Plants: Episode Description

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Watch a venus flytrap catch flies.

Watch creeper plants climb trees.

More "Plants."

Plants are dependent on three main elements for survival: sunlight, water and nutrients. They're fiercely competitive and cunningly opportunistic.

Sunlight is a rare commodity on the forest floor, so aggressive climbers such as Boston ivy and cats-claw creeper use other plants as a ladder to get to the light.

More than 20,000 different kinds of plants spend their entire life in the forest canopy, getting their nutrients by trapping dead leaves in their roots. Where there is little rain, plants find clever ways of capturing and retaining water.

The dragon's blood tree survives in a rocky desert solely on moisture from mist, while other plants, such as the desert rose, lose their leaves to stop evaporation and carefully store water in their trunks.

Carnivorous plants, like the sundew and Venus flytrap, set clever snares for unsuspecting insects and pounce without mercy.

TELEVISION FIRSTS

The entire growing season in a woodland filmed in one shot, utilizing time lapse.
A dragon's blood tree, with its funnel-shaped canopy, adapted to collecting water from mist.
A desert rose, which has a bottle-like trunk to store water.
The richea honey bush, which protects itself from the cold by fusing its petals into an insulated capsule, requiring the help of a bird to rip it open.

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Challenges of Life	Reptiles and Amphibians	Mammals	Fish

Birds	Creatures of the Deep	Hunters and Hunted	Insects

Plants	Primates	Making of Life	Life Videos