\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hNARRATOR: Do you like horror films?
\hYou know, the kind with alien creatures
and flesh-eating demons?
Voracious marauders...
going in for the kill?
Repulsive ghouls...
and armor-plated orcs?
\h\h\h\hWhen the blades are honed razor sharp...
do you look forward to what comes next?
Oozing blood...
\h\h\h\h\h\hand corpses careening through space!
\h\h\hThen you’ll love where we’re headed now.
\h\h\h\h\hBrace yourself for a gruesome journey through...
The Meadow of Horror.
(birds sing)
Like every good horror film,
\h\h\hthis one opens on an idyllic scene:
a summer morning \h\hon the farm.
The chickens are enjoying \h\h\h\htheir breakfast.
The pigs are making...
pigs of themselves.
\h\h\hAnd the sheep are looking forward
to doing what they do best...
grazing all day.
\h\hWhile the nesting stork plans to simply sit around.
Out on the pond the dragonflies are just getting revved up.
Everyone is set to enjoy \h\hthis beautiful day.
No one expects anything \h\hsinister to happen.
But down in the undergrowth \h\h\hlies a secret world,
far more dangerous.
\h\h\h\h\hThis is where our little hero lives.
Every good horror film \h\h\h\h\h\hneeds one.
\h\h\h\h\h\hAt the moment, he’s still in his puparium,
struggling to break out of solitary confinement.
As he wriggles to get out...
someone is watching...
But it’s just an aphid.
They’re harmless little imps.
\h\hCute, but... not very bright.
\hPerfect for the role of horror film victim.
The aphid unwittingly checks out our struggling hero...
(♪)
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hApparently none the worse for wear,
he wanders off.
\h\h\h\h\h\hOur hero, shrouded by his shell,
doesn’t notice.
And here he is, \hfree at last!
A bright yellow beetle!
As his shell hardens,
black spots start to appear.
\h\hWithin a few hours, he’s turned bright red.
Our hero is a ladybug!
A seven-spotted male ladybug, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto be precise.
\hThey’re believed to be good luck...
And this guy is going to need \h\hall the luck he can get.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hJust as in every classic horror film,
the hero has a love interest...
a lady ladybug.
He sees her from a distance...
Summons the nerve to approach...
Will it be love at first sight?
But then...
disaster!
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hFortunately, he doesn’t fall very far...
\h\h\h\h\hBut getting back to the object of his desire
is going to be harder \h\h\hthan it looks.
In his eagerness, he seems to be making all the wrong moves.
Cruel fate has ripped them apart
before their romance \h\hhas even begun.
And so the saga begins.
\h\h\h\h\hOur hero embarks on a perilous quest to find his love.
First he must cross...
the Valley of Doom.
(♪)
A praying mantis lies in wait...
...motionless in the broomweed.
The patient carnivore’s strategy is to sit so still
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat her prey is oblivious to the danger.
(♪)
Waiting for the right moment,
she readies her weapons...
(♪)
The ladybug seems to wander \h\hstraight into the trap,
\h\hbut then makes an unexpected move.
It’s a narrow escape!
This ladybug may be foolhardy...
but he’s certainly lucky.
And the mantis seems mystified.
He makes good his escape.
But then...
A wart-biter.
This fearsome beast was once used to chew off human warts.
A field grasshopper awakens \h\hhis appetite for meat.
(♪)
\h\h\h\h\hIt tears open the grasshopper’s armor.
The mantis looks on,
\has the wart-biter devours his prey...
alive.
But it’s not over.
Mutilated and dismembered,
\hthe victim claws its way out of the jaws of certain death.
The mantis moves in.
But she’s not after \hthe grasshopper.
(♪)
\hOur intrepid hero keeps a low profile
while the predators \h\h\h\h\hface off.
It’s wart-biter versus... \h\h\hthe praying mantis.
(♪)
\h\h\hThe wart-biter comes out swinging.
They seem well-matched:
heavily armed...
bloodthirsty...
determined.
(♪)
Suddenly it’s over.
\h\hThe wart-biter abandons the field.
(♪)
Something has distracted him...
...a much easier target \h\h\hthan the mantis.
Our hero plays dead,
pulling in his legs
so there’s nothing \h\hto grab on to.
As the wart-biter hesitates,
the mantis slinks away.
The wart-biter was stronger \h\h\hthan she had figured;
not worth the risk.
Playing dead seems to work.
(♪)
Back in the broomweed,
\h\h\hthe praying mantis has spied a fresh victim.
\hIt’s a crane fly, or daddy long legs.
She readies her weapons \h\h\hin anticipation.
There’s no escape.
(♪)
\h\h\h\hIt struggles in vain as she eats every last bit,
down to those long legs.
While she cleans the gore \h\h\hfrom her forearms,
another praying mantis
cautiously sneaks up \h\h\h\hfrom behind.
It’s a male.
He’s not after food...
but sex.
And theirs could be
a very dangerous liaison.
A hungry female praying mantis \hcan be a real femme fatale...
and make a meal of her mate.
\h\hBut he’s lucky, she’s just eaten...
And their mating goes off \h\h\h\hwithout incident.
Down below, what’s left \h\hof the grasshopper
hasn’t gotten very far \h\hon just four legs.
\h\hThe wart-biter is back, to finish what he started.
(♪)
\hAfter witnessing this grisly scene,
\h\h\h\h\hthe ladybug’s eager to escape the Valley of Doom,
while his luck still holds.
\h\h\h\hThe wart-biter polishes off his meal,
with some fresh greens.
\h\h\h\hEven insects need a balanced meal.
\hThe mantis couple is enjoying the afterglow in the broomweed.
As the larger female clings to her mate,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hit seems like a tender embrace.
But after their mating,
she’s worked up an appetite.
\h\h\hTheir brief affair is about to turn deadly.
\h\h\h\hA targeted bite at just the right spot.
Her lover is split in two.
\h\h\h\hIt seems the way to a lady mantis’s heart
\h\his through her stomach after all.
This act of cannibalism \h\h\hmay seem twisted,
\h\h\h\h\hbut for the male, there’s a genetic advantage.
Praying mantis females who eat \h\h\htheir mates lay more eggs
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthan those who let the male get away.
\h\hIt’s a dramatic sacrifice on the altar of procreation.
While the villains of our story tear each other apart,
\h\h\h\h\hour hero makes his getaway.
(♪)
But... no sooner is he out \h\h\hof the Valley of Doom
than he finds himself in...
the Realm of the Terrible Toad!
(toad croaks)
This common toad’s bulging eyes,
set on either side of its head,
give it a wrap-around view \h\h\h\h\h\hof the world.
Once it detects movement \hby any potential prey,
such as a ladybug,
it turns in that direction...
(toad croaks)
...and follows.
(♪)
\hBut our hero makes his signature move.
He climbs right over \hthe hunter’s back.
The toad launches \ha fatal attack.
But our hero still has one ace up his sleeve.
(toad croaks)
Fooled again!
That was a close call!
\hThe lonely ladybug resumes the search for his true love.
\hAnd she has wandered into a deadly place...
The Perilous Pond.
(♪)
The wet leaves here \h\h\hare slippery.
(ladybug splashes)
(♪)
\h\hDown below lurks a rogues’ gallery of terrifying beasts.
A crayfish with fearsome claws.
A water needle
with its deadly sharp beak
and long breathing tube.
Pond snails glide upside down \h\h\h\h\hacross the water...
held up by surface tension.
(♪)
The ladybug scrambles \hto reach the shore,
but her thrashing
\h\h\hattracts the larva of a great diving beetle,
and even worse,
\h\h\ha fully-grown great diving beetle.
\hThere’s an army of hungry predators below the surface.
The beetle lunges!
But it’s after a tiny toad...
which it begins eating alive.
(birds sing)
While the adult beetle \hfeasts on the toad,
its larva still eyes \h\h\h\hthe ladybug.
It’s armed with a vicious set \h\h\h\h\h\hof curved blades.
(♪)
Though the surface tension \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof the water
\h\hkeeps the lightweight ladybug from going under,
she’s unable to escape \h\h\hthe water’s grip.
Fortunately,
the larva spots a young newt
on the pond floor...
(♪)
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hMuch juicier than a hard-shelled beetle.
(♪)
The killer waits patiently...
daggers drawn...
\h\hwhile the newt sees nothing amiss.
(♪)
Through hollow fangs,
it pumps a deadly cocktail
of paralyzing poison
and digestive enzymes \h\hinto its victim.
\h\h\h\h\hThe little newt is liquefied from within.
The beetle larva drinks...
\h\h\h...as its prize slowly oozes to death.
As the grizzly scene \h\hplays out below,
the ladybug still struggles \hto escape a watery grave.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hBut for the great diving beetle larva,
\h\h\h\h\hthere are other distractions,
\h\h\h\h\h\heven other diving beetle larvae...
for these aquatic predators...
are cannibals!
(♪)
Their sharp daggers can pierce \htheir chitinous exoskeleton.
(♪)
Finally the little ladybug \h\h\h\hfinds a lifeline.
But her escape is short-lived.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hOne false step and she’s back where she began.
Lurking in the depths...
a young dragonfly nymph.
It senses the movement \h\h\hat the surface.
But there is a tadpole \h\h\hcloser at hand,
\hso our heroine gets a reprieve.
(♪)
\h\h\h\h\h\hSharp hooks at the edge of the mouth
hold the victim fast.
They don’t just work \hon tender tadpoles.
\h\h\h\h\hEven a creature with a tough exoskeleton,
like a damselfly larva, \h\hcan be vulnerable.
\hThe nymph’s jaws grind up the kill.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe nymph rapidly dismembers its prey...
discarded limbs dropping \h\hto the pond’s floor.
In spite of the carnage below,
the ladybug finally manages to escape from the Perilous Pond.
She’s reached the reeds \h\h\h\h\hjust in time
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto witness a miraculous transformation.
What was once a dragonfly nymph,
a terrifying underwater hunter,
is changing...
shedding its old form
to emerge as a very different
kind of demon...
an aerial marauder.
\hDragonflies and damselflies reign supreme around the pond,
masters of the Aerial Empire,
mating dancers, locked together.
Love is definitely in the air.
(♪)
But the dragonflies won’t be distracted by sex for long.
They’re always on the lookout \h\h\h\h\h\hfor insect prey.
\h\h\hIt seems our heroine escaped the deadly water...
only to face more dangers \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfrom above.
A dragonfly’s compound eyes
give it the best vision \hin the animal world.
It’s acutely sensitive \h\h\h\h\hto movement.
\h\h\hA dragonfly can spot the motion of an insect...
...and nab it in flight.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTrapped inside the dragonfly’s basket of legs,
there’s little chance of escape.
\h\h\hOnce the mandibles begin their grim work...
the bee’s fate is sealed.
(♪)
Still very much at risk,
\h\h\h\h\hour little heroine must leave the pond for good.
(birds sing)
Meanwhile, our valiant hero,
the male ladybug,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhas kept up his search for his ladylove.
He’s made his way to an orchard filled with tempting treats.
The Province of Pleasures!
(♪)
Fallen apples attract bees,
eager for a liquid lunch.
\hApple juice is full of energy-rich sugar!
(bees buzz)
But this tasty treat belies
something more sinister...
the bees are being watched.
This apple tree is a fortress,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith a garrison of masked killers guarding it...
hornets!
\hScowling sentries patrol the entrance
to ensure that no unauthorized \h\h\h\hcreature gets inside.
When an unsuspecting hover fly
\h\h\hcomes to rest outside the door...
...the guards close ranks.
(hover fly buzzes)
Their deadly jaws are enough \hto frighten the fly away.
(bees buzz)
Soon a hornet hunting party \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\htakes off.
They head for the apples.
But it’s not the fruit \h\h\h\hthey’re after.
That’s just bait.
They’re after the bees!
\h\h\hThey swoop down for a surprise attack,
catching the bees off-guard ...
(♪)
One after another,
the bees find death
\hin the hornets’ deadly mandibles.
(♪)
Back at the entrance to their fortress...
a guard fans fresh air \h\h\h\hinto the nest,
as the hunters return.
(hornets buzz)
The ladybug approaches,
unaware of the danger.
(hornet buzzes)
(♪)
\h\h\h\hHe’s spotted by an angry guard...
Is it all over for our hero?
(♪)
Not quite.
Frustrated by the ladybug’s \h\h\h\h\hshiny red shield,
the hornet can’t get a grip on the super-smooth armor.
\h\h\h\h\h\hThe hornet tries to flip him over.
He gives the guard the slip,
and makes for a crevice \h\h\h\h\hin the bark.
(♪)
(hornets buzz)
\hThe raiding party carts home the remains of their victims.
Safely inside their lair,
they chew them up into a meaty pulp.
(♪)
But they’re not just feeding themselves.
\h\h\h\h\hHundreds of hungry, throbbing larvae demand flesh!
A colony can consume thousands \h\hof ground up insect victims
every day.
\h\h\h\h\h\hOur forlorn hero could have been on the menu.
He escapes the hornets’ lair...
and makes for a nearby pasture.
Here the sheep safely graze...
under the watchful care \hof a canine guardian.
\h\h\h\h\hBut this is a hunting ground, too.
Hidden in the grass,
our hero has found his way back to...
...the harmless little aphids!
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hSo far, they’ve managed to evade
\h\h\h\h\hany dangers in this horror story.
\h\h\h\hGrazing in the meadow, they reproduce in vast numbers.
They don’t bother with courting, like the ladybug,
or even with mating!
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIn fact, there are no males at all!
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThey reproduce by an almost magical process:
\h\h\h\heach offspring a clone of its mother.
Like the sheep in the meadow,
this flock of aphids \hgrazes on plants.
But instead of biting \h\h\h\hand chewing,
\hthey insert their proboscis into the "veins" of the plant
to suck out its juices.
But something is lurking...
\h\hsomething with a special fondness
for these little \hsap-suckers...
It’s hideous...
and it’s hungry...
The Monster of the Meadow.
The aphid lion.
A true terror...
a grassland godzilla.
And our daring hero flees from this horrific beast.
(♪)
\h\hBut the innocent little aphids are...
oblivious.
(♪)
The aphid lion massacres them,
\h\h\h\h\hslurping every drop from their succulent bodies.
It’s a bloodbath.
(♪)
One aphid lion can consume \h\hup to 70 aphids a day.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd there are plenty of aphids to go around.
(♪)
On the edge of the meadow,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hlies a barren and forbidding landscape...
a sandy wasteland.
Our heroine is getting closer.
\h\h\h\h\h\hShe’s escaped the terrors of the pond...
only to end up here...
in the Desert of Despair.
Its savage ruler lies hidden \h\h\h\h\hbeneath the sand.
Its presence revealed only \h\hby catapulted corpses,
\hthe grisly remains of discarded victims,
empty shells of insects,
murdered and tossed aside...
but by what?
By this:
The ant lion,
the spawn of the nether world.
This is its lair.
Digging backwards in the sand,
\hthe ant lion creates a funnel-shaped burrow.
Then it buries itself,
\h\h\hto lie in wait for its next victim.
The ants have no idea that a trap lies below.
And neither does our heroine.
(♪)
A firebug loses its grip \h\h\h\h\h\hon the sand,
and slips down the funnel,
into waiting jaws.
Once he pulls his catch \h\h\h\hinto the sand,
the ant lion injects it with poison and digestive enzymes
\h\h\hand sucks out its liquefied guts.
\h\h\h\h\h\hThen it throws the empty bug shell up, up,
and away.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIf the victims don’t slide down on their own,
\h\h\h\hthe ant lion launches an assault:
(♪)
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hStruggling only makes matters worse.
(♪)
Finally the assassin reaches up to make the kill...
injecting its toxic cocktail.
\hNow it just has to wait for the ant to give up the ghost.
Resistance is futile.
\hOnce you’ve fallen into the lion’s den,
\h\h\h\hthere’s only one way for this horror story to end.
(♪)
The ladybug inches ever closer.
She seems to be heading \h\hfor the same fate.
The ant lion strikes.
(♪)
But her smooth, rounded shell
keeps the deadly mandibles \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hat bay...
The ant lion launches a barrage of sand...
but fails to reel in \h\h\h\h\hits catch.
The luck of the ladybugs \h\hseems to be holding.
(♪)
Her lost lover is still making \h\hhis way across the meadow
\h\h\h\hsurrounded by peaceful vegetarians.
(sheep bleat)
No serious threats here...
or so it appears.
But even these grazers \h\h\hcan turn deadly.
(♪)
As the sheep and goats \h\hmindlessly munch,
they pay little attention \h\hto what they chew on
or where they step.
\hThey can get a little too close for comfort...
It’s a close call for our hero.
For the aphids, unable to fly...
there seems to be no escape.
\h\h\h\hBut, they have their own escape plan.
As soon as they feel the warm, \hmoist breath of a mammal...
...they abandon ship!
Once the vegetation has gotten a trim,
those terrible teeth move on.
And the aphids scramble to climb back up to their leafy home.
(♪)
\h\h\hIt’s best not to stay on the ground for too long.
\hThe meadow floor hides its own unique horror...
It’s the beast with eight legs.
But our hero is safe.
\h\h\hThis wolf spider doesn’t hunt ladybugs.
It prefers smaller prey,
like aphids.
\h\h\h\h\h\hIts eight eyes, four small and four large,
\hform an impressive surveillance system,
perfect for spotting, tracking,
\h\h\hand targeting their favorite food.
And the spider is ravenous.
It gorges on the aphids...
one after another.
\hThere’s only one creature that will curb its appetite
and cause it to turn tail.
A spider wasp!
The wasp feeds on pollen \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand nectar,
but she hunts as well,
\h\h\hand wolf spiders are a favorite quarry.
(♪)
The wasp is relentless...
The spider can run, but it cannot hide.
With one venomous bite, the wasp renders the spider immobile.
It’s alive...
but no longer kicking.
While its zombified victim \h\h\h\hawaits its fate...
\h\h\h\hthe wasp prepares a true chamber of horrors.
She’ll drag the paralyzed spider into the hole,
\h\h\h\hlay a single egg on her victim’s abdomen,
then seal up the entrance.
When the egg hatches,
the young wasp will feed \hon the zombie spider.
But there’s a wrinkle \h\h\h\hin her plan.
\h\hAnts have spotted the paralyzed spider.
And they have hungry little mouths to feed
back in their own nest.
(♪)
The spider wasp’s underground \hnursery is finally complete,
\hbut she’s too late to stop the thieves.
\h\hThe spider wasp searches frantically
for the missing spider.
\h\h\h\hShe’s so agitated, she makes a fatal misstep.
(♪)
The hunter becomes the hunted...
sucked into the lair \hof the ant lion...
\h\h\h\has one brute finishes off another.
It seems everywhere \h\hour hero turns,
monsters await.
\h\h\h\h\hHe’s survived the clutches of death...
Escaped the demons \hfrom the sky...
Leapt from the jaws \h\h\hof giants...
But will he ever find \h\h\hhis true love?
He must soldier on...
and face once more...
the Meadow of Horror!
(♪)
He joins the aphids,
desperate to escape the pitfalls
\h\h\h\h\h\hand predators that prowl on the ground.
\hBut the aphid lion is in hot pursuit...
and, as always...
he’s hungry.
(♪)
The aphids have escaped \h\h\h\hone set of jaws,
only to land in another.
Fortunately, the ladybug \h\his only an observer
\h\h\hin this life and death struggle.
\h\h\hThe aphid lion is no threat to him.
But, like a true hero of the silver screen,
he rises to the occasion,
\h\h\h\hand drives off the Grassland Godzilla.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hTriumphant, he finally reaps his reward...
There she is!
The love of his life!
Their harrowing adventures \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hare over.
(♪)
Together they seek \h\ha quiet place,
hidden among the leaves.
(♪)
At long last they are united...
quite literally.
(♪)
But they’re not alone.
It’s the aphid lion.
(♪)
He looks a little odd, though.
\h\hHe seems to be writhing in agony.
Is this sweet revenge?
\h\h\h\h\hHas the aphid-killer finally gotten his comeuppance?
The ladybug couple is oblivious to the aphid lion’s plight.
Their love is truly blind.
\h\hAnd their encounter is certainly not brief.
\h\hLadybug mating can last for hours.
As for Godzilla...
These aren’t his death throes \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hafter all...
He’s writhing to seek release.
Transforming...
but into what?
An odd creature emerges.
Slowly he darkens...
spots appear...
his shell hardens into a pupa.
He looks...
vaguely familiar.
(♪)
Finally, the startling truth \h\h\h\h\h\h\hbecomes clear.
This is a ladybug!
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hThe monster that terrorized the aphids...
\hThe grassland Godzilla that massacred the masses
will emerge...
as a good guy?!
(♪)
In a bizarre twist of nature...
our heroes who valiantly crossed
the Realm of the Terrible Toad,
the Perilous Pond,
and the Desert of Despair,
\h\h\hwere once themselves the slayers of sap-suckers!
Their romance is over...
the veil is lifted.
The ladybugs fall upon \h\h\h\h\hthe aphids,
devouring them alive.
They’re insatiable,
consuming up to a hundred \h\h\h\h\h\h\hevery day.
It’s an aphid apocalypse.
But these diminutive hunters
remain the heroes \h\hof this tale.
As they consume with abandon,
they clear the crops \h\hof a nasty pest.
For farmers,
these little red beetles
have long been considered
a sign of good luck...
a gift from "Our Lady," \h\h\hthe Virgin Mary.
Hence the name... \h\hthe ladybug.
And if every good horror movie \h\h\h\h\h\hdeserves a sequel,
we’ll see you in the next \h\h\h\hMeadow of Horror!
(♪)