RAUK - Archived Forum - Life in Cold Blood

If anyone's bought this, have they also spotted the deliberate mistake with the "Green Mamba" picture?

Was looking through it in Borders today and nearly dropped my Starbucks. Might have to grab a copy, though, but not at their prices. 

Lee.

[QUOTE=Alan Hyde]I looked this book up on amazon , it's ú8 something there.
Would you say it's worth buying Lee? How many pages and does it go into much detail on particular species?
Cheers,
Al[/QUOTE]

Sorry to hijack this Lee. Alan, recieved the book myself from Amazon this morning, it was ú10 but i opted for the hardback edition (paperback is obviously cheaper). Looks a very good book, lots of photos and am told by friends that its a great read. I'll try to do a mini review in the next few days, but flicking through i don't think you'd be dissapointed Alan.

Life In Cold Blood - Promo!

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1171894373

Ah, a  tenner sounds much more like it.

I haven' bought this yet, I've been spending like an eejit on books of recent and have a big back-catalogue to work through before I get busy on Amazon again.

The series trailer looks excellent, Hans Zimmer and all!

To be fair, the oddities in the book seem to be the fault of the captioner. The pictures in the book are largely sourced at image libraries (why not use stills from the no-doubt hi-def series?). I checked the mamba (read boomslang) image on NHPA and the image is labled correctly with them. Something got lost at the family level in translation...

As for the cobra... I can't recall 100% on specific morphology, but the "Egyptian" cobra in the book was... spectacled... which I think might narrow it down.

I have no doubt that the text will be excellent, though. I've noticed that the "Life Series" boxed set is now half price in most vendors as a result of this final Atenborough series.

Here's hoping that DA can do for reptile PR what Jason Robinson did for British rugby this year!

There's a few mistakes regarding some species and their pictures, but will say, thankfully, that the book is such a great read i'm prepared to overlook that!. As you would expect from Sir David, the very latest research certainly brings some fascinating findings to the table. I must admit i still haven't finished the book, but early on there is a fascinating piece on some North American Ambystomids - 

'Some time in the 19th century, Arkansas miners dug a shaft in a woodland hillside in search, according to local people, for gold. Why they should of done so in this particular spot is something of a mystery for the rock is a soft loose shale and shows no sign of being gold-bearing. In the event, they did not find any gold and having tunnelled into the hillside for several hundred yards, they abandoned the attempt. A century or so later, however, naturalists discovered that the far end of the shaft had been colonised by one species of this lungless family, the slimy salamander (Plethodon albagula). This, in spite, of it's unattractive common name (though it is unarguably accurate - their air breathing skin is exceptionally slimy) is an elegant creature somewhat larger than a great crested newt, with a black body spotted with white. *Some text from book edited by Alex, so moving on!* The distribution of the white spots on their black skin varies. That meant that it was possible to recognise each salamander individually. So scientists started to mark the ledges and take photographs of their occupants. They discovered to their astonishment that individual salamanders returned to the same ledge, year after year. These small creatures spend spring and summer feeding in woodlands. At the beginning of this period they court and mate. Then some of the females make their way to the mine shaft and plod laboriously for nearly two hundred yards along it. Eventually each, somehow or other in the pitch blackness, has both the pertinacity and ability to find exactly the same ledge it had occupied six months earlier.

The story proceeds further, but because i'm a slow typer, i don't think i'll get to the end of it before work!. Basically i found that fascinating how the salamander goes right back to the exact ledge (and looking at the pictures these are small ledges) after spending six months away, and in the pitch black of the cave!. Am very much looking forward to the filmed version!.

Edit - Thought i might point out the reason the female ambystomid goes back to ledge is to breed.

[QUOTE=Alan Hyde]Great programme, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The good thing is , David's interesting enough to keep all kinds of people watching.[/QUOTE]

Amazed that there arent more comments about this, Al!. A relatively quiet time of year herp wise, this must surely be something that captures the attention of everyone on this forum?. Obviously not...

For amateur and experienced herpetologists alike, everyone will learn something from this series. Sir David has always had the knack of getting the most cutting edge information on his chosen subjects, and this series i'm sure will prove no different. The footage of the Podarcis Lilfordi i found fascinating (apologies if i've got the wrong species, but that's what they looked like to me).

Edit - missing text.

Hello Peter,

Yes, waxy monkey phyllomedusa are stunning frogs, have always loved the way they protect their skin to combat the dry conditions they live in. Tonights episode is solely about amphibians, just as a reminder it is on at 9pm on BBC1. For those who miss it, you will be able to see a full repeat here----> http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

got the free wall chart (as advertised at the end of the programme)this morning and RAUK gets a mention on the back as one of a handful of resouces on native herps .

tim

I got the free poster too! I don't have room to put it up though because I reconfigured all my posters and framed pictures perfectly a couple of months back and don't want to change it all around again.   It's good for reference though and I'll keep it.

I'm well digging David Attenborough's show!   It's really fascinating and there's loads of animals I ain't never seen before on it.  

[QUOTE=wolves121]did i miss the one featuring are reptiles and the green lizards in boscombe or was it cut.[/QUOTE]

I don't think it was featured sadly. There were people from this forum involved in the filming of the viridis i believe - maybe they could shed some light? 

wasn't the green lizard stuff for a different bbc programme on climate change?

tim

there you go keith

and here's the bit on rauk

tim