Ants Adopt a Butterfly | BBC Earth

An abandoned cocoon leads to a butterfly to new and unexpected parents.
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Natural World: Butterflies
Brimming with butterfly imagery, the miraculous life-cycle and behaviour of these beautiful flying jewels is shown in a way never seen before. Viewers are taken on a far-reaching journey through the UK and beyond, through habitats that are peculiarly British and others that are simply peculiar, including the country's biggest tattoo convention, disused railway sidings filled with rusting locomotives and an obsessed millionaire's mansion filled with gnomes' homes and giant dragons. Along the way, meet graffiti artists, burlesque dancers, eccentric scientists, passionate farmers, awestruck children and ambitious property tycoons, for whom butterflies are a constant and continuing source of inspiration.
Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of entertaining and thought-provoking natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.
This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios. Service & Feedback www.bbcstudios...

[@SpuroftheMountain]

Ants: Takes butterfly back home to care for and protect. Butterfly: Eats all ant children.

[@ROHITSINGH-jk1xx]

it's only in this case. if you even pet the most colorful and beautiful leech it will only suck your own blood

[@krisguntner4805]

............Almost sounds.......multicultural doesn't it.

[@wahrsoba]

No, it would never be able to extinct a whole ant population.

[@godvin9160]

Sounds bit like cuckoo bird.

[@foxxwallace7137]

That's a European for ya.

[@L1nkn1vy]

"And then this parasitic catapillar eats all the ant children" *pleasant music plays

[@nebul1269]

Poirpectorus

[@jwhite8086]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXTSY6h5gb2pns0

[@jbad1710]

I clicked like just to get you to 666 ☺

[@jwhite8086]

666 for the parasitic wasp babies they forgot to mention

[@tellmywifiloveher6474]

@@nebul1269 p... preposterous...?

[@timsullivan4566]

Ants rescue "runaway" larva. Soon more babies missing. Ants: "Better go bring back those naughty runaways."

[@Gothead420]

xD

[@rastamandela981]

You win comment section

[@tylermcintyre1454]

Tyler Mac but the guy is here

[@John-jf8nh]

Butterfly Day 60: They still think I'm one of their own and they keep asking me have I seen their missing children, little do they know they are inside me...

[@RT-zf9kt]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@standreamcatcher544]

The blue butterfly average life span is a max of 2 weeks

[@courtneyjackson3612]

@@standreamcatcher544 day 60 can be like 1 week for a butterfly

[@lepidlover0557]

@@standreamcatcher544 depends on species. There are certain butterflies that can live for months

[@bradleymoore2797]

You ARE What you EAT.

[@lunamiku4166]

The voice of the narrator sounds so pleasing!!!

[@johankaruyan5536]

@TheIceCubes r/woooooosh

[@jasonjoeljacop9486]

Butterflies are so beautiful

[@artemesiagentileschini7348]

So much so that the way she discribes how parasitic the butterfly is by eating ant children still sounds like they live in total peace

[@jessedupere429]

Yeah but the things she talks about are so dark damn people taking over this evil butterfly's land .

[@shortieberg6343]

Luna Miku David Attenborough is better tho

[@alexisjankowski3281]

Ants: Awww, little baby! What are you doing here? Let’s take you back in! Caterpillar: *Nom Nom Nom*

[@Hokuto_Tongi]

😂

[@javierhillier4252]

the very hungry caterpillar

[@tylermcintyre1454]

Tyler Mac welcome too the love of the blue

[@tylermcintyre1454]

Tyler Mac caterpillar

[@maninredhelm]

What a precious and adorable monstrosity that literally eats babies. I guess if you're cute you can get away with anything. Someone should re-cut the trailer to the movie "Alien" in this style. _"Xenomorphs have a rather interesting approach to parental care..."_ as gentle, tinkly music plays in the background.

[@L1nkn1vy]

Seriously. This is a parasitic organism and a baby eater but apparently it pollinates flowers or something and is pretty so we're going to romanticize it.

[@Graknorke]

Part of it is that individual ants don't really matter. They have no real determination of their own and are born to have short lifespans with high turnover. The 'meaningful' thing is the entire ant colony, taking individual ants from it is more akin to eating individual cells.

[@TheJesusAlejandra]

The butterflies are beutiful. I think its worth it to spare a few ant larvae to produce pretty pollinating butterflies. Its a life cycle that should be respected like all others❣

[@gushernandez25]

Lol, I would love to see that.

[@Raison_d-etre]

The true difference is that the butterflies are endangered and the ants aren't.

[@SnoopyDoofie]

I'm sure the ant brought the caterpillar home and said, "Look what I found mom. Can I keep it? Pleaaaaase?"

[@juliusroman8616]

This reminds me so much of me, that it’s not even funny. Then again, almost every kid is like this. Boy, I feel bad for those ants.

[@zaph2580]

And... it ate their baby siblings.

[@Equeon]

Months later: "Where did all your sisters go?"

[@tylermcintyre1454]

Tyler Mac hello 👋

[@Blackratsnake]

A carnivorous caterpillar/Butterfly Just what we need...

[@grendelum]

Albertosaurus sarcophagus - you’re aware that many butterfly species are carrion eaters neh?

[@Blackratsnake]

@@grendelum Yeah, I knew. I just thought I'd make a joke.

[@daymi7300]

I Shane know

[@lepidlover0557]

@@grendelum They don't "eat" the carrion They lap up salts and fluids from the body

[@lepidlover0557]

Most caterpillars are herbivores. But once they become adult butterflies, they feed on tree sap, nectar, or fruit juice

[@yerabbit]

...one of britain's rarest butterflies, the jerk butterfly.

[@rajmonicahamuha717]

ye rabbit

[@ForumArcade]

Narrator acting like these butterflies are a piece of cultural history. Meanwhile if *I* try and eat somebody's children, people call me a monster.

[@hunterwillis3775]

I mean we eat unborn chickens but then maybe that is because we don't recognize them as sentient.

[@bokoura]

We don't eat fertilized eggs. They are entirely without sentience. And for the record, hens do that too, if their eggs go unfertilized for long enough.

[@coollikegrass2489]

@@hunterwillis3775 All store bought eggs are not fertilized. As for eating unborn chickens, mind telling my damn hens to stop eating their babies? Because damnit I don't get any eggs or chicks lol!

[@alyssabullock6421]

@@bokoura some places eat fertilized eggs

[@b.m.8513]

Regardless of how savage some species can be, ecosystems are simply amazing ❤️

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

*Butterflies are beautiful.* They live a short and fast life on steroids.

[@sirtreeswithabeard6276]

maybe parasites are meant to have a short life to keep their numbers down

[@umarazam30]

ant: here's my home :-) butterfly: im about to end this insects whole career.

[@loser3829]

Talk about wolf in sheep's clothing 😃.

[@imfeelingkwerty4765]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@loser3829]

@@imfeelingkwerty4765 A 😃

[@loser3829]

@PhuongHD Le hi👍😎, God bless Vietnam.

[@stardude2006]

PhuongHD Le Welcome ! 😊

[@HiKamMudriku]

its real in nature

[@maynotbeme-v7q]

Disney -"This is gonna be great first as animation and after 50 years , live action ."

[@themiller3940]

Caterpillar: (turns into Blue butterfly) Ants: "They had us in the first half not gonna lie"

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Butterfly: *I'm blue dabadeedabadie*

[@dannybenhur6123]

Avery is it a song reference

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

@@dannybenhur6123 Yes

[@spaghetti5914]

Daba *die*

[@blobbertmcblob4888]

"Large blue" butterfly Amazing animal naming skills there, Britain.

[@akas.djailani]

It's pretty big than other butterflies. Maybe you love in asia where almost all the butterfly are big

[@lisag5670]

What a beautiful butterfly 🦋 Very interesting birth process, amazing

[@borter567]

🐜 : here we will take care of you 🦋 : imma bout to end this colonies whole bloodline

[@masterdanielm5821]

when the ants say the butterfly ant: ur adopted butterfly: 😨😓

[@emanuelieremita3857]

I'm just wondering how they manage to take those amazing shots

[@syweb2]

This butterfly is a changeling. Wow.

[@mysticblue108]

I didn’t expect this type of video... ants make good nannies I suppose I didn’t think butterflies would eat bugs....

[@vykx88]

I'm just curious to know how this species came about eating ants larvae than plants. I'm imagining that it started out normal, eating leaves, then one day it fell off a stalk and dropped into the abyss below where it was adopted by the ants. While living underground, so far from tasty vegetation, it had no choice but to eat those fat, grubby ant larvae it calls its family. It was finally able to pupate and now becomes the butterfly we know today.

[@Salkars]

Hello! You might have made a mistake there. I think the shown ant is not the yellow meadow ant (lasius flavus), but rather the european fire ant (myrmica rubra). they got an extra little segment between the middle and backpart and the backpart of the ant is facing more downward (more straight and bigger to the rest of the body in lasius flavus and no extra segment). Also myrmica rubra have bigger heads than lasius flavus compared to their body. Plus the european fire ant can sting as the name implies. Have a great day!

[@sangamithraswaminathan3354]

Ths narrator's voice s soothing..I will fast asleep jst by hearing her voice...So relaxing

[@soomi2736]

The ant is more caring than the other people

[@shahedshakil]

Millions of thanks to BBC for thinking abt even this tiny creature.

[@roemahdhara9795]

What a lovely.. Ant just small creatures, he know how to share love and give a life to the big one..We're human must know that

[@vire559]

It is amazing until the Caterpillar eats their parent larva

[@JohnnyCatFitz]

I believe that's the wildest wildlife story I've ever heard. Well done butterflies!

[@phillipayoung10]

Amazing!!! Ol blue adopted by his ant.

[@marilynalvarez9951]

I see what you did there....LOL!

[@nebselpam]

The song is Jon Hopkins - Autumn Hill. Off of the "Insides" album which is an amazing album outright.

[@melonoire]

I feel so great that there are instances like these it makes me remove the pain I felt when the red ants and tiny ants attacked the Chrysalis I was taking care off. I really wanted to see how my baby wormy will develop and then my baby didn't even have a chance to bloom because they killed it I still blamed myself for what had happened.

[@anamarie8]

"the caterpillar mimics the sound and smell of the ants own young" @ 0:39 wow interelatedness

[@truth.speaker]

Butterfly 100,000 years ago: If I give off the precise exact pheromone so I can be taken into the ant colony to grow. I'll just develop some exact chemical producing glands along with the exact right pheromones so that works well. Since this will take at least thousands of years to evolve, I'd better start writing this design into my DNA and make sure my relatives thousands of generations from now are also still writing this into their DNA somehow Either that or it was designed

[@jonweiser8837]

The pleasing music to the caterpillar eating babies was what really gave this video its charm

[@joshswimmerly7110]

Talk about interconnectedness. Expert level.

[@Garland67]

Fascinating. We must do all we can to save our planet.

[@princeofdinosaurs6157]

*WHEN CATERPILLAR GOT ADOPTED,I DID NOT EXPECT IT SAVAGERY!*

[@meremsolomon4744]

I found you again

[@princeofdinosaurs6157]

@@meremsolomon4744 ?

[@meremsolomon4744]

@@princeofdinosaurs6157 Our last encounter is in Godzilla KOTM theme: Old Rivals

[@princeofdinosaurs6157]

@@meremsolomon4744 Ah I remember now! Its a Coincidence to find each other again! XD

[@meremsolomon4744]

@@princeofdinosaurs6157 Indeed, fancy to meet you here.

[@jaredsergent857]

Ant: *Takes in lost child* Caterpillar: *FOOL YOU'VE FALLEN FOR MY TRAP CARD*

[@faneyazepeda3170]

It's kind of like the ants went to a pet store to buy a caterpillar as a pet and raised it as if the caterpillar was some kind of domestic animal.

[@ahmedimranmaani833]

The most Beautiful thing i Watched today

[@HeyItsFluffi]

Shame they’re so rare, they’re gorgeous

[@javierhillier4252]

in France they're super common

[@kellykurt8339]

Reality is wonderful.

[@reversehappy9210]

Had to see this for myself and I was not disappointed.

[@plaguerim5608]

When you are teaming in the Solo mode but you just decide to backstab your mates.

[@KenanVonKaiser]

Butterfly Is The Worst Guest Ever!

[@bp_cherryblossomtree723]

nature does care about one another, how sad it would without the ants

[@Gothead420]

Lets make our agriculture more ecosystem-friendly, and more sustainable at the same time!

[@GentlemanBystander]

Do you even understand what those words mean and what ramifications implementation has for the country and population?

[@Gothead420]

@@GentlemanBystander With a bachelors degree in environmental management anda master degree in plant production, both in Germany: yes. Hence my comment. So, could you please clarify your objection instead of asking ignorant questions?

[@GentlemanBystander]

@@Gothead420 I'd just love for you to back up your rather contrived set of bonafides with something of substance. But, of course, you won't short of cherry picking from page 1 google search results and then only if you feel significantly put on the spot.

[@Gothead420]

@@GentlemanBystander Organic farming, verticalfarming, the desertec-project...there are many - well known - ways to do this. I actually studied in this field (now im looking for a job...^^), so i know is feasable.

[@GentlemanBystander]

@@Gothead420 What post-secondary institution did you attend because I find it VERY hard to believe that schools that are teaching agriculture would default to theoretical practices (reclaiming desert is actual altering a naturally occurring biome which is no only not sustainable but detrimental to nature), Fad techniques ( Organic farming is noted for lower yields and less efficient use of land), and logistically troublesome methods (vertical farming requires massive area development and infrastructural diverting to provide the housing and upkeep areas of enclosed/stacked farming, it also limits the types and amounts of crop that can be grown) versus conferring actual proven techniques. The "I'm looking for a job" part is also extremely telling.

[@touremuhammad5983]

I'm pretty sure there's a species of Ichneumon wasp that acts as a parasite to the butterfly larvae, sneaking past the ants to lay its eggs inside the live caterpillars, and having their pupae emerge as adult wasps.

[@marciabowers55]

Beautiful Blue Butterfly...

[@TheKaijuGamer_]

A very unusual larvae stage lifestyle, but as beautiful and bright as the blue moon itself and as rare as a diamond.

[@berkpick]

Save these beautiful horrifying monsters!

[@bluebowser3121]

I've seen one of those before in my garden.

[@liothetitanhunter7959]

Here's what I hope if there's a movie like this (Kinda) An ant was working with the others, until he hears a cry, He finds a little caterpillar alone, then the ant sees his parents dead, because of the scorpions, so he took the orphan to his place and showed it to the others, the soldier says "Ah, food!", then he gives the orphan to the female ant to teach the soldier a lesson not to hurt babies, after that he tells his friends to come and see the reason not to harm the orphan. Scorpions over the 2 corpses feasting. They see one of the scorpions that has 2 tails. 2 tailed scorpions are warriors, and the 3 tailed are kings, then the 2 tailed named Striker who is part Fiddler crab, turns to the ants, and the ants escape while Striker tried to kill them with his fiddler claw. Then the ant who adopted the orphan decided to go and ask the queen if he can raise it. The queen says alright, and many weeks later he is full grown and now named Morph. Morph goes on an adventure at night until he sees one of the 1 tailed scorpions slacking off eating beetle dung."Uh, who are you?" Then he says in a Scottish accent "I am Figgy, the scorpion who is the jack, Would you like some dung?" Morph: "Uh, no thanks." Figgy: "Your loss. *eats more* I hear you've been adopted by the ants, and that's not how nature would go." Then the scorpions come to see what the chit chat was. Figgy tells Morph to run, while Striker comes out to see. Morph rushes back to the ants to tell them the war must end. All of the ants, including the other species come in to help. The final war began, while Morph goes to the 3 tailed king. 3 tailed king: I see you would want your family back Morph: What?! What do you know?! 3 tailed king: What I know is... I AM THE KILLER KING!!!!! The final fight begins with 3 tail throwing his claw at Morph. Then a sacrifice was made, Striker shoves Morph out of the way of 3 tail's attack, and Striker gives Morph an apology for the killing. And the ants finish 3 tail off, And during the feast, there are other bugs with the ants. Spiders, Mantis, Beetles, more of them. And Morph grew even more bigger. The queen gives him a reward for saving the ants. Being the prince, but then his foster dad tells him look. A female butterfly and Morph falls in love immediately. Tarantula: *Laughs* Lover Boy! Foster ant: THATS IT YOU *bleep*! That is what I hope for, or at least on Netflix Like from Next Gen had the bleep😂

[@dt3947]

So beautiful...yet dark

[@Zantagiro]

caring ants!

[@Gypples]

How odd, I feel like most brood parasites aren't so adored, I suppose these are just cute enough. Lol

[@ekxiong]

This caterpillar can be a GREAT life lesson. Just because someone dresses and acts like you... dont mean they're your friend. Figuring out the fakes from the reals.. 👌

[@johneduardoctavianoiv9749]

How beautiful nature is!

[@kimlong225]

I love her voice

[@tardwrangler]

I had a friend like that

[@darthlazurus4382]

Heh heh, they cut out a wee sting in tale. You see, even though the Blue Butterfly Caterpillar smells like the ants, there is a type of solitary wasp that can always find them. The wasp releases a pheromone that causes the ants to fight among themselves while the wasp lays an egg inside a few of those defenceless caterpillars.

[@Welshy]

this is very peaceful music for what is essentially a murdering butterfly haha

[@aprilfoozeler]

The fact that they can take these beautiful footages....

[@simone222]

Love the butterfly's colour

[@mouwersor]

Those last shots are so beautiful

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

This actually a teaser trailer of next remake Alien movie, where Ripley adopts charming giant biomechanical baby that proceeds to eat her daughter Amanda and then cocoons, until Xebomorph with wings bursts out of the shell. A family picture.

[@mlagv4045]

Well...The cuteness factor lasted about 50 seconds 🤨

[@jdal9324]

It sounds like another scenario in the UK I can think of....

[@hoopoe3093]

That's what I call ant-ertainment!

[@wetry5877]

Honestly I was shocked knowing this.. I thought it would eat leaves.. but well that's nature.. everything is calculated well...

[@Gun5hip]

They are pretty butterflies.

[@Nathan-wn5mc]

Nature is incredible..

[@deeRay7292]

butterfly? that looks like a moth

[@davec3651]

Plot twist: The adult ants are putting these next to the naughty children.

[@eliseolopez6504]

It relies on intact ecosystems protection is the name of my game to turn usual into astonishing

[@mcapril291]

So long and thanks for all the fish!

[@thxforsharing5679]

So refreshing

[@MrsCaranAmy]

It is a great symbiotic relationship between the blue butterfly and these ants. Ants have somehow a great way of survival.

[@richardyao9012]

How is this a symbiotic relationship? The butterfly acts like a parasite. There is no description of it giving the ants anything.

[@DeDoopliss]

These are the same caterpillars that the Ichneumon wasps lay their eggs in

[@godvin9160]

Sounds a bit like cuckoo bird.

[@زنكي]

Grassing animals are life for the land, and for our health, in the other hand grains are death....

[@siddheshmahadik6921]

Very beautiful nature

[@eliseolopez6504]

I AM THE GREATEST NATURE ARCHITECT THIS WORLD HAS EVER REGISTERED

[@nuri2318]

The ant must feel so heartbroken and betrayed.

[@castlecat7913]

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was darker than I remember.

[@aaronrich]

And so, we are all connected in the great circle of life.

[@RickyRiceB]

Ant larva: *DIO!!!* Caterpillar: *JOTARO!...*

[@rpb4865]

The narrator is female version of David Attenborough. I would listen to her voice all day

[@Epicurus341]

It's the actress Imelda Staunton.

[@fernandamiki1356]

The narrator's voice is so soothing

[@autobotrock4789]

Let's face it. Some people identify as Large Blues.

[@kanesmith8271]

Nature uhhhh finds a way

[@corynbirt2179]

There's a twist. There's a parasitic wasp that sometimes lays its eggs inside the larvae. So the larvae feed on the ants, and the wasp feeds on the larvae.

[@sarthakparashar7508]

The narrator is... the closest I've felt to Sir David Attenborough.

[@isaiah6278]

Right? She did amazing

[@adjiar]

I agree. It will be tough to replace him, but she does pretty good job so far.

[@debateneditz456]

My favorite butterfly is cabbage butterfly and swallowtail butterfly

[@bladeqmaster]

Ants: we were once have a child that grew bigger than us and can fly.

[@SarpmitraSaidasKusal]

Superb