Sir David Attenborough
My favourite TV presenter of all time is Sir David Attenborough – I own almost all of his documentaries on DVD.
He’s just released Life in Cold Blood (a series on reptiles) which he says will be his final ‘on-site’ documentary. Understandable really; he has been doing this most of his life and, at 81, gallivanting around the Amazon or the Sahara is no small thing.
I’m looking forward to purchasing his final ‘Life’ series and, David, if you ever get to read this I want you to know that the work you’ve been involved in has extended my world’s horizons more than any other person. And for that I’m eternally grateful.
Here’s what Nancy Bank-Smith (a TV critic) has to say about his career:
David Attenborough was chasing a giant anteater on the South American savannah. It jinked and sprinted, showing, for a hefty beast, a nifty turn of speed. He followed like a schoolboy in shorts, helpless with laughter. It was the blissful spring of television. Zoo Quest was the first programme to show wild animals in the wild and the oxygenating joy of that moment I shall always remember. I remembered it when I saw, with a sympathetic twinge, how stiffly he walked at 81 in Life in Cold Blood. We are stiffer and wiser than we were. Today he would sit down beside a giant anteater and ask, in that mimicable murmur, how it was feeling. And it would reply: “Endangered.”
And here’s a snippet of what a British TV audience voted as the number 1 moment:
An amazing man and an amazing bird.
Brings to mind the Tui around our place in Northcote, Auckland. One sounded the mew of a kitten, another mimicked the call of a cell phone. Tui in northern parts of the North Island sound more harsh than their lyrical cousins from the south which have the Bell bird to mimic. No doubt it is the lack of Bell birds and being surrounded by grating urban sounds than determines their repertoire.
Northcote eh? Dale lives there and so do I. You’d think that blogging communities wouldn’t be geographically bound.
I don’t know much about Tui at all – we get them around our house especially when the flax is in flower but I’ve never really watched them properly. You say that they imitate other birds? Well there’s my next bit of research sorted out – I’m going to have to look into the Tui.
Interesting that you mention the way their sounds vary depending on their environment; I saw (or heard?) something a while ago which was to do with a study of the sounds of the quacks of ducks in the UK and how they vary depending on whether they are urban or rural ducks. And the urban ducks had harsher, louder quacks.
It would scare you if you knew how close you live to BC…
-d-
Ahh yes I feel for you guys beings surrounded by “grating urban sounds” and I had noticed the odd ‘harsh loud quack’ among the comments.
With sympathy, your “lyrical cousin from the South”
PS: What is the survival advantage of a tui being able to imitate other birds? Usually with Batesian mimicry, the point is to mimic a bird that is scarier than you to ward off predators, but bellbirds dont strike me as that scary – not so sure about cell phones though, we’re still dubious of them on the mainland : )
Maybe some birds like the Tui or Lyrebird just want to be noticed rather be threatening to ward off predators. Some call to attract a mate, define a territory or create the dawn chorus just to show off (or praise God!) ouch! sorry chaps that just slipped out.
Jack, being a mainlander (Nelson) also, I notice the ‘grating urban sounds’ more as well.
A related subject to do with animals sounds, is the decline in frog populations in the US. I think the researchers found it was the interference of manmade noise that masked the mating calls of frogs, inhibiting the search for a mate.
Do you think urbanisation and its associated dislocation from natural processes, inhibits the search by humans finding a compatible mate?
I thought you lived in Auckland BC? Or is Nelson your hometown? Anyway, nothing but birdsong and clear blue skies on the mainland this morning : ).
You might be right with the showing off trick regarding the Tui, it would explain why people go around trying to sing like their favourite music idol. Good question regarding finding a mate BC. There are both pros and cons of urbanisation I think, today people can more easily find mates from across the globe so that helps with genetic variation (ie, avoids inbreeding)but because movement is so easy, folk don’t learn the same relationship skills – if things don’t work out people can just leave (not so good for raising healthy offspring) instead of having to reconcile in order to live in the same place together until the end of their days. I also think in today’s culture people lead such busy lifestyles (less time to find compatible mate) and technology can be an interface that hides the natural clues of compatibility, such as smell. And I wonder, do these natural processes help a human find the best mate for offspring as opposed to a person to live with for life (a natural process?)
Jack, sorry for the confusion. Yes, I currently live in Northcote (last 29 years in fact) but a mainlander is always a mainlander.
Urbanisation also creates societal interferences, such as restricting knowledge of a potential mate’s heritage and culture, as well as an intimate knowledge of family background and history. These are important to create an interlocking and supportive family group. Is there a balanced dynamic or boundary that through technology (in its broadest sense) diversity can artificially go beyond, which can undermine societal strength?
The opposite would be the restriction of integration that exists in many traditional societies. The extreme is nationalism that enhances a country at the expense of another. (eg European history of the 19th and 20th century).
Yes true – though someone also once said to me “once a Catholic always a Catholic” – does that hold true too?? But I digress, I think urbanisation can restrict knowledge of a potential mate’s heritage and culture but I think perhaps people still sometimes create “an interlocking and supportive family group” just not made up of relatives – maybe work mates and friends and church communities play a bigger support role and this may be a good thing, or not?? The unconditional love of parents is a hard one to match.