DVD BBC Life On Earth Disc 4: The Hunters and the Hunted (1979)

BBC Life On Earth Disc 4: The Hunters and the Hunted (1979)

When, some thirty million years ago, a change in the earth's climate caused the rain forests to shrink, they were replaced by grassy plains. Some plant-eating mammals ventured there to graze. But out in the open, they were vulnerable to hunting animals. So vegetarians became swift runners and gathered in herds for their mutual protection; and the big cats developed the weapons they needed to kill.

Peter's DVD rating: 3.0 stars

David Attenborough looks at the herbivore and their hunters. This is a weak episode in the series. The chase scenes are routine and predictable, all shot in Africa. What is the point in speculating about things found in a cave in Patagonia, when they turn out to be just rocks and dung? He probably ran out of things to say near the end: after already explaining how lions hunt in prides (in case you were not aware of that) and then how hyenas hunt in packs, the film winds up with a long, 9-minute segment on lions again, hunting Wildebeest. Yawn. Seems like he was desperate to find enough material to fill 52 minutes of program time. The best scene is a peek inside a Bison's stomach.

2:10	Three-toed Sloth eats only leaves of the Cecropia Tree	4:00	Dormouse ventures out at night, hibernates in winter	4:15	Hamster stores food in cheek pouches and stores them in burrow
5:40	Wood Mouse finds seeds and gnaws bark in winter	6:30	Grass can survive fire and grazing	7:40	Rabbit eats its own half-digested pellet
8:20	American Bison has Bacteria to digest grass by fermentation	10:40	Impala chews cud for the protein of microbes	19:50	Cape Buffalo chews cud with head up
11:15	Serval hunts rodents	12:50	Mole Rat eats roots	15:35	Prairie Dogs farm their fields
17:15	Giant Ground Sloth skin (Patagonia)	21:05	Armadillo	21:25	Capybara has eyes, ears, nostrils on top of its head
22:55	Plains Viscacha ? comes out at dusk to nibble grass	23:25	Patagonian Mara has long legs to run away from predators	23:50	Zebras run on their toes
25:05	Rhinoceros has a tough hide	25:55	African Elephant can feed on twigs and bark	27:25	Dik dik male pokes twig in gland to mark territory, lives in pairs
28:55	Impala form herds in country containing bushes and trees	30:05	Blue Wildebeest forms great herds on the open plain	31:05	Cheetah relies on speed
35:20	Lions are social hunters	38:50	Spotted Hyenas hunt in a pack

2:10 Three-toed Sloth	2:10 Cecropia Tree	4:00 Dormouse
4:15 Hamster	5:40 Wood Mouse	6:30 Grass
7:40 Rabbit	8:20 American Bison	8:20 Bacteria
10:40 Impala chews cud	19:50 Cape Buffalo chews cud	11:15 Serval
12:50 Mole Rat	15:35 Prairie Dogs	17:15 Giant Ground Sloth
21:05 Armadillo	21:25 Capybara	22:55 Plains Viscacha ?
23:25 Patagonian Mara	23:50 Zebras	25:05 Rhinoceros
25:55 African Elephant	27:25 Dik dik	28:55 Impala
30:05 Blue Wildebeest	31:05 Cheetah	35:20 Lions are social hunters
38:50 Spotted Hyenas


Index	Jan 16, 2006	Peter Chen