01x03 - Mind of the Swarm

[bunniefuu]

(thunder rumbling)

!!! Hope you enjoy the show !!!

♫ Soft Instrumental Music playing ♫

(screeches)

(growls softly)

(cloud rumbling)

(jeep engine whirring)

(crickets chirping)

GEORGE: Let's hope we don't see

what the lions do at night.

(Will laughing)

Let's hope we see lions

before they see us.

(Will laughing)

Hey, Rem. Can you cut the lights?

Cool.

(crickets chirping)

Well, this is We got a pair

of night vision goggles,

and if you look out there,

and tell me what you see.

I need night vision goggles

to get the night vision goggles from you.

(both laugh)

Well, I can see they're wildebeest.

GEORGE: Well, that's a start.

Can you tell their shape?

Like the shape of the of the group?

WILL: I can't tell, really

They're like layered up,

so I can't really tell.

- GEORGE: Kind of stacked up?

- WILL: Yeah.

GEORGE: I don't know. Let's see what

I've got a another toy

I wanted to show you.

(birds chittering)

(wildebeest grumbles)

(foliage rustling)

I wonder if a lion could see

in this kind of darkness. I dunno.

WILL: Well, that's

We don't need to find out that. (chuckles)

GEORGE: No, no, I just die I'd

I'd die with the wildebeest.

- You can follow me?

- WILL: I can't see.

- GEORGE: Yeah, I got you, we're good.

- WILL: All right. Hold on.

WILL: My whole life,

I've wanted to see wildebeest.

I just didn't think it would be

in the dark with lions everywhere.

But George has a different way

of looking at everything.

(camera drone whirring)

♫ Dramatic Music playing ♫

GEORGE: Well, we're looking at these guys,

it's interesting, they're moving out.

WILL: Oh, wow, yeah.

GEORGE: But I don't think

they can see anything at night.

So they're falling in like that,

but they're not falling in based on sight?

GEORGE: That's right.

They're walking differently.

Almost kind of like

a loose defensive formation.

They're coming together

and working as a group.

- They're clearly following each other.

- GEORGE: That's right.

WILL: But if they don't see well,

and they're not making any noise,

how do they know where the others are?

Around thirty years ago, I picked up

a National Geographic Magazine

and saw this.

That image, one and a half million

wildebeests on the plains of Africa,

has stayed with me ever since.

The most dramatic migration on Earth.

And finally, I'm here to see it.

(yawns audibly)

GEORGE: Hey, Will.

Come up and take a look.

WILL: All right.

(groaning)

Whoa!

GEORGE: That's a lot of wildebeest, man.

(wildebeest bleating)

WILL: Seeing them up close, finally.

Man, they're kind of funny-looking.

(chuckles)

GEORGE: Wildebeest

are not the most elegant animal.

Or the most intelligent.

WILL: George is straight-up

clowning wildebeest.

But, hey, if they don't get by

on their looks or their brains,

how do they survive out here in the wild?

Well, that's what George wants me to see.

The front runners chow down on the grass

ahead of the herd,

so they all have

to keep constantly moving.

And so do we.

So, George, what got you to to Africa?

I got kind of bored, I was a

kind of bored college student,

and I decided to get the hell out,

and I wanted

I went to Africa, I came hitchhiking here.

- I bought a one-way ticket to London

- Wow.

- and I hitchhiked down to Congo.

- Whoa.

And I found it was really fascinating

and there was so much more to learn.

- WILL: Yeah.

- And I still feel that way.

Once you get into dangerous things,

you just keep on learning more and more.

WILL: Yeah. Exactly.

What kind of image

are you hoping to capture?

Well, I'm trying to capture

the key moment in the migration

when the, um when the wildebeest

cross the river.

How often do you capture

exactly what you're looking for?

(both laugh)

That's kind of a depressing question.

(laughs)

GEORGE: I've been photographing wildlife

for over forty years.

As a photographer, you try to capture

these incisive moments in an animal,

where they reveal the true nature

of their species.

And the greatest, the biggie of all,

is the crossing of the wildebeest.

(bleats)

In your experience, Rem, how rare is it?

How easy will it be for you

to catch a crossing?

You have a big chance

of seeing a wildebeest, of course.

- WILL: Yeah.

- But it's seeing crossing,

that's very rare.

But I think you can consider it

a great failure

if you don't show me a a crossing.

- Of course.

- (laughs)

You know, wildebeest don't care

wildebeest don't care who you are,

or how long you've been waiting.

- I know, right. (laughs)

- They don't really care.

Hey, you guys, do you know what?

The wildebeest haven't seen

Men in Black, I guess. (chuckles)

(wildebeest bleating)

In fairness, they've got

more pressing things to think about.

But somehow, between them,

they manage to survive a 300-mile trek

past hungry lions, hyenas, and cheetahs.

What's their secret?

Perhaps the answer lies

in a completely different creature

over 3,000 miles away from here.

(birds chirping)

♫ Soft Vocal Music playing ♫

(thunder rumbles)

(bees buzzing)

WILL: But what can the

world's largest honeybee

tell us about wildebeest?

ALDO: Have you seen bees like this before?

CORY: I've never seen

anything like this before.

Your problem's gonna be how

to get in there and be able to then

- sort yourself out to be able to sh**t.

- Not Okay, yeah.

- So I'm not spinning in space.

- Yeah.

(bees buzzing)

ALDO: Maybe we'll try

and climb up from the bottom

and then, from there,

try to get in position.

Well, I guess we should go try it.

(bees buzzing)

MALE VOICE: (speaking Nepali)

♫ Suspenseful Music playing ♫

MALE VOICE 1: (speaking Nepali)

CORY: There can be as many

as 100,000 bees on a single hive.

And they can be pretty damn hostile.

If they decide to swarm

when you're at the top of a rope,

there's literally nothing you can do.

(indistinct shouting)

(bees buzzing)

Aldo, I'm in position!

ALDO: (over radio)

Can you get quite close? Over.

CORY: I can touch it.

I can touch the outer part with my hand

and the inner part with my foot.

I'm gonna try to trigger 'em.

There's a sort of invisible barrier

around a hive.

It's about 20 inches away.

Cross that line,

and something astonishing happens.

♫ Whimsical Music playing ♫

Wow. Incredible.

It's a kind of defense strategy.

If the bees spot a predator

breaking through that perimeter,

they flip their bodies,

starting this massive chain reaction.

It's like they're somehow all connected,

and not just by touch,

but like they're thinking

as a single unit.

(bees buzzing)

WILL: On its own,

each bee doesn't amount to much.

But as a swarm,

they can create something big enough

or confusing enough

to deter almost any attacker.

(car engine whirring)

So the bees have their shimmer trick

to throw off predators.

But the wildebeest don't have that.

I don't think.

So how do they defend themselves?

Rem, there's a lion over there.

Can we stop for a minute?

Look out on the left.

WILL: Oh, yeah, I see her. I see her.

(wildebeest bleating)

GEORGE: And?

WILL: She's gone again. I lost her.

GEORGE: Let's try changing

our perspective.

(camera drone whirring)

GEORGE: I've always loved getting up

and looking at things in a new way.

When I was a kid,

I was a real tree climber,

much to my mother's chagrin.

I loved climbing up

to the tallest branches

to get a view over my back yard.

And now my back yard's

become a lot bigger.

WILL: Any luck?

Can you see her?

Wow!

Like a flash mob.

If it were humans down there,

that would be chaos.

I'd be tripping up

and bangin' off this dude,

and runnin' into that guy over there.

But the herd didn't miss a beat.

Just kept on keepin' on.

It looks difficult.

But it turns out, you just have to follow

three simple rules.

Rules that apply to all sorts of animals

that swarm.

Rule number one,

don't get too far away from your neighbor.

Rule number two,

don't get too close

to your neighbor either.

Rule number three,

if your neighbor turns, you turn.

And that's enough to turn

thousands of individuals

into something beautiful and complex.

(wings flapping)

Starlings can fly at 40 miles an hour.

So to keep together in formation,

they need the reactions of racing drivers.

Especially as the other "cars"

aren't just in front or behind,

they're above and below.

It's hard to get how special that is,

until you see it mapped out.

A hundred thousand birds racing around

a constantly changing track

without a single crash.

That's the way the wildebeest roll too,

with simple rules and not overthinking it.

They're not as fast or as pretty,

but as they search for fresh grass,

the wildebeest are just as coordinated.

Things get more complicated

when they reach the Mara River.

Keeping an eye on the guy

next to you isn't much use,

when you're facing strong currents

and giant crocs.

It's the single most dangerous part

of the whole 300-mile round trip.

(truck engine whirring)

Wait, we can get out here?

GEORGE: It's safe. Yeah, get out.

WILL: I'm gonna let you

get out first. (laughs)

GEORGE: "That looks good, you go first?"

(all chuckle)

WILL: What are we looking at?

Uh, basically, this is the main barrier

that the animals have to go over

to get up to the big grasslands

of the Mara,

where the really good vegetation

is for them at this time of year.

So, what what are all of these marks?

REMTULLA: Uh, those are

the crossing points, so we mark it.

Like, it's along the river,

so whenever they cross,

we just put the mark,

so we know like, crossing number two,

number three, number four.

GEORGE: They seem to have

a few favorite places.

But if they cross at regular spots,

why is it so hard to catch a crossing?

There's no way to know which one

they're going to choose.

Ah, okay.

Conglomeration of thousands of animals,

and they all might have crossed

at a different place the year before,

so they've gotta have

like a group decision,

- like a swarm decision,

- WILL: Wow.

about which way to go.

We can either hold and wait in one spot,

or we can get fidgety and patrol.

If there was a crossing happening,

we can go there,

but by the time we get there,

it might be over,

so it's like, do you

It's hard to know

whether you chase after crossings

or do you wait for a crossing

to come to you.

Got it.

So, how long will it take for me

to get comfortable

just letting a fly be on my face

without having to swat it?

'Cause you got two flies on your face

and you're just relaxed.

(all laugh)

- I'm like, man.

- I just get tired of swatting at them.

Oh, yeah? (laughs)

- Bush Really bush man. Yeah

- Oh, man

All right, so are we waiting

or are we chasing?

My instinct is to find

a really good place.

We got a lot of animals over there.

And if we're in wait, they'll come to us.

- WILL: All right.

- Yeah.

(truck engine revving)

So we sort of look where

they're moving to, right?

Yeah, they're coming to the river.

And see, the herd is down here.

WILL: Yeah.

- They're moving faster, yeah.

- GEORGE: Trying to run there

GEORGE: Are these guys about to cross?

I can't believe how lucky

we're about to get.

WILL: Never underestimate the power

of beginner's luck.

I mean, George has been trying

to get this shot for years,

and I'm here two minutes

and it's all happening.

I'm just saying.

(truck engine revving)

Go, George. This is your big moment.

(water splashing)

(bleats)

He's going on his own.

(bleats)

Oh, I can't watch this.

- (bleats)

- ♫ Music Ends Sharply ♫

Oh, man.

(wildebeest bleating)

Why did they let him go alone?

Looks like there's a fourth swarm rule.

Don't go where there's crocs.

(thunder rumbling)

If I saw one of my boys

get wacked by a crocodile,

I'd have second thoughts

about crossing that river too.

Looks like the momentum now

is moving away from this point.

Where it was moving

toward this point before,

now it feels like

it's kind of gently drifting away.

(thunder rumbling)

Clearly, one brave dude

jumping into the water

is not enough to make them all

start crossing.

So, what will it take?

To best explain that,

we need to go underwater.

(water lapping)

JILL: They are truly amazing.

The first time I ever saw them,

certainly something

that you'll never forget.

(water echoes)

♫ Tense Music playing ♫

(indistinct radio chatter)

WILL: Flashlight fish are weird.

They make their cheeks light up like,

"I'm here, follow me!"

But just like that poor wildebeest,

one fish signaling isn't enough

to make the others follow.

Neither is two or three.

But if enough of them flash

at the same time,

in the same direction

♫ Upbeat Music playing ♫

they all go.

It's not about one animal taking the lead.

It's about enough of them doing it.

Then the swarm behavior kicks in strong.

So this is a numbers game.

The place where the wildebeest

are most likely to cross

is the place where

the biggest numbers are gathering.

(plane engine whirring)

But how do you find that?

Well, with a plane with the doors off,

and a crazy co-pilot.

♫ Dramatic Music playing ♫

Here we go.

WILL: Oh, wow.

Come forward, you can see it better.

WILL: That's a huge line.

That's definitely

the most we've ever seen.

That's crazy. It does look like ants,

like how you see ants move.

- Yeah, like army ants.

- Army ants, yeah.

Exactly.

There's a few thousand there at least.

A convoy.

WILL: That one's even bigger.

You can definitely tell

where this bunch is heading.

Straight to the river.

GEORGE: We gotta get there

before they start crossing.

WILL: Roger that. Let's get down there.

(plane whirring loudly)

Let the games begin.

(truck engine whirring)

Look at that line, those lines.

WILL: Have we found

our crossing point, Rem?

REMTULLA: Yeah.

So, I think we better hold here.

'Cause if we drive close, may scare them,

they may run away from the river.

So our presence would potentially

keep them from crossing?

True, yeah.

So, we'd better continue to wait.

WILL: So, now we just wait

for someone to call "action"?

Welcome to wildlife photography.

It's a lot of waiting.

(Will chuckles)

Eh, it's not different than acting either.

- (chuckles)

- You just kinda sit around and wait.

(Will humming)

- (birds chirping)

- (Will humming)

GEORGE & WILL: (singing) A-wimoweh,

a-wimoweh

A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh

A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh

A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

The lion sleeps tonight

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

The lion sleeps tonight

Woo-oo-oo-ooo

Ee-e-e-oh-mum-a-weh

I'm out of breath.

♫ "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" playing ♫

Weeheeheehee dee

heeheeheehee weeoh aweem away

Near the village, the quiet village

The lion sleeps tonight

Weeheeheehee dee heeheeheehee

Weeoh aweem away

Weeheeheehee

I'm a real explorer

if I have a slouch hat?

- REMTULLA: Yeah, exactly.

- All right, so that so so

so it's like it's like,

that's the vibe?

Weeheeheehee dee heeheeheehee

Weeoh aweem away

(exhales)

- (wildebeest grumbling)

- (crickets chirping)

GEORGE: It looks good. You go first.

WILL: I'm not gonna go first.

You go first.

- GEORGE: No, you go first.

- REMTULLA: No, you go, you go.

- REMTULLA: No, you go, you go.

- WILL: I'm right behind you.

Just go ahead. I mean, you're already

standing there, just go ahead.

Yeah, I got your back, man.

(all laugh)

WILL: The single brain is saying,

"I don't want to get eaten."

But the swarm mind is saying,

"There's grass over there. Let's go."

It's a pressure cooker.

Maybe what they really need

is one last push.

♫ Dramatic Music playing ♫

There are tiny dots of slime mold

almost everywhere.

Most of the time,

slime mold just sits around,

eating bacteria

and making more slime mold.

But when these single-celled organisms

run out of food,

something weird happens.

Waves of restless energy

ripple through the swarm.

They join themselves together

into a new creature.

Many cells become one body.

And then when the pressure

finally gets too much, they move.

There's sacrifice involved.

The long, thin stems

are created by cells dying.

But they give the others

a chance to survive

by being carried away to pastures new

when something brushes against them.

Individually, these guys

are literally brainless,

but together, they're smart.

And wildebeest?

They're a bit like slime mold.

No offense.

Loads of individuals somehow

having to make a joint decision.

Thousands of brains

slowly crunching the data.

(crocodile hissing)

"Danger in front

"food running out behind."

Waves of nervous energy building

that finally pushes them to the edge.

- And an answer.

- (music gets quieter)

(music crescendos)

REMTULLA: They're going. Going.

- WILL: They're gone. They're gone.

- GEORGE: They're going.

Look at that.

Oh, man.

- All right, you got the

- REMTULLA: They're crossing.

- Get the bino

- WILL: Thank you, thank you.

(stampede running)

♫ Intense Dramatic Music playing ♫

That's spectacular.

(Will laughs)

That looks crazy.

- Wow. (laughs)

- GEORGE: Wow.

(wildebeests bleat)

WILL: I've had more than half my life

to get ready for this.

But nothing prepares you for the dust,

the noise, the sheer scale of it.

Wow!

Hey, that Once you commit

GEORGE: No turning back.

All right, 30 years. That was

on my bucket list for like 30 years.

We just got it,

the migration of the wildebeest,

the crossing of the river.

We have done what we have come to done.

Thousands and thousands

of individual organisms

surviving by joining together.

The swarm drives them and protects them.

Not everyone can make it.

But most of them do.

Look at them go.

It's like they're tied together.

You can, like

You can feel the connection.

So it looks like, even from

What could be a quarter mile away,

that they know.

Like these all the way back here,

can sense what's happening up here.

For almost 30 years,

I've had an image in my mind.

The plains of Africa dense

with millions of wildebeest.

But in the end,

I saw something I wasn't expecting.

It's not millions of animals at all.

It's just one.

♫ Dramatic Music continues ♫

Like George said, shift your perspective,

switch your lens,

and you'll see the swarm everywhere.

Makes you wonder,

do they even know they're in a swarm?

Come to think of it, do we?

Damn. Now, that's a question.

♫ Upbeat Music playing ♫

Next, I'm on the trail

of a deadly predator.

MALE VOICE: Shark!

- Whoa, there he is.

- Mm-hmm, you got one.

WILL: Aw, yeah.

Following my nose to solve

a desert island mystery.

Whoa, that is gorgeous.

And discover that smell

is not what it seems.

♫ Theme Music playing ♫