CHECK OUT THE INTIMATE LIVES OF INSECTS IN BUG SEX PREMIERING

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 ON THE NATURE OF THINGS

Bug Sex premieres Friday, March 10 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC and CBC Gem

There is 10 quintillion of them on this planet and their numbers keep growing so they must be

up to something, right? They are. But how do bugs actually mate? In this new documentary,

filmmakers use cutting-edge camera technology –and a healthy sense of humour--to take

viewers into the little-known and rarely-seen world of insect sexual activity. What the bugs do

is surprising, sometimes borderline tender or even shockingly brutal. Bug Sex premieres on The

Nature of Things, Friday, March 10 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming

service.

Why should the sex lives of bugs interest us? “If human beings ceased to exist, the planet

would continue just fine,” director Andrew Gregg. “But eliminate all the insects and arachnids

and the world’s ecology would collapse.” He notes that seeing how insects breed and go to

incredible lengths to ensure their genes carry on is a window into how evolution works.

With intriguing visuals, Bug Sex looks at how a wide variety of spiders, crickets and flies breed,

everything from black widow spiders to Pacific field crickets. Viewers will be astonished at the

mating habits of fruit flies and at what the male black widow spider sacrifices for the sake of a

sexual union. Then there is the kinky behaviour of the wolf spider with its sexual cannibalism

and just wait until you see the courting technique of dance flies! “Looking at the bug world is

like stepping into an alternate reality that exists all around us,” Gregg notes.

To guide viewers into this world, Gregg assembled a number of insect biologists, and he feels

that now with more women scientists in the field, there is a greater understanding of the female

half of the insect population. He points out that many bug scientists are actually partnered

couples who share a mutual interest. Like biologists from the University of Toronto, Maydianne

Andrade and her husband Andrew Mason, who we join as they observe monster haglids in Alberta.

“We are both interested in the libido of bugs,” Dr. Andrade explains.

Joining them in this documentary are Marlene Zuk and her husband John Rotenberry as they

seek field crickets in Hawaii, and on Vancouver Island, we find Catherine Scott and partner Sean

McCann looking out for black widow spiders. Bug Sex even ventures to Uruguay where solo

scientist Anita Aisenberg explores the unconventional mating rituals of wolf spiders.

Darryl Gwynn explores the machinations of tree cricket courting and then the intricacies of how

they actually get it together. “Insects are so diverse,” he says. “And as the years go by they are

coming up with more and more novel systems, new insect systems that do bizarrely different

things.” Is it possible that insects derive any pleasure during their couplings? Dr. Lisha Shao at

the University of Delaware provides evidence that the lively and intoxicated fruit fly is actually

having a good time.

Bug Sex is a unique opportunity to glimpse into the fascinating and hidden world of the tiny

creatures that are all around us. It is an invitation to be a bug voyeur!

*****************

Bug Sex is written and directed by Andrew Gregg and co-produced with Deborah Parks. It is

made by Red Trillium Films in association with CBC.

For CBC: Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Scripted, and Sport; Jennifer Dettman

is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director, Documentaries;

Sue Dando & Lesley Birchard, Executives in Charge of Production.

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