Life in Cold Blood - New Herp Series

[damien]

I was happy when I saw it was on BBC One, since we can receive that over here... but then it hit me..
I DON'T have it in my programme list.. so I can't see it.
I'll have to look for someone that can record it for me that has another company supplying the Digi-TV.
I only have BBC-Prime..

I can't wait for this to air.. I'm such a huge van of David Attenborough's work. I'm still waiting to be able to afford "The Life Collection"..

 

[coendeurloo]

I am very excited about this, and just to be sure; I know 2 documentaries about newts: "Night of the Salamander" and, more recently, I bought "Der Feuersalamander" which is in German, but very beautiful. I've also seen the Andrias in Planet Earth.

Am I missing another must-see?

 

[Mark]

Transmission dates - courtesy of the series producer.

A date for your diaries: we begin broadcasting in the UK on BBC One at 9pm, February 4th with a repeat on Sunday around 6pm - check local press for details.
Unfortunately we don't have dates for broadcasting outside the UK - please check locally.

The Cold Blooded Truth: Monday 4th Feb
Land Invaders (Amphibians): Monday 11th Feb
Dragons of the Dry (Lizards): Monday 18th Feb
Sophisticated Serpents (Snakes): Monday 25th Feb
Armoured Giants (Tortoises, Turtles and Crocodilians): Monday 3rd March
For more about Life in Cold Blood andto see exclusive clips visit
www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeincoldblood (from 28th Jan)

Miles Barton, Series Producer

 

[gr33neyes]

Thankyou for that Mark, i'm looking forward to watching them

 

[John]

Well, can we residents of places non-Blighty be given a review of the first episode please?

 

[coendeurloo]

Well, I absolutely loved it, even though there were no salamanders to be seen in the first episode. I guess we have to wait till next monday. There were chameleons from madagascar, a python swallowing a deer, treefrogs waxing themselves to be able to withstand the sun, lizards that could thermoregulate themselves, turtles, snakes... all with very interesting properties. If this quality is maintained throughout the remaining episodes, I will definatly purchase the DVD version.

 

[John]

Since Mark is too modest to toot his own horn, I'll do it for him. This clip on YouTube from 'Life in Cold Blood' interspersed with an interview with David Attenborough, features some of Mark's Dendrobates imitator:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ESH4nj6SoA

 

[John]

My only comment is that Mark's house sounds an awful lot like a rain forest...

 

[coendeurloo]

Well, the second one was nothing short of amazing. Some of the newts that I've seen were Mesotriton alpestris and Ambystoma opacums' mating behaviour, the cave dwelling habits of the Slimy salamander, the territorial behaviour of the japanese giant salamander, and the projectile tongue of a specie I didn't recognize. There was also a stunning item about the nourishing behaviour of the caecillian mother. The episode topped it all of with some of the most amazing frog species and their interesting behaviour. All the images were captured beautifully, this must be the creme de la creme of eye candy for us amphibian-lovers in my opinion.

In the "Under the skin" part in the end of the second episode David Attenborough informed us about the Chytrid fungus, and the alarming rate at which it spreads. Their filmcrew was actually the last that filmed the Atelopus zeteki (Panamanian golden frog) in their last natural habitat, before it was captured and placed Ex situ in a controlled (fungus-free) environment.

 

[Mark]

And if you had super human vision you would have seen my name flying up the screen in tiny writing....

Quite a shock - I didn't know I had a credit

 

[Lasher]

projectile tongue of a specie I didn't recognize.

Me neither, does anyone know what that was?

As for the rest of the program, I was a little disapointed. Other than the caecillian young eating the mothers skin, nothing I didnt know. However some of the footage was *amazing*, well worth a viewing.
I'd have hoped for something a bit more... informative?

 

[Mark]

Me neither, does anyone know what that was?

Hydromantes platycepahalus

 

[John]

Show off!!!

And if you had super human vision you would have seen my name flying up the screen in tiny writing....

Quite a shock - I didn't know I had a credit

 

[Mark]

Since Mark is too modest to toot his own horn

Well... I thought I'd have a toot

 

[John]

Well... I thought I'd have a toot

Clearly, I misjudged you. I won't make that mistake again.

Have you told the Marc who was credited at the end of the Immortal Salamander that you had frogs in this? What does he think?

 

[coendeurloo]

Impressive Mark, I very much enjoyed the footage of your frogs too!

 

[John]

Actually there's a question for you - what exactly in NotS was to do with MS?

 

[Mark]

Marc kindly provided the cb imitator for the sequence which he picked up at Hamm. I don't know what he thinks - he seemed quite interested when I described the sequence to him. I don't know what his involvement was in the Immortal Salamander... I guess they filmed some stuff at his house. I shall ask if I see him again.

 

[andrew]

Well i loved it!...i've been waiting for that episode for what seems like years!

 

[gr33neyes]

My only comment is that Mark's house sounds an awful lot like a rain forest...

Is this true Mark?
Would I need goretex boots and a poncho if I was to visit? :smile: