A Real Bug's Life

The big city bustles with humanity, but it's also home to some of the most daring bugs on the planet. Join a male jumping spider as he battles for real estate, a voracious fly as it dodges death, and cockroaches that emerge from a secret "bugway" under cover of darkness. In the concrete jungle, only the streetwise can hustle for a living.

In the rainforest of Latin America, two tiny, newly hatched bugs — a brilliant orchid bee and a leafcutter ant — strike out into a bewildering world. There are more bug species here than anywhere else on Earth, each with an important role to play. These two newbies must quickly figure out how to fit in and survive on their first day on the job.

It's spring in a Texan backyard, and a new family is moving in. As they put their stamp on the place, a baby Texas unicorn mantis struggles to come of age in her brand-new world, a colony of invasive fire ants have their survival skills pushed to the limit, and a jet-setting monarch butterfly searches for a lifeline on her mammoth migration north. This is the story of bugs surviving and thriving in one of the most unpredictable places on Earth.

The African savanna is famous for its large animals — but their presence makes it a challenging place for tiny bugs to survive. A newly emerged dung beetle and an aging acacia ant face huge obstacles as they battle to feed themselves and look after their families. Both have adopted remarkable skills to survive in this land of giants.

Spring has sprung on an old British farm. A queen bumblebee emerges from hibernation with one goal: to raise a royal family. Like many of the bugs here, they are part of a secret workforce helping the farmer, but not all are so welcome. Doodlebugs munch on roots, and aphids invade the vegetable garden. Can ladybug assassins come to the rescue before it's too late?

On a midsummer's night, Tennessee's Smoky Mountain Forest is swarming with bugs looking for love. A clumsy luna moth, a headstrong stag beetle and a fearless firefly each have just one tiny window to mate and fulfill their destiny. So how do these tiny creatures brave the darkness and find each other? The course of true love has never run smoothly…

A tropical beach may be paradise for people, but it's one of the toughest places on Earth for bugs. A young female hermit crab is growing up fast and needs to find a bigger shell if she's going to survive. But her search for an upgrade soon gets her in trouble, and her chances of making it to adulthood are at the mercy of the tides.

In an English pond, a delicate young damselfly and a host of other bugs battle predators and humans to make it to the surface by summer. Even once the damselfly transforms into an adult and sets his heart on finding a mate, old foes are waiting for him. Can he overcome huge challenges, leave his past behind, and escape the pond for good?

Many think Australia's bugs are the stuff of nightmares. But truly, they're just trying hard to survive, and some are surprisingly cute. Meet an adorable peacock spider dancing his way to a female, a jack jumper ant battling to protect her family, and a weevil trying to stay alive in the face of a fearsome climate. Soon, a viewer will realize these bugs aren't all villains but tiny heroes Down Under.

Surviving hordes of army ants, chasing some of the fastest-running insects on Earth, crawling through muddy mangrove swamps, and climbing to the top of the rainforest canopy, this is how a team of world-renowned scientists, experts and filmmakers armed with the most innovative filming equipment capture the hidden world and untold stories of the planet's tiniest and most underappreciated animals—bugs!