How we made it: Weaver ants, natural architects

We wanted to film hundreds of Australian weaver ants cooperating to build a nest from leaves. To secure the leaves these ants do something seen nowhere else in nature - they use their own grubs as glue-guns to stick the leaves together with silk that the grubs make.

But filming small creatures is one of the hardest technical challenges facing a camera operator. Sometimes the environmental conditions make filming on a tiny scale so difficult that some aspects of the animal’s behavior can only be successfully filmed under more controlled conditions. Cameraman Peter Nearhos took on the challenge of filming these miniature architects at work.

By employing similar techniques, Life Story crews were also able to bring the viewer insights into the lives of honey pot ants, praying mantids and jumping spiders.