Natural World

Not much bigger than an orange,

the pygmy marmoset is the smallest monkey in the world.

They live in the largest tropical forest on our planet -

the Amazon rainforest.

Their lives are full of huge obstacles

but they don't let size be a barrier to success.

With chisel-like teeth, they've learned to tap into the trees,

feeding on their energy-rich sap.

These micro-monkeys are the miners of the Amazon...

..leaving their mark across the forest.

Too often in life we overlook the little guys.

Overshadowed by bigger beasts, their lives simply pass us by.

But if we stop and get down to their level,

a remarkable world is revealed.

Take this gecko, the size of just a few raindrops,

but somehow able to weather the greatest of storms.

Or this bird, the weight of a 20 pence piece,

who flies thousands of miles for a meal.

What about this rather plain little fish?

Well, he's a passionate artist whose work deserves its own gallery.

So, while they may be small,

these creatures and others like them have survival secrets

that are amongst the biggest and most surprising on planet earth.

And now, at last, they're taking centre stage.

It's time to meet nature's miniature miracles.

The world is a big place...

..home to some huge animals...

..and exposed to wild weather.

RUMBLE OF THUNDER

So what does that mean if you're one of the planet's small folk?

How are you supposed to make a living in this big, bad world?

Well, you need to adapt.

You must develop extraordinary skills.

And you've got to achieve some pretty mind-boggling feats,

like coming back from the dead.

And, let's face it, there's no greater miracle than that.

But whether big or small,

all living creatures have the same basic needs -

food, finding a mate...

..and a safe place to live.

On an island in the Caribbean,

a tiny crab's biggest issue is home security.

Hermit crabs have soft bodies that make them vulnerable to attack

from predators and the elements.

A naked crab would quickly cook in the intense tropical sun...

..so these miniature miracles have come up with an incredible solution.

They use abandoned seashells as mobile homes.

24/7 protection.

But there's a problem.

Right now, this chap is no bigger than a dice,

but he'll continue to grow throughout his life.

So if he wants to stay safe, he must always be on the lookout

for a new larger shell to move into.

But finding a new home isn't as easy as you might think.

On this paradise island, there's a surprising shortage of shells.

Unless this is the opportunity the small crab's been waiting for.

Unfortunately, it's probably a bit too much to take on right now.

And he's not the only prospective buyer in the area.

Hermit crabs can be anything from a few millimetres long

to the size of a coconut...

..so there's a chance this new home might suit someone else.

With housing stock in such short supply,

the local crabs have learned to do something

really quite extraordinary.

They've joined forces to set up their own property market.

Each crab is looking for the perfect property

with the right shape, opening and weight.

Somehow the crabs reach an agreement

and, incredibly, they start to assemble in a chain...

..largest at one end...

..smallest at the other.

All lined up, they're ready to exchange,

and not an estate agent in sight.

The biggest crab is first to move.

So far, so good. The chain's holding together.

Our little crab gets in position, ready to make his big move.

His size means he's at the bottom of the chain.

But just as he vacates his old shell,

a newcomer arrives on the scene to try and gazump him.

He can't afford to be left homeless.

A death sentence in this tropical heat.

But fortune's on his side.

After all the swapping, there's one empty shell left over.

And he wastes no time settling into his spacious new home.

From the perfect beach hut

to a treehouse hiding one of the world's smallest mammals.

Our second miniature miracle

lives in the giant bamboo forests of south-west China.

Bamboo is the tallest of all our grasses,

with some species capable of growing up to 40 metres.

But this isn't just a big world,

it's also home to some rather bad sorts.

HISSING

So if you're really small, how do you survive in a place like this?

You hide.

A tiny slit in the bamboo stem reveals the bijou home

of the bamboo bat.

A colony of 25 living in a space the size of a teacup.

Each bat is not much bigger than a bumblebee

but it's still a squeeze...

..which is hardly surprising

when you imagine a teacup full of bumblebees.

BUZZING

These micro bats have evolved special adhesive pads

on their thumbs, wrists and feet,

which help them make the most of every corner of their secret home.

But what good is that against what lurks outside?

If it got the chance, this snake would devour the entire colony.

But that's where a miniature home with a miniature front door

comes into its own.

At just six millimetres across, no wider than a pencil,

there's no way the snake's getting inside.

But what about the bats?

How do they come and go through what is possibly

the smallest front door in the animal kingdom?

Well, they've evolved super-thin flattened skulls

and, while it may still be a squash,

they're able to squeeze themselves through the tiny gap.

It's another miracle manoeuvre.

Once the coast is clear, the bats go hunting for insects, like flies,

beetles and winged termites.

And that's where a more well-known miracle comes into play.

Bats are the only mammal that can fly

and one of the few to use echolocation to find food,

sending out sound waves that detect prey in the darkness.

And it's these miraculous skills,

combined with a canny choice of home,

that are the key to the bamboo bat's success in this forest of giants.

But what if surviving means you need to protect yourself

from your own kind?

On the east coast of Australia,

over a hundred species of shark inhabits the tropical waters

of the Great Barrier Reef...

..including the largest shark of all.

The 12-metre-long whale shark is the biggest fish in the world.

Sharing the reef with this giant

is one of the smallest members of the shark family - the epaulette.

He's less than one metre long...

..which, unfortunately, makes him ideal prey

for some of the other larger sharks.

So in a world of bigger, badder sharks,

how does the tiny epaulette stay off the menu?

Without a safe home to escape to, he keeps a low profile

and waits.

Twice a day the tide goes out,

which means conditions on the reef change dramatically.

As the water departs, so do the big sharks.

The water is far too shallow for them now.

But the epaulette's size means he's able to make the most

of this brief moment in the life cycle of the reef.

At last he can stop worrying about being someone else's dinner

and focus on finding his own.

But it doesn't last long.

The tide's still dropping

And soon the epaulette is left high and dry.

If he's not careful, he'll barbecue in the scorching Australian sun.

Even more worryingly, this fish out of water is struggling to breathe.

But the miraculous epaulette has evolved an extraordinary strategy

to cope with this.

By slowing his breathing and heart rate and powering down his brain,

he can survive on his last breath for up to an hour.

When the oxygen levels get critical,

another incredible survival strategy kicks in.

His fins turn into prototype legs.

This cunning fish breaks all the rules...

..and is the only shark that can walk himself out of danger.

The epaulette shark isn't the only miniature miracle

to have evolved remarkable superpowers.

High on a remote rocky plateaux in Venezuela

lives the three-centimetre-long pebble toad.

Unusually for an amphibian, he can't hop.

So, camouflaged to his surroundings,

this hopless toad creeps around looking for insects to eat.

But he's not the only hunter up here.

A toad-eating tarantula.

Faced with the enemy,

the toad employs an unexpected escape strategy.

He transforms himself into a toad-like ball.

Tensing all his muscles, he becomes rigid like rubber.

Perfect for bouncing down the mountain out of danger.

He's safe and, remarkably, completely unharmed.

A female Arabian fat-tailed scorpion

on its regular night-time hunt for beetles.

But while she's looking for food,

someone's eyeing her up as a potential meal.

A desert fox.

Once the moon comes up, its soft light could expose her.

So this scorpion has an extraordinary super sense -

an early warning detection system

that gives her an edge in this nocturnal world.

UV sensitive cells on her shell

warn her it's an hour until moonrise...

..which gives her plenty of time to run and hide

before it blows her cover.

When you're small, life's worries extend beyond just being eaten.

You'd think a single raindrop might drown a tiny Brazilian pygmy gecko.

Tricky when you live in a rainforest.

But these geckos have evolved super hydrophobic skin.

Water doesn't wet them.

Their skin is so water repellent