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Deep Look
Don't Go Chasing Water Bugs
Season 9
Episode 9
Giant water bugs — aka "toe-biters" — pack one of the most painful bites of any insect. But they make the best dads ever. Rather than leaving the survival of his eggs to chance, dad will haul them around piggyback style for weeks, until they hatch right off his back.
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5:04
Explore the parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) and ways to help monarch butterflies.

4:14
Floating colonies of red fire ants are a risk for people wading through floodwater.

3:57
These voracious predators cruise belly up below the surface of a pond or gentle stream.

4:55
Barn owls turn mice, gophers and voles into balls of fur and bones known as pellets.

4:02
It’s called nectar robbing: Bees get nectar, but don’t pollinate the plants in exchange.

4:33
The spotted wing drosophila may look like a common fruit fly, but it’s so much worse.

5:13
Those precious silk garments in your closet were made by the caterpillars of a fuzzy moth.

3:58
Barnacles might look like jagged little rocks, but they have a surprisingly wild sex life.

4:36
Honeypot ants stuff members of their own colony until they look like tiny water balloons.

4:25
What animal sprays acid that reeks of vinegar from its rear end? A vinegaroon, of course.

4:31
The cage fungus looks and smells like decaying meat — on purpose.

5:12
Subterranean termites fly off in swarms, and then drop their wings to start new colonies.