WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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In the depths of our ancestral
brains, dark creatues hide,

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hinting at disease, death and that decay.

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[music]

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Here\'s an enchanted places
gardens, woodlands and stream

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on Denman Island along Canada\'s west coast.

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When my partner and I first moved
to this acreage over 30 years ago,

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we began encountering the creatures
for whom, it was already home,

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like this one.

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We humans share our planetary home with
a teeming host of other organisms.

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We marvel at their
diversity, their ingenuity,

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their outrageous beauty. But some
of them we view less kindly.

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Certain species we find entirely repugnant,

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dirty, venomous, and dangerous.

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[music]

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From out of terrifying nightmares and
the fainting frames of horror movies,

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we nurture our fear and loathing but why?

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Why do we hate these living things?

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The spider is one of the numerous,

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hugely helpful but most maligned
of our earthly cohabitants.

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Members of the \"Arachnid
family,\" relatives of scorpions,

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mites and ticks, spiders have proud the
earth for about 400 million years,

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some 400 times longer than human.

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All of the 30,000 species of spider,

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some are infinitesimally small,
others dauntingly large.

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They live almost everywhere from
scorching desert heat to polar cold,

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deep in caves and high on mountain tops.

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Their numbers are staggering,

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a single factor of temperate meadowland may
contain as many as five million spiders.

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They are for many of us creatures
to be loved and cleared.

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And there\'s good reason
for our arachnophobia,

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menacing in appearance,

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exponential in numbers,
devious in their devices,

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cunning mistresses of entrapment,
venomous and merciless.

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Who has encountered an
oversized spider and not felt

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a cold tingle of fear down the spine.

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The legs long and loosely articulated
covered with tiny black spikes.

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The body grow tufts(ph)
with its bulging abdomen.

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It\'s a chylothorax bristling
with the jaws lethal jaws

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and palps and multiple eyes.

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Here is a superb killing
machine, silent and murderous

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which would find you in silken threads,
immobilize you with a venomous bite

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and then slowly suck the
living inert from your body.

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No wonder our superstitious,

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despise the spider as the
familiar of witches. Hiding

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in the hood of an evil chromes cloak
and whispering malignance secrets

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in her ear.

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There are no a vegetarian
among them, no pacifists,

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all spiders are killers of
surpassing ingenuity and skill.

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Roughly, they divide into two great camps.

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The hunting spiders which stock and
capture prey and the larger group,

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the trappers which snare
their victims in webs,

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all spiders produce silk
of different types,

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each for a specific purpose.

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Manufactured through special glands in the creatures
abdomen and spun out influent(ph) through tiny tubes

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called spinnerets. The silk is pure protein

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and one of the most remarkable
substances found in all of nature.

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It has greater tensile strength than
steel but also remarkable elasticity.

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[music]

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The hairy legs of the spider are especially
evolved for traversing the sticky web

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without being ensnared for self.

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More skillful than any harpist,

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she plucks the threads and knows
exactly where the insect is

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and how large it is. Core of sight, she
receives the messages from her deadly web

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to a signaling thread by which she
can distinguish the vibrations

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caused by a breeze, from the
writhings\' of a victim.

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[music]

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She attacks quickly, binding her victim
with silken ropes, then she bites the prey,

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injecting a venom through her fangs that
paralyzes the insect but does not kill it.

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She may devour it then or truss
it in silk for a later meal.

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[music]

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Arachnid \"The spinner,\" create space webs,

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sheet webs orb webs,
cobwebs and funnel webs.

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Webs that are no more
than a few simple strands

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and webs that are elaborate
complex tapestries.

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Webs that last a single day and webs that endured
for the whole lifetime of their spinner.

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They are a maze of quivering ropes,
marvels of faultless geometry,

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tapestries of moon beams.

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[music]

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Courtship rituals vary widely among species

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but many involve the male wooing
the female with elaborate dances

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involving circling, whirling,
standing on ti-toe or waving arms

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and legs.

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In no species does the
male penetrate the female,

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instead he spills his sperm either onto the ground
or generally onto a small sperm web he\'s woven for

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the purpose then he scoops up the sperm
fluid in a bulb but the end of each palp,

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so that he looks as though
he\'s wearing boxing gloves.

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Once he\'s found and charmed a female,
he inserts each of the palps

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into a matching pair of apertures in
the underside of the female\'s abdomen

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and then in many species if he has his wits
about him, he must flee or risk being eaten.

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[music]

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Hunters like the common jumping spider have
enlarged is for detecting prey at a distance.

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The hunter approaches still fully,

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waits,

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then pounces with deadly accuracy.

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In every garden

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and forest and field, the spiders
incessant killing proceeds

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on a grand scale. Perhaps, it\'s
their cold blooded remorselessness

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that causes us to fear and loathe them.
But as a gardener,

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I know their benefits far outweigh

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any danger spiders posed to us.

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The jaws of most spiders aren\'t
strong enough to pierce human skin.

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A tarantula\'s bite is no worse than a bee sting
and though the secret of the \"Black Widow\"

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possesses a deadly toxin,

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statistically you\'re far more likely to be
killed by a lawnmower than a black widow spider.

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Rather than a deadly foe,

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the spider is one of humankind\'s greatest
allies, consuming many times the number

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of pest insects eaten by
birds or other predators.

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It is said that without spiders, certain
areas of the Earth would soon become

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uninhabitable by humans.
This sinister spinner,

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this cunning mistress of entrapment

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is actually among our greatest friends.

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[music]

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If your garden and mine really
is as is so often said,

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\"And attempt to recreate even to
find game the paradise garden\"

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from which we came. It
should come as no surprise,

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when we encounter in the
garden, snake the serpent,

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the evil one.

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Here is one of the western civilization\'s
founding myths that our ancestor Adam

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was appointed by God to
tend the Garden of Eden,

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but his helpmate Eve was beguiled by the serpent
and together they ate the forbidden fruit

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and were banished forever from Paradise.

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And the lord God said, \"Unto the serpent,

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because thou has done this, thou
art cursed above all cattle

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upon by belly shalt thou go and dust shall
thou eat all the days of their life.

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And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman

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between thy seed and her seed.\"

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[sil.]

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And thus it was that the
holy man Saint Patrick

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collected all the snakes in
Ireland and placed them in a box

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and hurled the box into the Irish sea

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[music]

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or consider the \"Myth of Medusa\" the
beautiful maiden whose lovely hair

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was her chief glory. In jealous rage

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the goddess Minerva deprived Medusa of her
charm and changed her beautiful ringlets

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into hissing snakes

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and anyone who looked directly at
her, was instantly turned to stone.

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[music]

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And so, the despise snakes slithers through
our gardens and through our imaginations.

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Moving upon its belly isn\'t quite

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the courage the good book describes.
Though, it has no arms,

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nor legs, the snake is not a primitive
or simple organism like a worm,

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but our highly developed and complex one.

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It skeleton is brilliantly
engineered for suppleness

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and its overlapping scales in patterns
of great beauty, hook the ground

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and help the snake move forward in
marvelously synchronized motion.

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The snake has no ears

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and cannot hear sounds but its whole
horn body is keenly sensitive

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to ground vibrations. Its
lidless and always open eyes

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are covered with transparent scales

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and can focus with incredible
precision in near distances.

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Much of how it knows the world around, it
is through its delicate forked tongue.

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This remarkable organ can pick up

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microscopic particles from the air,

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with drawing the tongue through a special
gap in its lips, the snake transfers

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these trace impressions to an apparatus called
\"Jacobson\'s Organ\" which lies above the palate.

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In the instant between
each flick of the tongue,

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the snake receives precise information

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about the scent and feel
of its environment.

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As a hunter,

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the snake is a master of
stealth, pursuing its prey with

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the slow and silent advance.

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It will eat almost any prey it can
swallow whole. Its jaws are connected

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by an elastic ligament that can
stretch to allow the snake

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to swallow prey several times
fatter than the snake itself.

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At our place,

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slugs are a favorite food of the
resident garter snakes making them

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a true gardeners friend.

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[music]

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I like to think of the garden as a
haven for creatures like snakes

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as much as for lovely plants.

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Garter snakes are brilliant swimmers
and we often see them at our pool,

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hunting salamanders, frogs and tadpoles.

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Having swallowed a large meal,
the snake needs to rest

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in order to digest it. In a cool
climate like the Pacific Northwest,

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it has to bask in sunshine
to get its body heat up

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to aid digestion. But a
snake basking in the open

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is vulnerable to predation by
owls, eagles and other birds.

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[music]

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The serpent in evening may have
been a bad deal for humankind

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but snakes in the garden are
both beautiful and beneficial.

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Provided with suitable habitat
especially winter shelter,

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they go about their silent work
of reducing the population

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as a pest species.

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It\'s not hard to understand how we came to hate and fear
these strange creatures so different from ourselves,

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a small number of which are
armed with deadly venom.

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But it\'s obvious too, that
our hatred and fear of them

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as of so much else in
nature is based on a myth

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we can no longer afford
and must now put to rest.

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[music]

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It\'s a gratifying thing to find
oneself but at least temporarily

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at the very pinnacle of the food chain. You can
go out for example and catch gleaming salmon

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and fetch it home where you can fill it,
cook and eat it in cleanliness and comfort.

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[music]

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But what if that fish were left alive on
filleted? It certainly wouldn\'t go uneaten.

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[music]

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Within days, the carcass would begin to
tremble and boil with opportunistic invaders.

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The Emperor Worms, \"The Lord of the Flies,\"

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the fate that awaits us all, as we
tumble inevitably to the bottom

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of the food chain. No wonder
flies in their offspring,

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maggots or objects of
such loathing repulsion.

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[music]

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There are some 80 species
of flies worldwide.

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The most aggressively advanced of them, are
the ones we see the most, the common housefly

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that flourishes whatever humans do and
the flesh flies and the blow of lives,

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the carrion feeders whose larvae
feed primarily on decaying flesh.

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[music]

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If the food stuff isn\'t
liquid to begin with,

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they liquefy it by regurgitating upon it,

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the \"Unlovely phenomenon of vomit drop.\"

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None of these flies bite or sting, instead
they feed by sponging up liquid through

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complex mouth lab rats.

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[music]

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They\'re drawn to dung of all
sorts, including human excrement

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and lay their eggs on it or in rotting vegetable
matter upon which their maggots can feed.

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And here\'s why we despise the fly

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so utterly because the threat that flies
posed to human health is enormous.

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The common housefly is known to
transmit some 30 different diseases

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and parasites to humans mostly
by feeding on infected material

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and subsequently alighting on
human food and soiling it.

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[music]

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The list of fly born diseases reads like

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rouges gallery of medical miscreants.
Leprosy, dysentery,

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diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid,
cholera, scarlet fever,

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and many more. Some observers
regard the common housefly

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as potentially the most
dangerous insect in the world.

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These flies are also among

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the most prolific breeders. In temperate regions,
it takes only three weeks for a fly to develop

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from egg to breeding adult.

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In tropical heat, the pace may
be accelerated to a single week.

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Left unchecked, fly
populations would soon reach

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staggering proportions as in the
\"Fourth great plague in Egypt,\"

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before the Jewish Exodus, when there
came a grievous swarm of flies

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into the house of Pharaoh and
into all the lands of the Egypt,\"

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The land was corrupted by
reason of the swarm of flies.\"

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As repulsive as it might seem to us
and so evocative of our own death

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and decay, the maggot is actually
quite an advanced type of larva,

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with its pointed head and blunt rear end,

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it wiggles about lacerating rotting
flesh by means of a mouth hook,

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the maggots excrement contains
high concentrations of ammonia

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and protein digesting enzymes which
work to dissolve the meat tissues

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into food the maggot can eat.

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After gorging itself for a couple of weeks,

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the maggot at abandon is its food
source and searches out a dry

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sheltered place in which to pupate.

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Its larval skin hardens into an outer
shell and when metamorphosis is complete,

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the young fly emerges
to complete the cycle.

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[music]

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But even the revolting
spectacle of wriggling maggots

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and vomiting flies as a brighter
side, there are vast numbers feed

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all sorts of other creatures and fly maggots
play an essential role in breaking down carrion

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and recycling it back into the
great food chain of life.

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So, even this loathsome spreader
of disease has its rightful place

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in the complex balance
of a living ecosystem.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:13.000
[music]

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
As summer dusk settles
gently over our place,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
and the moon rises into the evening sky,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
the bats slip like ghostly shadows from their daytime,
hiding places and begin to flit about in search food.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
In flight, the bat emits
a rapid series of cries,

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
in a high frequency well above
the range of human hearing.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
A back detector translates to rise

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
into sound our poor human ears can hear.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
We see them darting across the evening sky,
swooping back and forth in zig-zag fashion,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
catching flies, moths, flying
beetles and other insects

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
in a membrane net stretched
between their hind legs.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
With the best set of
ears of any land mammal,

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
the bat picks up its own echoing vibrations,
miraculously avoiding obstacles

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
and while tracking prey
with fantastic agility.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
This summer colony of bats in an old attic,

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
filmed here with infrared light,
so as not to disturb them unduly,

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
this colony is mainly brown bats
which are common across the country.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
Forest dwellers by nature, they\'ve
adapted to the presence of humans

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
and now frequently roost in
eves, attics and bell freeze

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
of all Earth\'s mammals, only bats
and humans have mastered flight.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
The bats wings aren\'t really wings at all,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
but hands of grotesquely
elongated fingers between

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
which are stretched layers
of kid leather soft skin.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
This peculiar arrangement, perfectly suits
the bats erratic darting flight pattern,

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
bats aren\'t fast but as fliers

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
they are very, very good.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
Flying rodent, devil in disguise,

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
witches bird or peasant
forebears called \"The Bat\"

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
humans have feared and hated bats for
centuries, loath them as harbingers of death

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
and curse them as companions of witches.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Elsewhere, superstitious people believe
the bat was a form of the devil

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
or that bats flying about at night
were actually the wandering the ghosts

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
of the dead.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
Vampire bats from Central and South America
are transformed in our imaginations

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
into the savagely fang bloodsuckers
of horror movie thing.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
[music]

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
The bat by enlarge is a gentle
and unassuming creature.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Why then this, tumult of human
fear, superstition and hatred.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
Due in part to human ignorance and in
part to widespread habitat destruction

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
and pesticide poisoning, bat
populations have plummeted

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
in recent years. But perhaps,

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
a new era is dawning, with the realization
that bats do vastly more good than evil.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
That these ghostly creatures perform
an invaluable service in controlling

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
many crop destroying insects,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
seeing them flit across the evening sky can
still send the imagination spinning back across

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
the millions of years bats have been
on Earth and the hard to hoping

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
that things may yet turn out all right,

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
for both of us, flying mammal.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:23.000
[music]

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
The common house mouse, like the
bat is a small nocturnal creature

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
that has invaded our homes and our imaginations
for as long as humans can remember.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
[music]

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
In some folklore, mice were
seen as tokens of good fortune

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
and they were used in ancient religious
rites. But more often they were

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
creatures of vengeance and ill omened.
A plague of mice,

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
the tokened famine or imminent war.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Mice have legendary breeding prowess,
so much, so that every so often plagues

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
of mice breakout by this one in
Australia, causing millions of dollars

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
in damage to crops.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
There are many species of mice,
the most widespread and familiar

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
is the common house mouse which
is called a commensal species,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
meaning eating at the same table.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
They follow us wherever we go

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
and we humans have had an intimate and
sometimes tempestuous relationship

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
with them over the years.
Mice themselves do much good

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
in controlling pest insects,
but are themselves a pest

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
contaminating food supplies
and spreading disease.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
But normally, their numbers are
controlled by hawks, owl, snakes

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
and other predators.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Rodent means literally one who gnaws away,

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
they\'re a meanest to our buildings, chewing
through structural members and in extreme cases,

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
burning buildings down by gnawing
on matches or electrical wires.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
[music]

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
They\'ve been called the
\"Houdinis of the animal world\"

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
because they\'re fabulous contortionists and
can squeeze into the tiniest of spaces.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
They\'re social animals,
living in small clans

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
with up to 40 relatives
crowded into communal nests.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
We\'ve had these troublesome tenants,

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
eating off our tables since before
our ancestors even had tables.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
And despite our best efforts
to build a better mousetrap,

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
we\'ll likely still have these
elusive little Houdini\'s

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
slipping in and out of our
houses for generations to come.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
[music]

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Plants as well as animals
are among the living things

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
we love to hate.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
Anyone who has brushed past or blundered
into a patch of stinging nettles,

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
we\'ll have no trouble understanding why they\'ve
been condemned as a troublesome pest plant,

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
a poisonous and injurious weed, something that\'s
dealt with by blasting them with pesticides.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
But picked in the spring,

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
these poisonous pests are in
fact a time honored vegetable.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
[music]

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
Stinging nettles are the devil\'s vegetable.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
There are leaves, stems and
stalk bristle with fine hairs.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
Each is hollow like a tiny hypodermic
needle filled with the fluid

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
related to oxalic acid and
tipped with a microscopic bulb.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
Touch the brittle bulb and it
shatters, scratching your flesh

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
and inflaming it with the stinging fluid.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
So we harvest them eagerly but carefully.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Indian spinach nettles for sometimes called

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
and you can use them like
spinach in a casserole

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
or quiche or spinach pie.
They make a wonderful soup.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
There\'s no finer, fresher,

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
tastier or more healthful food
grown anywhere on the planet.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
I\'m glad we have these devils vegetables

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
around our place. Stinging
nettle is another species

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
which cries out for us
to reexamine our mania

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
for absolute control of our landscapes.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
Our need to eradicate certain fibers in the web
of life when they\'re full role in that web

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
is something of which we
are only very dimly aware.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:33.000
[music]

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
A stroll through the
enchanted gardens of summer,

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
can rapidly degenerate into something less
idyllic when a great slimy slug presents itself.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
Particularly this one,

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
perhaps the most hated of
all, \"The Black Slug.\"

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
It\'s a European immigrant with a ravenous
appetite, consuming many times its own weight

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
in food every night.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
The mouth contains not teeth but a
sharp rasping strap called radula

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
which tears food into small pieces which
are then passed back to the digested.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
Left unchecked

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
slugs will demolish your delphiniums
and tear your letters to tatters.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
One of the most despised
creatures in creation, slugs

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
seem entirely discussed and repugnant.
Slippery

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:36.999
and slow, (inaudible)

00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:39.999
.[(]) slime and vile excrement.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
Inhabiting drains sewers and
other dank and dirty places.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
To leave descended from sea slugs,

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
they\'re tremendously adventuresome
and adaptable creatures,

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
thriving in a wide range of
conditions, but mild and moist

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:08.000
is where they like it best. So the Pacific
Northwest is one of the best slug havens on Earth.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
Seen up close a big native
banana slug like this one,

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
has a beauty of movement a
ballet dancer might admire.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
Twin sets of tentacles
extend from the head,

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
the longer pair having a
tiny, black eye at each tip.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
Rather than seeing as the human eye does, it is highly
sensitive to minute changes in light intensity.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
The smaller tentacles assist the animal

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
in detecting food.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
The slug breathe through
a single hole called

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
pneumostome through which air
is pumped to a simple lung.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
A surprisingly complex muscular
system moves the creature along

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
on a series of wave like contractions.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:13.000
[music]

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Nothing so much typifies a slug as slime

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
nowhere is the creature more wrong headedly
reviled than in its slimy secretions.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
Slugs aren\'t just slimy,

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
they\'re connoisseurs of slime producing
different types of mucus for locomotion,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
self defense, temperature
regulation and mating.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
A remarkable substance
that is both slippery

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
and sticky at the same time,
slime allows the slug

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
to glide forward on a smooth
carpet of its own making.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
Because the slime is designed to absorb water
from the air thereby keeping the slug moist,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
research are now studying
slugs for clues to

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
the cure of cystic fibrosis and
its complex mix of proteins

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
and hydrocarbons could lead us to a new

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
and better lubricant for our machinery.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Slugs generally lay their eggs
at a specific time of year,

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:31.999
usually spring or fall
can either (inaudible)

00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:34.999
gnashed or sheltered crevice.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
Some species lay over a thousand eggs
in a number of different batches,

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
but the big banana slug
generally lays less than 30.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
They look like miniature chicken eggs.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Baby banana slugs emerging spring

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
to begin their lives of slow,
roaming, to the forest.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Many will be eaten by birds,
small mammals, and reptiles,

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
especially going garden snakes. While a few
species of pest slugs do considerable damage

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
in gardens, most others
are entirely benign.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
The banana slug browses on fungi, likens,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
algae and animal feces.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
Slugs have extremely efficient digestive
systems and are among nature\'s

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
most proficient recyclers. So
they need to have their own role

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
down near the bottom of the food chain.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
I like to think of them as
nature\'s slimy recyclers.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:53.000
[music]

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
For myself, the forest is a place
where I feel completely at home.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
But our ancestors

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
didn\'t always feel that way.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
For them, the forest
primeval could be a dark

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
and for bidding place where
sinister is being as alert.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
[music]

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
Today, we know that the forest is indeed

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
alive with beings who share the
great work of transforming old wood

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
into a fresh earth from
which you wood grow.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
No organism does that more efficiently

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
than the damp wood termite.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
These be intriguing creatures
that have remained unchanged

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
for some 50 million years, live
in a large and complex colony

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
inside a rotting log.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
Ruled by a king and queen termite, and guarded
by soldiers with a specially developed

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
heads and jaws, the worker termites
excavate extensive galleries

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
through the log.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Their jaws have saw light cutting edges,

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
for shaving off wood particles
which are then digested by enzymes

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
and protozoa living in the insects gut
converting cellulose into usable sugar.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
The termites literally eat their
way through the rotting log.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
Termites in the timbers of
your house are a disaster

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
but in the rotting logs of a forest,

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
they\'re an essential part of a vast symphony of
decomposition by which the forest renews itself

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
over and over.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
[music]

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
This big Douglas fire snag may have
stood on this site as a living tree

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
for 500 years or more.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
Now, it may stand for another
500 years as a dead tree

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
and then another five hundred years
as a seed bed for new trees.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
For years, foresters and forest workers dismissed
dead and dying trees as decadent coarse

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
and snags, useless and dangerous
nuisances to be cleared away

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
to make room for a new vigorous
and productive forest.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
But now, forest ecologist recognize
that large dead trees both standing

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
and fall on are one of the most important
components of a forest ecosystem.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
Untold thousands of organisms are at work,

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
breaking down dead wood in an
explosion of biodiversity.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
Bacteria and wood destroying
fungi invade the tree.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
Bark beetles

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
and ambrosia beetles bore into the softened wood
followed ants, termites and wood tunneling mites,

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
a complex symbiosis of predators,
parasites and scavengers

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
siege within the trunk. Predator
mites, spiders and centipedes

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
prey on the smaller insects.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Woodpeckers drill into the
trunk to feed on ants,

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
termites and eating larvae and excavate nesting
cavity. These holes are subsequently occupied

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
by owls, ducks and other cavity nesters as
well as bats, raccoons and small mammals.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:58.000
[music]

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
Once the softened snag has fallen,

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
sow bugs, snails, slugs and
salamanders take up residence.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Eventually, the fallen tree becomes
a nurse log for other planets,

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:23.000
again in a complex pattern of
relationships with other life forms.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
The fruiting bodies of fungi
that we see in the forest

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
are merely the visible tip
of a vast mycelium network

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
that threads its way underground.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
The pallid ever branching
threads of the fungal net,

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
releases enzymes which break
down cellulose fibers

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
and minerals in the soil,
making them available as food,

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
attached to the roots of the
living tree or mycorrhizal fungi.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
They and the tree share a
symbiotic relationship

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
in which each feeds the
other nutrients, each

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
obtains in a way the other capt.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
The visible fruits of the fungus,
produce microscopic fungal spores

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
which are broadcast in the
millions and carried off

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
to a light on fresh surfaces and begin a new,
the ancient work of transforming dead wood

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
into a soft mound of the rich
humus on the forest floor.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Left undisturbed in an old growth forest,

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
the subterranean and fungal mat will
continue expanding for centuries,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
eventually reaching enormous size and
age, making it one of the largest

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and oldest living things on Earth.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
When I walk through the dense
conifer woods around our home,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
I feel myself blessed to be in a
forest rich in decomposition.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
Some old snags still stand,
some are freshly fallen

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
onto the forest floor while
others have lain their so long,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
they\'re nothing more than soft moss
covered pillows on the ground,

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
held together by the long stringy roots
of new trees feeding from the old.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
As they chew their way through

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
their rotting timbers of
our first old log cabin,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
these decomposer plants and animals make
no distinction between what I cherish

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
and why don\'t. They\'re
just here to do their job

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
as part of a well designed whole,
a whole that we\'ve lost sight of.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
Our ancestors saw the
stars, smelt the Earth,

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
touched the craggy bark of trees
in a different way than we do.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
And in a different way from them, we
too have been banished from Eden.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
Getting back to the garden begins,

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
perhaps, with a reconsidered
look at the living things

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
we love to hate.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:25.000
[sil.]