- 3 hours ago
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- #brightsideglobal
Welcome to New York's Secret Treasure, the show where we explore the incredible bugs that are found nowhere else in the world. New York is home to more than 4,000 species of insects, some of which are endemic to the state and have unique adaptations and behaviors. In this episode, we will introduce you to some of these amazing creatures and show you why they are so special.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:01 Bugs of New York
10:10 Fake buildings of NYC
18:26 NYC's underground secrets
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
#brightside #brightsideglobal
TIMESTAMPS:
0:01 Bugs of New York
10:10 Fake buildings of NYC
18:26 NYC's underground secrets
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:01Wow!
00:02Every morning, 8.5 million people wake up in New York City.
00:05But the Big Apple doesn't belong only to humans.
00:09This is the city of ants.
00:11There are 17 billion of them here.
00:14They live in houses, hide in the grass, crawl under asphalt, and climb trees.
00:19For every New Yorker, there's a sneaker box filled with ants.
00:23City ants are more fortunate than their forest cousins.
00:26They don't have any need to look for food.
00:29Millions of people leave behind tons of hot dog crumbs, pizza slices, and coffee drips.
00:36Insects just have to wait for a lunch break in an office building.
00:39Then they gather around benches in the park or cafe tables.
00:43A lot of food is waiting for them there.
00:47Over 1 billion!
00:49That's how many ants are running through the streets and parks of Manhattan.
00:52And in this ocean of insects, scientists have been able to spot tiny reddish-brown creatures.
00:58These insects don't fit into any of the 13,000 ant species known to science.
01:04They're unique and only live in Manhattan.
01:07Their kingdom is between 63rd and 76th streets.
01:11Scientists don't know how long the Manhattans have evolved in isolation.
01:17They arrived in the U.S. on ships from Europe and were cut off from the rest of the city's
01:21infrastructure.
01:22But why go anywhere else if there's enough food?
01:26The Manhattan ant loves fast food, especially corn syrup.
01:30Because of such a diet, the insect's body has an increased carbon contact.
01:34This isn't a problem for the ant, though.
01:36Carbon helps it adapt to the dry, warm weather of the concrete jungle.
01:41Around 20% of New York City is parks and green spaces.
01:46White-footed mice live in these places.
01:48Scientists have found out that the mice that live in New York have evolved.
01:52They're different from their village relatives.
01:55These changes are genetical.
01:57It's caused by the diet of white-footed rodents that feed on human food waste.
02:01For example, New York mice need enlarged livers to process fatty acids from fast food.
02:09Central Park in New York is almost twice the size of the Principality of Monaco.
02:13A unique centipede is only found in this green area.
02:17The creature, called Hoffman's dwarf centipede, doesn't grow any longer than 0.4 inches.
02:23It lives in heaps of dry plants and runs on 41 pairs of legs.
02:29This crustacean, measuring only a bit more than 0.3 inches, is called the Socorro isopod.
02:36It's one of the rarest animals on the planet.
02:39The creature can only be found in a small thermal spring near Socorro, New Mexico.
02:45The isopod lives in the water as warm as 90 degrees Fahrenheit and covered with a layer of algae.
02:51These are ideal conditions for the creature.
02:55To get to Mobile Cave, you'd have to repel 65 feet down.
03:00That's the height of a four-story building.
03:03After that, you'd crawl through narrow passages and swim along a canal with cold water.
03:09Sunlight can't get into the cave.
03:11The air is poisoned by vapors of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
03:15This extreme place has been isolated from the outside world for 5.5 million years.
03:22A unique ecosystem has formed in this toxic atmosphere.
03:26Of all the animals that live there, 33 species of millipedes, scorpions, spiders, and leeches can't be found anywhere else
03:35on Earth.
03:35These creatures are mostly blind and colorless.
03:38Well, why would you need eyes in disguise if you live in complete darkness?
03:43Mobile's coolest guy is the venomous centipede.
03:46Scientists have nicknamed this animal the king of the cave.
03:50It doesn't grow more than two inches.
03:51But for this world, it's a giant.
03:54The blind salamander would feel great in the company of strange animals from Mobile.
03:59But these little monsters are separated by the ocean and thousands of miles.
04:03The Mobile cave is located in Romania, where these beauties live only in Texas.
04:10Their home is an underground body of water in the San Marcos area.
04:14These salamanders grow to be 5 inches long.
04:17The name makes it pretty clear that the animal is blind.
04:21It does have eyes, but they're pretty much useless.
04:24This doesn't stop the salamander from being a skilled snail and shrimp hunter.
04:28It senses other animals by feeling the underwater waves they create while moving.
04:35The Scottish wildcat lives in the north of Scotland.
04:39This animal is different from domestic cats, which love sleeping on the couch.
04:44Unlike them, it's a perfect hunter.
04:46The creature is 25% larger than the average cat.
04:50It's muscular and long-legged.
04:52The wildcat's tail is blunt and fluffy, covered in black rings, with a black tip on the end.
04:59The quokka is called the world's happiest animal.
05:03Just look at its smile!
05:05This fluffy animal seems to always be ready for a photo shoot.
05:10Quokkas are only found in Australia.
05:13Around 10,000 animals live on Rottnest Island and several other locations.
05:18The creature's cute smile is an evolutionary trait.
05:21An open mouth helps it breathe and regulates its body temperature.
05:25Oh, by the way, if you try to feed a quokka, you'll have to pay a fine of more than
05:29200 bucks.
05:31This baby will feel comfortable even if you put it on your little finger.
05:35The animal lives only on the island of Madagascar.
05:39Scientists have found just two tiny reptiles, a male and a female.
05:43The researchers have named the nanochameleon Brochysia nana.
05:48It's a mystery to them why it doesn't grow larger than a sunflower seed.
05:52The next animal on the list also lives only in Madagascar.
05:57Locals call this creature aye-aye.
06:00The unusual lemur spends most of its life in trees and leads a nocturnal lifestyle.
06:05This might explain why it looks so tired.
06:08Even though the aye-aye is a lemur, its teeth are like those of a rodent.
06:12Its claws resemble sloth's claws.
06:15And its body looks like that of a monkey.
06:18The animal's fingers and toes are especially frightening.
06:22They're long and thin, with pointy claws!
06:28Get equipped for any season with brand new Brightside merch!
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06:34This is a giraffe with its trademark long neck.
06:37A zebra is grazing nearby.
06:40Black and white stripes on its body help the animal reflect sunlight during the day
06:44and keep it warm at night.
06:47But what if you combine these animals?
06:50No need!
06:50Nature has done this work for you!
06:52The okapi looks like a giraffe with a short neck, horse body, and zebra stripes on its legs.
06:59The okapi has a long tongue.
07:02Males have small giraffe horns on their heads.
07:04You can only meet these unusual animals in the African rainforest.
07:10If you decide to travel around Africa afterward, you must visit the Ethiopian highlands.
07:17That's where you see unique gelata monkeys.
07:20And no, they're not named after the Italian ice cream.
07:23That's gelata.
07:24Don't mix that up.
07:26Males look like rock stars from the 70s.
07:28They're bright and have cool hair.
07:30But don't mess with these animals.
07:32They aren't too friendly.
07:34Gelatas spend most of their time on the ground.
07:37And the main part of their diet is the grass they collect during the day.
07:41Scientists believe that gelatas are the remaining members of an ancient gang of critters.
07:46It lived millions of years ago in vast spaces from South Africa to India.
07:52Now, imagine people the size of the Statue of Liberty living next to us.
07:56Sounds like science fiction.
07:57But for the animal world, this is reality.
08:00The world's smallest tortoise species, the speckled tortoise, doesn't grow more than 4 inches long.
08:07But the Galapagos Islands are home to giant tortoises that reach the length of 5 feet.
08:12They also weigh like a sports bike.
08:14The largest of them had an incredible weight of 1,000 pounds.
08:19The giant Galapagos tortoise lives for 100 years and sleeps 16 hours a day.
08:24Due to its slow metabolism, the animal may not eat or drink water for a whole year.
08:31Millions of years ago, lizards from South America climbed onto a log.
08:36Sea waves carried the log to the Pacific Ocean.
08:39The lizards traveled hundreds of miles and ended up on the Galapagos Islands.
08:44They had to evolve to adapt to new conditions.
08:47Scientists believe this is how the marine iguanas appeared.
08:51These unique animals look like dangerous dragons.
08:55But in fact, they feed on plants and are totally harmless.
08:59Iguanas spend most of their lives in water.
09:02To get rid of sea salt that accumulates in the body, these animals literally sneeze salt.
09:08Achoo!
09:08The lyrebird lives only in southeastern Australia and the island of Tasmania.
09:14The bird has such a strange name because of its tail.
09:18It looks like a lyre, a stringed instrument of the ancient Greeks.
09:22Lyrebirds are known for their ability to imitate other birds, and not only them.
09:27The bird copies animal screams,
09:29human voices,
09:32chainsaw noises,
09:34car and fire alarms,
09:35and even the click of a camera.
09:39About 12,000 years ago, a salt lake appeared on one of Palau's islands.
09:44Today, it's called Jellyfish Lake.
09:47This 1,500 by 500-foot reservoir is home to 5 million golden jellyfish.
09:53These unique creatures swim to the west shore of the lake every morning.
09:56There, jellyfish wait for the sunrise.
09:59Then, all day long, they follow the sun.
10:02Algae lives in the tissues of the jellyfish, feeding them with energy.
10:06These algaes can't live without sunlight.
10:09Wow!
10:10Looky here!
10:11It's New York City.
10:13The Big Apple.
10:14The city that never sleeps.
10:15Hong Kong on the Hudson.
10:17The greatest city in the world.
10:18New York, New York.
10:20The city so nice, they named it twice.
10:22Alright, I'll stop.
10:23You thought you knew this city so well.
10:27But underneath all that glitz and glamour is a facade.
10:30Literally.
10:31New York is populated with some of the most iconic urban buildings in the world,
10:35and home to some of the most unique and famous towers.
10:38Who would have known that New York was a front for fake buildings?
10:42And the cool thing is that there are plenty to search for.
10:45Okay, I'm adding that to my bucket list.
10:48So, the question is, why do they put these fake buildings all over New York?
10:53The city is one of the most vibrant places in the world,
10:56and requires many infrastructures to keep the city in motion.
10:59That means having many industrial structures and buildings in every major district.
11:04New York is charming for the design and the buildings.
11:08Imagine having industrial structures right next to your favorite pizza parlor or hot dog stand.
11:13The designers thought ahead and decided to disguise those industrial infrastructures as fake buildings.
11:20They blend with the city so well that they don't stand out.
11:24They look like your good old apartment or housing unit with a front door,
11:28real-life windows, and even charming balconies where people would hang out.
11:32The only thing is that there's nothing behind the facade and no one is allowed inside.
11:37So, where in the world can you find these fake buildings?
11:41For starters, one of the most popular fake buildings is in Brooklyn.
11:45At 58 Juralamon Street, you can find a very typical neighborhood.
11:50But between the buildings stands a brick building with a slightly deeper shade than the rest.
11:55It has bright open windows that blend in with the rest of the buildings in the neighborhood,
11:59except that they're blacked out.
12:01At first glance, you might not think of it as anything.
12:04But if you pay close attention, the building looks like a glitch from a video game.
12:09It was built in 1847, way before New York was considered glamorous.
12:15Originally, it was meant to be a regular building.
12:18But in 1908, they converted it into a fake building.
12:22Don't think you can just try to break in.
12:24Even if you could, it's pointless, because it's part of a ventilation fan for the subway.
12:29It also serves as an emergency exit for some of the surrounding buildings.
12:34Actually, throughout New York, many fake buildings exist to disguise the subway vents for the smoke to escape.
12:41All the way to 415 Bruckner Boulevard, the Bronx, this townhouse was designed by the Switzer Group, which is an
12:49interior architect company.
12:50It's not as charming as the one at 58 Jora Lemon Street, but it serves a similar purpose.
12:56To hide an electric substation for New York's utility company.
13:01The city needs these substations to reduce the high-voltage electricity to a lower voltage so it can be distributed
13:07locally.
13:08Having a building like this popping out of the middle of your neighborhood isn't exactly the smartest way to attract
13:14people to the Bronx.
13:15That's why the fake townhouse facade is the perfect camouflage.
13:19Now, some of these fake buildings don't really hit the mark and stick out like a sore thumb.
13:25The people of Manhattan describe the Mulry Square infrastructure as a complete clunker.
13:30After plenty of redesigns and back to the drawing board meetings, the result is still not pretty.
13:36The locals compare it to a concrete box.
13:39They created windows without glass, which doesn't allow the building to blend in with the rest of the neighborhood.
13:45But it beats a typical subway ventilation plant either way.
13:50There are just so many places to visit and cross off your bucket list.
13:54But if you live in China, you can literally stay in the country and visit many iconic cities around the
14:00world.
14:01The replica cities began when the Chinese economy started booming in the early 90s.
14:06They wanted the lifestyle of the rich and famous without wanting to leave their country.
14:11They can be comfortable eating their local food and get the feeling of being abroad.
14:16The Chinese province of Guangdong has an identical copy of the historical Australian alpine village Hallstatt.
14:24The real Hallstatt is centuries old and one of the most charming places to discover.
14:29The local people of Hallstatt also had no idea that their home was being built in China.
14:35Some people thought that this was controversial, probably because it cost around $940 million to build it.
14:43Paris is undoubtedly one of the most charming cities you could ever visit.
14:47Its rich history and vibrant culture are enough to catch the first plane to go there.
14:52For residents of Tian du Cheng, that's something they can do anytime they want.
14:57The city is also known as Sky City and has a replica of the Eiffel Tower that looks eerily like
15:03the iconic one in Paris
15:05and built buildings to match the city's visual charm.
15:08One of the main things that will break the charm is the farmland surrounding the city.
15:13There's barely anyone there and the streets are always empty, very un-Paris-like.
15:18Still, you can find some nice fountains and statues scattered along the streets to give it some spirit.
15:24There's laundry hung everywhere, even on the trees.
15:27The picturesque fountains are dry and many apartments are empty.
15:31Only a few stores are open for business.
15:33Even though this looks like a fake city, it's quite real.
15:38Some people live here because it's more affordable than other places.
15:42Two hours away from this town is another version of Paris' Pont Alexandre III
15:46and a carbon copy of London's Tower Bridge, but with four towers instead of two.
15:52Hey, such a bargain!
15:54You can also visit the closest thing to Italy, but this time you can go shopping.
15:58Florencia Village is an outlet mall that offers an array of shops to lose yourself.
16:04The good thing is that this was built by an Italian developer to capture the essence of an Italian village.
16:11It has fountains, canals, and mosaics for proper aesthetics.
16:15It began in 2011 and has more than 200 shops with many Italian brands and British, US, and Chinese brands
16:22as well.
16:23The place is so popular that it gets between 10,000 and 25,000 visitors per day.
16:29China also has other replica towns that put you in a mini Manhattan called the Yuzhiapu Financial District.
16:36The developer's goal was to make this place the financial center of the world.
16:41It was complete with the right landmarks, like the Rockefeller and Lincoln Centers,
16:46but the project was halted in 2019, leaving it mainly empty.
16:50You can find a typical English town with cobbled streets, Victorian homes, and restaurants that make Thames Town.
16:57This place was meant to recreate a European lifestyle fantasy without leaving Shanghai.
17:02China also has a Dutch town that has some elements of Amsterdam with windmills and famous canals.
17:09They even decided to copy some of the landmarks, like the Netherlands Maritime Museum.
17:15Here's a bonus story of Lebanon's thinnest building built out of a dispute.
17:19It's the story of two brothers who both inherited unequal plots of land.
17:24One of the brothers happened to get a very thin plot of land
17:27and couldn't help but be jealous of his brother's nice plot of land.
17:31He wasn't pleased.
17:33Both of the lands overlooked the Mediterranean Sea in a lively neighborhood of Beirut.
17:38So, it's no wonder that both brothers couldn't agree on how they should develop their lands.
17:43It was obvious that the brother with the most land could build a proper building.
17:48The other brother had to improvise.
17:50He decided to obstruct his brother's property by constructing a thin building
17:55enough to only fit 14 feet at its widest and 2 feet at its most narrow.
18:00It was constructed in 1954, and the locals of the area know it as The Grudge.
18:07The crazy thing is that the place was once habitable with many visitors enjoying their stay.
18:12It's not easy to live there, but it's part of living the experience.
18:16The building is still standing, but is empty.
18:20Here's a riddle.
18:21Which U.S. city is so loved that its name should be repeated twice?
18:25You guessed it, New York, New York.
18:27But the thing is, how much of New York do we really know?
18:31I'm talking about the city that lies under the city.
18:36Dare to join me on an underground tour of the Big Apple?
18:39Then grab a flashlight, it's about to get dark.
18:43We'll start in the heart of Manhattan, in the front of the Romanesque City Hall building.
18:48Believe it or not, beneath our feet lies New York's oldest subway station, known as the Old City Hall Station.
18:56It opened in 1904 on October 27th, a night of true celebration for New Yorkers.
19:02People were so excited, some of them spent the entire night riding the trains back and forth.
19:08Before this, urban dwellers moved around in carriages pulled by horses.
19:12No wonder the subway was such a hit.
19:14You might feel like a time traveler stepping inside the Old City Hall station.
19:19The architecture is dazzling, and one of a kind.
19:22They sure don't make subway stations like this one anymore.
19:26Fun fact, the Old City Hall station would cost $6.2 million if it was built today.
19:32Back in the day, it had dozens of brass chandeliers hanging around.
19:36It was one of the few spots in town with functioning electricity.
19:40And oh, not to mention brand new multicolored tiled arches and stained glass ceilings you can still see today.
19:47Impressive, huh?
19:48If you decide to wander down the tracks, you might be in for a treat.
19:52Underground New York is as fascinating as the city above the ground.
19:57But one thing we usually take for granted is the behind the scenes of what the Big Apple needs to
20:02function.
20:03Down here, you might see one or two of New York's pneumatic mail tubes.
20:08These tubes were built back in the 1800s, and they were operational up until the 1950s.
20:14They were responsible for distributing people's mail through different post offices.
20:19Letters flew at an impressive speed of 35 miles per hour.
20:23That's almost as fast as a professional runner.
20:26It sure sounds like a useful system.
20:28But I have to say, it feels weird imagining people's correspondence flying around 15 feet underground.
20:36Back to street level.
20:37We'll wander around fancy Lexington and Park Avenues.
20:41If you look up, you'll see the famous Waldorf Astoria five-star hotel.
20:46Many celebrities have stayed there, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as well as presidents such as FDR.
20:53This is why the hotel used a secret infrastructure to sneak people inside and out.
20:59Under the building, a tunnel known as Track 61 connected the Waldorf Astoria to Grand Central Station.
21:05The track was deactivated in the late 70s, but some people say Andy Warhol threw a party there in the
21:1180s.
21:12I bet that was something.
21:14For the next part of our visit, we'll have to take the subway uptown.
21:18We'll get off at 125th Street and find ourselves on the scenic waterfront of Riverside Park.
21:25Here, you'll find abandoned tracks of an old metro line.
21:29If you follow the tracks, you'll get to an underground graffiti gallery, a.k.a. the Freedom Tunnel.
21:35The tunnel is named after a graffiti artist from the 80s who is commonly known as Freedom.
21:41While exploring these tunnels, we'll see over 40 graffiti pieces he painted over 15 years.
21:47There are spray paints of James Dean, Mona Lisa, and even a self-portrait of Freedom himself.
21:54Moving on, let's wander around the northern part of NYC for a bit.
21:58Walking in Van Cortland Park will feel like hiking upstate, but believe me, you're still in the city.
22:04Along the way, you'll encounter some big ventilation towers made of stone.
22:09These towers were once part of an old New York infrastructure.
22:12They make up the remains of what used to be the Croton Aqueduct.
22:17In the 1800s, the city's water supply flowed through a 41-mile-long underground tunnel,
22:23all the way from Croton River in upstate New York to Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan.
22:29Oh yes, and I should probably tell you that Bryant Park wasn't a park.
22:33Instead, it hosted a colossal stone structure that looked pretty much like something ancient Egyptians would build.
22:40This 4-acre structure served as the city's water reservoir.
22:44It even had a pathway on top so that people could enjoy a nice afternoon stroll while looking at the
22:49reservoir's crystalline water.
22:52Now, all this exploring might have made you hungry, but don't worry.
22:55Our next stop includes a yummy treat.
22:58We'll have to leave Manhattan and make our way to Brooklyn.
23:01In case you didn't know, New York City is made of five boroughs.
23:05Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.
23:10Crown Heights, that's our stop.
23:12Would you believe me if I told you that beneath these streets lie caves full of aging cheese?
23:17How very Parisian of them.
23:20To get down there, you'll have to make your way through a century-old building that now works as an
23:25office space.
23:26Maybe wave hello to all those hard-working people and disappear in one of the stairways that will take you
23:3230 feet below the ground.
23:34You won't need a flashlight for this one.
23:36The caves are bright and renovated and can hold up to 22,000 pounds of cheese.
23:41But hey, it might stink.
23:43That's the main reason cheesemakers decided to use underground tunnels to age cheese in the first place.
23:50After a bite or two of some delicious cheese, let's keep going.
23:54While still in Brooklyn, you might see tons of locals enjoying a sunny day in the McCarran Park pool.
24:00This pool is a huge attraction, being three times the size of an Olympic pool.
24:05As the NYC explorer you are becoming, you might even go for a swim.
24:10But hey, there's a much more interesting part to this attraction.
24:15The pool was built in the early 1900s, but it was shut down in the 50s.
24:19During this time, urban explorers discovered a network of underground tunnels right beneath the pool.
24:25And, of course, you can find a secret entrance and get a peek for yourself.
24:30There, you'll not only see the pool's filtration and heating system, but also a lot of graffiti from the time
24:36the site was abandoned.
24:38Neat!
24:39This question may sound weird, but have you ever seen a cow in New York?
24:44I sure haven't.
24:45Well, maybe there's a reason for that.
24:47Apparently, New York still has underground tunnels that were constructed for the transportation of cattle.
24:54Once New York started to flood with automobiles, cows became a burden for traffic.
24:59Until a 200-foot-long cow passage was built below 12th Street to transport the livestock that was ferried over
25:05from New Jersey.
25:07These days, you won't be able to visit this place in person because the tunnel was most likely destroyed.
25:12But, historians found blueprints proving its existence.
25:17To add to the list, archaeologists discovered a very peculiar fossil a while back.
25:21Now, imagine peeling off the layers of the city's soil.
25:25First, at 15 inches, you'll find a layer of wires.
25:29I'm talking TV cables, electricity, and all that.
25:33Digging deeper, at 4 feet, you'll see water and sewage pipes.
25:36But then, at 15 feet down under the surface of NYC, diggers have found a fossilized shipwreck.
25:43The wreck is located right under Broad Street, where there was once shallow water.
25:48They believe the wreck dates back to the 1600s.
25:51It's 92 feet long and 25 feet wide.
25:55Oh, and that's not all.
25:57At the intersection of Bowery and Canal Street, engineers stumbled upon a room with its walls and ceiling covered in
26:03mirrors.
26:04And no one has managed to explain the existence of this bizarre place yet.
26:10Our Big Apple underground visit is coming to an end.
26:13But we sure did more than just scratch the surface on this one.
26:17Before we finish, let's enjoy the best of what NYC cuisine has to offer.
26:21A good old bagel.
26:24Who knows, maybe next time we'll do Paris, or even London.
26:27See you soon, Explorer!
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