[Paul Rudd] Planet Earth is so spectacular,
it's easy to miss the smaller things in life.
But take a closer look...
and there's a whole undiscovered world.
A world where tiny heroes...
and little monsters...
need incredible superpowers...
to help them triumph against giant odds.
Australia is a land full of fantastical creatures.
Not just kangaroos and koalas.
Down under, the bush teems with strange little animals
who've mastered life...
in this sun-scorched world.
A palm-sized sugar glider
finds all the food and shelter she needs amongst the gum trees.
And so do her neighbors.
But even at the best of times, there are challenges.
And when summer hits, and the sun grows stronger...
only those who can take the heat
will go the distance.
Living on the driest inhabited continent does have some benefits.
A lot of sunshine forces the gum trees to produce a lot of sugar.
In spring, it makes a big part of a little sugar glider's diet.
Right now, life is pretty straightforward.
Cruising between gum trees in search of the next sweet stop.
In just one leap, she can glide the length of two tennis courts.
The sugar also attracts rainbow lorikeets.
Hundreds of them.
[lorikeets screeching]
There's more than enough food to go round.
So during the heat of the day, she leaves them to it...
and rests up somewhere more peaceful.
Her new baby, just two weeks out of the pouch.
He's only the length of a thumb.
And completely reliant on his mother.
But by midsummer, he'll need to fend for himself...
in a far more challenging world.
[lorikeets chirping]
For now, life is so good here,
the lorikeets have decided to settle down.
[chirping]
But finding a nest isn't easy.
There are no woodpeckers in Australia to make holes in trees.
So safe hiding places are hot property.
A monstrous, cold-blooded killer.
Lace monitors can weigh as much as a toddler,
and they eat almost anything.
Just a fraction of the weight,
a frilled lizard would make easy prey for this giant.
He needs a tree to hide in.
But they're all occupied.
Frilled lizards can be aggressively territorial.
Head bobbing is a warning.
But the newcomer has nowhere else to go.
To avoid injury, these lizards fight with frills.
The brighter, the better.
But when closely matched...
it gets physical.
The intruder isn't looking so strong.
Defeated and running scared,
the resident sends him packing.
Seen off by the dominant male,
this will have to do for now.
But soon, he will need a much safer place.
Tougher times lie ahead.
The ants are already busy stockpiling.
But foraging can be dangerous.
The outback is full of strange beasts.
[leaves rustling]
Armed with huge claws...
spines, and a long, sticky tongue.
An echidna.
Perhaps not that scary looking.
But to an ant, he's deadly.
He can eat 60,000 of them in ten minutes.
Feeding in the trees can be more time-consuming.
Gum leaves are so full of toxins,
koalas are one of the few mammals that can eat them.
But they take so much energy to digest...
koalas spend 15 hours a day sleeping.
Even their waking hours are a bit of a daze.
This is not a dream.
This thing is real.
It's a mad hatterpillar.
Balancing all of its previously shed head skins on top of its current head.
Curious, but a lifesaver.
Assassin bugs kill their victims with venom that liquefies their insides.
But with its crazy disguise,
the mad hatterpillar keeps ahead of its enemies.
Little creatures are much better adapted to digest gum leaves.
A prickly stick insect even looks like them.
A clever camouflage so she can eat without being eaten.
She spends each day consuming her own body weight in leaves.
There's no time for parenting.
Instead, she outsources it.
Disguised as tasty seeds,
her eggs are carried off by unwitting ants.
But only the top of the egg is edible.
The rest will be discarded in the nest.
And there it will stay...
safe underground until it hatches...
many months from now.
[birds chirping]
The sun is getting stronger.
[lorikeets screeching]
The sugar glider's neighbors are getting noisier.
[screeching continues]
But it's not the usual squawking.
It's an alarm call.
[birds screeching]
Energized by the sun,
the lace monitor becomes a formidable hunter.
A forked tongue tastes for prey wherever it hides.
With powerful hooked claws, these monster lizards even climb trees.
The little glider is almost too big to carry.
Soon, he'll have to navigate this world on his own.
A world that gets more precarious by the day.
[insects buzzing]
By early summer, the outback is already fiercely hot.
There's little shelter from the sun...
and little water to drink.
A thorny devil, only the length of a pencil,
has a very impressive way of staying hydrated.
It's no quick fix, but it's worth the wait.
When it finally finds standing water, it just stands in it.
Tiny gaps between its spines draw water upwards.
All the way to its mouth.
An extraordinary trick
that allows this little devil to endure soaring temperatures.
The gum tree forest provides a bit more shelter.
But even here,
tiny creatures are racing to complete their lives.
A male glittering peacock spider searching for a mate.
Easier said than done.
These spiders are smaller than a lentil.
Another male has already found a female, but he still needs to win her over.
Female peacock spiders are very picky.
[dance music playing]
How the male looks and moves must be just right.
[music ends]
Get it wrong...
and get rejected.
There are over 80 different kinds of peacock spiders,
each with their own unique display...
Specially choreographed to the tastes of the female of that species.
A male will dance like his life depends on it
when courting a predatory female.
But the glittering male is still searching.
Waving his legs, he tests the air for female pheromones.
There she is.
Time to strut his stuff.
[tango music playing]
He's found his groove...
and she seems to be feeling it.
This butt wiggle is a sign that she's already mated.
[music ends]
Well, that was a waste of time.
And time is running out.
In just a few weeks,
the little glider will have to make his own way in this strange world...
and know where to find food.
At this time of year,
the gum leaves are covered in strange dots.
Psyllid bugs use their sugary sap
to build shelters no bigger than a grain of rice.
These tiny candy homes look like works of art.
And taste good too.
But now, even the early mornings are too hot to be out and about.
As temperatures soar to 50 degrees, gum leaves wither and fall.
But they're so full of toxic chemicals, they decompose very slowly.
Deep leaf litter provides cover for sly predators.
A Burton's legless lizard preys exclusively on other reptiles.
Most run for their lives.
Not the golden-tailed gecko.
Being small and camouflaged gives him some protection...
but not from the sun.
He needs shade.
And only the length of a credit card, he'll slot in perfectly just there.
Legless lizards' eyesight is attuned to the slightest movement.
When this little lizard feels threatened, it goes on the offensive.
A goo-slinging gecko.
The liquid is harmless, but so sticky and smelly,
it's enough to repel even the deadliest hunter.
Slowly but surely...
he takes shelter.
With the summer heat comes summer storms.
-[thunder rumbling] -It's so hot,
the first drops of rain evaporate before they even hit the ground.
But when lightning strikes, all the dry leaves ignite.
And their volatile chemicals fuel the flames.
[thunderclap]
Small animals struggle to outrun the fast-moving wildfire.
The echidna's only escape is underground.
He could be digging his own grave.
Flames are getting higher,
but the little glider is now too big to be carried.
Mom's only option...
is to save herself.
The little glider is on his own.
As insects flee, predators move in.
Kites flock to the flames in huge numbers.
These so-called firehawks are here to feed off the panic.
The little glider is surrounded.
His first flight might be his last.
When bushfires eventually die out...
they leave the land devastated.
But not totally lifeless.
Echidnas can lower their body temperatures enough to survive the fires raging above.
The young sugar glider also made it.
Now he must survive in a world reduced to ashes.
Charred insects will see him through until life returns to the forest.
And life does return.
Gum trees are incredibly resilient,
and mineral-rich ash enriches the soil.
[bird screeches]
Add a little water...
and the forest is reborn.
[chirping]
Before long, the bush is getting back to normal.
New lives emerge.
Familiar animals return.
And once again, the gum trees provide sanctuary
for all sorts of weird and wonderful little creatures.
Over millennia, they have adapted to the annual cycle of fire.
But as bush fires become bigger, hotter and more frequent,
Australia's tiny creatures will struggle to survive.
For now, the young sugar glider is ready...
to rise to the extreme challenges of life in the outback.
And he won't be totally alone.
Even the most independent little sugar gliders...
still like to snuggle up with a few friends.
[chirping]