A Real Bug's Life (2024) s02e01 Episode Script

Love in the Forest

1
[theme music plays]
[Narrator] Ah, midsummer in
the Great Smoky Mountains,
Tennessee.
It's insect mating season,
and love is in the air.
Well, pheromones anyway.
But a bug's life is short.
The chance to mate is fleeting,
especially for this
enchanting little
woodland creature.
Strange, mysterious,
and fluffy.
Meet the forest's
youngest luna moth.
Fresh from his cocoon, there's
a whole new world to explore.
But, like most young adults,
there is only one
thing on his mind.
Find a mate and pass on
his adorable little genes.
Not easy, when you're a
little on the clumsy side.
[comedic whistling]
[crashing]
Your wings haven't opened yet.
Oh, and you only
have a week to live.
For most forest bugs,
finding a partner is
a race against the clock.
This is a tale of tiny romantics
facing down huge odds,
in a deep dark wood,
full of obstacles and danger.
The course of true love
never did run smooth.
As the sun sets over the
forest, the search begins.
But finding a mate in a
darkening world takes a
very special set of skills.
This little love bug is
desperate to be noticed.
After spending a whole year
as a grub, hidden underground,
who wouldn't be?
Now he's an adult, he only has
a few short weeks to pair up.
He's handsome, sure.
But just the size of a pumpkin
seed, he's easy to miss.
Until he turns on the charm.
He's a firefly, one of
thousands of males
flashing their butts off.
Mixing chemicals in his tail
sparks that firefly magic.
One of the most
energy-efficient light sources
on the planet.
More than 30 species
of firefly live here
in the Smoky Mountains,
each with their own
secret language of flashes.
Some blink slow and steady,
others twinkle rapidly.
And our guy's signature move?
Dip down low, then rise
with a glorious glow.
Over at the tree line, he's
caught someone's attention.
A gorgeous female firefly,
flashing at him?
Yeah, she's flirting
with him, shamelessly.
And oh boy, is
he flirting back.
Using his best pick-up
lines to seal the deal.
His whole life has been
leading him to a lady
just like her.
[horror music]
Yep, she's eating him.
'Cause this isn't
his story, it's hers.
Twice his size,
she's a totally different
species of firefly.
A man-eater,
mimicking his language.
Luring love-sick males to
their death is her specialty.
It's why she's known as the
"femme fatale" of the forest.
Already pregnant,
she's eating for 50.
And the more victims
she devours tonight,
the stronger her babies will be.
If you're a male, and
your butt lights up,
she's coming for you!
If only everyone can
move through the forest
this gracefully.
Still stuck in the undergrowth,
the little luna moth is
flightless and vulnerable.
Best not draw any attention.
[creaking]
[crashing]
In these woods,
monsters are everywhere.
A hungry mouse
right on his tail.
Climb, just keep climbing,
climb like your
life depends on it,
because it does.
But until his wings open,
he's a sitting bug.
[rustling]
Huh?
[boom]
Who?
What's that?
Look, if you were the size
of a ping pong ball,
you'd be scared too.
'Sup, Bambi?
Danger may have passed,
but his heart beats faster.
It's the final part of
his transformation,
pumping fluid into his wings.
He's got to wait for them
to harden before he can fly.
Then, somehow,
he must find a mate
through miles of darkness.
By night, the dense, humid
forest becomes the perfect
breeding ground for more
than 10,000 species of insect.
Many spend years growing
in larval form,
but have only weeks,
or even days, as adults.
This way, parents and children
don't have to fight over food.
But it doesn't leave
much time to find love.
So bugs have come up with
all kinds of ways to be
as attractive as possible.
Some are singers
[chirping]
some are dancers,
and some are fighters.
Like the mighty stag beetle.
His game plan?
Find a food source
females love,
like this oozing oak tree
with a sugary
open wound above.
Then prove himself by defending
it against other males.
He spent his first two years
of life as a defenseless grub,
but just look at him now.
A knight in shining armor,
with just a few weeks of
adult life to fight for a queen.
Up ahead, his first opponent.
Time to show the
forest what he's made of.
Our hero quickly takes
the higher ground,
the perfect position to
oh, oh dear.
Oh no.
Lucky no females were
around to see that.
Anyway, one small
defeat won't hold
this headstrong beetle back.
Time to go pick another fight.
[owl hooting]
[Narrator] The luna moth's
quest for love hasn't even
taken off yet.
He's still waiting for
his wings to harden.
It happens to all
moths, trust me.
In his previous life as a
caterpillar, he munched leaves
non-stop for six weeks,
building up energy for
his adult adventures.
But now he's all grown up.
He doesn't even have a mouth.
No way to top up
his fuel reserves.
With every move he
wastes more energy.
[sniffing]
The hungry mouse is back.
And those wings
still ain't ready.
[tense music]
[horror music]
Try as he might, little legs
are no match for sharp claws.
But his wings are
covered in thousands of
tiny slippery scales.
Even the mightiest
mouse can't get a grip.
Evolution won
this battle for him.
He's a lover not a fighter.
Well, that's the plan anyway.
[squeaking]
Somewhere out there a
female is releasing a mere
billionth of a gram
of pheromone,
and it smells great.
His ultra-sensitive antennae
detect her alluring scent
from far across the forest.
A breadcrumb trail leading
him on his very first flight.
Ah, the moonlight.
The wind flying through
the hair on your thorax.
And the perfect
tree for a rest.
He's gonna need it.
His fuel reserves
are running low,
and he's still a long way
from finding his female.
In the bug dating game,
putting yourself out there
can be a risky strategy.
Good times for insects means
good times for predators, too.
But one flavor of bug here
is strictly off the menu.
Our old friends,
the fireflies.
Toxins in their blood make
them taste disgusting
to most predators.
[ribbit]
But our femme fatale
firefly isn't most predators.
She needs these
protective toxins
to pass on to her babies.
She can't make them herself,
so she has to steal them.
The more firefly she devours,
the better protected
her babies will be.
Tonight, her man-eating
mission continues
deeper in the forest.
The stag beetle has
picked himself up
after losing his first fight,
determined to find another
feeding ground to fight over.
And he might just
have hit the jackpot.
His antennae have led
him to an old tree stump.
To stag beetles,
this is heaven.
It's damp,
rotting and it stinks.
So, naturally, anyone who's
anyone in bug society is here,
and there's a very good
reason it's so crowded.
Giddy-up cowbug.
[laughs].
Sorry.
Before it died, this oak spent
100 summers catching rays of
sun and turning
them into sugars.
Now, fungi break the wood down
and turn the stump into
mushy bug baby food.
Beetle larvae spend years
eating the sugary pulp,
so it's the perfect place for
a female stag to lay her eggs.
[owl hooting]
And what do you know?
Up above, a female is waiting
for a handsome male,
and she's not so bad herself.
The unmistakable look of love,
and the sound of trouble.
Another male stag standing
between him and his queen.
With just a few weeks
left to live,
he can't afford to
keep losing fights.
Only winners get the girl.
I mean it's old fashioned,
but, like, who am I to judge?
Midnight is approaching and
the Smoky Mountains seem
so peaceful from above.
But below the canopy,
it's love and death.
Our femme fatale firefly needs
more kills before sunrise.
More protective toxins
for her unborn babies.
In the dead of night,
she's discovered new prey.
Smoky Mountain
synchronous fireflies.
Thousands of males flash
in unison and, in the brief
moments of darkness, they
wait for females to reply.
How this species coordinates
is still a mystery,
especially to our femme fatale.
She can't quite
mimic their language,
so these males aren't
falling into her trap.
But they are falling
into someone else's.
An Orb-weaver spider,
with a web full of
careless male fireflies.
All that food in one place,
surely she wouldn't
steal a meal from
another firefly killer?
But she's one fearless mama,
the meanest, baddest,
biggest bug in the forest.
Well, biggest
firefly at least.
Head first into
a spider's web.
The spider is
only inches above.
Just don't
trigger the tripwires.
[anticipatory music]
[string plucked]
I said not to
trigger the tripwire!
[intense music]
Tied up in spider silk,
a bug's worst nightmare.
Her life, and her babies' lives,
hanging in the balance.
But twice the size of
the trapped males,
she's still got a
fighting chance.
[intense dramatic music]
[intense dramatic music]
Escaped, and with a
free bug burrito.
This supermom-to-be
will do anything
for the sake of her bloodline.
And the stag beetle is
ready to go to war over his.
Two horny males,
one picky female.
Our guy's the one on
the left, by the way.
This may be his last
chance to win a mate.
[horns clacking]
Stag beetle fights can
last almost a minute.
In a bug's life,
that's, like, forever.
He's trapped in a headlock.
But he escapes,
and lifts his challenger
in a vice-grip of his own.
Bench pressing his own
bodyweight with his mouth,
giving him the edge
to throw him off.
[crashing]
How unfortunate.
[victorious herald]
Looks like date
night is back on.
It's love at first
pheromone exchange.
And it's not just
the stag beetle.
On midsummer nights like this,
the forest is crawling with
little love bugs of every
shape, size and pronoun.
Slugs are hermaphrodites, so
they can fertilize themselves.
But most of us can agree
mating is a lot more
fun with a partner.
Just ask the weevils.
Through sheer determination,
the stag beetle
has won his queen.
And all across the forest,
bugs are making the most
out of their brief affairs.
In the dying hours
of the night,
the long reproductive
organs of slugs
coiling around each other
look strangely beautiful.
Tonight, romance
is in the air.
Until you get dumped.
It seems like everyone in
the forest is getting lucky,
apart from the luna moth.
He's so tired from
flying all night,
he's letting the other
bugs walk all over him.
Oh, I hate it
when that happens!
He's running on empty.
His body is battered, but
his heart is beating strong.
It's racing, because his
antennae tell him
his female is close.
And he's buzzing
with excitement.
Well, sort of.
Shivering warms up
his wing muscles,
just enough energy to
rev up one last time.
Take to the air
and go find her!
[dramatic music]
Before something
else finds him.
A big brown bat can
see in the dark,
[clicking]
using sonar to
pinpoint its prey.
[clicking]
The moth has no clue
that death is on his tail.
[intense dramatic music]
But this was no lucky escape.
It's the moth's
tail that saved him.
Its swirling shape
scrambles the bat's sonar.
With wings like these,
who cares if you're clumsy?
Traveling miles through the
forest has taken its toll.
[crashing]
He's totally out of fuel,
but this is the best crash
landing he could have hoped for.
The pheromone trail
has led him to a female.
With his very last scrap of
energy, he climbs to her.
Once they've mated, she'll
carry all 400 of their eggs.
The tiny woodland
romantics of the future.
[birds chirping]
Bugs have the most
extraordinary ways of
passing on their small,
but mighty, genes.
The firefly's violent
rampage has paid off.
With only days left to live,
she's laying her
tiny toxic eggs,
ensuring her lethal
lineage will continue.
As for the luna moth,
his job is done, too.
Against all odds.
Only 1% of his
species ever get to mate.
So, he made the most
of his short life.
[dramatic music]
Every scrape, battle and
crash landing was worth it.
His adorable legacy
will live on,
right across the forest.
[music plays through credits]
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.
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