Up Next
Back to Show
Deep Look
Flying Termites Take a Dangerous Journey to a New Life
Season 9
Episode 2
After the first big rain, western subterranean termites swarm by the thousands. Hungry ants, spiders and birds pick them off as they emerge from the soil. The survivors fly off to find mates, and quickly drop their delicate wings to start new underground colonies. If you’re really unlucky, they’ll build tubes of mud and saliva from their nest to yours.
Support Provided By
4:20
As they gorge, oblique streaktail hoverflies help keep orange trees safe from disease.
3:37
Why is that yellowjacket crashing your BBQ? She’s gathering food for the nest’s larvae.
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.
3:49
Giant water bugs pack one of the most painful bites of any insect, but they're great dads.
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.