Life On A Dead Tree (1957)

[Music] Tomy and his brother Dave have found an old dead tree in the woods near their home this is Tommy and this is Dave a dead tree like this one may be the home of many different kinds of plants and animals this little animal eats insects it often lives on or under an old tree like this where many insects may be easily found do you know what it is it's a lizard lizards are harmless but catching one isn't always easy they move quickly Tommy touches the scales that cover the lizard its skin feels dry and rough it's a fence lizard sometimes called a blue belly Dave puts it back on the tree wild animals should be returned to their homes Tommy sees something moving under the crumbly decayed wood in a crack in the old tree he calls Dave over to look what do you suppose it is Dave knows it's an insect do you know what kind of insect it's a beetle it hides in the decayed wood during the day at night it scurries about on its six legs to look for other insects to eat is there anything else that would live on an old dead tree like this Tommy's found something that puzzles him he calls his brother Tommy examines what he's found it's another insect most of you have seen this one before if you haven't seen it you've probably heard it chirping noisily on summer evenings it's a cricket like the beetle it hides in the dark places of the old tree during the daytime coming out at night to hunt for food Daves found another animal hiding in the decayed wood it's a slug a relative of the garden snail during the daytime slugs may be found in dark damp places under rocks or old boards at night they come out to look for plants to eat the two large stocks on the slug's head have eyes at their tips the smaller stocks below are used for smelling but animals are not the only things that live on an old dead tree this hard smooth plant is called the fungus it grows in the old tree just as other plants grow in soil this is another fungus plant growing on the dead tree if you poke it Watch What Happens it's called a puffball fungus plants like these and others too small to see help break down the wood of the old tree this is part of what we mean when we say that the old tree decays the decayed material will someday become a part of the soil where it will furnish food for other plants to grow what else lives on an old dead tree Tommy's found something he can name can you this insect doesn't really live on the old tree it's just visiting it's a ladybird Beetle the ladybird Beetle has a hard shell covering its back the shell is made of two Wing covers that fold out of the ladyb bird's way when it wishes to fly there are still other animals that make their homes on an old tree like this to find them may take a lot of looking however underneath the piece of bark Dave shows Tommy an unusual animal it's a tree salamander it looks like a lizard and like a lizard it eats insects a salamander is easy to recognize because its skin is smooth and without scales salamanders always have four toes on their front feet and five toes on their hind feet what else may be found living underneath the bark of an old tree of course you know what these are these ants live in dead trees building and hollowing out tunnels in the wood when their home is Disturbed they Scurry around very quickly look at them closely notice that their bodies are divided into three parts by all insects they have six legs growing out of the middle body part on the ground in the dead leaves and grass along the side of the tree Tommy and Dave see something moving it's a gopher snake a harmless snake that helps Man by eating rats mice and other small animals the snake has laid some eggs they're about the size of a hen's egg with soft leathery shells inside the egg on the left a baby snake is struggling to free itself the baby inside the other egg has cut a slip and will slip out through it now Tommy and Dave have discovered something in the hollow end of the old tree it's an animal that has made its home there it has a bushy tail and a white stripe down its back do you know its name tmy and Dave no they know too that an old dead tree like this may actually team with life if you can find the dead tree examine it closely it may be the home of many different kinds of plants and [Music] animals