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[Mogg0]

Golden eagles hunting reindeer

Source

I could read this shit all day. Thanks mate!

 

[DrEvil]

Just watched the first two eps last night in HD.. so awesome.
I loved Planet Earth, and this is like an amazing continuation of it all.

My mind was blown at the footage of the flying fish.. I couldn't even comprehend it.


And when the monkeys were bashing the rocks on the nut, and the one rock broke... seeing the monkey "roll" his fingers along the rock was so surreal, because obviously there was frustration/thinking involved at that very moment.

 

[zweifuss]

Loved the second episode as much as the first one. So many great moments. It was nice to see the chameleon in further detail, I love how that one goes through the desert and just stumbles upon a mate and then goes on her way.

 

[subzero9285]

Nothing to do with Life, but I thought I'd post this in here.

Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 award.

A picture of a hunting wolf has won the prestigious Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 award.

Jose Luis Rodriguez captured the imaginations of the judges with a picture that he had planned for years, and even sketched out on a piece of paper.

"I wanted to capture a photo in which you would see a wolf in an act of hunting - or predation - but without blood," he told BBC News. "I didn't want a cruel image."

With a great deal of patience and careful observation of the wolves' movements, he succeeded in taking the award-winning photograph.

Mr Rodriguez used a custom-built infrared trap to snap the wolf as it leapt into the air.

The WPY competition, now in its 45th year, is owned by BBC Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum.

The panel of judges looked through more than 43,000 entries to this year's competition.

This is the fifth year that wildlife photographer Mark Carwardine has been on the judging panel. He said of the winning photo: "It's captured thousands of years of human-wolf interaction in just one moment."

Storybook Wolf

Mr Rodriguez won the Animal Portraits category and went on to win the top prize with this haunting image that the judges said captured the character of the wolf.

When he started planning the photograph, he feared that he might not be able to get close enough to the Iberian wolves.

This subspecies of the grey wolf lives close to human habitation in northern Spain. They are often persecuted by people who see them as a threat to livestock, and they are consequently very wary.

Watching the animals as they returned to the same spot to collect food each night, Mr Rodriguez decided on his dream shot.

He eventually captured it using a photographic trap that included a motion sensor and an infrared barrier to operate the camera.

He hopes that his picture, "showing the wolf's great agility and strength", will become an image that can be used to show just how beautiful the Iberian wolf is and how the Spanish can be proud to have such an emblematic animal.

Hasselblad 503CW with a 6x6 Fujichrome backing + Planar 80mm lens; 1/30 sec at f11; ISO 50; purpose-made Ficap infrared camera trap

Clash of the Yellowhammers

Fergus Gill, who was 17 years old when he entered the competition, won this year's Young Photographer of the Year award for his picture of a brief but dramatic clash between two of the colourful UK songbirds.

He started planning the image in summer, collecting oat sheaves from a local farmer specifically as winter food for the yellowhammers.

One evening in February, hearing that snow was forecast for the next morning, Fergus set up his hide in the garden of his home in Scotland and hung out feeders for the birds.

"At one point, I counted 32 yellowhammers feeding on the ground," he said.

When the snow fell, the birds jumped up on to the feeders and the males would occasionally fight over the oats.

"The spats were incredibly fast," he said. It took Fergus two days to capture the dramatic clash that earned him his award.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 200-400mm f4 lens at 220mm; 1/1000 sec at f5.6; ISO 500

Respect

With the help of his feisty cat, Igor Shpilenok won the Urban and Garden Wildlife category with this shot.

He spent five months as a ranger in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka in the east of Russia, and took his cat Ryska with him for company.

"It's a very remote place and there were lots of animals - bears, foxes, wolverines - living near my cabin," he told BBC News.

"The cat was really jealous about me. If I started to look at the animals, she would attack them. Just like a woman," he smiled.

"Maybe she thought I was her pet."

But the animals were curious about the area's new residents, and were drawn by cooking smells from the cabin. The foxes in particular would visit every day. "When they came within 20m, that was her boundary and chased them. It was really funny - foxes were climbing trees to get away from the cat."

Mr Shpilenok's wife, Laura Williams, selected the category-winning image. "It's ironic," she said. "He photographs the wilderness, but the two times he's won a category [in this competition] it's been the urban wildlife one. Because the wilderness is his back yard."

Nikon D3 + 300mm lens; 1/500 sec at f4.5; ISO 640

Spring on the Snowflake

Urmas Tartes won the Animals in their Environment category for this image of a springtail, otherwise known as a "snow flea" navigating its way through delicate snowflakes.

When the temperature drops below freezing, the insect climbs down through the frosty crevasses to the warmer soil below.

"But they're only active a few degrees below zero," Mr Tartes told BBC News. "I had to 'ambush' the weather for just the right temperature and conditions.

"I was travelling with my wife and it started snowing slightly," he recalled.

"We came to a place where we thought it might be possible [to see the insects] and the thermometer in the car said it was just the right temperature."

Mr Tartes had waited for the perfect weather in which the snow fleas would be active, but the snowflakes would remain frozen.

His patience paid off, and he managed to take over 100 shots while the insects negotiated their way through the tricky terrain.

He believes he captured something truly unique and that this was largely thanks to his knowledge of his country and its climate.

"I think the best of the photos I take are in my homeland," he told BBC News.

"There's a saying in Estonia that in order to see new things, you have to follow common paths - paths you know."

Canon EOS-5D Mark II + Canon MP-E65 f2.5 1-5x Macro lens; 1/200 sec at f14; ISO 400

The Look of the Jaguar

Tom Schandy won the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife for this image, which he took while working on a book project in Brazil.

"We spent a few days on a boat along Rio Paraguay and saw four jaguars in the space of three days.

"It was really amazing, because it is such a difficult animal to find.

"This one was very relaxed - it just lay on the river bank staring at us for more than an hour.

"It was a glimpse into the eye of the wilderness."

At sunset, the jaguar rose, yawned and scent-marked. Then he faded back into the dense forest.

Canon EOS-ID Mark III + 500mm f4 lens; 1/250 sec at f4; ISO 400; beanbag

Starling Wave

Starling wave by Danny Green (United Kingdom) Photographs in this category must display a skilful and artistic use of the black-and white medium. The subject can be any wild landscape or creature. Starling populations in the UK swell in December and January as birds from the Continent head for milder wintering areas. 'This gathering', says Danny, 'was by far the most impressive I have ever seen'.

The location was Gretna Green in Scotland. The stage was set: a perfect evening, hundreds upon thousands of starlings. And then the main character appeared, off stage-left, a peregrine falcon, which sent ripples of pulsating panic throughout the entire flock.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II + Canon 70-200mm lens; 1/3 sec at f2.8; ISO 400

Source

 

[batbeg]

Christ. I've only just started to watch these on the iPlayer and it's increeeedible so far. Can't wait to buy these when they're out in physical releases.

Edit: Oh my God. The Stalk-Eyed Fly is some scary shit.

 

[subzero9285]

3. Mammals

Spoiler

Only one mammal can survive the punishing temperatures on the Antarctic ice during winter – a Weddell seal. As the spring comes, a lone seal gives birth to a single pup and it manages to survive.

At the other end of the globe, polar bears also cope in the freezing cold. Female polar bears and their cubs face starvation during the summer and autumn when the sea ice – their hunting platform – melts beneath them. They are forced onto land, where they can do no more than scavenge for scraps. Faced with the unexpected bounty of a huge bowhead whale carcass lying on the beach, polar bears have to suppress their instincts to fight or run and actually join in with other polar bears to share in this feast.

Having warm-blood means that mammals are much faster than their reptilian predators.

When filmed in super-slow motion, the rufous sengi – a small gerbil-like creature – demonstrates the extreme speed and agility of mammals. The sengi builds and maintains an intricate network of trails in its territory, the details of which it fortunately remembers when being chased by a hungry monitor lizard.

Being warm-blooded also gives giant straw-coloured fruit bats the endurance to migrate from all over the Congo to a mega-roost that scientists have only recently discovered in Zambia. Over ten million giant bats gather to spend a few weeks at Kasanka. At night, they stream off to feed on fruit, devouring over a billion pieces in a few weeks.

Meerkats have taken social living to a high level and live in truly co-operative family groups. It has recently been discovered that some adults will tutor novice youngsters in finding and dealing with difficult prey.

Teaching their young is a key mammalian talent.

And nowhere is this more apparent than in elephants. An old matriarch can have 70 years' worth of learning which she shares with her herd. A newborn elephant gets stuck in the mud under her inexperienced mother, who simply makes matters worse. It is her grandmother who comes to the rescue.

In Tonga, humpback whales gather to breed and, in another TV first, Life captures the complete sequence of the 'heat run'. Females must make sure they secure the strongest and fittest male to mate with, so they incite a battle. She releases a scent into the water and then makes her presence known by slapping her pectoral fins down hard on the surface. The males respond and begin to gather. She moves off ahead and the following males fight for prime position. These massive creatures slash their tails, collide and force each other under water in their efforts to be the winning male.

 

[Scythian Empire]

Very very very tempted to buy the Planet Earth box set on blu-ray...

 

[Rentahamster]

Very very very tempted to buy the Planet Earth box set on blu-ray...

It's not that expensive. Or you could wait for it to go on sale again.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Meerkats falling asleep are hilarious :lol

Granny elephant knows what is up

MILF whale is a cocktease

 

[subzero9285]

That infant elephant was so awwwwww. I was literally willing him/her to get out of that mud. Another brilliant episode.

 

[Igo]

Can someone please cap the first night shot taken above the river. That needs to be my wallpaper.

Lions vs Hyenas at night was incredible and pretty much ensured i'll be watching the Lion King sometime this week.

 

[Robin]

Roger the underwater cameraman has some balls on him. Diving down in front of the humpback whales to film them looked terrifying.

 

[xelios]

If I could get a high res pic of that starling wave it would be my new desktop.

 

[Amir0x]

Can't wait to buy this on Blu-Ray. perfect companion to my High Definition Natural History Collection!

 

[subzero9285]

Life continues to be ratings success in the UK.

[B]Monday 26th October 2009[/B]

[B]BBC One[/B]
20:30 - Panorama: 2.6m (10.6%)
[B]21:00 - Life: 5.3m (21.9%)[/B]
22:00 - BBC News at Ten: 4.7m (23.9%)

[B]BBC Two[/B]
20:30 - Restaurant in Your Home: 1.6m (6.7%)
21:00 - The World's Greatest Money Maker: Evan Davis meets Warren Buffett: 1.3m (5.2%)
22:00 - Have I Got News For You: 1.3m (6.7%)

[B]ITV1[/B]
20:30 - Coronation Street: 9.4m (38.9%)
21:00 - Murderland: 5.5m (22.8%)
22:00 - News at Ten and Weather: 2.8m (14.5%)

[B]Channel 4[/B]
20:00 - Dispatches: 1.5m (6.3%)
21:00 - Race and Intelligence: Science's Last Taboo: 1m (4.5%)
22:20 - Ugly Betty: 600,000 (4.4%)

[B]Five[/B]
20:00 - The Gadget Show: 1.4m (5.7%)
21:00 - FlashForward: 2.7m (11.1%)
22:00 - America's Toughest Prisons: 800,000 (5%)

 

[subzero9285]

Episode 4 - Fish

Spoiler

Fish are the most varied and diverse backboned creatures on the planet. To date, 28,000 species of fish have been discovered. From pregnant males to fish that fly and fish that have a top speed faster than a cheetah, the diversity of fish is amazing.

The strange looking weedy sea dragon lives off the coast of south Australia. These brightly-coloured fish appear to have no obvious means of propulsion. In spring, weedy sea dragons gather and the males and females pair up for courtship. Each pair engages in a mirror dance until, finally, under the cover of darkness, they spawn. Bizarrely, the eggs are laid onto the tail of the male and two month later the young weedy sea dragons hatch and, with a shake of his body, he helps them free of their egg cases. His job done, father and offspring go their separate ways.

Other fish's family links last rather longer.

The convict fish is an oddity. No- one knows what the adult eats, as no one has ever seen one leave its burrow to forage. It shares its network of tunnels with thousands of its offspring, which are not bound to the tunnels. They venture out and feed on the rich plankton around the reef – returning every night to join their parent in the safety of their tunnel. They may in some way feed the adult – but how this happens is a mystery.

Even the most enormous natural obstacles don't seem to deter fish.

In Hawaii, famous for its waterfalls, gobies manage to climb them – sometimes over 400 feet – using a specialised disc that enable them to stick to vertical rocks. Their reward at the summit is access to secluded pools and very few predators.

Flying fish are capable of bursting from the water and soaring on 'wings' created by their elongated pectoral fins to escape predators. And their spawning behaviour is astonishing as they mass around any flotsam they find. The action can become so extreme that living fish are entombed in the mass of eggs that the fish lay on floating palm fronds. So many eggs are laid that finally the frond sinks into the depths, bringing an abrupt end to the spawning action.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Yeah. I pre-ordered this on Blu-Ray not too long ago. Looking forward to watching it.

I've been watching Planet Earth on BR in the meantime. On disc five now. Great stuff.

 

[jorma]

Yes, i've seen all episodes so far and they are all totally awesome. I think most of the segments are so good they should be a 1 hour episode on it's own! I'd be totally down with 50 episodes of this

 

[NekoFever]

I've been skipping this as it aired because I want to see it for the first time in 1080p. Can't wait for the BD.

 

[Peru]

So glad extensive, expensive stuff like this is popular and gets the ratings. It's tremendously beautiful and entertaining, sure, but the job they're doing isn't unimportant either. It enthralls and at the same time makes people aware of the things that are in danger, of extinction, pullution, etc. And it's a great catalog work for crystalline photography of the world. Good stuff all around.

 

[Schattenjäger]

So can us Americans watch this? I've been browsing the BBC america
website and it makes no mention of this show

 

[Wes]

The music in this seadragon bit is awesome.

 

[subzero9285]

So can us Americans watch this? I've been browsing the BBC america
website and it makes no mention of this show

It won't be aired in the US this year, but it's out on Blu-ray in less than a month.

On a side note, today's episode was excellent. Loved the Sailfish segment.

 

[subzero9285]

Hummingbird display

The amazing mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird has been filmed in full for the first time. The spatuletail hummingbird is among the most rare and striking of birds. By using a high speed camera, a BBC natural history film crew was the first to capture the mating sequence in super slow motion.

The crew also filmed a male advertising in front of a female, and solved a mystery of how the male birds make a snapping sound during the display. The mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird (Loddigesia mirabilis) is captured for the BBC natural history series Life.

The species lives in just a few locations in Peru, and is unusual not just because of its rarity, but also because of its extreme mating behaviour. Unusually among hummingbirds, the bird has just four tail feathers. In males, two of these feathers grow to three or four times the bird's body length, each ending in a large violet-blue disc; the spatule.

In an amazing display, a male then advertises its quality as a mate to a female by hovering in front of her while furiously waving his spatules about.

"It's one of the most extreme displays," says Mrs Nikki Waldron, a producer who helped film the behaviour for the programme.

"As part of his dance he'll jump backward and forwards in the air over a branch and make a snapping sound in the air."

"It was thought he actually snapped those spatule discs together to generate the noise."

However, the high speed film of the mating sequence, captured at hundreds of frames per second, reveals that not to be true.

"When we filmed them in super high speed we realised that although the spatules wobble very closely together, the noise is actually coming from his mouth. That was the first time anybody had seen that," says Mrs Waldron.

The BBC camera team was also the first to record the male marvellous spatuletail hummingbird displaying to a female, and his whole mating display from start to finish. Low light conditions and the tiny size of the bird made filming especially challenging.

"It's particularly tricky, in that his body is the size of a slightly fluffy ping-pong ball. His beak is the size of a matchstick. He is just tiny. And quite shy," says Mrs Waldron.

"Hummingbirds do everything at super high speed. He would do a dance with a twig where he hops over and over backwards and forwards across it mid air. He'd do that 14 times in seven seconds. It's really really quick."

The display costs so much energy that the males struggle to maintain it.

"He'll stand up and go da da da and you'll hear snap snap snap from his beak and it'll all be over and he'll be sitting down for an hour."

To film the sequence Mrs Waldron and cameraman Mark Payne Gill spent two weeks in the cloud forest, near Lake Pomacochas in central Peru. Filming from a bush, with camera tripods lashed to trees to prevent them tumbling downhill, the pair would arrive before dawn to capture the display, which occurred each morning at 7am. Later in the trip, they were joined by Jason Ellson, who operated the high speed camera.

Before the arrival of the BBC crew, the bird had only been filmed once before using a hand held camcorder. Local expert Santos Montenegro helped the BBC crew find and film the enigmatic bird. Once a potato farmer, Mr Montenegro now grows a host of local plants to attract around 30 species of bird life.

Much remains to be discovered about the species.

"There's hardly anything known about it," says Mrs Waldron.

For example, it isn't known if the males regrow their extraordinary tail feathers each year, or whether they can attract females if one is missing. Nor is it clear where the females go when not attracted to the males' territories, known as leks. Working with local conservation charity ECOAN (Association of Andean Ecosystems), Mr Montenegro is also helping to educate children in the area to protect rather than attack the birds for fun.

"It's a poor area. The kids, instead of playing Nintendo DS's, they'd shoot hummingbirds with catapults," explains Ms Waldron.

"But now they've realised they can make a bit of money from tourists, it's completely changed the culture. If any of the kids get caught with a sling shot they get teased by the other kids."

The "display of the marvellous spatuletail humming bird" is broadcast within the Birds episode of the BBC series Life at 2100BST on BBC One on Monday 9 November.

Video

 

[gofreak]

I missed this last night

Whose bright idea was it to put this on at 10.35pm on BBC Northern Ireland?

 

[mrklaw]

I've missed this - is it repeated all the time on BBCHD?


and what is it with Nature programs these days? After years of fairly textbook footage, We're getting amazingly unique and intimate shots that I'd have never expected. Life, Planet Earth, Yellowstone

 

[Raydeen]

So can us Americans watch this? I've been browsing the BBC america
website and it makes no mention of this show

Because David Attenborough is too old and crusty for US viewers. Americanos get to shake your LIFE thang with Oprah! http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/11/0...ery-channels-epic-television-event-life/32239 :lol

 

[subzero9285]

Because David Attenborough is too old and crusty for US viewers. Americanos get to shake your LIFE thang with Oprah! http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/11/0...ery-channels-epic-television-event-life/32239 :lol

The hell?

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

It won't be aired in the US this year, but it's out on Blu-ray in less than a month.

I NEED this on Blu ray, but it doesn't show up on Amazon's US site. It this only coming out in Europe next month?

 

[subzero9285]

I NEED this on Blu ray, but it doesn't show up on Amazon's US site. It this only coming out in Europe next month?

It's only confirmed for Europe so far. Your best bet is to order it from Amazon UK, if it isn't given a simultaneous release.

 

[jorma]

I NEED this on Blu ray, but it doesn't show up on Amazon's US site. It this only coming out in Europe next month?

It's probably because amazon us will be selling the oprah version...

 

[mrklaw]

It's only confirmed for Europe so far. Your best bet is to order it from Amazon UK, if it isn't given a simultaneous release.

region free? I'm in the UK but have a Japanese Region A PS3

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

It's probably because amazon us will be selling the oprah version...

Well, I got my Sir David edition of Planet Earth from Amazon, so I don't see why they wouldn't release his version of Life overseas.

 

[K.Sabot]

Can't wait for 'Death' ,the follow-up to 'Life', the follow-up to Planet Earth.

 

[SmokeMaxX]

Can't wait for 'Death' ,the follow-up to 'Life', the follow-up to Planet Earth.

Why can't Oprah narrate 'Death' instead <_< It'd be much more fitting.

 

[falconzss]

awesome! watched some BBC stuff yesterday and loved it as always.
can't wait for the blu-ray box release on 30/11/2009...or even better the Planet Earth & Life Boxset since i haven't got the planet earth blu-ray set yet.

 

[Mr.Squirrel]

Gaf I've never seen planet earth.....should I kill myself now?

 

[madmook]

Gaf I've never seen planet earth.....should I kill myself now?

Easier option would be to go and watch it.

 

[subzero9285]

region free? I'm in the UK but have a Japanese Region A PS3

It should be, if you follow the previous precedents. Planet Earth, Nature's Great Events etc have all been region free.

 

[subzero9285]

awesome! watched some BBC stuff yesterday and loved it as always.
can't wait for the blu-ray box release on 30/11/2009...or even better the Planet Earth & Life Boxset since i haven't got the planet earth blu-ray set yet.

You'll be pleased to know that the Life and Planet Earth box set is released on the same day as the single release of Life.

 

[inner-G]

Wait... This is out on BD THIS YEAR????

FUUUUUUUUUUU-

 

[subzero9285]

Wait... This is out on BD THIS YEAR????

FUUUUUUUUUUU-

It'll be out on Blu-ray before the series finishes airing in the UK, as there's still six episodes left.

 

[kilongs]

It'll be out on Blu-ray before the series finishes airing in the UK, as there's still six episodes left.

Wait...the complete series or just the stuff thats been shown on tv?

If its the complete series, why would they release it on blu-ray before its been completely shown on tv? Not complaining cuz I'd love to be able to watch the series as soon as possible, just curious.

 

[Alucrid]

$80 bucks. Okay...cheaper than Planet Earth originally was.

 

[oracrest]

Can't wait, this looks awesome!

 

[jorma]

Wait...the complete series or just the stuff thats been shown on tv?

If its the complete series, why would they release it on blu-ray before its been completely shown on tv? Not complaining cuz I'd love to be able to watch the series as soon as possible, just curious.

To release the DVD of a show or a miniseries in mid season is a new trend in Sweden at least. I suppose it increases the profits and i guess BBC need the money =)

 

[NekoFever]

It should be, if you follow the previous precedents. Planet Earth, Nature's Great Events etc have all been region free.

This, although a couple of BBC BDs have had some 50Hz elements, which the PS3 didn't like for a while. I'm fairly sure that's been fixed again, though.

Wait...the complete series or just the stuff thats been shown on tv?

If its the complete series, why would they release it on blu-ray before its been completely shown on tv? Not complaining cuz I'd love to be able to watch the series as soon as possible, just curious.

The BBC doesn't get any advertising revenue, so why not? Seeing the episodes early gives an incentive to buy the DVD/BD, which nets the BBC money that it might not otherwise get.

 

[Mr.Squirrel]

Easier option would be to go and watch it.

if only it was that simple

 

[Suairyu]

My sole complaint about this show so far is all the added sound-effects that have been employed to make things seem more awesome than they really are. It really ruins it for me, as I end up having no idea how events really sound like.

 

[subzero9285]

Some HD clips on Youtube.

• Ingenious Dolphin Hunting
• Jesus Christ Lizard
• Bouncing Pebble Toad
• Fruit Bats
• Pygmy Gecko

And my favourite scene so far; the amazing mothering instincts of the Strawberry Poison Arrow Frog. An absolutely stunning sequence, the accompanying music has also been great as well, it's all very fitting.

• Strawberry Poison Arrow Frog.

Enjoy.