ahead of the rest

317
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,000
to survive and raise a family.

318
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,840
But in our crowded skies,

319
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,240
they face competition
from others at every turn.

320
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:10,120
With so many lives interacting,
colliding and competing

321
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,360
and so much pressure to succeed,

322
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:16,280
animals have had to push their
flying abilities to the extreme,

323
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,920
taking huge risks
with their own lives.

324
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,080
Up here, it can be tough
to find food...

325
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,360
..win a mate...

326
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,920
or secure a future for
your offspring.

327
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,400
Life in the air is a life
of intense competition.

328
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,480
And where there's competition,

329
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,200
there are animals who choose
not to play by the rules.

330
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,640
Few are sneakier than
an inhabitant of tropical seas

331
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,400
and islands around the world -

332
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:08,800
the frigate bird.

333
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:17,440
This pterodactyl-shaped bird
has a curious problem.

334
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:22,200
Remarkably for a sea bird,
its feathers aren't waterproof.

335
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,760
If it gets too wet,
it'll sink and drown.

336
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,760
That's obviously not good for a bird
that needs to catch fish.

337
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,560
So the frigate bird
uses its unique flying speed

338
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,880
and agility to catch fish another,
less honest, way.

339
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,400
It steals fish from others.

340
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,200
It's a flying pirate.

341
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,720
This time, its victim is a
red-billed tropic bird.

342
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,080
The frigate bird is going to force
it to give up its last meal,

343
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,960
and that means putting it
under serious pressure.

344
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,200
The tropic bird is a superb flier,

345
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,680
but the frigate bird
pirate is better.

346
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,520
His wings are unusually large,
but his body remains light.

347
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,760
These two things combined
deliver the most extraordinary

348
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:54,000
agility in the air.

349
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,680
The frigate bird can, in theory,

350
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,520
out manoeuvre any other
sea bird in the world.

351
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,840
Perfect skills for
a pirate of the skies.

352
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,240
But the tropic bird isn't going to
give up its hard-earned meal easily.

353
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,840
When the tropic bird finally
gives up its dinner,

354
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,320
the frigate bird is in precisely
the right spot for the catch.

355
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:09,720
When it comes to aerial combat,

356
00:34:09,720 --> 00:34:12,520
it takes a lot to beat
this thieving pirate.

357
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,920
Our crowded skies are
a competitive battle zone,

358
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,880
with tussles between species
going on all the time,

359
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,360
as they've done
for millions of years.

360
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,160
But just occasionally,
the underdog fights back

361
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:41,120
and outsmarts its attacker.

362
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:46,960
Take this moth.

363
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,520
It can seem pretty
incompetent in the air,

364
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,280
with weak and fluttery flight
and a bad sense of direction.

365
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,200
It can blame that on its ancestors.

366
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:07,680
100 million years ago, insects
had the night sky to themselves.

367
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:09,600
They didn't need to be strong fliers

368
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,160
because there wasn't much
out there to get them.

369
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:16,960
But then along came
new, intelligent,

370
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,600
highly-equipped creatures
that could hunt them down easily.

371
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,840
They are the only mammals
that have ever learnt to fly,

372
00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:32,720
and many could see in the dark.

373
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:53,960
Bats.

374
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,040
Bats were onto something.

375
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,680
There was a great feast
to be had in the night.

376
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:06,520
To a moth, this is a sophisticated,
highly dangerous enemy.

377
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,240
A bat finds its prey
using echolocation.

378
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,560
Literally, it locates using echoes.

379
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,600
You could say it sees using sound.

380
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,280
It sends out clicks into the air,
as many as 200 a second.

381
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:32,120
If the clicks hit anything,
they bounce back as echoes.

382
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,200
It's by listening to those echoes
in the darkness a bat can pick

383
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,480
out its surroundings, even a moth.

384
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:48,400
As the bat approaches its victim,
the clicks get faster,

385
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,000
creating a buzz of sound that
helps it home in on its target.

386
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,240
These sounds all happen
beyond our human hearing.

387
00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:04,000
But we can see them
as sound waves.

388
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:07,360
First searching.

389
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:10,680
Then approaching.

390
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,840
And then finally, the attack.

391
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:24,480
So a bat is a super flyer
with added superpowers,

392
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,160
and that's hard to beat.

393
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:33,480
If they were going to survive,
moths had to raise their own game.

394
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,120
Some of them began
to hear the bats coming.

395
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,320
When they hear the buzz
of an attacking bat,

396
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,840
these moths take evasive action.

397
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:48,400
They drop out of the sky.

398
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,920
Simple, but effective.

399
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,560
An arms race had begun
between bats and moths,

400
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:05,120
each trying to out compete
each other in the night sky.

401
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,680
Eventually,
a race of super moths emerged.

402
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,600
Super moths like this tiger moth.

403
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,640
Its superpowers have only
recently been explained.

404
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,640
The tiger moth can vibrate
a tiny membrane under its wing.

405
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:42,160
This produces a special
high-frequency sound

406
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:44,240
to confuse bats.

407
00:38:44,240 --> 00:38:46,080
When a bat attacks,

408
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:47,880
the secret weapon is deployed.

409
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,200
The moth's special sound jams

410
00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,640
the bat's echolocation system,

411
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:01,800
so it can't see with sound properly.

412
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:04,600
It's enough of a smokescreen

413
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,200
to allow the moth to escape,

414
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:09,000
leaving the confused bat
to try and find another.

415
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,280
Every night, around the world,
hi-tech aerial battles like this

416
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,760
take place with
sophisticated weaponry,

417
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,640
changing the odds, as predator
is pitched against prey.

418
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,240
Bat versus moth,

419
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:18,120
aerial competition
that's been played out over millions

420
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,880
of years between billions of rivals,

421
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:23,840
where the tiniest advantage may make

422
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,800
all the difference in the fierce
battles that rage in the skies.

423
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,480
If you're caught in a one-on-one
life or death battle in the sky

424
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,760
and you don't have a secret weapon
up your sleeve,

425
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:42,160
you'd better be able to out-fly
your assailant.

426
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,440
As a lone flyer,
you have few other options.

427
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:49,520
But there is one way to beat
even the best aerial hunter.

428
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:52,400
And that's teamwork.

429
00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:03,840
A group is almost impossible to
sneak up on without being noticed.

430
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:13,120
But there are other reasons that
animals move together like this.

431
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,160
Predators can only chase
one of you at a time.

432
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,240
The way they see has evolved
to focus on just one animal.

433
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,840
Faced with a swirling flock,
they struggle to focus.

434
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:36,160
It's information overload.

435
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,560
Flocking is a really
effective strategy,

436
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,120
and many birds do this
all over the world.

437
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,400
But how can they fly so fast

438
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,680
and so close to each other
without colliding?

439
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,840
And who is deciding where to go?

440
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,240
Take starlings.

441
00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:08,200
Their flocking behaviour
is world-famous,

442
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:12,240
it even has a special name -
a murmuration.

443
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,240
Confusing to a predator,

444
00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:21,200
it's one of the most breathtaking
sights in nature.

445
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:53,400
Hundreds of thousands of
individual birds are moving as one,

446
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:58,440
and amazingly, there's no single
bird in charge of the plan.

447
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,240
Just how these complex aerial
displays work has baffled us

448
00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:05,800
for centuries and has only just
recently been explained.

449
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:10,880
Remarkably, the truth about their
complexity is rather simple.

450
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,280
To understand how it works,
imagine you could fly

451
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,480
into a giant flock
alongside one single starling.

452
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:25,400
How she flies is all to do

453
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,360
with what her seven closest
neighbours are up to.

454
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,520
As the flock moves,

455
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:37,520
those seven might change,

456
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:39,920
but the principle stays the same.

457
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,800
Every starling in the flock
is following three simple rules.

458
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,880
Firstly, as you fly,
steer towards each other.

459
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,760
Secondly, if any of your seven
neighbours turn, then you turn.

460
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,600
Finally, don't crowd each other.

461
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:16,360
Amazingly, that's
all there is to it.

462
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:27,040
Inside a flock, individual birds are
making these simple decisions

463
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:30,600
in hundredths of a second,
again and again.

464
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:34,120
It's enough to confuse a predator.

465
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:37,320
And when half a million birds
do it altogether,

466
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,800
the results are spectacular.

467
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:09,000
So how do we know precisely
that this incredible spectacle is

468
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,160
the result of just three simple
rules and seven near neighbours?

469
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,160
The answer lies
in what you see here.

470
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,320
This swirling mass of birds doesn't
actually exist in the natural

471
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,400
world, it exists inside a computer.

472
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,760
It's a computer simulation,
with virtual birds

473
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,760
created by scientists trying to
work out how flocks work.

474
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:45,040
Incredibly, this
computer-generated flock looks

475
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,360
and behaves
exactly like the real thing.

476
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,480
Each bird is following
its seven neighbours

477
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:53,480
and using the same three rules.

478
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,400
Watch a real flock
anywhere on earth...

479
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:01,560
..and it will be working
in exactly the same way.

480
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,000
In our crowded
and competitive skies,

481
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:37,160
this surely is the ultimate defence
against an airborne predator

482
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:40,720
and one of nature's
greatest flying stunts.

483
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:47,400
Our skies are teeming with life,

484
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:51,240
every creature trying to find
its way and to survive.

485
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,880
If you can overcome
the challenges of life in the air,

486
00:46:56,880 --> 00:46:59,800
there are great
opportunities to be had.

487
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,640
It's all about finding your
place in the sky

488
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:05,200
and picking a winning strategy.

489
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:10,680
For some, it's enough just to beat
gravity for a few seconds.

490
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:13,960
For others, it means
taking a leap of faith.

491
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:19,920
Extraordinary specialist techniques
might just give you an edge.

492
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,400
All these animals have skills
we humans can only wonder at.

493
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,360
Every time an animal
takes to the air,

494
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:33,600
it seems to be performing
its own personal miracle.

495
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:40,440
Defying gravity to live in a world

496
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,600
that we are only just
beginning to understand.

497
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,680
In Life In The Air, the team's
mission was to reveal the incredible

498
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:11,760
abilities of airborne animals
in more detail than ever before.

499
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,040
To do it required
some extreme perseverance

500
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:17,520
and a range of approaches.

501
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:20,640
Some animal stars could be filmed
in controlled conditions,

502
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:24,040
allowing the team to move
their cameras alongside them.

503
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:27,720
Others could only be filmed
on their own terms out in the wild.

504
00:48:27,720 --> 00:48:28,760
Blimey!

505
00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:33,760
The most challenging filming
in the wild involved the smallest

506
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,120
and fastest of flyers -
the Anna's hummingbird.

507
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:41,840
To film their record-breaking dive,

508
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,760
the team needed a secret weapon -
cameraman Barrie Britton.

509
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,120
Filming birds requires
keeping them in shot

510
00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:56,800
and in focus from great distances.

511
00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:01,120
Few people on the planet can do it,
and Barrie is one of the best.

512
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:08,520
But this was the first time
he'd attempted to film

513
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:10,680
the legendary Anna's hummingbird.

514
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,200
On the edge of a university
campus in California,

515
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,680
he has his first view of
the male's display.

516
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,240
The hummingbird has gone
really high in the sky,

517
00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:30,440
and it's coming in. Whoa!

518
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:35,680
He's so small
and he's just moving so quickly.

519
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:40,360
I think it's going to be
a real challenge to film it.

520
00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:42,400
Hummingbird scientist
Christopher Clark

521
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:44,440
knows a trick that might help.

522
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,520
He uses a stand-in female bird
to attract the males.

523
00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:49,840
The birds are going at
the speed of freeway traffic.

524
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,400
Barrie is able to piggyback
on Chris's studies

525
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:53,600
to give him a chance.

526
00:49:55,240 --> 00:49:58,080
And as backup, the team
have brought their own range

527
00:49:58,080 --> 00:49:59,880
of stand-in models.

528
00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:03,640
First up, a slightly
moth-eaten stuffed bird.

529
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:06,600
According to the scientists,

530
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,080
this female, the way her tail is,

531
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:10,560
means that she's a bit...

532
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:13,480
she looks a bit more up for it
than the others.

533
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:17,840
The model is so enticing,
the male skips courtship altogether.

534
00:50:20,360 --> 00:50:22,160
Onto model number two.

535
00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:24,240
A more modest embroidered female.

536
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:27,880
Playing hard to get,

537
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:30,960
she's perfect for encouraging
the males to perform

538
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:32,560
their courtship display.

539
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:35,880
In fact, they're so keen to show off
to her, the crew need to cover

540
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,360
her up while Barrie prepares.

541
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:39,880
I'm ready.

542
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,520
With the set-up sorted, it's now
down to Barrie versus the birds.

543
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:48,920
Oh, here he is.

544
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:53,800
Whoa!
HE LAUGHS

545
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:55,200
That's really quick.

546
00:50:57,520 --> 00:50:59,120
You think you're so clever!

547
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:10,200
Blimey!

548
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:14,280
I'm not sure this is going to work,
I'm just trying.

549
00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:18,840
Things are starting
to come together.

550
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:22,200
That's got to be good,
it's got to be good.

551
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,280
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away
in the cloud forests of Ecuador,

552
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,000
another team are also challenged
with filming a small,

553
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:33,160
fast-moving animal.

554
00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:39,440
Their mission is
to fly alongside wild bats

555
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:41,240
hunting in complete darkness.

556
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:51,600
Scientist Nick Dowdy is taking
the crew to his study site within

557
00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:54,760
the forest, where he carries out
research on how wild bats

558
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:55,960
hunt tiger moths.

559
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,480
Huge amounts of specialist
equipment are required.

560
00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:04,120
And unable to get
this deep into the jungle,

561
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,080
the team's first task is to
bring the jungle to them.

562
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:15,960
A studio within the forest will be
a temporary new home for the bats.

563
00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:19,920
It'll replicate the jungle

564
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:23,200
but will also be rigged with kit
by cameraman Rob Drewett.

565
00:52:27,720 --> 00:52:31,000
It takes five days to get everything
just right before switching

566
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:34,280
to night shifts,
entering the world of the bats.

567
00:52:36,440 --> 00:52:38,960
Challenged with flying
his camera alongside them,

568
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,440
Rob has a stabilising pulley system.

569
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:46,960
And his state-of-the-art
infrared camera

570
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:49,800
is able to slow down
the images over 40 times.

571
00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:57,600
Rob's also relying on some rather
less technical equipment.

572
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,120
I'm having to go around
and just make sure there's no

573
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,560
holes for them
to get out of the enclosure.

574
00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:07,840
Fingers crossed we've got it sorted.

575
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:14,040
I think we have,
it looks pretty good.

576
00:53:14,040 --> 00:53:17,280
So even like that, they're going
to get out, aren't they?

577
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,600
While Rob double checks, there's
also time for final kit tests

578
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:22,440
before everything is bat-ready.

579
00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:24,800
You're flapping!
HE LAUGHS

580
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:30,480
Nick is trained to safely capture

581
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:33,280
and release wild bats
for use in his studies.

582
00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:37,120
This expertise ensures the welfare
of the animals during filming.

583
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:43,720
It's also an opportunity for Nick to
gain insights into their behaviour.

584
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:46,720
CLICKING

585
00:53:46,720 --> 00:53:49,400
Echolocation clicks
from a bat detector show

586
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:52,200
the occupants are getting
to know their new home.

587
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:56,920
Now filming can finally begin.

588
00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:04,400
Night after night, Rob starts
to get the shots he needs.

589
00:54:06,240 --> 00:54:10,000
And the controlled conditions of the
forest studio come into their own.

590
00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:11,760
Oh, here we go. Here we go.

591
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:16,000
Yes, it's pretty good. Yeah.

592
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,720
But Rob's greatest challenge is yet
to come - filming the bats hunting.

593
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:30,360
Back in California, the hummingbird
crew have hit a problem.

594
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:32,920
The star model has lost its appeal

595
00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:35,920
and instead of diving,
the males are now attacking.

596
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:41,480
There's no option
but to turn to the real deal,

597
00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:44,360
a female Anna's hummingbird.

598
00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:46,040
For these shy creatures,

599
00:54:46,040 --> 00:54:49,200
Barrie has to rely
on more traditional techniques.

600
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:51,160
We just need everything
to kind of line up.

601
00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:53,720
We need the females to come,
land on the perch

602
00:54:53,720 --> 00:54:57,040
and the male has to be
looking the right way.

603
00:54:57,040 --> 00:54:58,960
It's going to be a test of patience,

604
00:54:58,960 --> 00:55:02,480
filming all day, every day,
in a hide in the Californian heat.

605
00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:08,000
The shoot is in its last few days,

606
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,680
and finally, everything is
falling into place.

607
00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:13,920
Barrie's able to capture
interactions between the male

608
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:16,880
and a real female, and reveal
the world's fastest courtship

609
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:18,680
display in incredible detail.

610
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:25,720
That's really nice, really good.

611
00:55:28,720 --> 00:55:32,960
Back in Ecuador,
Rob also faces a waiting game.

612
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:35,400
He's truly immersed in
the bat's world,

613
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,080
becoming nocturnal himself

614
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:39,960
as he strives to capture
their hunting behaviour.

615
00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:43,880
There's no way of knowing exactly
when the bats will strike.

616
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:45,840
And once triggered, the camera needs

617
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:48,000
at least seven seconds
to save the shot.

618
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:50,800
Oh, that was close.

619
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:52,240
It's frustrating for Rob

620
00:55:52,240 --> 00:55:55,040
if the action happens
before the camera re-arms.

621
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:57,400
And then...

622
00:55:57,400 --> 00:55:58,920
Ah, no. Not now, though.

623
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:00,800
..catastrophe. No, armed?

624
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:02,200
Armed.

625
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:03,640
Ah!

626
00:56:03,640 --> 00:56:05,520
Look at this.

627
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:07,600
Ah! Oh, my God.

628
00:56:10,720 --> 00:56:12,360
This is disastrous.

629
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:14,720
I'm a bit nervous about
using this camera -

630
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:17,720
it crashed and we lost
a whole night's footage.

631
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:22,600
So fingers crossed
it doesn't do that again.

632
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:25,840
Having worked through the night for
over two whole weeks, Rob's spirits

633
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:30,200
are low,
and he only has a few days left.

634
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:31,920
But he's not one for quitting.

635
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:34,000
Am I armed?

636
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:35,720
Yep.

637
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:37,920
Oh, that was in frame!

638
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:41,920
OK, let's have a look at that one.

639
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:44,280
I think we might have got that. Yes!

640
00:56:44,280 --> 00:56:46,760
Ah, that's nice.

641
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:48,440
Great, we got one.

642
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:50,120
Yes! Well done, good work.

643
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:53,480
After many sleepless nights,
Rob's perseverance pays off,

644
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,480
helped by a successful partnership
with science, a little

645
00:56:56,480 --> 00:57:00,440
technology and a great performance
from the masters of the night sky.

646
00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:09,200
In total, crews have worked
over 300 days on location

647
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:12,920
to film incredible animals
in action in the skies.

648
00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:19,800
Life in the air has been captured

649
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:22,800
in greater detail
than ever before.

650
00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:24,880
Seeing how animals survive

651
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:30,120
and thrive up here has revealed just
what it takes to master the skies.