‘Tiny World’ Recap: ‘Woodland’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the fifth episode of ‘Tiny World’.
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When one takes the time to ponder upon a walk in the woods, some familiar images come to mind. For we immediately think of the towering trees of the woodlands, the kind that keep the sun from reaching our skin with their thick leaves. And we of course think of the gentle sounds that the woods send our way as various animals, the kind that we hope to see, go about their lives away from the prying eyes of mankind. But what we don’t think about… are the tiny creatures that are scurrying about beneath our feet and the struggles they are currently going through in order to see the wonder of another day. Simply because it's easy to miss the little guys and gals that scurry about. But thankfully, there are documentaries out there, such as Tiny World on AppleTV+, that are designed to help us understand their plight around the world, and it just so happens that the aforementioned woods served as the focal point of the next episode of this fascinating series.

For ‘Woodland’ took us deep into the forests of the Appalachian Mountains to get a up close look at how tiny animals thrive in such an isolated and bountiful environment, and well, they definitely fight hard to survive in this leafy place. Because predators are as plentiful as the food that the woods provide and that forces some of the tiny critters of the woods, to more or less hide for a better part of the year. For there are jumping mice that spend eight months in hibernation, an act that allows for them to avoid both predator and bad weather alike. But staying hidden and asleep has its drawbacks as well, since sometimes these mice straight up sleep themselves to death since they forget to wake up once their fat stores are gone. In fact, two-thirds of them perish in this manner and the ones that do survive, need to work quickly to bulk up before the next hibernation cycle begins. 

Speaking of food, it also happens to be a big focus for every itty-bitty critter that lives in the woods. Simply because their small size requires them to consume all kinds of calories to keep up with their accelerated metabolism. And that particular revelation led to some fascinating visuals and moments for certain. The kind that allowed for us to see exactly how hungry some of these animals are and how nature has evolved to ensure that there is balance when it comes to the food chain. Because some of the beings that are lower on the food chain, such as the Cicada, breed in such large numbers that their species is utterly assured a future since there are plenty of them to go around in every sense of the phrase. If anything, it was just fascinating and humbling to see homeostasis in action, since it really serves as a fine reminder of how smoothly our world functions on a consistent basis.

But while all of these facts were fascinating to learn in their own right, they paled in comparison to the moving story of the Chipmunk. For this cute little bugger, one that we fawn over consistently when we see it in the wild, actually endures quite the struggle on a daily basis. For these little cuties sometimes don’t live to see their first birthday because of how easily predators are able to hunt them and even when they do make it that far, it comes at a great effort. For they spend a better part of their year just battling for food and shelter, and that sometimes means they have to fight their own kind in order to obtain what they desperately need, and it was truly incredible to be plunged into the chipmunk’s world in this manner and really see first-hand, just how hard they have to work in order to eat and survive.

In the end, this really was quite the powerful episode for certain. Because it really did open our eyes as to how much the wildlife of the world is working to survive whilst we admire their domain and that really does humble the viewer and give them a newfound appreciation for what animals go through on a consistent basis, especially the tiny ones. For it is obvious in this tale that they have to work twice as hard to find food or shelter or to just wake up in the morning, and that makes them little miracles when all is said and done. Because they somehow pull of all of those feats on a fairly consistent basis and it is just incredible to know that we share the world with these tiny wonders, the kind that never give up and always try harder to get what they need and now that we’ve come to understand the plight of the woodland creature, it should be interesting to see what other tiny animals will enjoy their time in the spotlight in the finale of this magnificent documentary. Until next time.

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