Up Next
Back to Show
Deep Look
This Vibrating Bumblebee Unlocks a Flower's Hidden Treasure
Season 3
Episode 12
Most flowering plants are more than willing to spread their pollen around. But some flowers hold out for just the right partner. Bumblebees and other buzz pollinators know just how to handle these stubborn flowers. They vibrate the blooms, shaking them until they give up the nutritious pollen.
Support Provided By
5:14
Ladybugs may be the cutest insects around, but they don't start off that way.
3:57
Do cockroaches -- daring, disgusting disease vectors -- have anything at all to offer us?
5:42
Covered in a shiny bubble, the alkali fly scuba dives in California's Mono Lake.
4:58
A “bee fly” is a freeloader that takes advantage of a bindweed turret bee’s hard work.
4:05
The scaled wormsnail cements its shell to a rock and snags its meals using mucus!
4:04
Step right up to see tiny springtails spin through the air with the greatest of ease!
3:44
Geckos navigate nearly any surface with an electron dance at the atomic scale.
3:22
Bird’s nest fungi look just like a tiny bird's nest. But those little eggs have no yolks.
3:36
How are frogs so amazing at catching bugs? It’s their supersoft tongue and special spit.
4:00
Mussels create byssal threads to attach themselves to rocks and each other.
4:10
Earthworms cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime to make cocoons full of baby worms.