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Weird Nature
''Weird Nature'' is a 2002 British documentary television series produced by John Downer Productions for the BBC and Discovery Channel. The series features strange behavior in nature—specifically, the animal world. The series now airs on the Science Channel. The series took three years to make and a new filming technique was used to show animal movements in 3-D film, 3D. BBC News, 5 December 2001. Retrieved 28 September 2010 Each episode, however, tended to end with a piece about how humans are probably the oddest species of all. For example, in the end of the episode about locomotion, the narrator states how unusual it is for a mammal to be bipedal. In the episode about defences, the narrator explains that humans have no real natural defences, save for their big brains.
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Nature Documentary
A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of trained and captive animals. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema medium. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series. History In cinema Robert J. Flaherty's 1922 film ''Nanook of the North'' is typically cited as the first feature-length documentary. Decades later, Walt Disney Productions pioneered the serial theatrical release of nature-documentaries with its production of the True-Life Adventures series, a collection of fourteen full length and short subject nature films from 1948 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Dancer
The Spanish dancer, scientific name ''Hexabranchus sanguineus'' (literally meaning "blood-colored six-gills"), is a dorid nudibranch, a very large and colorful sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Hexabranchidae. Description The Spanish dancer is a large dorid nudibranch which can grow up to a maximum length of 60 cm.DELUNEL Anthony, WARREN Lindsay, COROLLA Jean-Pierre, MITEL Cédric, in : DORIS, 17/7/2014 : Hexabranchus sanguineus (Rüppell et Leuckart, 1830) However, the commonly observed size is between 20 and 30 cm long. Its body coloration is generally orange-red speckled with multiple small white dots but it also can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courtship Display
A courtship display is a set of display behaviors in which an animal, usually a male, attempts to attract a mate; the mate exercises choice, so sexual selection acts on the display. These behaviors often include ritualized movement ("dances"), vocalizations, mechanical sound production, or displays of beauty, strength, or agonistic ability. Male display In some species, males will perform ritualized movements to attract females. The male six-plumed bird-of-paradise ( ''Parotia lawesii'') exemplifies male courtship display with its ritualized "ballerina dance" and unique occipital and breast feathers that serve to stimulate the female visual system. In ''Drosophila subobscura,'' male courtship display is seen through the male's intricate wing scissoring patterns and rapid sidestepping. These stimulations, along with many other factors, result in subsequent copulation or rejection. In other species, males may exhibit courtship displays that serve as both visual and auditory st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always ending with a stinger. The evolutionary history of scorpions goes back 435 million years. They mainly live in deserts but have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions, and can be found on all continents except Antarctica. There are over 2,500 described species, with 22 extant (living) families recognized to date. Their taxonomy is being revised to account for 21st-century genomic studies. Scorpions primarily prey on insects and other invertebrates, but some species hunt vertebrates. They use their pincers to restrain and kill prey, or to prevent their own predation. The venomous sting is used for offense and defense. During courtship, the male and female grasp each other's pincers and dance while he tries to move her onto his s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Breeding
Animal breeding is a branch of animal science that addresses the evaluation (using best linear unbiased prediction and other methods) of the genetic value (estimated breeding value, EBV) of livestock. Selecting for breeding animals with superior EBV in growth rate, egg, meat, milk, or wool production, or with other desirable traits has revolutionized livestock production throughout the entire world. The scientific theory of animal breeding incorporates population genetics, quantitative genetics, statistics, and recently molecular genetics and is based on the pioneering work of Sewall Wright, Jay Lush, and Charles Roy Henderson, Charles Henderson. Breeding stock Breeding stock is a group of animals used for the purpose of planned breeding. When individuals are looking to breed animals, they look for certain valuable traits in purebred animals, or may intend to use some type of crossbreeding to produce a new type of stock with different, and presumably super abilities in a given area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chameleon
Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, being capable of shifting to different hues and degrees of brightness. The large number of species in the family exhibit considerable variability in their capacity to change color. For some, it is more of a shift of brightness (shades of brown); for others, a plethora of color-combinations (reds, yellows, greens, blues) can be seen. Chameleons are distinguished by their zygodactylous feet, their prehensile tail, their laterally compressed bodies, their head casques, their projectile tongues, their swaying gait, and crests or horns on their brow and snout. Chameleons' eyes are independently mobile, and because of this there are two separate, individual images that the brain is analyzing of the chameleon’s environment. When hunting prey, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world. Special effects are traditionally divided into the categories of mechanical effects and optical effects. With the emergence of digital film-making a distinction between special effects and visual effects has grown, with the latter referring to digital post-production and optical effects, while "special effects" refers to mechanical effects. Mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects) are usually accomplished during the live-action shooting. This includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, animatronics, pyrotechnics and atmospheric effects: creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow, clouds, making a car appear to drive by itself and blowing up a building, etc. Mechanical effects are also often inco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemur
Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. They arboreal, chiefly live in trees and nocturnal, are active at night. Lemurs share resemblance with other primates, but evolved independently from monkeys and apes. Due to Madagascar's highly seasonal climate, Evolution of lemurs, lemur evolution has produced a level of species diversity rivaling that of any other primate group. Until shortly after humans arrived on the island around 2,000 years ago, there were lemurs as large as a male gorilla. Most species have been discovered or promoted to full species status since the 1990s; however, lemur Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic classification is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Jumping Bean
Mexican jumping beans (also known as ' in Spanish) are seed pods that have been inhabited by the larva of a small moth (''Cydia saltitans'') and are native to Mexico. The "bean" is usually tan to brown. They are from the shrub '' Sebastiania pavoniana'', often also referred to as "jumping bean". However, they are not related to actual beans (legume plants), but rather to spurges. The beans are considered non-toxic but are not generally eaten. In the spring, when the shrub is flowering, moths lay their eggs on the shrub’s hanging seedpods. When the eggs hatch, tiny larvae bore into the immature green pods and begin to devour the seeds. The pods ripen, fall to the ground and separate into three smaller segments, and those segments are called Mexican jumping beans. As the tiny larvae inside curl up and uncurl, they hit the capsule’s wall with their heads – and the bean jumps. It’s been observed that they move more as temperatures rise, the larva eats away the inside of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 Myr, million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia although some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon. Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as "legless lizards"), have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling ''Draco'' lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bushbabies
Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are considered a sister group of the Lorisidae. According to some accounts, the name "bush baby" comes from either the animal's cries or its appearance. The Ghanaian name ''aposor'' is given to them because of their firm grip on branches. In both variety and abundance, the bush babies are the most successful strepsirrhine primates in Africa, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. Taxonomic classification and phylogeny Galagos are currently grouped into six genera. ''Euoticus'' is a basal sister taxon to all the other galagids. The 'dwarf' galagids recently grouped under the genus ''Galagoides'' have been found, based on genetic data, and supported by analysis of vocalisations and morphology, to actually consist of two clades, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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