- 12 hours ago
From swarming locusts blotting out the sun to the eerie mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle, nature’s wild side was enough to give any kid the creeps. National Geographic brought us face to face with razor-sharp sharks, bone-chilling parasitic botflies, and thunderous tornadoes. These intense encounters sparked fears that stayed with us for years, reminding us just how unpredictable the natural world can be.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I was freaking out trying to let them know that there is a dangerous tornado heading for their location.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06And today, we're counting down our picks for the parts of nature that horrified us when watching National Geographic growing
00:12up.
00:13Before I knew it, I was in deep.
00:15It had only taken eight minutes for me to sink down to my waist.
00:20Swarming locusts.
00:21We still have a very limited understanding of why insects like locusts perform these mass migrations.
00:29In human history, swarms of locusts are not uncommon.
00:33But to the average person, they are pretty rare.
00:35This is when huge hordes of locusts spread for miles, becoming so thick they can even obscure the sun.
00:41The UN is appealing for more than $41 million to eliminate a severe plague of locusts in Madagascar.
00:47Half of the money is needed by June to try to save the country's crop production.
00:51One of the most devastating came in 1874 in North America, which spread all the way from Texas to Canada.
00:57It contained over 12.5 trillion insects, earning it a Guinness World Record.
01:02In the past 100 years, America has never experienced a swarm like this again,
01:07mainly because the locusts responsible are now extinct.
01:10We found that locusts, we think of them as vegetarian insects,
01:15but we discovered that in fact, they're very, very cannibalistic.
01:20They're chowing down on each other.
01:21They still happen in other parts of the world, but most places will never experience the phenomenon.
01:27Not like mosquitoes, which are maybe even scarier as adults.
01:30No, the most dangerous animal in the world weighs two and a half milligrams,
01:35and you can kill it with a rolled up newspaper.
01:41The most dangerous animal in the world is the mosquito.
01:45Tsunamis and rogue waves.
01:47Big waves can be great fun as a child, as long as you're in a safe environment like a swimming
01:52pool with a wave machine.
01:54Things like tsunamis and rogue waves were instead nightmare fuel for a lot of kids.
01:59As the rolling water reaches the shoreline, the wave's friction against the shallower floor slows it down and raises its
02:06height.
02:07By the time it reaches the shore, the wave can be as tall as 100 feet.
02:11These are some of the most destructive waves in the world, most common in the Pacific,
02:16but they happen in other places like the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and even the Mediterranean.
02:20So you probably won't encounter one if you don't live near the Pacific.
02:24So our focus was the Pacific, which in this case is the wrong ocean.
02:28And we sent out essentially a message saying there's no threat of a dangerous tsunami in the Pacific.
02:36Flash floods, on the other hand, are way more common in America, and are becoming increasingly common due to climate
02:42change.
02:43I'm coming home to a thing.
02:46Botflies and parasites.
02:48The young of this botfly, here in Brazil, feed on the blood and tissues of living cows.
02:54One of the most unsettling aspects of nature is parasitic relationships.
02:58This is when an organism or creature lives off another, often resulting in significant harm.
03:03One of the creepiest is the botfly, which has larvae that burrow into human skin.
03:09It's rarely fatal, and they're fairly simple to remove by covering the infested region with petroleum jelly.
03:15It does not need to fertilize its eggs to reproduce.
03:18It can clone itself.
03:20And so it injects an egg into the ladybug.
03:23It does not need to be fertilized.
03:25And all of those eggs will develop to be more females.
03:29The entire species is female.
03:31Human botflies also aren't common enough to be considered a pest anywhere, and are mainly located in South America.
03:38Still, as adults, the thought of them makes our skin crawl.
03:41And as kids, a documentary on them could stop us sleeping for days.
03:45If allowed to eat their fill, the larvae will burrow out to pupate.
03:50But this is one baby that no one would want to keep.
03:53Snakes.
03:54With size, it's good to have two people.
03:56They're strong, big, strong, constricting snakes, so it's always great to have a backup.
03:59You've got to know what you're doing.
04:01I mean, obviously, if it bites you, it's just going to be very painful.
04:03You could end up with some stitches.
04:04Snakes are a staple of National Geographic.
04:07Most snakes aren't venomous, and the ones that are usually aren't deadly.
04:11They don't consider humans prey, so they only attack people when feeling threatened.
04:16Roughly 5 million people get bitten by snakes each year, but about half of them are venomous.
04:20With over 8 billion humans on Earth, this means you've got less than a 0.10% chance of being
04:26bitten every year.
04:28Camouflaged to blend into plant-choked water, this snake usually waits for prey to come to it.
04:35That didn't stop species like the anaconda from haunting our dreams as children.
04:39Even though we don't have any verifiable sources for an anaconda killing someone,
04:43black mambas were equally terrifying, but they actually live up to their reputation.
04:48This is why I'm seriously peed off mamba.
04:52That was close.
04:53It was a close one.
04:54It was a close one.
04:55That's what came out of here.
04:56I mean, you did it slow as well.
04:58When they want to go, they just go.
05:00Surviving the wilderness.
05:02Survival shows are a staple of most nature channels.
05:05They're so common that many of us kids assumed they would become important later in life.
05:09There it is.
05:10There it is.
05:11It's a huge, huge colony.
05:14They have enough honey in there.
05:15They can recuperate.
05:16Ah, they're stinging the eye.
05:19It turns out that getting stranded in remote wilderness, like a jungle or a desert island,
05:23is an issue few people encounter in life.
05:26It's not impossible, though.
05:28Some sources claim 13 people get lost in American woods every day.
05:32I'm traveling almost 500 miles to experience the Amazon at its wildest.
05:37Welcome to the rainy season.
05:38This journey is going to be a test of every survival secret I've ever learned.
05:43These are usually hikers and wildlife enthusiasts, as opposed to regular folk who end up stranded
05:49due to unfortunate circumstances.
05:51On average, American search and rescue teams take about 10 hours to find lost people.
05:56So in such a situation, you hopefully won't need to live off the land for long.
06:00I may not find any more water today.
06:03So I need to make the most of this.
06:07Basically, I'm held hostage to this waterhole.
06:10Volcanoes.
06:11A few hundred years ago, scientists believed that volcanoes were burning mountains of fire.
06:17Today, we know they're really openings or vents to the hot interior of the planet.
06:24To many children, volcanoes are easily one of the coolest topics in geography.
06:28These explosive mountains can blast tons of lava and magma, which are, of course, extremely
06:34dangerous to people nearby.
06:36This made many children terrified of them, especially when they learned how many on Earth
06:40are still active.
06:42Currently, there are roughly 1,500 volcanoes still active, with 500 million people living
06:47near them.
06:48Volcanoes are scattered across the planet.
06:50About 1,500 active volcanoes can be found across the world, though countless others are on
06:57the ocean floor.
06:59This means, theoretically, they could erupt at any time.
07:02But also, it's quite rare that they erupt without warning.
07:05In the past five centuries, about 540 people have died due to volcanoes annually, making them
07:11about as deadly as elephants.
07:13At this point, the buildup of pressure in a magma reservoir hits a critical mass and then
07:18explodes, sending over 1,000 cubic kilometers of tephra, or ash and rocky material, into the
07:27sky.
07:28Tornadoes.
07:29The idea of getting swept up in a tornado and blown into the atmosphere is likely to
07:34haunt many children.
07:35They've been known to occur all over the world, but they're primarily located in America,
07:40Canada, and Bangladesh.
07:41We want to be able to predict the tornadoes' occurrence ahead of time.
07:46We want to be able to tell the public long before one of these tornadoes occurs that it's
07:50going to occur and where it's going to occur.
07:52Tornado Alley is where they occur most in America, which is roughly centered on Kansas.
07:58Insert Wizard of Oz joke here.
07:59So for everyone who doesn't live in these regions, they're unlikely to ever witness one
08:04with their own eyes.
08:05But the country with the greatest overall number of tornadoes, and the most intense,
08:10is the United States, with over 1,000 reported annually.
08:15That doesn't prevent children from being scared of them, especially their more terrifying variety,
08:20the exceedingly rare fire tornado.
08:23We were also equally scared of earthquakes and lightning, which are something almost all
08:27adults will experience.
08:2830,000 amps of electricity burned its way through the atmosphere at 100 million kilometers
08:33an hour, and headed straight toward Utley.
08:39A warning siren sounded.
08:41This is the last thing he remembers.
08:44Sharks.
08:44Many species of sharks are apex predators, like the great white shark, meaning they have
08:49no natural predators.
08:51This has made them one of the most feared creatures in the ocean.
08:54The jaws of a great white shark, the largest predatory fish in the sea, can contain up to
09:00seven rows that hold up to 300 teeth at any one point.
09:04It feels pretty unjustified when you learn sharks don't care for eating humans.
09:09Studies show they mainly bite humans out of curiosity, or because they mistake them for
09:13something else.
09:14Some sharks are at risk of extinction.
09:18Every year, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed worldwide.
09:22This is pretty similar to the equally feared piranhas, who will only chow down on a human if they're
09:28threatened.
09:29That has not stopped National Geographic from producing a ton of documentaries that present
09:33both as formidable foes to humans.
09:36These piranha can get to over 8 pounds and almost 20 inches long.
09:41Piranha also have extremely strong jaw muscles.
09:452% of the muscle in this fish is in the jaw.
09:49Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, this region of the Atlantic Ocean
09:54is one of the most mythologized places on the planet.
09:57For decades, people have claimed it's a supernatural region where an unusually high number of people
10:03vanish.
10:03According to Philippe's records, there are wrecks completely encircling Bermuda.
10:11There's clearly something out there that poses a deadly threat to shipping.
10:16This has led to a plethora of documentaries exploring the region on channels like National
10:21Geographic.
10:22Despite all the claims, not a single reputable study has found any evidence that it should
10:27be feared.
10:28What was their path after that?
10:30Due east.
10:30Due east.
10:31For another 60, 70 miles.
10:33Okay.
10:34Then make a turn to the north-northwest.
10:36What happened?
10:37It's a big mystery to this day.
10:39In fact, people disappear there at the same rate as they do in basically all other oceans
10:43on Earth.
10:43People still love learning about it, hence why so many documentaries are produced on the
10:48area.
10:49Bermuda's name comes to strike fear into the hearts of sailors and earns a reputation
10:54as the Isle of Devils.
11:04Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's album Balance, classical music
11:09reimagined as rock, hard rock, and metal.
11:12Check out the full track and album below.
11:28Quicksand.
11:29Finally, we have one of the most exaggerated natural phenomena, quicksand.
11:41It is real, and it is possible to get stuck in it, but being sucked to your death is far
11:47less likely.
11:48In reality, you'll sink a little at first, but after a moment, it'll bounce you back
11:52to the top.
11:53Quicksand is just the trap.
11:55In Turnagin' Arm, the real killers are the cold water and the enormous tide, the second
12:01highest in the world.
12:02It can still be dangerous.
12:04As if a high tide approaches, you're in for a pretty poor position.
12:08You can escape by slowly moving your legs, then wiggling into the supine position.
12:12If you can't get anything to grab onto to get yourself out of these situations with this
12:21hot sun, you could die of sunstroke.
12:24In actuality, dry quicksand is more similar to the quicksand of movies, but this has to
12:29be made in a lab, so don't worry about stumbling into it at the beach.
12:33Quicksand by itself is not the killer, but locked in its relentless grip, any one of its
12:40accomplices, time, tide, cold, or heat, can finish us off.
12:45What part of nature were you most scared of growing up, and did we mention it today?
12:49Let us know in the comments below.
Comments