The Fastest Claw in the West

I’m surprised that I haven’t gotten around to posting this yet. Here is one of my favorite mantis shrimp videos of all time.

This segment was a bit of humor produced for ‘The Fastest Claw in the West,’ a documentary from 1985 about mantis shrimp. It is narrated by blog-hero David Attenborough, and features stomatopod expert Roy Caldwell. It turns out you can watch the whole thing on Youtube. It’s great fun and very informative. I highly recommend it:

‘The Fastest Claw in the West’: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Also, check out Dr. Caldwell’s youtube channel for more great stomatopod videos.

Replacing David Attenborough with Oprah, FAIL

Seriously Discovery Channel, why? WHY!?

Why do you feel the need to replace the narration of acclaimed and beloved naturalist David Attenborough for the US version of ‘Life‘; the new mega-documentary from the producers of ‘Planet Earth’? Do you think that Americans are so dumb and xenophobic that we cannot listen to a narrator with a British accent?

And why the hell do you chose Oprah, of all people, as his replacement!? Would it have killed you to find a naturalist, or at the very least someone with a history of passion and enthusiasm for biology? Hell, your usual Attenborough stand-in, Sigourney Weaver, would have been a much better choice.

Instead we get Oprah; the country’s grandest purveyor of snake oil, woo, and pseudoscience.