The Invaders

The Invaders
Episode Information
Episode	5
Season	1
No. in Series	5
Air Date	May 20, 2009
Produced by	Louis C. Tarantino (Executive Producer) Douglas J. Cohen (Executive Producer) James Grant Goldin
Episode Guide
Previous	Heavy Metal
Next	Bound and Buried

The Invaders is the fifth episode of season one of Life After People: The Series. It originally aired on May 20, 2009.

Synopsis

After the disappearance of man, invasive species are on the march. Sandstorms could sweep through Phoenix, Miami and Shanghai might disappear into the ocean, and in the Everglades, Burmese pythons will spread uncontrolled & how the dykes would fall. It also show the fate of some species, native or invasive, from water hyacinth in the south, to escaped chimpanzees from the Florida zoos, and dolphins off the coast of Florida. Structures like the Taj Mahal in India, Kennedy Space Center & the Seven Mile Bridge in Florida, and the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona would face threat from nature. The episode explores Tyneham in England, which was abandoned by people in 1943 during World War II in preparation for the D-Day landings.

Plot

Prologue

Humans always battle invaders from nature and keeping thousands of invasive plants and animals at bay. Without people, invasive species would overrun old habitats. The show questions how long will it be until invasive species conquer the world. John Hadidian stated that the immediate change in the natural world would explode and almost difficult to imagine the scale and magnitude at which would take place.

1 Day After People

In the Florida's Everglades, alligators are being attacked by Burmese pythons. In 2008 alone, more than 300 pythons were captured in the Everglades, just a small fraction of the estimated 30,000 believed to be slithering through the swamps. Burmese pythons were first brought to the state as exotic pets, but many were set loose by the owners who could no longer control it. Tom Jackson stated that the Burmese pythons would be start off eating mice, rats, then rabbits. Burmese pythons can be long as 25 feet and can steal prey from the native alligators. Teams of government trappers would catch and remove them every year to ensure the safety of the native alligators and its prey in the Everglades. But 1 day after people, there is no one to capture and control the spread of the Burmese pythons.

In the United States alone, there are more than 4,000 invasive species, including killer plants and animals. Betsy Von Holle explains that invasive species is an organism that can from the different region and continent. She continues there is no natural predators, competitors, and parasite in the new habitat in hopes to control the spread of these species and they're able to expand quickly and become invasive.

1 Week After People

In the rivers and lakes from Florida to Texas, an invasive weeds are being multiply without humans to clear it away. The weeds are water hyacinth, originally came from South America. Betsy Von Holle stated that it sucks the oxygen out of the water preventing native species to survive and thrive. Only humans could control their spread, and so the population of water hyacinth have been doubled.

400,000 species of microscopic bacteria and mold spores can attack everything, they are so small that 250,000 could fit on the head of a pin and could live everywhere, devouring everything in their path, from organic matter, food, wood, and carcasses of animals that were left behind in the absence of man. Howard Oliver stated that the first insects that'll attracted to the dead body within minutes are flies. He stated that flies can smell a dead body from miles away, and within the few days, other insects that are more carnivorous would start to arrive. Other vermin attacks living animals, including millions of dogs who only depends on humans in hopes to keep them healthy. After people, they must fend for themselves, but some breeds of these dogs are fare better than others.

10 Days After People

In the United States, greyhounds have escaped from more than 40 dog tracks and they are now roaming free, along with one group of hounds in Florida. Greyhounds are often fed raw meat to increase their competitiveness instinct when chasing rabbits, and so they are now hunting live rabbits and rats. However, greyhounds track them with their eyes, not their noses. Tom Jackson stated that greyhounds are sight hounds and used to hunting down their prey by running. Greyhounds are also scavenger for food, but it requires co-operation and greyhounds have been trained to beat their competitors at any cost, Ray Coppinger stated that greyhounds would begin to compete for resources and would be a lot of aggression. The fighting can cause often injuries, since their skin are thin. For the greyhounds, their survival have been short-lived.

Arrived in New York City from China in the mid-1990s, the Asian long-horned beetle are known to quickly start chomping trees that requires massive eradication effort. Frank Lowenstein stated that if people disappeared, the beetle would again begin to spread. He continues that there are 5 million trees present in New York City, and 2.4 million of trees would be susceptible to the Asian long-horn beetle. The larvae of these beetles are miniature bio-fuel factories, where fungus helps them convert wood into energy. It is unique which cause scientists have studied them to discover how to derive ethanol from trees. Frank Lowenstein stated the process begins once the beetle arrives into the heart of the tree, it will start holing along the length of the branches and create dime-sized holes. He continues that it will continue with 30 of the holes in the trunk causing it to be weaker and once it get 50 or 100 holes and hanging by a few shreds of wood, the tree would knock down on the first snowstorm or windstorm.

1 Month After People

In Phoenix, a heatwave is in set in motion at the average temperature by 15 degrees Fahrenheit increased by paving the desert. Kaley O'Kelly stated that it can be hot as 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The concrete only absorb 60% of the sun's heat and light, but for asphalt, it can absorb 90% due to its density causing it to retain much of it during the night. Kaley O'Kelly stated it was called an urban heat island. The heat speeds up the evaporation of the area's precious supply of water. In the time of humans, people created manmade lakes to made the desert bloom with treated water waste. Kristine Uhlman shows a manmade lake, dug by bulldozers with rubber or plastic materials and adding more water to the lake, when the water was used, it goes to the treatment plant, where it is treated and used for landscaping, irrigating, and discharging water to the rivers. Without people, the treatment plants have all shut down. Kaley O'Kelly stated that living things would die very quickly while Kristine Uhlman stated without the waste-water treatment plants, the waters of manmade lakes begin to dry up within weeks.

6 Months After People

The manmade lakes of Phoenix have all evaporated, and the rivers had follow. Kristine Uhlman stated that with riverbeds dry, the vegetation and animals begins to die from lack of water, and Phoenix would be reclaimed by the desert.

1 Year After People

In the Everglades, the invasion of Burmese pythons is heating up. but pythons have an advantage of unusual size. Dan Thayer stated pythons can get very large at least 25 feet in length and eat anything they can catch. In 2005, researches discovered the aftermath of a grisly attack of an 8 foot alligator had been devoured by a 14 foot Burmese python. Tom Jackson stated if the python is hungry, its going to eat an 8-foot alligator. For alligators, it won't give up the fight. Tom Jackson explains at the image that when the alligator was eaten by the python, it won't move after it ate it, whom then get bitten by another alligator. Half a million native alligators still outnumber the 30,000 invasive python, but it won't be forever. Dan Thayer stated that the pythons would eventually outgrow the alligators.

In China, Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower rises 1535 feet high into the sky along the Huangpu River. It housed a hotel, a shopping mall, and a revolving restaurant and during the time of humans, more than 3,000 highrises were built in Shanghai in less than 20 years, by 2003 the weights of the buildings are making Shanghai to sink by more than half an inch a year, a long threat to the Oriental Pearl Tower.

5 Years After People

In the United States, Miami's fate is being tied with Shanghai to an invasion of water. Beneath of the waves, dolphins once swam among humans, and begins to learn to use the remnants of human civilization in their new lives. David Brin stated that the dolphins will use debris as tools to fish through the bottom of the mud, like the crustaceans.

On downtown Miami, birds have taken over apartment buildings seeking secure places to their eggs. Then the chimpanzees followed the birds, whom have escaped from local zoos, where they feast on their eggs, setting the stage for a starting evolutionary breakthrough. While most chimpanzees greedily eat every eggs, it only takes one chimpanzee to make a long-term approach. David Brin stated the little breakthrough would be by giving the bird saving one set of eggs. By doing it, the chimps ensure the new generations of birds will hatch to continue supplying them with eggs. The chimps will need to protect their birds from the feral cats. David Brin stated if the chimpanzees passed the trait of defending the towers and letting the birds thrive, the tribe might start down a road that could rapidly evolve. The apes began the first steps towards animal husbandry, one of the basic aspects of human civilization and the keystone to the development of higher intelligent.

10 Years After People

Back in Phoenix, the surrounding desert is threatening to wipe Phoenix off the map. It already happened before in Phoenix, on a former 600 mile complex of irrigation ditches that was left by the Native Americans called the Hohokam, who disappeared around year 1400. Kaley O'Kelly stated that the disappearance of the Hohokam people still remains a mystery. The Hohokam have around as high as 50,000 population have been completely disappeared, in Life After People, the remnants left by 1.5 million people living in Phoenix are vulnerable to the same recurrent forces from torrents of soil, sand, and dust; a Haboob. Kristine Uhlman stated it would be a huge dust storm seen in movies that happen in Phoenix while Kaley O'Kelly explains that the haboob can be as wide as 60 miles and as tall as 3,5000 feet.

With the disappearance of water from man-made rivers and irrigation canals. The top soil has already dry and loose causing to add more dust to the wind and making it more damaging than before. Kaley O'Kelly stated that the buildings would be blown out by rocks. The buildings in central Phoenix have been broken thru by the haboobs with acres of dust invade the buildings, causing the office floors to become deserts. After a while, the monsoon rains begins, which are triggered by the heat rising from the Phoenix pavement. Kristine Uhlman stated that when the monsoons arrive in the summer, there would be downdrafts and mini tornadoes that can rip out trees in a matter off moments. The monsoons, mix with sand and dust, fills the buildings with mud and the mud fills the offices of Phoenix's business district unlike in the time of humans where emergency serves cleared the debris. Mud can also cause another problem, it is more heavier than dirt, causing a risk of the buildings lifespan.

20 Years After People

In Miami, the invasive plants are being aggressively growing against the buildings of Miami. Tom Jackson introduce Brazilian pepper and explain it was brought in as an ornamental plant, usually used for Christmas due to being the colors of red and green. He continues that birds eat the seeds and disperse it. Without humans to stop its spread, it is a year-round threat to cities like Miami. Betsy Von Holle stated without people, Brazilian pepper would overtop houses due to it being grown enough to be tall.

Joining with Brazilian pepper are the waves of lygodium, a climbing vine from Australia that can grow to 100 feet. Betsy Von Holle stated weathering can make cracks in all kinds of human structures, and a little spore of lygodium could grow up on an entire building or across a bridge. She continues that within 50 years, entire structures will be covered by invasive vines and over time would cause it to pull down buildings and bridges.

65 Years After People

Nature continues to invade man's structures, pulling down roofs, and pulling apart walls. The proof came by just taking a walk through some of the abandoned places on Earth, like the village of Tyneham.

Tyneham

Visiting Tyneham, an eerie site hidden in the hills of southern England. Gordon Masterton, along with Lynda Price, visit the site and explain the history of it and the progress of nature's advance. For more than 5,000 years, people lived and farmed before the Second World War when the the British government took over the valley as a training ground for American troops preparing to invade and liberate France on D-Day and in the middle of December 1943, the 252 residents were given until Christmas to leave. Lynda Price stated the farmers sold everything and the last person to leave is the lady of the manor where she left a notice onto the church door stating that they given up homes to help win the war and hop to return one day. She continues that on the Cold War, the army decide tor retain the land.

Stone farmhouses built in the early 19th century demonstrate how time and seasons destroy what man built. Gordon Masterton shows a typical English farmhouse where the processes of neglect have allowed to happen from timber lintel attacked by woodworm causing it to split to a critical point and the stone above to lean on the point of collapse. He shows the condition of the loose bricks and stones on the ground and a hundred years would be just mount of brick and stone. Tyneham have scars of an aggressive invader, Gordon Masterton stated that the building behind him is severely damage and it is not the work of decay. The house is damaged by European Badger, a creature that can claw through 3 feet of Earth in less than a minute and are among the world's fastest diggers, whom can create tunnel systems as much as a thousand feet long. Gordon Masterton explains the badgers did is to burrow underneath the very walls of the building, he shows a gable wall that is 3 feet thick in which the badgers continue to extend their property, causing some parts of the house to collapse. He continues it would last for another 50 to 60 years before the badgers finally cause the building to collapse. Animals are thriving in Tyneham, Lynda Price stated it become a sanctuary for many species of birds, animals, and butterflies. The army allows grazing sheep from nearby farms to keep the grass short, without the sheep, the valley would begin to return to its ancient condition. Lynda Price stated Tyneham would become a woodland from the beginning of short grass reverting to coarse grass succeeded by gorse, bramble, scrub, and trees. The timber posts will rot and fall and barbed wires will corrode and eventually reabsorbed into Earth. The visitation ends stating that geological processes will complete the invasion of Tyneham with Gordon Masterton explaining that soil will blown in and trees will take root and the only evidence would be by excavating down to find remnants of the stone buildings but otherwise would be look like native countryside.

70 Years After People

It is the last days for Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower. It was a major part of the skyline of China's biggest city, where it has sunk 35 inches under its own weight since man disappeared. 70 years after people have let the waters of the Huangpu River to flooded the streets of Shanghai and even though the Pearl's three concrete and composite support columns are thrust more than 100 feet into the ground, the foundation is rotting way. Then, the Oriental Pearl Tower collapses with the columns lean one way and the spire another. With the strain become too unbearable, the former pride of Shanghai cracks and falls into the Huangpu River.

100 Years After People

At the Florida Keys, the Seven Mile Bridge once connected Miami and the Florida Keys. But 100 years of storms and hurricanes have weakened some of the 440 concrete sections, sending parts falling into the ocean. The Seven Mile Bridge have turn into a row of broken teeth.

In Phoenix, the 90-square block business district, once the financial center of Arizona, is filled with mud and debris. Kaley O'Kelly stated that the dust comes through with sandstorms and rain comes through to form mud that would build up year after year would turn Phoenix to be look different. The mud-filled floors have cause one of the Phoenix skyscrapers, the Chase Tower, to crash & tumble and the piled up debris collapses the tower from within. The shattered glass will then taken up by the next great sandstorm and slice through other structures until Phoenix is desolate.

At the Everglades, more than 1,000 miles of man-made earthen barriers controlled the flood in the time of humans. However, thousands of sailfin catfish, descendants of pets brought from South America in the 1970s, have invaded the dikes and levees & digging 3-foot deep burrows to lay their eggs. Tom Jackson stated that every year the catfish would cause the dike to fail. As the barriers break, dry areas in the Everglades have become swampland.

The Kennedy Space Center, seemingly a permanent outpost, teeters on the edge of the marshy swamp. Alligators were always at its gates, and launchpads form the dawn of space exploration are already abandoned and rusting in the time of humans. The remaining structures and rockets at Kennedy Space Center are victimized by repeated South Florida hurricanes, causing them to fall into the swampland. The only creatures waiting launch at the site are hungry vultures.

196 miles up the coast, Miami has run out of beach. Its a reversal of fortune that was started around 1914 when developers began filing in over 2,500 acres of mangrove swamp around a narrow coastal sandbar in order to create high-end beach resort. However, the creation of Miami Beach contained the seed of its own destruction. Tommy Strowd stated that as coastal structures are constructed, it interrupts the natural flow of sand along the coastline of South Florida causing it to produce a deficit of sand requiring extensive replenishment. Much of the coast have eaten away by the late 20th century and 80% of the beachfront from some hotels were lost, and it in the 1970s when engineers trucked in millions of tons of new sand in a battle against time and the Atlantic Ocean. After a century, the invading ocean is unopposed and it reaches under the foundations of luxurious hotels. Tommy Strowd stated after 100 years, buildings start to collapse. One of the hotels, the Blue and Green Diamond, fall into each other and be toppled into the grasp of the Atlantic Ocean, as well the former vacation palaces of Miami.

150 Years After People

At the Everglades, Burmese pythons have dominate the entire swampland and invaded fresh territories. The pythons are capable of living in more varied climates than alligators and able to climb trees, these allowed the Burmese pythons to dominate the lower 40% of the former United States.

200 Years After People

In Arizona, some desert structures still stand, but not for long, like the Grand Canyon Skywalk. It was unveiled in 2007, the skywalk is a 4 inch thick, 70 foot long glass plate that set 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon, anchored with 500 tons of steel beams two and half inches thick. In the time of humans, workers check the skywalk every day for cracks and flaws. 200 years after people, corrosion is rotting away the steel supports. Steven S. Ross stated that without constant maintenance, it would come apart from its moorings. As the Grand Canyon Skywalk breaks away, it only takes 15 seconds to freefall to the canyon floor, snapping in half in the process.

The skylines of Miami is long gone as only a few rusted girders still point skywards. Chimpanzees, living in Florida's sub tropical jungle and descendants of 20 generations whom occupied one of the city's man-made towers where they learned how to farm eggs, rationing, and allowing the rest to hatch to produce more birds and more eggs. In the time of humans, it was once thought that humans were the only species that could pass on learned behaviors and traditions to subsequent generations but research in the late 20th and early 21st centuries showed that chimpanzees share the ability, setting a stage for the possibility to forge a civilization. David Brin explains that one could envision a scenario where the chimps started building their own towers to protect and farm the birds, building platforms high in trees to attract birds. He continues that it will be the beginning of construction and if they used what was left of the culture from buildings, roads, and bridges in order to develop a trick to gave one smart tribe a leg up toward a civilized way of life, it would be the last gift. Whether the chimpanzee tribe could complete the multi-million year evolutionary journey that led to the first human beings or not, the use of tools and domesticated animals allowed the apes to become the dominant lifeforms in the future of Florida.

1,000 Years After People

While it appears eternal, time is running out for the Taj Mahal in India. It was built in the 17th century by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife on what would be Agra, India and while it has 15 feet thick marble walls, it stands on clay over India's most dangerous seismic zone. After a millennia, a giant quake liquefies the clay soil and the minarets fall away. The stone and marble of the Taj Mahal dome then collapse, destroying the entire mausoleum inside.

2,000 Years After People

The desert that buried Phoenix has been transformed. 2,000 years of rain and snow have recharged the water table, bringing the underground aquifer to the surface and feeding the rivers again. The area of Phoenix have transformed into a vast savannah, just like it was after the last Ice Age. Kristine Uhlman stated it would be beautiful and a lush paradise of wild creatures whom will return and thrive in the desert.

Beasts that have avoided and hunt people have forgotten man, the show then quoted "or have they?" David Brin questions that would animals talk about people after humans disappeared. The answer came from the waters off Florida, the descendants of dolphins that once shared the waters with humans have been frolic. The show questions that the dolphins have legends and stories of the times when humans swam with their ancestors before David Brin answers that dolphins communicate using sound and when telling stories, it will be more in the sense of sonar images. He imagines that it would fill the niche in the tales filled by gods who could bridge the chasms that is an interesting notion.

Many of the creatures thriving in land after the absence of humans will be invaders from other lands. Dan Thayer stated that while buildings and infrastructure degrade over time, he believes that the introduction of exotic species is forever and permanently change the landscape. He also believes that it would be man's legacy.

Epilogue

Old habitats are ruled by the new rulers, the familiar landscapes have been transformed, and man's works have fallen. Once the invasions are complete, there will be no thanks from the victors or blame from the defeated and every species remains will keep fighting for turf, survival, and life.

Transcript

Life After People Wiki has a transcript for this episode. To see it, click here.

Errors

• It is to note however that a single lygodium species, Lygodium palmatum, is native to eastern North America. The lygodium species talk in the episode is Lygodium microphyllum, where it is not only native to Australia, but also to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Melanesia.
• The location of Taj Mahal in Agra is not within the boundaries of India's most dangerous seismic zone, known as Zone 5. Instead, it stands on the borders between Zone 3 and Zone 4.

Trivia

• The Invaders is the first episode where directors and writers are not credited.

Gallery

The thumbnail of the episode (a snake) on History's official Youtube channel.

The thumbnail of the episode (Chase Tower) as seen on History.com.

Miami, as seen on Hvault.

Massive Pythons Take Over the Planet - Life After People (Season 1)

A clip of the episode beginning.