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Posts Tagged ‘David Attenborough’

David Attenborough is 87 today

I watched Attenborough’s Life on Earth when I was about six or seven. The experience was formative for my budding interest in nature. I read the accompanying Life book so often the binding fell apart. That Attenborough has continued to inspire young naturalists for decades, with the same enthusiasm and integrity, is marvelous. So, Happy Attenborough Day! [...]

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Sunday Night Movie: David Attenborough Toys with a Trapdoor Spider

From the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth: If you like trapdoor spiders, this past year may have been the best ever: arachnologist Jason Bond recently quintupled the number of known species in North America. Of course, with the discovery of many new species comes the related depressing discovery that many of them are in imminent danger of [...]

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Sunday Night Movie: Attenborough (and not Attenborough) on the Stalk-Eyed Fly

A short clip from BBC’s “LIFE” series: For a contrast in narrative style, here’s the American version:

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Sunday Night Movie: A Very Young David Attenborough

David Attenborough as a spritely young man, believe it or not: Of course, the “vast, unbroken forest” that once extended from Paraguay to the Amazon has long since been plowed under for industrial soy production. (From Zoo Quest: Paraguay [1959])

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Sunday Night Movie: the Bolas Spider

From the BBC’s Life in the Undergrowth: I love that the editors added little lasso swishy noises in post-processing. Because in real life these animals aren’t quite cool enough.

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Sunday Night Movie: Harvester Ants, Day and Night

From the BBC’s amazing Life in the Undergrowth: This story is based on research by Barton et al 2002.

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Sunday Night Movie: A Queen Bumble Bee

From the BBC’s classic Life in the Undergrowth: For more on bee thermodynamics, I heartily recommend Bernd Heinrich’s Bumblebee Economics.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Giraffe-Necked Weevil

If I had to make a list of strangest-looking insects, I’d include Madagascar’s giraffe-necked weevils. From the BBC:

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Sunday Night Movie: OOGPISTER!

Another gem from Attenborough’s “Life” series: Plus, I’ll give a bonus Myrmecos point to the first person to identify the ants to species.

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Sunday Night Movie: the Ant Assassin

A clip from the BBC’s brilliant Life in the Undergrowth: Per our earlier discussion, the assassin is a true bug in the order Hemiptera.

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