I watched the episode on snakes too and it was brilliant, I really enjoyed it. I find snakes a frightening but fascinating, they are such amazing predators that it's difficult not to admire them.
The bit I found the most interesting was how a snake (can't remember which type) found a trail that mice used and then lay in wait at night for a mouse to run past. Several times a mouse did run past but the snake couldn't get a clear shot so it stayed hidden. When it finally did get a clear shot it struck so quickly and accurately, using heat sensors as it was dark that the mouse had no time to react and died almost immediately. Amazing!
Senua, that's interesting that people have started going out and buying reptiles. It's great that the show has got people interested, but I'm not sure it's a good thing having people who have never had a reptile before go out and buy one on a whim.
I saw the first 15 minutes or so of the snake episode. They have unbelievable patience, sitting in the same spot absolutely still for hours, sometimes days, on end waiting for the prey to come to them and not the other way around.
So far, for varying reasons, I've missed every single episode. I can't wait for it to come out on dvd. I've got the book though and it's fab. All the Life series books are great, really well written and soooo much extra info
I have watched every episode of Life in Cold Blood so far. As always, Attenborough is fantastic. One of my heroes (along with Johnny Morris).
Have been impressed by how certain parts of the programme were filmed. E.g. Loved the Snakes episode (am a interested in/intrigued by snakes), and how they filmed the Timber Rattlesnake going about a "kill" (the mouse).
Also loved the African Rock Python consuming the antelope/gazelle. The dislocation of the jaws to perform such an act!!! Oh, and it won't need to eat for over a year!!!
Great series, great man - long may he live!
Just a quick note on the dislocation - Attenborough's been caught foul of this before, but they don't actually dislocate them in the sense you'd dislocate a shoulder or a finger. The jaw is in 4 parts, connected by elastic ligaments which can allow the jaw to stretch horizontally and vertically, which is why you see Gazelle's being consumed.
He's also said snakes are poisonous - poison is consumed. Snakes don't do that. They're venomous, as it's injected.
I got to meet Sir Attenborough on Wednesday in Kingston. He's just as gentle, in his handshake as he is in his care when handling animals.
I think it's a good thing people are shunning cats.
-Snakes aren't placed outside, and don't hunt for mental stimulation, like cats do.
-Snakes aren't placed outside, and end up leaving turds by your lovely Petunias.
-Anyone who has been bitten by both a cat and a snake will know cats are a lot more painful (unless you're bitten by a large arboreal snake).
Societies fear of snakes is funny. I guess it's the mystique of being limbless, and also with some snakes possessing a wide range of modified saliva from anything that affects your nervous system, to the local tissue around the bite, which can range from anything from a bee sting, to amputation, to even death through a single drop.
If a cat killed a bird, nothing would be said of it. If a snake which escaped or was released caught a bird, then it'd be in the papers on how it ambushed the bird, sat waiting for the perfect opportunity, and how we have the European Adder which is venomous and has claimed 7 lives in the past 70 years.
I can't abide domestic cats for the reason given. Their owners tend to be just as irresponsible. My next door neighbour (a "nature and wildlife lover", so he says) has three of the b---ers! Before they came along, our garden was full of birds and a wide variety too; blackbirds, robins, greenfinches, blutits, siskins, the odd redwing or two, etc, etc. Not now - and he can keep puttin his sunflower seeds out, but they ain't gonna come!!!
When I was living at home in Kent we had a big problem with cats. Every time we planted something they dig it up. I'd heard that they don't like the smell of certain herbs so I planted curry plant, feverfew and camomile around the edges of the flowerbeds plus a bit of holly. It seemed to work, we did'nt have problems after that.
As for snakes, I have a soft spot for them. I once saw an Adder making his way across a path in some woods. Beautiful animals.
They get too much of a bad press. I saw an article last year about the owner of a dog who had got bitten by an Adder. They wanted to know why the local council wern't doing something about the Adder problem. They seemed to think that Adders did'nt belong in a residential area.
:S
I think societies fear of snakes is for the same reason as most fears - misunderstanding. A lot of people have only seen snakes on the TV where inevitably the most dangerous snakes are shown. Also living in the UK we are lucky in the lack of things venomous, so the adder which is the only "dangerous" animal people know about is given a very bad reputation. Hopefully the brilliant episode on snakes will change that fear for some people!
P.s. The_Libertine, I'm very jealous you got to meet the man himself!
They wanted to know why the local council wern't doing something about the Adder problem. They seemed to think that Adders did'nt belong in a residential area.
:S
I can't see how one adder bite is a problem! It's a shame that people don't understand adders, or snakes for that matter.
