The Secret of Life on Earth Page #2

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Growing on poor soil,

this sundew plant...

...gets the nitrogen

it needs digesting the insects...

...caught in its sticky leaves.

The leaves of another flesh-eating

plant form an even more ingenious trap:

The Venus flytrap.

Press the button,

and ''bang'' goes the trap.

Even so,

the plant has no guarantee of success.

''Win some and lose some''

is always nature's rule.

Each hair is a trigger.

Touch it twice and the trap shuts.

Once it has secured its prey,

the plant digests it.

ln all subcontracts written

into the green contract...

...there's a delicate balance

maintained between killer and victim.

lndividuals will perish,

but each species will survive.

ln the tropical forest

there is the richest variety...

...of relationships

between plants and animals.

The success of flowering plants

shows here more so...

...than anywhere else. They've

an ideal climate with warmth...

...and continuous moisture.

lt's the variety of plants

that provides such an abundance...

...of food and living conditions for

a greater number of animal species.

Over two-thirds of all

flowering plant species...

...are found in tropical forests.

Eat and be eaten,

so the food chain goes on.

Body color that matches the background

can be a good defense.

Slow movers often rely on camouflage.

lt's a strange fact that this wealth of

life thrives on the poorest of soils.

The plants survive because scarce

minerals are constantly recycled.

Decay, helped by insects and fungi...

...returns everything to the soil...

...ready to be taken up again by

new life forces in plant and animal.

One more relationship between the

plants and animals can be found here.

After pollination, the flowers

are transformed into fruits...

...succulent and often colorful,

they have evolved to be eaten.

Here, wild figs attract

large fruit-eating mammals...

...known as flying foxes.

While the fruit's

fleshy part is digested...

...the seeds will pass through

the animal's body to be dispersed...

...and germinate where they fall.

This is very effective

for dispersing seeds...

...and so creating

and regenerating forests.

Each seedling will struggle

to become a fruit tree...

...and compete for a place

in the sunlight.

Fruits and berries were an important

survival food for our early ancestors.

But more crucial

to human development...

...were the seeds of another

special group of flowering plants...

...which provided the staple food

of grazing animals: the grasses.

Most plants grow from the tip,

but grass leaves grow from the base.

So after they have been cropped

by grazing animals...

...the grass will continue to grow

and make more food.

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