- 4 weeks ago
Join us on this captivating journey into nature's marvels, where birds amaze us with their architectural prowess and traditional weather forecasting techniques reveal the resourcefulness of our ancestors.
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00:00Okay, today we have sheds, houses, villas, apartment buildings, skyscrapers, and many
00:06architectural masterpieces. And animals have burrows and nests. Those don't seem so cool
00:12at first glance, but some animals can easily triumph over us in the best builder competition.
00:18Check this out. Do you know these vast residential areas with identical apartment buildings?
00:25Some birds in Namibia and South Africa build something similar. Meet Africa's social weavers.
00:32This bird is the size of an ordinary sparrow. They live in colonies of up to 500 individuals
00:38and build the biggest nests on the planet. One house weighs about 2,000 pounds,
00:44slightly less than a passenger car. The nest looks like a massive tangle of twigs and sticks.
00:49There are comfortable rooms behind its 7-foot-thick walls. Some nests are so sturdy that they can
00:56last for a century. Perhaps they're even more reliable than many modern buildings.
01:01On average, there are about 100 rooms in one such house. A social weaver's nest is the largest
01:08community of vertebrate creatures living in one structure. Rooms have only one exit. There's no
01:14complicated tunnel system. Apparently, birds like their privacy. Social weavers build a nest as a
01:20team. They use thousands of branches from all over the area and weave them using their tiny beaks.
01:27Then, they start making small rooms where the nest frame is ready. Each bird lays grass and feathers
01:33inside its house for a more comfortable stay. Like a small family, three or four birds live in one
01:40chamber. This way of life is necessary for them to survive. At night, in the semi-arid areas where
01:47the birds live, the temperatures can drop to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Water freezes at 32.
01:54But look at the social weaver's nest through a thermal imager. You'll see that the temperature
01:59inside the chambers reaches 75 degrees. The birds warm one another with their bodies,
02:05and feathers and grass inside the room don't allow this heat to come out. Together, these heated cells
02:11raise the temperature of the entire nest so birds can easily survive the cold. During the day, the sun
02:18warms the ground so much, you could probably fry an omelette there. But it's pretty cool inside the
02:24nest, thanks to the thick layer of branches that create shadow. This nest is also excellent protection
02:31against enemies. Imagine an eagle flying high in the sky and looking for prey. It notices a nest in a
02:38tree and takes eggs from it. But such a trick won't work with social weavers. These birds enter their
02:45chambers from the bottom of the nest. The eagle has to fly under the nest to get something. But of
02:51course,
02:52it won't do that. The upper part of this structure is like armor, and no enemy can penetrate it. Also,
02:58such a position saves the chambers from getting flooded during the rain. Perhaps birds didn't live
03:04in groups in the past. They wove single little rooms. Then they began to unite in large flocks,
03:10and all their chambers became one single nest. It seems to be an inaccessible fortress,
03:16but its main vulnerability is trees. Sometimes nests get so heavy that the trunks can't withstand this
03:23weight and break. It often happens during the rain when branches get wet, which increases the weight
03:29of the entire nest. If a snake or some other bird gets into the nest, social weavers surround it and
03:36start making loud squawking noises to scare the unwelcome guest away. This works with small enemies,
03:42but won't scare away eagles or big reptiles. The social weaver is one of the few birds whose
03:48population is growing today. They don't suffer from expanding human activity, but adapt to it.
03:54You can see many telephone poles on which social weavers have built huge nests.
03:59Now, walking through the forests of Australia, you can come across the unusual nest of the bowerbird.
04:06It looks like a hut created by some little person. It's one of the few bird nests that look beautiful,
04:12and the bowerbird does this intentionally. The nest is made of long, dry branches and resembles an
04:19arch. A male bowerbird builds a beautiful house and then decorates it with various objects. It can be
04:25stones, shells, feathers, leaves, and even coins. The bird doesn't care what kind of object it is. The
04:33color is important. The bowerbird tries to make the nest as colorful as possible to attract a female. When the
04:40house is ready, a female inspects it. If the bird doesn't like it, the male abandons the nest and then
04:46builds a new one. Now, these birds don't collect branches and leaves to build their nest. They make
04:52holes in hill slopes or in the ground. Each is a small nest where one bee-eater family lives. They
05:00use
05:00their beaks to knock on a hard surface like a pickax. Then they throw out the loosened dirt with their
05:06feet.
05:07They work until five eggs fit inside the burrow. These birds' diet consists mostly of bees. They're
05:13not afraid of these insects. The bee-eaters' main enemies are snakes and larger birds.
05:20Now, take grass, reeds, and palm stems and weave a small basket. It'll probably take you a long time.
05:28The southern masked weaver can produce such a basket in 9 to 14 hours. These unusual nests hang on tree
05:35branches. One male can build about 12 nests like this in a few days. Then he shows them to a
05:41female.
05:42If she chooses a nest, the male makes an entrance tunnel into it. Then the female decorates the
05:48interior with feathers and soft grass. Now let's move to the world of insects. The appearance of a
05:55wasp nest under the porch of your house is a bad sign. Nobody wants a colony of aggressive stinging
06:01bugs near their windows. But let's get closer and figure out how these insects create such strange
06:08nests. And what are they made of? One of the most common species of wasps is paper wasps. They can
06:15build nests in any place that has a solid horizontal base. That's why they often choose ceilings,
06:21cornices, and porches. They start building in the corners to get more protection. Next, the queen
06:27begins to look for the materials for the nest. The wasp chooses something wooden. It can be a log,
06:33a trunk, cardboard boxes, or a fence. With its powerful jaws, it scrapes off a thin layer of wood
06:39and chews it. The wasp's saliva splits wood fibers and turns them into a soft mass. Then the insect spits
06:47this material out and begins to mold a nest out of it. The construction may take four to six months.
06:54When the queen has offspring, the little wasps help it build the nest. The colony makes a house and
07:01leaves it in a couple of months. In the fall, the queen flies to a warm place to survive the
07:06winter.
07:07Then, in the spring, it chooses a new location and builds a new nest. Here, the mud dauber wasp differs
07:14from other species. It builds its nest out of mud. The queen doesn't have workers who help it create a
07:21house. It does everything alone. The place for the nest should be close to mud springs.
07:27The queen scrapes off some soft dirt with its jaws and then rolls it into a small ball. Then,
07:33holding it with its front legs, the queen delivers it to the nest site. The wasp stocks up on the
07:40construction materials and begins to mold the nest. It moistens the substance with its saliva to make it
07:46smooth and shape it like a short tube. The queen creates several pipes with chambers inside.
07:52There, it lays eggs. While its offspring grow up, the wasp begins to look for food. Its favorite dish
07:59is spiders. It bites them and injects a paralyzing poison. Then, it brings the prey to the nest where
08:08hungry little wasps are waiting for lunch. Don't be surprised if you notice hundreds of paralyzed
08:13spiders on the ground. It means that a nest of mud dauber wasps is nearby.
08:20Urbania sounds like a made-up city from a fairy tale, but it's not. It's real and located in central
08:27Italy. The town's name isn't the only strange thing about it. Every year, the local newspaper
08:32and television publish a strange weather forecast. It's based on onion wedges. Yes, you've heard it
08:39correctly. Italians from this region eagerly look forward to a forecast based on a vegetable.
08:47The tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. It's kept alive by the local school teacher. Every January
08:5324th, she cuts a yellow onion into quarters. Then, she divides them into wedges, 12 of them for each
09:01month of the year. They lie neatly on her kitchen cutting board, facing east. The following morning,
09:07the onion is ready for interpretation. Because she sprinkled them with salt, the wedges change their
09:13texture. The woman uses these clues to forecast the weather for that year. She's been doing this for
09:19three decades. And before her, her father did it. Before him, her grandfather. You get the gist.
09:26Onion reading has become a family tradition. Historical records show that this practice has
09:32been going on in Urbania for centuries. Back in the day, farmers used this method of forecasting the
09:38weather to help agriculture. It was important to know exactly when to plant seeds and when to harvest
09:45crops. The method must have been accurate, because up until the beginning of the 20th century,
09:51locals still trusted onions more than the official weather forecast. This isn't surprising. The first
09:58weather forecast based on scientific data was published in a British newspaper in 1861. Before this time,
10:06people did all sorts of things to predict the weather. The methods they used might seem pretty funny to us
10:12today.
10:15Take the woolly bear caterpillar as an example. This species lives in the United States and southern
10:21Canada. The legend goes that you can determine how harsh the next winter will be just by looking at the
10:27animal's color pattern. If the color brown is dominant, then the winter will be mild. That's an odd way to
10:34predict the weather, but believe it or not, it does have some grounding in science. You know who entomologists
10:41are? Yes, those are scientists who study bugs. Their research showed that the caterpillar's color
10:47is connected with how much food it has had, but there's a twist. The color reveals the harshness of
10:53the winter of the previous year, telling the future is not the woolly bear caterpillar's forte.
11:00People think ladybugs bring luck, but they're more than good luck charms.
11:05Have you ever heard of the saying, when ladybugs swarm, expect a day that's warm? This is actually
11:11true. When the weather is warm outside, these lovable insects leave their hiding. But as the
11:17temperature drops before a rain shower, they fly in search of cover. Frogs can also predict rain.
11:24Right before the first droplet, these amphibians croak louder. They actually do this because they're
11:30about to mate. Frogs lay eggs in bodies of fresh water. If rain is coming, then water levels in ponds
11:37will rise. This increases the animal's chances of finding a partner to produce tadpoles.
11:44Have your parents told you to stay away from hornets' nests? They were right, but the nests of bees,
11:49wasps, and hornets make for excellent weather stations. When they start building nests higher than
11:56usual, expect a colder winter with a lot of snow. You see, hornets cannot survive temperatures lower
12:03than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That's why they want to stay clear of the cold as much as possible.
12:10Another animal that bulks up for winter is the squirrel. Take notice of these cute rodents the
12:15next time you go hiking in the late fall. If they seem chubbier than usual, then the winter is gonna
12:21be
12:21cold. And remember Scrat from Ice Age? The hyperactive squirrel that was constantly chasing after an
12:27acorn? When you see a squirrel acting like Scrat, then that's a sure sign of a long winter approaching.
12:34The rodents want to stock up before mother nature closes the shop.
12:39Have you noticed more cobwebs in your house recently? That's just spiders sensing bad weather
12:45approaching. Also, if spiderwebs are larger than usual, then they're trying to catch more prey.
12:51That's their way of preparing for a long winter. Livestock prepares for this period by growing
12:57thicker fur. If you live in the countryside and notice that sheep are woolier than usual,
13:03then it's time to invest in a warm winter jacket. Are there mole hillocks in your backyard?
13:09Apart from tripping on them, you can use them as tiny weather stations. The deeper they are,
13:15the harsher the winter. Let all those animals rest a bit. Looking at the sky can also tell you the
13:22weather. Duh! There's a popular theory that every foggy day in August equals a day of snowfall in
13:28winter. Pretty exact math for something that's just a belief. Then there's the moon. Science already knows
13:36that it has power over ocean tides. After all, the saying, clear moon, frost soon, has been around for
13:42a while. When the moon is shining bright in a cloudless sky, it's going to be chilly the next
13:47morning. Looking at clouds also gives hints about the weather. White clouds high in the sky indicate
13:54a clear and sunny day. When their color changes to black and they're set lower in the sky, expect rain.
14:01The cloud's shape is also revealing. If they're ragged when you look at them from below,
14:06open your umbrella. It's going to rain soon. Remember the onions from the beginning? They're
14:13not the only plants that can forecast the weather. In the Ozark mountains, there is a folklore belief
14:19that involves persimmons. When you cut in half the seed of this sweet fruit, look for the shape inside.
14:25When it resembles a spoon, expect snow that winter. But if you see a fork, then the cold season will
14:32be
14:32mild. A knife shape and the weather will be windy and icy. This strange prediction based on cutlery
14:39has some logic behind it. American persimmons ripen in September and October. It shouldn't be surprising
14:46that people use this fruit to inquire about the winter ahead. The United States is the world's
14:52second largest producer of apples. That makes it easy to test another theory. If apple trees produce
14:59more fruit than usual, then the upcoming winter will be harsh. There are two explanations why this
15:05might be true. The first is that apple trees produce more food for the animals. The second is that they
15:12want
15:12to maximize the number of seeds, just in case the plants don't get through the cold spell. Walnut trees
15:18use a similar tactic. People figured out that walnuts have a thicker outside shell in preparation for a
15:24winter colder than usual. The same goes for hickory trees and oaks. Pine cones are more than a table
15:33decoration. The phrase, open pine, the weather's fine, says it all. Pine cones open their scales during warm
15:40and dry weather. They want to spread their seeds as far as possible. But when the weather takes a turn
15:46for the worst, they close them. Cold or damp air won't disperse pine cone seeds very far. Today, no one
15:54goes into the forest to see how plump squirrels are, nor do they take out a ruler to measure pine
15:59cones.
16:00All the info about the weather we need is inside our smartphones and on the internet. In the 1950s,
16:07computers took over weather forecasting, and they've been doing it ever since. But inaccurate weather
16:13predictions still happen. Long-term weather forecasts are especially challenging. That's because there are
16:20so many factors at play. Wind, humidity, temperature, air pressure, and clouds are just the tip of the
16:27meteorological iceberg. Although it's just a tradition, Italian onion reading might not be so ridiculous after
16:34all. At least the nice lady uses the onions to make soup after everything is said and done.
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