Pulling Power

We explore the invisible pulling powers of nature through the
forces of smell, sound and gravity.


In Greece, desert ants start their lives underground in total
darkness. Void of landmarks and sun they initially learn to
orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field. German
scientist Dr Pauline Fleischman reveals how her team discovered
the ant’s internal GPS.


A healthy coral reef is a very noisy place, full of the snapping,
rasping, scraping and croaking of various vocal species. But a
dying reef is tragically quiet, devoid of the life which can no
longer survive on it. However, conservationists have discovered a
way to pull species back to these habitats with the ingenious use
of underwater


speakers.


This sort of catfishing is used by a number of animals, including
arachnids. Sebastian and Rutendo discuss one of nature’s more
perilous powers of attraction with Kenyan entomologist, Dr Dino
Martins. He describes the dramatic mating behaviour of the camel
spider, an alluring species with incredible hunting skills.


Humans might find the British dawn chorus a more soothing
courtship ritual. But for the birds, it’s an intense competition.
Sound recordist Gary Moore tells us why he


thinks it’s one of the world’s greatest wildlife events.


Credits:


The BBC Earth podcast is presented by Sebastian Echeverri and
Rutendo Shackleton.


This episode was produced by Rachel Byrne and Geoff Marsh.


The researchers were Seb Masters and Dawood Quereshi.


The Production Manager was Catherine Stringer, the Production
Co-ordinator was Gemma Wootton, and the Project Co-ordinator was
Linda Barber.


Podcast Theme Music was composed by Axel Kacoutié, with mixing
and additional sound design by Peregrine Andrews.


The Associate Producer is Cristen Caine and the Executive
Producer is Deborah Dudgeon.


Special thanks to...


Dino J. Martins from the Mpala Research Centre.


Pauline Fleischmann from the University of Würzburg for her
insights on ant behaviour.


Gary Moore who recorded and spoke about the dawn chorus
soundscape.


Tim Lamont, Tammy Silva, Emma Weschke, Tim Gordon and Eric
Parmentier who provided underwater audio recordings for the
interview with Steve Simpson from the University of Bristol.


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