[band playing "Safari"]
♪
Hi, guys.
Kristie and Jess here,
just burning
some calories.
The Bug Chicks are
in a triathlon next week
where we have to eat a lot,
we have to jump around,
and we have to lift
a lot of weights.
And we are not good
at any of those things,
but our major competitors,
the insects,
are really good
at all of those things.
So we have to be good
at all of those things.
Muscles are an important part
of our day-to-day lives,
but humans aren't the only ones
who use their muscles
to get things done.
Some of us can lift
more weight than others,
right, Nathan?
But did you know
that ants can carry
up to ten times
their own body weight?
It would be like you carrying
a truck down the street.
Yeah, Nathan, yeah!
[growls]
But we can't lift trucks
because our muscles
are too busy carrying around
our heavy bodies.
Ants might have
smaller bodies than we do,
but they have
a lot more muscles
crammed into those bodies.
In fact,
the mandibles are jaws,
and the mesosoma,
which is where the legs attach,
that's where
all the muscles are.
Whew! I am tired.
That was tough work.
[chuckles]
So while we rest,
why don't you check out
how we trained for the jumping
part of the competition.
Some of the best jumpers
in the animal world
are the insects.
I'm talking fleas,
plant hoppers,
and, of course,
grasshoppers.
Now, if I could jump
like a grasshopper,
I would be able
to clear a football field
in three leaps.
Today I need the help
of bungees.
The jumping legs
of a grasshopper
are called saltatorial legs.
And if I had legs
like a grasshopper,
this is how I'd jump.
We're still here, resting
from our hard workout earlier.
Check out how we practice
for our eating competition.
Did you know that solifuges,
the arachnids that I study,
literally gorge themselves
on their prey?
And their bodies
actually expand
to cram in all that food.
They've even been known
to eat so much
that they can't move,
and they just got
little legs flailing around
in a big, fat body.
Ladybugs can eat
up to 5,000 aphids
over the course
of its life.
That's like you eating
50 doughnuts every day
for the rest of your life.
This makes them
incredible agents to use
in biological control,
which is what I study.
Instead of using pesticides,
which are harmful
to both the environment
and to us,
we can use these insects
to help us keep
pest populations under control.
We are here today
at Shipley's Do-Nuts.
The palace of doughnuts.
Nay, the temple of doughnuts.
And, ladybugs...
Solifuges...
we, The Bug Chicks,
challenge you
to an eating smackdown!
On three?
Yeah.
One, two, three.
♪
Ladybugs...
Solifuges,
you win.
[belches, groans]
[kisses]
Girls,
quit messing around.
It's time for The Bug Chicks
Remix Challenge.
All right, geez.
We're gonna give you
four clues.
Dragonflies, g-force,
roller coasters,
and helicopters.
Go research.
[rockabilly music plays
over sound system]
♪
[band playing "Safari"]
♪
