10:44
George is also up early. He's heading to the army and bivouac. He needs to arrive before the column is on the march. Here it is. Here's the tree. We've got up at 5:00 and they're not even up yet. What you've got is a camera on the end of this little tip here and a little light. And we can push that right up into the colony. Perfect. His aim is to probe deep inside the colony and perhaps even spy the queen. Ooh, there they are. There is the outside of the main ball of ants. Ooh, yeah. But they are not happy about that. There's the soldier. Look at the head of that thing.
He's not happy about that. That squawking noise was a macaw flying over. There it is. In fact, two of them. I've been hearing lots of macaws calling. This is the first time I've actually got a good shot. Just managing to film them through this foreground tree, which is causing all sorts of blur. That's it. One of them's just moved into a clearer position. Ridiculous red color. Almost unbelievable, really. And the macaws are the first things to disappear when humans come into an area.
They're taken by hunters for the pet trade, also for meat. A single macaw can sell for more than a year's wages in Guyana. The colony's out on the move and they're now swarming all down here. That was very quick, actually. One of the great tricks of the army ants is that they've got hooks on their feet. And they can join up their feet and they can make a bridge. George still hasn't seen the queen, but first he has to get past the soldiers. They're vicious. And it's not only their giant pincers.
They also inject a dose of formic acid. I'm just going to push this right into the middle of the colony. Oh, it's big. Oh my goodness, look at that. It's a huge colony. It's massive. It's not often you get to see right into the heart of a colony of army ants. That is a very privileged You! Ow! Ah! Not going to see the queen. Not today. This is all very bizarre. I'm sitting quietly up here waiting for my uh monkeys and the camera.
George has found a army ant colony. Um I guess that's what it is cuz I hear you can hear him howling in pain in the background down in the understory. Entomologist Neil army ants one.
