Minuscule: The Private Life of Insects (2006)
Synopsis
Short video animations giving a bird's eye view of insects' day to day existence, distorted through a burlesque, yet poetic lens.
First Air Date: 2006-10-25
Last Air Date: 2015-05-20
Number of Seasons: 2
Number of Episodes: 174
Created By: Hélène Giraud, Thomas Szabo
Networks: France 5, France 2
Seasons
None (2006)
Come with us on a journey into the secret and magical world of insects. The bright and colourful characters will delight you as they go about their eccentric adventures. Mixing 3D animated characters with stunning real life locations, Minuscule is a series that children will enjoy again and again.
Episodes:
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Ep. 1: The Ladybug
A ladybug curtly insults a swarm of bees hanging out on a trash can. The bees start chasing the cheeky insect right away. A chase ensues above the asphalt roads while a spider who happens to be in the way gets herself in trouble…
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Ep. 2: Shell Less
A caterpillar finds herself by accident in the middle of litter of newly born snails. The baby snails grow and grow and the caterpillar tries really hard to fit in yet there remains an issue: unlike her brothers and sisters she does not have a shell…
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Ep. 3: Wasp Belle
A wasp squadron crosses the sky performing innumerable and spectacular aerobatics. One of the wasps is intoxicated by the exciting exercise and starts leaving the formation to climb vertically all the way to the stratosphere. The harder the fall…
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Ep. 4: Picnic
On a tablecloth on a picnic table a spider watches a fly stuffing herself inside a jar of jam: the insect is the ideal prey. After a few unsuccessful attempts on the part of the spider to catch the fly, other spiders joins in to give their friend a hand. When quantity doesn’t mean quality…
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Ep. 5: The Bridge Over the River Zzzzzeee
A column of ants is faced with an impassable crack on the ground. What can they do? Following their boss’ orders the ants devise a rather original plan: they start building a plane with a piece of newspaper.
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Ep. 6: Sleeping In
A new day is dawning and the bees inside the beehive wake up and get out to start gathering nectar on their work day. One of the bees sleeps in. Once she makes it outside she cannot find any place to gather nectar as all the flowers are occupied. Our bee suddenly has a strike of genius…
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Ep. 7: A Snail's Dream
A snail is crossing an undergrowth at a snail’s pace. All of a sudden he steps on it and goes faster and faster. He flies past at full speed leaving a cloud of dust in his trail. Could he be dreaming this?
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Ep. 8: The Last Supper
A group of flies is busy chasing a ladybug who just insulted them when everyone suddenly stops in front of a picnic table for a providential bite. The calculating and patient ladybug watches the flies stuff themselves. The chase resumes and the flies have a hard time keeping up with her…
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Ep. 9: Halloween Paranoid
It is Halloween night. A scaredy-cat centipede is afraid of every single insect he comes across. A reversal of fortune is going to change the deal: now he can scare the life out of everyone…
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Ep. 10: Zzzeplin
A spider is lying in wait on her web when a balloon gets caught in the branches next to her. The spider is determined to get rid of the cumbersome object and climbs on the balloon when it suddenly comes unhooked and takes off in the air…
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Ep. 11: Hiccups
A grasshopper jumps from one branch to the next with much exactness and calculation. The finely oiled piece of mechanics is in jeopardy when the grasshopper starts having a hiccup fit and starts jumping erratically…
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Ep. 12: Nap Time
A ladybug finds herself a nice and quiet spot to take a nap on a scorching hot day. She falls asleep and slips into a dream when the shrill cry of a cicada wakes her up…
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Ep. 13: Catapult
A grasshopper is hiding in the tall green grass, having a blast using her powerful thighs to jump all over the place and bump into other dumbfounded insects. This little game goes on with complete impunity until the wheel starts to turn…
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Ep. 14: The Winter of Our Discontent
A fly is overcome by the cold winter weather and finds shelter inside a house; she rushes to the radiator to get warmer. Tough luck, as the radiator is already occupied by a starving spider who is thrilled to see ready food on the way…
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Ep. 15: Shell Proof Nut
Our friends the little ants are faced with a major problem: how to open a nut? Luckily they don’t lack original ideas and find all sorts of extravagant ways to complete their mission…
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Ep. 16: Dragonflies
These dragonflies make such a terrible racket! They are noisy and force their own rules on whoever comes near. A ladybug is determined to see justice done and starts provoking them in order to pull them down a peg or two…
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Ep. 17: Lettuce
A little caterpillar hangs out on a salad. Everything is going smoothly in her life when all of a sudden: danger’s lurking! She spots a snail slowly but surely coming towards her. Our caterpillar has a paranoia attack and starts picturing the snail stuffing himself with her very own private salad…
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Ep. 18: A Bee's Night Out
A little bee moves too far away from the hive, gets lost and has to spend the night out. The little scared insect has only one idea in mind: finding her way back home…
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Ep. 19: Windswept
A fly is taking a nice stroll inside a living room in a house. A spider is laying in wait and starts chasing her, but the fly uses a fan to thwart her plans…
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Ep. 20: O Tannenbaum
A fly keeps trying to land on the branches of a Christmas tree but this spider is hell-bent of gobbling her up. The exasperated fly soon comes up with an original and unexpected stratagem to render the predator harmless…
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Ep. 21: Come Christmas
It is snowing outside. A mosquito finds shelter inside a house with the intention of getting warmer in front of the fireplace. Typical Christmassy atmosphere with the tree and the piles of gifts. Another mosquito enters the picture…
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Ep. 22: The Quest For The Pink Lollipop
A colony of ants comes across a pink lollipop. They take it along with them in the twinkling of an eye. A fly squadron views the scene unfavourably and endeavours to retrieve the lollipop from the ants’ legs. The battle is raging between the crawling and the flying insects. Who shall win?
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Ep. 23: Caterpillar Dream
A caterpillar watches various flying insects from her observation spot on a shrub. She would like to fly too. Well, that’s when day-dreaming comes in handy…
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Ep. 24: No Luck
Interior house. A little hairy spider tirelessly chases a fly who easily thwarts her plans. Who said spiders were pea-brains?
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Ep. 25: Ugly
Everyone if filled with admiration for the sublime caterpillar showing off on the podium like a top model. Nature follows its course and pretty soon the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis… and into an appeal-deprived ugly as sin butterfly. Yesterday’s fans snigger at the sight of sheer ugliness…
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Ep. 26: Narcissus
A beetle comes across a piece of mirror and discovers his own reflection. What an amazing discovery! Our beetle spends all his time admiring his own image when the mirror disappears! Our little narcissus starts investigating…
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Ep. 27: The Dung Beetle Battle
A dung beetle is busy pushing his piece of dung methodically when he is passed by another dung beetle pushing a bigger ball. The very sight drives him mad. A ridiculous competition takes place between the two insects…
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Ep. 28: Ladybugs
A group of dragonflies make a stop to refresh at a watering place when a projectile falls in the puddle and splashes them. Who’s playing games with them? Must be the ladybug!
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Ep. 29: United We Stand
A fly enters a plastic bottle and finds herself imprisoned inside. A second fly shows up and joins her inside, then another one, and another one. Curiosity killed the cat. Our flies have no choice but to take off with the bottle…
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Ep. 30: Totem
A column of ants finds a cell phone in an undergrowth and carries it back to the anthill. The phone is propped up vertically like a divinity and whether is rings or lights up the device regulates everyday life inside the anthill as the ants dash towards it filled with respect whenever the bell rings…
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Ep. 31: Convoy
A bee wakes up everyone in the hive in the middle of nap break and demands that they follow her. The bees form a compact convoy and follow her to a garden table with an open jar of honey in its middle…
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Ep. 32: City Caterpillar Butterfly Of The Fields
A little green caterpillar is stressed out by the pace of life and decides to take a rest. She hops on public transportation and reaches the countryside… where she can finally turn into a butterfly…
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Ep. 33: Insect High Velocity
A show-off dragonfly annoys everyone with her back-firing engine. She suddenly comes across a serious contender: a wasp provokes her with her humming cylinders. The chase starts…
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Ep. 34: The Good Education
A mother ladybug teaches her babies the things of the world.
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Ep. 35: Ants
Ants steal a box of lump sugar from a garden table. Later on, after escaping the wheels of many cars while crossing the road the ants try to fit the box in their anthill. No luck, the box is too large…
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Ep. 36: Caterpillars in Pairs
Two caterpillars (a big yellow one and a small green one) are looking for a love nest. We later get a glimpse of the fruit of their union: a big yellow egg and a small yellow egg rapidly produce two caterpillars of the same bulk and colour. When the time comes to turn into butterflies, it’s no small surprise…
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Ep. 37: Cicada's Song
A column of ants goes back and forth under the scorching sun to carry goods. Up on a branch cicadas watch the convoy and sing. With each new trip one of the ants looks more and more intrigued and captivated by the singing cicadas…
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Ep. 38: Yellow
This centipede is the biggest coward to be crawling the face of the earth, everything scares him to death: a falling leaf, the faintest noise and so on. When the thunder storm starts brewing he finds shelter first under a plastic cup and then inside a pipe connected to the garden hose. Probably not the safest place!
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Ep. 39: The Wild Bunch
A ladybug tirelessly challenges a group of flies, then a second group, then another. The flies join forces during the chase and form a humongous swarm. The ladybug gloats: now you’re talking!
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Ep. 40: The Caterpillar and the Brook
A caterpillar is indulging in the gluttonous chewing of all the leaves on top of a bush. Once the branches are entirely bare, the caterpillar spots another luxuriant bush in the distance. As we all know the shortest distance between two points is a line and our caterpillar sets out straight ahead until he is faced with a brook…
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Ep. 41: Cowardly Coward
A coward centipede has a hard time mustering his strength to cross the road because of all the passing cars. After a few failed attempts on his part another braver snail crosses the road, slowly but surely…
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Ep. 42: A Gust of Wind
The wind is picking up on the plain and the insects have a hard time dealing with all the elements unleashing around them. A small fly and a spider are trying to resist being shaken about and joggled roughly… when the wind suddenly stops.
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Ep. 43: The Persevering One
Who said spiders don’t persevere? A little spider is strongly determined to catch a groggy fly who just got into an accident and decides to launch a courageous assault. Never before seen chase on dry land…
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Ep. 44: Horsefly
A ladybug is having a great time getting a rise out of a group of flies she is insulting profusely. The flies react in the twinkling of an eye and start chasing the ladybug who is rapidly a length ahead. The flies request the intervention of one of their colleagues, a huge and very beefy horsefly…
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Ep. 45: Chewing Gum
A nosy fly glues herself on a piece of chewing gum on the asphalt. How will she manage to get rid of her sticky and cumbersome load?
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Ep. 46: The Caterpillar Who Wanted to See the Ocean
By sheer chance a little green caterpillar comes across a piece of newspaper strewn on the ground. The puzzled insect stares at a black and white picture: it is a beautiful sunset on a pretty beach. The caterpillar makes up her mind to go looking for this heavenly place…
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Ep. 47: Infernal Anthill
What happens when two ant colonies start competing to build the most beautiful anthill? Each colony performs in a different architectural style and gives free rein to their wildest imagination until they start defying the laws of gravity…
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Ep. 48: The Apple Of Concord
Two caterpillars live in two separate apples on an apple tree. All of a sudden human beings turn up and start picking the fruits, taking with them one of the two caterpillars in their baskets. This is the story of a beautiful friendship: the remaining caterpillar starts out to find his friend again…
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Ep. 49: Rosy
It’s a busy day outside the anthill. One ant tries to carry inside heteroclite and flashy objects but the boss won’t let him in. It’s never easy to stand out in a conformist world…
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Ep. 50: It Never Rains But It Pours
These are hard times for the little snails because of the drought. One snail seems to have found a solution and induces his fellow creatures to follow him. The snails set out on an incredible journey to find a refreshing water point under the pouring rain of a car wash…
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Ep. 51: A Rolling Snail Gathers No Moss
In a kindergarten, a few snails move up at a snail’s pace along a metal surface. The journey lasts for quite a while. The snails eventually reach the top of a playground slide and enjoy a few fast slides…
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Ep. 52: Sleepless Night
One night a moth encounters a butterfly. The moth falls in love instantly and when the dawn breaks he must fight sleep in order to woo his lady. Is their love impossible?
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Ep. 53: Cicada Do Brazil
Unlike her fellow creatures one little cicada has Brazilian strains to her music whenever she “sings”. The scene takes place in Provence and the cultural clash is hard to deal with. However the cicadas will find the perfect chord to strike a universal language…
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Ep. 54: The Right Seed
A ladybug is looking for a seed, finds it and plants it. A little fruit tree grows and our ladybug carefully chooses a fruit he gives as a present to a female ladybug…
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Ep. 55: The Zzzzz Patrol
A ladybug is awoken in the middle of her nap by a wasp squadron busy flying about, looping the loop and breaking the sound barrier. The ladybug cannot take it any longer and starts insulting the annoying insects profusely…
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Ep. 56: Goofing Off
A column of ants is busy carrying small rocks towards their anthill. One of the ants repeatedly leaves the work site to take a nap. Yet the foreman keeps an eye on him and wakes him up with a start each time. Go to work!
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Ep. 57: Torpedo
A mosquito dips his sting in a jar of mustard, causing an immediate and spectacular result: he takes off like a rocket. Our mosquito soon turns into a mad jackhammer…
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Ep. 58: No Exit
A bee enters a large house through an open door. Suddenly the humans leave the house and lock the bee inside. She’ll do anything to recover her freedom…
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Ep. 59: King Size Camembert
A little yellow spider finds all sorts of incredible tricks to catch a fly on the picnic tablecloth. The solution may very well be in the box of camembert cheese yet an unexpected event thwarts her plans…
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Ep. 60: Hyperactive
A hyperactive baby ladybug eludes her parents’ attention and gets herself into a lot of trouble when she starts provoking a group of bees who immediately chase her. Our baby ladybug is finally out of the woods and goes back to her parents who failed noticing she was missing…
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Ep. 61: A Cruel World
A centipede finds a full pack of chips in an undergrowth. Lucky day, he has so much to eat now! Our centipede is frightened, though, how can he deal with his enemies: should he eat the chips one by one or take them one by one to a safer place?
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Ep. 62: Interior Cobwebs
Three spiders are busy spinning their webs inside a trendy apartment. Lazy and numb atmosphere. A big fly suddenly shows up. One of the spiders starts chasing her… mishaps happen so easily…
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Ep. 63: The Mosquito
A mosquito is trapped inside a living room and is forced cohabite with the native in the house. The domino effect is triggered and it’s just the beginning of an avalanche of very unpleasant surprises…
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Ep. 64: The Escapist
Three little flies have been trapped by a spider who wrapped them up neatly inside tight cocoons. The three flies have no intention to become the spider’s dinner and will do anything to escape…
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Ep. 65: Out Of a Tin Can
A spider is using a tin can as a trap device. A fly keeps approaching the danger zone but never falls into the spider’s trap; she plays a little game of hide-and-seek instead. Against all odds the spider and the fly end up living together in perfect harmony…
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Ep. 66: Bananas
A column of ants is making its way into a kitchen to steal lumps of sugar when one of the ants goes off on her own to try and pinch a banana inside a salad bowl…
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Ep. 67: Bless You
It’s cold and damp outside. A spider has a raging cold and won’t stop sneezing, which is a real impediment when it comes to hunting. She chases a fly tirelessly but the repetitive sneezing makes any attempt vain…
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Ep. 68: Noodle Battle
A spider and a fly are fighting over a piece of spaghetti left on a plate. They chase one another around, play a tricky game of hide-and-seek to try and win the miserable tiny piece of food…
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Ep. 69: Mad Fly
In a small village in Provence a little fly bumps against a shutter. The shock makes her a little “crazy” and she starts crashing against bells and car hoods to trigger off all the alarms she can possibly find… How can such a tiny insect create such a din?
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Ep. 70: A Mosquito Day Afternoon
A mosquito is having a blast on the record player in the living room, going round and round. The dizzy mosquito takes off and triggers a series of spectacular disasters…
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Ep. 71: Some Weird Fly
A fly approaches a cow in a field and is welcome with a tail slap right in the face. The fly is groggy and starts convulsing. The crazy fly becomes hyper and aggressive and starts provoking a ladybug who’d rather avoid the confrontation…
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Ep. 72: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!
A bee, a wasp, a dragonfly and a ladybug are on the starting line, ready for the race. The last competitor, namely a snail, shows up late. The race starts and as the saying goes “slow and steady wins the race”.
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Ep. 73: Leech
A ladybug is losing patience: a snail keeps clinging to her, begging to be her friend. The ladybug keeps taking off and leaving the snail behind. He shows up inexorably everywhere she goes…
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Ep. 74: Jump Jump Jump
Two grasshoppers – a big one and a small one – start a silly competition to determine who is the best jumper. They can’t decide who’s the strongest and start jumping as high as the clouds…
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Ep. 75: Dung Beetle Blues
Our dung beetle has no sense of geometry and is unable to turn his piece of dung into a round-shaped ball. The vexed little insect will instead choose anything that looks more or less like a sphere: a ping-pong ball, a golf ball…
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Ep. 76: Quiet
Interior kitchen. The faucet is trickling above the sink. The continuous “splash splash splash” is driving a spider nuts. She musters up her courage to put an end to the torture…
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Ep. 77: Cherry Tomato
A fly pinches a little cherry tomato and flies away with it. The tomato feels really heavy, and it should; a sly ladybug is hanging on to the fruit like a dead weight. The fly steps up to carry the uncontrollable tomato…
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Ep. 78: Love Story
Much to her surprise a ladybug notices that all the insects around her get in pairs and start kissing. The ladybug eventually realizes it is the mating season. Why couldn’t she find her soul mate after all…
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