Life in Cold Blood
Encyclopedia
Life in Cold Blood is a BBC
nature documentary
series written and presented by David Attenborough
, first transmitted in the UK
from 4 February 2008 on BBC One
.
A study of the evolution and habits of amphibian
s and reptile
s, it is the sixth and last of Attenborough's specialised surveys following his major trilogy that began with Life on Earth.
The series comprises five 50-minute programmes, each one followed by Under the Skin, a 10-minute section that features Attenborough interviewing the scientists whose work has led to the sequences included in the main programme. It also examines the challenges faced by the crew and reveals some of the techniques used to film the series.
The series is a co-production between the BBC
and Animal Planet
. The executive producer is Sara Ford and the series producer is Miles Barton. The Under the Skin segments were produced by James Brickell in collaboration with the Open University
. The score for the main films was composed by David Poore
and Ben Salisbury, whilst the music for Under the Skin was written and performed by Tony Briscoe.
The series won the 2009 BAFTA Television Award
in the Specialist Factual category. Within David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it is preceded by Life in the Undergrowth
(2005).
while filming giant tortoise
s, one of which, called Lonesome George
, is thought to be the same age.
Several innovative techniques were used to capture footage. Thermal imaging
cameras were used to demonstrate the creatures' variable body temperatures, probe cameras allowed access to underground habitats and even a matchbox-sized one was attached to the shell of a tortoise
.
Expert scientists helped the producers to film animal behaviour that is rarely seen. The team 'staked out' radiotagged timber rattlesnake
s in order to witness one of them despatching its prey. However, for Attenborough's close encounter with a spitting cobra
, a captive snake that was used to being handled was placed in a natural setting and the presenter wore a face visor. Other examples of 'pets' being used were for sequences depicting the lassoing tongue of a chameleon
(which had to be filmed at ultra-high speed
) and the digestive system of a python (which was enhanced by computer-generated imagery
).
Life in Cold Blood is Attenborough's last major series and also represents the final study in his 'Life' series, which comprises 79 programmes. In a 2008 interview, he stated:
However, although Attenborough was 81 years old at the time of the series' broadcast, he continued to assist the BBC Natural History Unit by providing narration for projects such as Nature's Great Events
, Life and the forthcoming Frozen Planet.
Attenborough confirmed on the penultimate edition of Parkinson, broadcast on 16 December 2007, that he did not intend to retire completely and would still make occasional single documentaries, rather than any more series.
, parental care and the time-scales on which reptiles operate. Attenborough begins in the Galápagos Islands
, using thermal imaging
to demonstrate how marine iguanas warm their bodies by basking in the sun before feeding. Meanwhile, the lizard
inhabitants of a Minorca
n island have a relationship with its indigenous dead horse arum
plants. Attenborough visits Dassen Island
to witness one of the world's greatest concentrations of tortoise
s — around 5,000 of them. Few reptiles are active at night, but crocodiles can rely on water that retains much of its daytime temperature. Conversely, amphibians' moist skin would be damaged by the sun and so most are nocturnal. An exception is the waxy monkey leaf frog
, which can deal with sunlight by covering its body in a wax secretion. A puff adder
illustrates the relative inactivity of reptiles compared to mammal
s: one large meal can last up to a year. When it hatches at the onset of winter, the young painted turtle
stays underground, near frozen until the spring when it can emerge. Attenborough wonders if the dinosaur
s' immense size allowed them to maintain warm blood. The largest living reptile is the leatherback turtle and indeed is able to do so because of insulating body fat. Under the Skin looks at the hunt for the pygmy leaf chameleon
, filmed in Madagascar
.
s, of which there are some 6,000 known species. Attenborough visits Australia
to illustrate how they became the first back-boned creatures to colonise land: the lungfish
, which is capable of breathing air, and whose ancestors became the first amphibians. The largest of them is the Japanese giant salamander
and two are shown wrestling for territory. In North America
, the marbled salamander
spends most of its life on land, yet is still able to retain the necessary moisture in its skin through the damp leaf litter
. A female caecilian
is filmed with her young, whose rapid growth is discovered to be the result of eating their mother's skin — re-grown for them every three days. The most successful amphibians are frogs and toads. Their calls are most active during the breeding season: females are impressed by both volume and frequency. However, gestures are sometimes needed and the poisonous Panamanian golden frog
uses a conspicuous form of 'semaphore
'. Most other frogs rely on camouflage
and the South American red-eyed tree frog
is an example. An African bullfrog
is shown defending its exposed tadpoles by digging a canal for them. Meanwhile, the male marsupial frog
keeps its young moist by carrying them in its skin pouches. Under the Skin examines the filming of the last population of Panamanian golden frogs, which is threatened by a fungal disease.
s. While they are highly adept at camouflage, occasionally there is a need to break cover in order to ward off rivals. Attenborough holds up a mirror to an anole
and causes it to extend its colourful throat flap as a warning sign. Madagascar is host to over 60 species of chameleon
but one of the largest, Meller's chameleon, is native to Malawi
and two rival males are shown jousting. A female South African dwarf chameleon
demonstrates its ability to change colour
when communicating to a potential mate, and the chameleon's muscular tongue is depicted lassoing its prey. In southern Australia, Attenborough uses a baited fishing rod to attract the attention of a rare pygmy bluetongue
skink
, thought to have been extinct for over thirty years until it was rediscovered in 1992. Shingleback
s are among the most devoted lizards and breeding pairs can reunite each year for up to two decades. Alongside South Africa's Orange River
, large groups of flat lizard
s feed on the swarms of black flies
, but the males also use the occasion to indulge in social squabbling. The Mexican beaded lizard is one of the few with a poisonous bite, but males do not employ it when wrestling each other. Finally, Attenborough comes face to face with a perentie
, Australia's largest monitor lizard
. Under the Skin focuses on filming in Australia.
s, exploring how they have managed to become successful despite their elongated body shape. Attenborough explains how they evolved from underground burrowers to surface hunters, losing their limbs in the process. With the aid of infrared cameras, a timber rattlesnake
is shown lying in wait for a mouse and sensing its repeated path before despatching and eating it. A snake's constantly flickering tongue is used to gather and evaluate the molecules of its surroundings, and Attenborough visits Carnac Island
to witness a population of blind tiger snakes, which feed on the chicks of nesting gull
s. He also confronts a Mozambique spitting cobra
, which quickly sprays venom
over the presenter's protective face visor. The similarities in colouration between the harmless kingsnake
and potentially lethal coral snake
are highlighted. An example of a snake that can tackle unusual prey is the Queen snake
, which almost exclusively hunts newly-moulted
crayfish
. A pair of rival male King cobra
s are seen battling and infant cobra
s are shown hatching: their venom is immediately as fatal as that of their parents. In Argentina
, a yellow anaconda evades nearby caiman
s to give birth to live young. Finally a turtle-headed sea snake feeds not on fish, but on their eggs laid on a coral reef
. Under the Skin discusses the filming of timber rattlesnakes during inclement weather.
s and turtle
s. In the Galápagos Islands
, among the giant tortoise
s, Attenborough explains how the creatures came to develop their shells as a defence against predators. This is demonstrated by the eastern box turtle
, whose shell includes a hinged 'drawbridge'. The aquatic pig-nosed turtle is unusual in that its eggs need to be submerged before hatching, whereas those of other species would drown; Attenborough illustrates this by dropping an egg into a jar of water: it immediately hatches. In the open ocean, male sea turtle
s attempt to separate a rival from its mate by attacking and overwhelming the pair, stopping them from taking in air. In northern Australia, Attenborough observes a large gathering of crocodile
s at a flooded coastal road: they time their arrival to ambush migrating mullet
. The complex communication and body language of the American alligator
is investigated and in Argentina, the calls of young caimans help their mother locate and lead them to a nursery pool. The mother's maternal instinct extends to releasing unhatched babies by gently crushing their eggs in its jaws. In Venezuela
, a female spectacled caiman
in charge of an entire crèche leads the infants from a drying river bed on a trek to permanent water. Under the Skin explores filming on the Galápagos Islands and Attenborough's meeting with Lonesome George
.
on 7 December 2007, in advance of the television series.
The Region 1 DVD was released on 5 August 2008 (S.R.P. $34.98) through Warner Home Video.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
nature documentary
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
series written and presented by David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, first transmitted in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 4 February 2008 on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
.
A study of the evolution and habits of amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, it is the sixth and last of Attenborough's specialised surveys following his major trilogy that began with Life on Earth.
The series comprises five 50-minute programmes, each one followed by Under the Skin, a 10-minute section that features Attenborough interviewing the scientists whose work has led to the sequences included in the main programme. It also examines the challenges faced by the crew and reveals some of the techniques used to film the series.
The series is a co-production between the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
. The executive producer is Sara Ford and the series producer is Miles Barton. The Under the Skin segments were produced by James Brickell in collaboration with the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
. The score for the main films was composed by David Poore
David Poore
David Poore is a British independent musician, who has composed and produced music for over 200 films by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Disney, PBS, National Geographic, RTÉ and other broadcasters.-Education:...
and Ben Salisbury, whilst the music for Under the Skin was written and performed by Tony Briscoe.
The series won the 2009 BAFTA Television Award
British Academy Television Awards 2009
The 2009 British Academy Television Awards were held on 26 April at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The event was broadcast live on BBC One and was hosted by Graham Norton. The nominations were announced on 24 March...
in the Specialist Factual category. Within David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it is preceded by Life in the Undergrowth
Life in the Undergrowth
Life in the Undergrowth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 23 November 2005....
(2005).
Background
Filming began in the early part of 2006 and, as with Attenborough's previous series, the production team travelled the world to photograph the required sequences. In May 2006, Attenborough celebrated his 80th birthday in the Galápagos IslandsGalápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
while filming giant tortoise
Giant tortoise
Giant tortoises are characteristic reptiles of certain tropical islands. Often reaching enormous size—they can weigh as much as 300 kg and can grow to be 1.3 m long—they live, or lived , in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos...
s, one of which, called Lonesome George
Lonesome George
Lonesome George is a tortoise, the last known individual of the Pinta Island tortoise , which is one of eight to fifteen extant subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, all of which are native to the Galápagos Islands...
, is thought to be the same age.
Several innovative techniques were used to capture footage. Thermal imaging
Thermography
Infrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms...
cameras were used to demonstrate the creatures' variable body temperatures, probe cameras allowed access to underground habitats and even a matchbox-sized one was attached to the shell of a tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
.
Expert scientists helped the producers to film animal behaviour that is rarely seen. The team 'staked out' radiotagged timber rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake, is a species of venomous pitviper found in the eastern United States. This is the only rattlesnake species in most of the populous northeastern United States. No subspecies are currently recognized....
s in order to witness one of them despatching its prey. However, for Attenborough's close encounter with a spitting cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
, a captive snake that was used to being handled was placed in a natural setting and the presenter wore a face visor. Other examples of 'pets' being used were for sequences depicting the lassoing tongue of a chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
(which had to be filmed at ultra-high speed
High speed photography
High speed photography is the science of taking pictures of very fast phenomena. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 128 frames per second or greater, and of at least three...
) and the digestive system of a python (which was enhanced by computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
).
Life in Cold Blood is Attenborough's last major series and also represents the final study in his 'Life' series, which comprises 79 programmes. In a 2008 interview, he stated:
The evolutionary history is finished. The endeavour is complete. If you'd asked me 20 years ago whether we'd be attempting such a mammoth task, I'd have said 'Don't be ridiculous'. These programmes tell a particular story and I'm sure others will come along and tell it much better than I did, but I do hope that if people watch it in 50 years' time, it will still have something to say about the world we live in.
However, although Attenborough was 81 years old at the time of the series' broadcast, he continued to assist the BBC Natural History Unit by providing narration for projects such as Nature's Great Events
Nature's Great Events
Nature's Great Events is a wildlife documentary series made for BBC television, first shown in the UK on BBC One and BBC HD in February 2009. The series looks at how seasonal changes powered by the sun cause shifting weather patterns and ocean currents, which in turn create the conditions for some...
, Life and the forthcoming Frozen Planet.
Attenborough confirmed on the penultimate edition of Parkinson, broadcast on 16 December 2007, that he did not intend to retire completely and would still make occasional single documentaries, rather than any more series.
Episodes
1. "The Cold Blooded Truth"
Broadcast 4 February 2008, the first episode discusses the keys to success of reptiles and amphibians, looking at thermoregulationThermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
, parental care and the time-scales on which reptiles operate. Attenborough begins in the Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
, using thermal imaging
Thermography
Infrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms...
to demonstrate how marine iguanas warm their bodies by basking in the sun before feeding. Meanwhile, the lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
inhabitants of a Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
n island have a relationship with its indigenous dead horse arum
Helicodiceros muscivorus
Helicodiceros muscivorus is an ornamental plant native to the northwestern Mediterranean region...
plants. Attenborough visits Dassen Island
Dassen Island
Dassen Island is a South African island in the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated about 10km west of Yzerfontein and 55km north of Cape Town. The flat and low-lying island measures about 3.1 km long northwest-southeast, and 1 km wide, with an area of 2.73 km²...
to witness one of the world's greatest concentrations of tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
s — around 5,000 of them. Few reptiles are active at night, but crocodiles can rely on water that retains much of its daytime temperature. Conversely, amphibians' moist skin would be damaged by the sun and so most are nocturnal. An exception is the waxy monkey leaf frog
Phyllomedusa sauvagii
Phyllomedusa sauvagii, commonly known as the Waxy Monkey Leaf Frog, is a hylid frog belonging to the subfamily of South and Central American leaf frogs, Phyllomedusinae that inhabits the Chaco of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. The subfamily consists of around 50 species in three well...
, which can deal with sunlight by covering its body in a wax secretion. A puff adder
Bitis arietans
Bitis arietans is a venomous viper species found in savannah and grasslands from Morocco and western Arabia throughout Africa except for the Sahara and rain forest regions. It is responsible for causing the most fatalities in Africa owing to various factors, such as its wide distribution and...
illustrates the relative inactivity of reptiles compared to mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s: one large meal can last up to a year. When it hatches at the onset of winter, the young painted turtle
Painted Turtle
The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...
stays underground, near frozen until the spring when it can emerge. Attenborough wonders if the dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s' immense size allowed them to maintain warm blood. The largest living reptile is the leatherback turtle and indeed is able to do so because of insulating body fat. Under the Skin looks at the hunt for the pygmy leaf chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
, filmed in Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
.
2. "Land Invaders"
Broadcast 11 February 2008, the second programme explores the world of amphibianAmphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s, of which there are some 6,000 known species. Attenborough visits Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to illustrate how they became the first back-boned creatures to colonise land: the lungfish
Lungfish
Lungfish are freshwater fish belonging to the Subclass Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining characteristics primitive within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and structures primitive within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed...
, which is capable of breathing air, and whose ancestors became the first amphibians. The largest of them is the Japanese giant salamander
Japanese giant salamander
The Japanese giant salamander is endemic to Japan, where it is known as , literally meaning "giant pepper fish". With a length of up to almost 1.5 meters , it is the second largest salamander in the world, only being surpassed by the very similar and closely related Chinese giant salamander The...
and two are shown wrestling for territory. In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the marbled salamander
Marbled Salamander
The Marbled Salamander is a species of mole salamander found in the eastern United States.- Description :The Marbled Salamander is a stocky, boldly banded salamander. The bands of females tend to be gray, while those of males are more white. Adults can grow to about 11 cm, , a bit small compared...
spends most of its life on land, yet is still able to retain the necessary moisture in its skin through the damp leaf litter
Plant litter
Plant litter, leaf litter or tree litter is dead plant material, such as leaves, bark, needles, and twigs, that has fallen to the ground. Litter provides habitat for small animals, fungi, and plants, and the material may be used to construct nests. As litter decomposes, nutrients are released to...
. A female caecilian
Caecilian
The caecilians are an order of amphibians that superficially resemble earthworms or snakes. They mostly live hidden in the ground, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. All extant caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as the clade Apoda. They are mostly...
is filmed with her young, whose rapid growth is discovered to be the result of eating their mother's skin — re-grown for them every three days. The most successful amphibians are frogs and toads. Their calls are most active during the breeding season: females are impressed by both volume and frequency. However, gestures are sometimes needed and the poisonous Panamanian golden frog
Panamanian golden frog
The Panamanian golden frog is a critically endangered toad which is endemic to Panama. It has been considered a subspecies of A. varius, but is now generally regarded as a separate species. While the IUCN still lists it as critically endangered, it may have been extinct in the wild since 2007...
uses a conspicuous form of 'semaphore
Flag semaphore
Semaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...
'. Most other frogs rely on camouflage
Camouflage
Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...
and the South American red-eyed tree frog
Agalychnis callidryas
The Red-eyed Treefrog is an arboreal hylid native to Neotropical rainforests in Central America.- Description :...
is an example. An African bullfrog
African Bullfrog
The African Bullfrog is a species of frog in the Ranidae family. It is also known as the Pixie frog due to its Latin name....
is shown defending its exposed tadpoles by digging a canal for them. Meanwhile, the male marsupial frog
Pouched Frog
The Pouched Frog is a small, terrestrial frog found in rainforests in mountain areas of south-eastern Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia...
keeps its young moist by carrying them in its skin pouches. Under the Skin examines the filming of the last population of Panamanian golden frogs, which is threatened by a fungal disease.
3. "Dragons of the Dry"
Broadcast 18 February 2008, the third instalment takes a look at the immense diversity, social skills and displays of the lizardLizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s. While they are highly adept at camouflage, occasionally there is a need to break cover in order to ward off rivals. Attenborough holds up a mirror to an anole
Polychrotidae
Polychrotidae is a family of lizards commonly known as anoles . NCBI places the anole in subfamily Polychrotinae of the family Iguanidae. Four genera are common: Anolis, Norops, Phenacosaurus, and Polychrus....
and causes it to extend its colourful throat flap as a warning sign. Madagascar is host to over 60 species of chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
but one of the largest, Meller's chameleon, is native to Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
and two rival males are shown jousting. A female South African dwarf chameleon
Bradypodion
Bradypodion is one of six genera of chameleons within the "true" or "typical" chameleons . They are native to southern Africa, and are sometimes collectively called South African dwarf chameleons...
demonstrates its ability to change colour
Chromatophore
Chromatophores are pigment-containing and light-reflecting cells found in amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans, and cephalopods. They are largely responsible for generating skin and eye colour in cold-blooded animals and are generated in the neural crest during embryonic development...
when communicating to a potential mate, and the chameleon's muscular tongue is depicted lassoing its prey. In southern Australia, Attenborough uses a baited fishing rod to attract the attention of a rare pygmy bluetongue
Adelaide Pigmy Blue-tongue Skink
The Adelaide Pigmy Blue-tongue Skink or Pygmy Bluetongue is a species of skink in the Scincidae family.It is found only in Australia. It was for a time believed to be extinct...
skink
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
, thought to have been extinct for over thirty years until it was rediscovered in 1992. Shingleback
Stump-tailed skink
Tiliqua rugosa is a short-tailed, slow moving species of blue-tongued skink found in Australia. Three of the four recognized subspecies are found only in Western Australia, where they are known collectively by the common name bobtail. The name shingleback is also used, especially for T. rugosa...
s are among the most devoted lizards and breeding pairs can reunite each year for up to two decades. Alongside South Africa's Orange River
Orange River
The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...
, large groups of flat lizard
Platysaurus
Platysaurus is a genus of lizards in the Cordylidae family, known as flat lizards for their flat backs. All species live in isolated populations in southern Africa.-Description:...
s feed on the swarms of black flies
Black fly
A black fly is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. They are related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. There are over 1,800 known species of black flies . Most species belong to the immense genus Simulium...
, but the males also use the occasion to indulge in social squabbling. The Mexican beaded lizard is one of the few with a poisonous bite, but males do not employ it when wrestling each other. Finally, Attenborough comes face to face with a perentie
Perentie
The Perentie is the largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia, and fourth largest lizard on earth, after the Komodo Dragon, crocodile monitor and the water monitor...
, Australia's largest monitor lizard
Monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
. Under the Skin focuses on filming in Australia.
4. "Sophisticated Serpents"
Broadcast 25 February 2008, the fourth episode focuses on the most modern reptiles, the snakeSnake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, exploring how they have managed to become successful despite their elongated body shape. Attenborough explains how they evolved from underground burrowers to surface hunters, losing their limbs in the process. With the aid of infrared cameras, a timber rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake, is a species of venomous pitviper found in the eastern United States. This is the only rattlesnake species in most of the populous northeastern United States. No subspecies are currently recognized....
is shown lying in wait for a mouse and sensing its repeated path before despatching and eating it. A snake's constantly flickering tongue is used to gather and evaluate the molecules of its surroundings, and Attenborough visits Carnac Island
Carnac Island
Carnac Island is a 19 ha, A Class, island nature reserve about 10 km south-west of Fremantle in Western Australia.-History:In 1803, French explorer Louis de Freycinet, captain of the Casuarina, named the island Île Pelée . It was also known as Île Lévilian and later Île Berthelot...
to witness a population of blind tiger snakes, which feed on the chicks of nesting gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...
s. He also confronts a Mozambique spitting cobra
Mozambique Spitting Cobra
The Mozambique Spitting Cobra is a type of cobra, native to Africa.-Description:In color the snake is slate to olive grey, olive or tawny brown above, with some or all scales black-edging...
, which quickly sprays venom
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
over the presenter's protective face visor. The similarities in colouration between the harmless kingsnake
Kingsnake
Kingsnakes are a type of colubrid snake that are members of the Lampropeltis genus, which also includes the milk snake along with another four species and 45 sub-species....
and potentially lethal coral snake
Coral snake
The coral snakes are a large group of elapid snakes that can be subdivided into two distinct groups, Old World coral snakes and New World coral snakes...
are highlighted. An example of a snake that can tackle unusual prey is the Queen snake
Queen snake
The queen snake is a nonvenomous member of the colubrid family of snakes. This species ranges through the temperate region of North America east of the Mississippi River from western New York state to Wisconsin and south to Alabama and northern Florida...
, which almost exclusively hunts newly-moulted
Ecdysis
Ecdysis is the moulting of the cuticula in many invertebrates. This process of moulting is the defining feature of the clade Ecdysozoa, comprising the arthropods, nematodes, velvet worms, horsehair worms, rotifers, tardigrades and Cephalorhyncha...
crayfish
Crayfish
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
. A pair of rival male King cobra
King Cobra
The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake, with a length up to 5.6 m . This species, which preys chiefly on other snakes, is found predominantly in forests from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Indonesia...
s are seen battling and infant cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
s are shown hatching: their venom is immediately as fatal as that of their parents. In Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, a yellow anaconda evades nearby caiman
Alligatoridae
Alligatoridae is a family of crocodylians that includes alligators and caimans.- True alligators :Alligators proper occur in the fluvial deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age. The true alligators are now restricted to two species, A...
s to give birth to live young. Finally a turtle-headed sea snake feeds not on fish, but on their eggs laid on a coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
. Under the Skin discusses the filming of timber rattlesnakes during inclement weather.
5. "Armoured Giants"
Broadcast 3 March 2008, the final programme covers the most ancient of the reptiles: the crocodileCrocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
s and turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s. In the Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
, among the giant tortoise
Giant tortoise
Giant tortoises are characteristic reptiles of certain tropical islands. Often reaching enormous size—they can weigh as much as 300 kg and can grow to be 1.3 m long—they live, or lived , in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos...
s, Attenborough explains how the creatures came to develop their shells as a defence against predators. This is demonstrated by the eastern box turtle
Terrapene carolina carolina
The eastern box turtle is a subspecies within a group of hinge-shelled turtles, normally called box turtles. T. c. carolina is native to an eastern part of the United States....
, whose shell includes a hinged 'drawbridge'. The aquatic pig-nosed turtle is unusual in that its eggs need to be submerged before hatching, whereas those of other species would drown; Attenborough illustrates this by dropping an egg into a jar of water: it immediately hatches. In the open ocean, male sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
s attempt to separate a rival from its mate by attacking and overwhelming the pair, stopping them from taking in air. In northern Australia, Attenborough observes a large gathering of crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
s at a flooded coastal road: they time their arrival to ambush migrating mullet
Flathead mullet
The flathead mullet, Mugil cephalus, is a mullet of the genus Mugil, found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically 30 to 75 centimeters...
. The complex communication and body language of the American alligator
American Alligator
The American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
is investigated and in Argentina, the calls of young caimans help their mother locate and lead them to a nursery pool. The mother's maternal instinct extends to releasing unhatched babies by gently crushing their eggs in its jaws. In Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, a female spectacled caiman
Spectacled Caiman
The spectacled caiman , also known as the white caiman or common caiman, is a crocodilian reptile found in much of Central and South America. It lives in a range of lowland wetland and riverine habitat types and can tolerate salt water as well as fresh; due in part to this adaptability it is the...
in charge of an entire crèche leads the infants from a drying river bed on a trek to permanent water. Under the Skin explores filming on the Galápagos Islands and Attenborough's meeting with Lonesome George
Lonesome George
Lonesome George is a tortoise, the last known individual of the Pinta Island tortoise , which is one of eight to fifteen extant subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, all of which are native to the Galápagos Islands...
.
DVD and book
A 2-disc DVD set of the series (BBCDVD2553) was released on 25 February 2008. The accompanying 288-page book, Life in Cold Blood by David Attenborough (ISBN 0-563-53922-4), was published by BBC BooksBBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
on 7 December 2007, in advance of the television series.
The Region 1 DVD was released on 5 August 2008 (S.R.P. $34.98) through Warner Home Video.
Other sources
- Queens of the Web Tim FlanneryTim FlanneryTimothy Fridtjof Flannery is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist and global warming activist....
review from The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
External links
- Under the Skin at the Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
's Open2.net site - BBC on YouTube: David Attenborough face to face with a spitting cobra