Tiny World (2020) s01e03 Episode Script
Island
[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.
The Caribbean.
It looks like paradise.
-[birds singing]
-[insects chirping]
And it seems a pretty nice home
for the Cuban bee hummingbird.
[bird hums]
-Not all that much bigger than a bee.
-[bee buzzing]
It's the smallest bird in the world.
[bird hums]
There are all sorts of little castaways
that have found their way
to these islands.
Many are the tiniest of their kind
and found nowhere else on Earth.
Food and space is so limited on islands.
It's often survival of the smallest.
But paradise has a darker side.
When hurricane season hits,
tiny animals must face
some of the greatest forces on the planet.
On sunny days, life on a Caribbean island
is buzzing with possibilities.
A male bee hummingbird.
Looking for a mate
and dressed to impress.
But this female's busy.
She's caring for two chicks,
just hatched from eggs
the size of coffee beans.
Into a home the size of an espresso cup.
In four days, they'll double in size
on a diet of insects and nectar.
Providing all this food is a mammoth task.
Hummingbirds burn energy
faster than any other animal.
So she must visit
hundreds of flowers a day.
She's so tiny, bugs are major competition.
And while she feeds,
the nest is unprotected.
Even a single ant is a threat.
And as more swarm in,
the chicks are in serious danger.
Just in time.
[bird hums]
She's back to save the day.
Over time,
Caribbean creatures have evolved,
shrinking down to make the most
of what little food they can find.
A thread snake,
as thin as a strand of spaghetti
and half as long.
He's an ant hunter
of sorts.
Adult ants are too large
to get his tiny jaws around.
But their larvae go down nicely.
Many of these miniature marvels
are unique to a single island.
Just half the length of a matchstick,
the dwarf gecko is one
of the smallest lizards in the world.
The perfect size to hunt micro-bugs
down here in the leaf litter.
But perhaps a little on the small side
when up against a tropical storm.
[thunder rumbles]
Raindrops hit like bombs.
The mother hummingbird does all she can
to shelter her chicks.
[thunder rumbles]
Others fly for cover.
But the storm is so overwhelming
there's no choice but to abandon her nest.
On the forest floor,
the runoff becomes a tidal wave.
But size is a dwarf gecko's superpower.
So small, so light,
he literally walks on water.
And stays afloat until the flood recedes.
With over 15 tropical storms
battering the Caribbean each year,
paradise can quickly turn into hell.
[bird hums]
The hummingbird's chicks
have been swept away.
She must start all over again
before the next storm hits.
[birds singing]
In the wake of a storm,
vegetation is washed out to sea.
And with it, creatures are cast adrift.
Occasionally, a voyager is lucky enough
to reach new shores.
This is how
many animals colonize new islands.
Small and hardy,
Anolis lizards make successful stowaways.
But others arrived here long before her.
Hutias and iguanas survive
by scavenging on whatever washes up.
[iguanas hissing]
She needs to get off the beach.
Just a few meters between her and safety.
[iguana hisses]
[hissing continues]
It only takes a few brave pioneers
to start a whole new population.
The storm has delivered a bounty
for beachcombers of all sizes
from hutia to sand hoppers.
But not everyone's on the hunt for food.
This hermit crab is looking
for a new home.
Hers is in serious disrepair.
A new supply of shells has washed up
in the storm.
But finding the right fit isn't easy.
She's only the size of a golf ball.
But hermit crabs can grow
as big as a coconut
and must keep upgrading their shells
to match.
With a never-ending demand
for bigger homes,
hermit crabs
have come up with an ingenious solution.
When a crab finds a shell
that doesn't fit
it signals to others to come and inspect.
And when the right-sized hermit arrives
they form a housing chain.
Big to small.
The largest moves first.
Then each takes the newly vacated property
one size up.
She's late to the party.
But there's always one shell left over.
The smallest.
Somehow, a crab just knows
when it's found the right home.
Finally, a proper shelter.
She'll need it.
This time of year,
bad weather is never far away.
Further inland, rivers are still raging
from the last storm
carrying rainwater out to sea.
But some are heading the other way.
Tri-tri gobies travel upstream
to find the best place to breed.
To avoid the competition,
some males go to extraordinary lengths.
He's smaller than a teaspoon,
but using his fins as suction cups
and his mouth to grip,
he can conquer rapids.
This, however
could be more challenging.
Gobies can scale waterfalls
350 meters high.
Almost as high as
the Empire State Building.
The ascent will take days.
Many attempt the climb
but less than 1 in 100 survive.
It pays to take it steady.
Success.
And a chance to breed.
Sending a new generation back downstream.
[insects chirping]
The humidity of storm season
triggers an explosion of life.
A Jamaican montane crab
is only the size of a sugar cube.
It doesn't need to be in water to survive.
But a mother still needs it to breed.
There's rainwater
trapped in tiny rock pools,
but it's too risky
to raise a family out here.
She has just the solution.
Using specialized hairs,
she draws a film of water onto her shell.
Now she just needs a place to keep it.
An empty snail shell
the size of a matchbox.
Perfect to hold a few drops.
And secure enough for a new family.
Twenty little crablets,
each no bigger than a grain of sand.
For the next three months,
she'll keep them fed, watered,
and protected
in their little snail shell home.
As storm season progresses,
there's so much moisture in the air,
coqui frogs can breed
out of water entirely.
The miracle of life
begins as a single cell.
Their devoted father watches over them.
Only the size of a strawberry,
but ready to defend his brood
against any threat.
A hungry snail
twice his size.
He can't move his eggs.
There's no escape.
He fights back
but the snail is relentless.
This fearless father still has
two more weeks of guard duty
before his eggs finally hatch.
[birds singing]
The female hummingbird
is looking for a new mate.
Such a small male could be hard to find.
If he wasn't so desperate to be noticed.
[bird hums]
He'll have to work hard
if he's gonna win her over.
A tiny dancer.
Finally, persistence pays off.
Soon to be a mother again,
she needs to build a new nest.
Spiderwebs make the ideal glue
to stick it all together.
She begins by weaving the foundations.
And in just a few days,
her nest will be ready to cradle
a new clutch of precious eggs.
[thunder rumbles]
But out at sea
something big is brewing.
As ocean temperatures rise
through the year,
they fuel ever more powerful
tropical storms.
[wind howling]
Caribbean anoles are surprisingly
well-adapted
to endure such extreme weather.
[wind howling]
Extra-large footpads help them hang on
in winds of 200 kilometers per hour.
But this storm is still building.
This is Hurricane Dorian.
A storm the size of Kansas.
When the world's most powerful
weather events strike
small creatures are at their mercy.
[waves crashing]
Winds increase to 300 kilometers per hour.
A direct hit brings utter devastation.
Every year,
the Caribbean is ravaged by hurricanes.
But of the thousands of islands,
only a few bear the full brunt.
Who survives is down to luck
and size.
Tiny animals often have the best chance
of sheltering from the storm
and recovering quickly.
In the middle of storm season,
come rain or shine,
hermit crabs head back to the beach.
[water lapping]
The new moon
triggers their mass migration.
Over three days and nights,
thousands gather.
All female, all carrying eggs.
[rustling]
The moment they touch water
the eggs hatch.
Millions of microscopic larvae
swept out to sea.
They'll ride on the currents
as they grow
until it's time to come ashore
and colonize new lands.
It's the tiniest animals
that make the most
of the limited opportunities
on Caribbean islands.
The coqui froglets are now fully formed
and ready to emerge.
Their father's devotion
has given them the chance
to make their own way
in this big wide world.
[frogs croaking]
[bird hums]
And this mother's resilience
has earned her a fresh start.
A new generation of tiny miracles
found nowhere else
but on these treasured islands.
[birds warbling]
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.
The Caribbean.
It looks like paradise.
-[birds singing]
-[insects chirping]
And it seems a pretty nice home
for the Cuban bee hummingbird.
[bird hums]
-Not all that much bigger than a bee.
-[bee buzzing]
It's the smallest bird in the world.
[bird hums]
There are all sorts of little castaways
that have found their way
to these islands.
Many are the tiniest of their kind
and found nowhere else on Earth.
Food and space is so limited on islands.
It's often survival of the smallest.
But paradise has a darker side.
When hurricane season hits,
tiny animals must face
some of the greatest forces on the planet.
On sunny days, life on a Caribbean island
is buzzing with possibilities.
A male bee hummingbird.
Looking for a mate
and dressed to impress.
But this female's busy.
She's caring for two chicks,
just hatched from eggs
the size of coffee beans.
Into a home the size of an espresso cup.
In four days, they'll double in size
on a diet of insects and nectar.
Providing all this food is a mammoth task.
Hummingbirds burn energy
faster than any other animal.
So she must visit
hundreds of flowers a day.
She's so tiny, bugs are major competition.
And while she feeds,
the nest is unprotected.
Even a single ant is a threat.
And as more swarm in,
the chicks are in serious danger.
Just in time.
[bird hums]
She's back to save the day.
Over time,
Caribbean creatures have evolved,
shrinking down to make the most
of what little food they can find.
A thread snake,
as thin as a strand of spaghetti
and half as long.
He's an ant hunter
of sorts.
Adult ants are too large
to get his tiny jaws around.
But their larvae go down nicely.
Many of these miniature marvels
are unique to a single island.
Just half the length of a matchstick,
the dwarf gecko is one
of the smallest lizards in the world.
The perfect size to hunt micro-bugs
down here in the leaf litter.
But perhaps a little on the small side
when up against a tropical storm.
[thunder rumbles]
Raindrops hit like bombs.
The mother hummingbird does all she can
to shelter her chicks.
[thunder rumbles]
Others fly for cover.
But the storm is so overwhelming
there's no choice but to abandon her nest.
On the forest floor,
the runoff becomes a tidal wave.
But size is a dwarf gecko's superpower.
So small, so light,
he literally walks on water.
And stays afloat until the flood recedes.
With over 15 tropical storms
battering the Caribbean each year,
paradise can quickly turn into hell.
[bird hums]
The hummingbird's chicks
have been swept away.
She must start all over again
before the next storm hits.
[birds singing]
In the wake of a storm,
vegetation is washed out to sea.
And with it, creatures are cast adrift.
Occasionally, a voyager is lucky enough
to reach new shores.
This is how
many animals colonize new islands.
Small and hardy,
Anolis lizards make successful stowaways.
But others arrived here long before her.
Hutias and iguanas survive
by scavenging on whatever washes up.
[iguanas hissing]
She needs to get off the beach.
Just a few meters between her and safety.
[iguana hisses]
[hissing continues]
It only takes a few brave pioneers
to start a whole new population.
The storm has delivered a bounty
for beachcombers of all sizes
from hutia to sand hoppers.
But not everyone's on the hunt for food.
This hermit crab is looking
for a new home.
Hers is in serious disrepair.
A new supply of shells has washed up
in the storm.
But finding the right fit isn't easy.
She's only the size of a golf ball.
But hermit crabs can grow
as big as a coconut
and must keep upgrading their shells
to match.
With a never-ending demand
for bigger homes,
hermit crabs
have come up with an ingenious solution.
When a crab finds a shell
that doesn't fit
it signals to others to come and inspect.
And when the right-sized hermit arrives
they form a housing chain.
Big to small.
The largest moves first.
Then each takes the newly vacated property
one size up.
She's late to the party.
But there's always one shell left over.
The smallest.
Somehow, a crab just knows
when it's found the right home.
Finally, a proper shelter.
She'll need it.
This time of year,
bad weather is never far away.
Further inland, rivers are still raging
from the last storm
carrying rainwater out to sea.
But some are heading the other way.
Tri-tri gobies travel upstream
to find the best place to breed.
To avoid the competition,
some males go to extraordinary lengths.
He's smaller than a teaspoon,
but using his fins as suction cups
and his mouth to grip,
he can conquer rapids.
This, however
could be more challenging.
Gobies can scale waterfalls
350 meters high.
Almost as high as
the Empire State Building.
The ascent will take days.
Many attempt the climb
but less than 1 in 100 survive.
It pays to take it steady.
Success.
And a chance to breed.
Sending a new generation back downstream.
[insects chirping]
The humidity of storm season
triggers an explosion of life.
A Jamaican montane crab
is only the size of a sugar cube.
It doesn't need to be in water to survive.
But a mother still needs it to breed.
There's rainwater
trapped in tiny rock pools,
but it's too risky
to raise a family out here.
She has just the solution.
Using specialized hairs,
she draws a film of water onto her shell.
Now she just needs a place to keep it.
An empty snail shell
the size of a matchbox.
Perfect to hold a few drops.
And secure enough for a new family.
Twenty little crablets,
each no bigger than a grain of sand.
For the next three months,
she'll keep them fed, watered,
and protected
in their little snail shell home.
As storm season progresses,
there's so much moisture in the air,
coqui frogs can breed
out of water entirely.
The miracle of life
begins as a single cell.
Their devoted father watches over them.
Only the size of a strawberry,
but ready to defend his brood
against any threat.
A hungry snail
twice his size.
He can't move his eggs.
There's no escape.
He fights back
but the snail is relentless.
This fearless father still has
two more weeks of guard duty
before his eggs finally hatch.
[birds singing]
The female hummingbird
is looking for a new mate.
Such a small male could be hard to find.
If he wasn't so desperate to be noticed.
[bird hums]
He'll have to work hard
if he's gonna win her over.
A tiny dancer.
Finally, persistence pays off.
Soon to be a mother again,
she needs to build a new nest.
Spiderwebs make the ideal glue
to stick it all together.
She begins by weaving the foundations.
And in just a few days,
her nest will be ready to cradle
a new clutch of precious eggs.
[thunder rumbles]
But out at sea
something big is brewing.
As ocean temperatures rise
through the year,
they fuel ever more powerful
tropical storms.
[wind howling]
Caribbean anoles are surprisingly
well-adapted
to endure such extreme weather.
[wind howling]
Extra-large footpads help them hang on
in winds of 200 kilometers per hour.
But this storm is still building.
This is Hurricane Dorian.
A storm the size of Kansas.
When the world's most powerful
weather events strike
small creatures are at their mercy.
[waves crashing]
Winds increase to 300 kilometers per hour.
A direct hit brings utter devastation.
Every year,
the Caribbean is ravaged by hurricanes.
But of the thousands of islands,
only a few bear the full brunt.
Who survives is down to luck
and size.
Tiny animals often have the best chance
of sheltering from the storm
and recovering quickly.
In the middle of storm season,
come rain or shine,
hermit crabs head back to the beach.
[water lapping]
The new moon
triggers their mass migration.
Over three days and nights,
thousands gather.
All female, all carrying eggs.
[rustling]
The moment they touch water
the eggs hatch.
Millions of microscopic larvae
swept out to sea.
They'll ride on the currents
as they grow
until it's time to come ashore
and colonize new lands.
It's the tiniest animals
that make the most
of the limited opportunities
on Caribbean islands.
The coqui froglets are now fully formed
and ready to emerge.
Their father's devotion
has given them the chance
to make their own way
in this big wide world.
[frogs croaking]
[bird hums]
And this mother's resilience
has earned her a fresh start.
A new generation of tiny miracles
found nowhere else
but on these treasured islands.
[birds warbling]