Animal Builders

VHS cover

Animal Builders is the eighth episode of the first season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry trying to build a house, and learning about other animals that build their own homes. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 4th June 1996.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Animal Builders.

The narrator meets Henry as he breaks ground on a new building project. The narrator points out that many animals are also capable builders, and says that Henry could learn a lot from them. A montage of different home-building animals is shown, which create structures that serve as either protection against the elements or as a place to raise their young. Some unlikely animal builders include the jawfish and tent-making bats.

#### First cartoon

* Elephant takes a wheelbarrow of bricks to a cement mixer and sets about rapidly building a brick wall. He accidentally cements his trunk into the wall. He needs to sneeze, but cannot and starts to inflate.

Henry starts digging into the earth with a digger and finds a large hole. Going down to investigate, he finds it is already home to a family of rabbits. The narrator says that many animals create burrows to use as shelter. Prairie dogs dig huge networks of burrows that are known as towns, while the mountain beaver digs a network of burrows with chambers that each serve a different purpose such as eating and sleeping areas.

#### Second cartoon

* Elephant is still stuck in the wall. A group of Lizards and Mole help, first by trying unsuccessfully to pull him out of the wall and then by Mole driving his motorbike through the wall.

Henry is building his project with bricks and cement, but the narrator points out that many animals use different materials when building. They look at wasps which build nests from paper, house martins building with mud and termites that make nests from dirt and saliva. Even though the termite mounds are strong as concrete, they are still vulnerable to attack by aardvarks. Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards. The bronze medal goes to the Mexican burrowing toad and the silver medal to the jawfish. The Golden Gecko Award is given to the woodpecker, which hammer out nest holes into the trunks of trees and cactuses. When a woodpecker moves out of its nest, there are many other animals waiting to move in.

#### Third cartoon

* Squirrel tries to drill through a plank of wood but can’t get the drill in. He gets Gorilla, in full American football outfit, to head-butt the drill into the wood but now when started the drill causes Squirrel to spin.

The narrator says that some animals build big structures, and Henry shows off his sandcastle. However, it is destroyed by a beaver dropping a tree on it. Beavers build dams so that the entrances to their lodges are underwater. Another animal that builds big is the Australian brush-turkey, which creates a pile of leaves as big as a school bus as a natural incubator for their eggs.

#### Fourth cartoon

* Gorilla is building a house and keeps getting distracted by Rattlesnake. When Rattlesnake causes Gorilla to break one of the house supports, Gorilla straightens him out and uses him as a replacement support.

Henry is now reminded to do his Special Report about the bowerbird. Henry says that the bowerbird creates a special nest and decorates it with blue objects, partly because the sports team he supports has a blue uniform and partly because he only dreams in black-and-white, so he seeks blue items to make him feel better. The narrator says that Henry did get one thing right – the satin bowerbird loves the colour blue. But rather than being because of sports or dreams, it is all about attracting a female bird to his bower. Back on the building site, Henry stands on a girder and is lifted up by a crane. Crawling off the girder, Henry finds he has walked into a spider’s web. As well as being a home, the web of a spider is a trap for collecting food. Every day the spider spins a new web after eating the old one, and spiders are able to instinctively spin their webs from birth.

#### Fifth cartoon

* Parrot returns to his nest to sleep but Woodpecker comes in and lands on the same branch which tilts the tree and makes the nest fall out. The tree then falls but Parrot uses his nest to protect his head. The shocked Woodpecker falls off the fallen tree.

Henry thinks that nests can’t be that hard to make, but the narrator corrects him by saying that although they may look messy, they need to be strong yet light to balance on branches. Some animals build nests by weaving, including Central American weaver ants and African weaverbirds, the latter of which also use their nests to attract mates. Back at the building site Henry, who says he has taken some advice from the animal builders he has met, finishes his project. The house looks good, but the narrator points out that it is tiny. Henry responds by saying it is for Boris, his pet spider. While the narrator says it is a good first effort, he thinks Henry should leave the building to the amazing animal builders.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Chilean rose tarantula, *Grammostola rosea*
* Western jackdaw, *Coloeus monedula*
* Meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*
* American beaver, *Castor canadensis*
* Golden hamster, *Mesocricetus auratus*
* Western hognose snake, *Heterodon nasicus*
* European rabbit, *Oryctolagus cuniculus*
* Red-necked wallaby, *Notamacropus rufogriseus*
* Rock dove, *Columba livia*
* European robin, *Erithacus rubecula*
* African common toad, *Sclerophrys regularis*
* Mexican redknee tarantula, *Brachypelma hamorii*

### Stock footage

* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Meerkat, *Suricata suricatta*
* Dawson’s burrowing bee, *Amegilla dawsoni*
* Potter wasp, Eumeninae
* Southern masked weaverbird, *Ploceus velatus*
* Wattled starling, *Creatophora cinerea*
* Common chaffinch, *Fringilla coelebs*
* Sand digger wasp, Sphecidae
* Blue-spotted jawfish, *Opistognathus rosenblatti*
* Honduran white bat, *Ectophylla alba*
* Black-tailed prairie dog, *Cynomys ludovicianus*
* Western diamondback rattlesnake, *Crotalus atrox*
* Mountain beaver, *Aplodontia rufa*
* Yellowjacket, *Vespula sp*.
* Common house martin, *Delichon urbicum*
* Aardvark, *Orycteropus afer*
* Snouted harvester termite, *Trinervitermes sp*.
* Mexican burrowing toad, *Rhinophrynus dorsalis*
* Acorn woodpecker, *Melanerpes formicivorus*
* Eurasian three-toed woodpecker, *Picoides tridactylus*
* Northern flicker, *Colaptes auratus*
* Downy woodpecker, *Picoides pubescens*
* Gila woodpecker, *Melanerpes uropygialis*
* Ash-throated flycatcher, *Myiarchus cinerascens*
* American beaver, *Castor canadensis*
* Australian brush-turkey, *Alectura lathami*
* Satin bowerbird, *Ptilonorhynchus violaceus*
* Cross spider, *Argiope sp*.
* Garden orb-weaving spider, *Araneus diadematus*
* Black weaver ant, *Camponotus senex*

## Credits

* Writer - Roger Stennett
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Music - David Poore
* Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer - Kate Beldon
* Researcher - Steve Featherstone
* Production Secretary - Cristina Hughes
* Production Team - Dominic Weston, Karen Steele, Susan Hubble and Tessa Nelson
* Camera - Jonathan Noad, Mike Kamei and Tom Gordon
* Animation - Varga Studio Ltd
	+ Animation Director - Igor Lazin
	+ Animation Co-Ordinator - Krisztina Varga
* 3-D Animation - Ricochet 4 and Henry Lutman
* Titles Post-Production - Sue Land
* Sound Editor - James Pursey
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Editors
	+ Offline - Colette Hodges
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Thanks to:
	+ Drusillas Park
* Special thanks to:
	+ Doug Zwick
	+ Nancy Kemp
* Producer - Rob Harvey

## Home media releases

The VHS for Animal Builders was released on 18th November 1996. The cover shows Henry standing on a girder and wearing a hardhat, and he is accompanied by a song thrush nest, a young chaffinch, two wasps, an *Apoica pallida* wasp nest and a *Cubitermes* termite mound.

The spine of the VHS has a photograph of a trapdoor spider, while the back cover has a photograph of a common wasp at its nest.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

**Which insect installs air conditioning in its home? Why do beavers work so hard to chop down trees?**

When he needs a new home, Henry takes a constructive lesson from some AMAZING ANIMAL BUILDERS, from the web-slinging spider to the tunnelling prairie dog.

**Cartoon Characters**: \* Eagles • Tyrannosaurus • Rattlesnake • Tiger • Squirrel • Lizards • Elephant • Bat • Fish • Camel • Gorilla • Caveman • Mole • Bear • Stickman • Chicks • Hen • Rooster • Owl • Chameleon • Tortoise • Crocodile • Frog and Toad •
• Parrot • Porcupine • Mouse • Whale • Rhinoceros • Beavers • Snail • Rabbit • Dog • Skunk • Spider • Octopus • Vulture • Woodpecker • Flea • Dung Beetle • Butterfly • Gibbon • Fly • Mosquito • Bee • Beetles • Crab • Pigeon • Carnivorous Plant • Lamb

**Voice Actors**: Eric Meyers • Tom Clarke-Hill
**Season One**: Tropical Birds • Animal Disguises • Nighttime Animals • Animal Appetites • Animal Survivors • Animal Senses • Animal Weapons • **Animal Builders** • Armoured Animals • Mini-Beasts • Animal Babies • Poisonous Animals • Animal Journeys
**Season Two**: Birds of Prey • Desert Animals (Amazing Animals) • Scary Animals • Animal Records • Animal Colors • Animal Mothers • Animal Pets • Seashore Animals • Animal Families • Endangered Animals • An Animal Year • Prehistoric Animals • Monkeys and Apes
**Season Three**: Animal Hunters • Animal Talk • Slimy Animals • Rainforest Animals • Animal Acrobats • Underwater Animals • Animal Neighbors • Giant Animals - Creepy Crawly Animals • Farm Animals (Amazing Animals) • Animal Changes • Extinct Animals • Animal Eggs
**Season Four**: Around the World • Polar Animals • Clever Animals • Underground Animals • Animal Helpers • Woodland Animals (Amazing Animals) • Mountain Animals • Backyard Animals • Tiny Animals • Animal Partners • Scaly Animals • River Animals • Animal Flight