Exploring how birds carefully select their materials, and craft their homes for the all-important tasks of protecting their eggs and raising their young.

Animated blueprints and tiny cameras chart the building plans and progress of beavers, tortoises, hummingbirds and woodrats, examining layouts and cross sections as they evaluate the technical specs of their structures.

Some animals find that living in the midst of huge colonies of their own kind is sometimes a matter of necessity and sometimes the most secure and rewarding housing arrangement.