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Wallace in Borneo – Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero – BBC (2013)

June 27, 2019 at 2:35 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Natural history, Video

The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. In the past there have been a few documentaries making a rare attempt to focus on the biography of this very influential biologist including an episode in Jacob Bronowski’s 1973 The Ascent of Man […]

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The Making of a Theory: Darwin, Wallace, and Natural Selection – John Rubin – HHMI (2014)

January 20, 2015 at 2:36 pm / Evolution, Video

This documentary does it right. The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. This documentary does a good job to revive Wallace’s name. Wallace was quite an impressive personality and his life most certainly was inspirational. He knew what “survival” really meant. […]

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The Forgotten Voyage: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Discovery of Evolution by Natural Selection – Peter Crawford (1983)

January 20, 2015 at 2:33 pm / Evolution, Video

The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. In this documentary Peter Crawford directs a dramatization of the events showing the interaction between the two influential scientist. We see Wallace as a determined resilient young naturalist without formal education build a respectable […]

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Exploring the Amazon – Kew Botanic Gardens (2016)

October 20, 2022 at 1:33 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video

This short documentary outlines a joint expedition to the Parc Amazonien de Guyane organized by CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the French Foreign Legion and Kew Botanic Gardens. The area could be rather hostile to scientists where illegal gold mines are in operation in remote and unexpected places along French Guiana-Brazil border. As the prominent tropical biologist Stephen Hubbell described in the foreword of his book Neutral Theory of Biodiversity the state of tropical biology is still resembling […]

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The Ladder of Creation – Jacob Bronowski – BBC (1973)

January 20, 2015 at 2:33 pm / BBC documentaries, Evolution, Video

The theory of evolution was co-discovered independently by two biologists that lived within the same time period. Darwin and Wallace were well known in their time but Wallace’s name gradually has been overshadowed by Darwin. Today we rarely (almost never) hear the name Alfred Russell Wallace. In this documentary Jacob Bronowski makes a rare attempt to focus on the biography of this very influential scientist. He tells Wallace’s story beginning from the early years of his childhood. We see a […]

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How to Pin a Butterfly – Anshul Fernando (2010)

January 8, 2015 at 4:15 pm / Natural history, Video

Pinning insects is a craft perfected by early natural historians. Here you can find five instructional videos recorded by individuals and institutions from different parts of the world. Every recording shows slightly different tools employed but the overall procedure remains the same. Anshul Fernando is a nature artist who has butterfly farms in many countries such as Sri Lanka and India. He cultivates rare butterflies and sells them after pinning. He uses a standard traditional insect pinning set up that […]

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Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 3: The Last Frontier (2009)

February 12, 2015 at 12:34 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Video

Fish are cold blooded animals and this property make them very efficient in terms of biomass accumulation. For this reason ecological trophic levels in aquatic systems can be much higher than terrestrial systems. The documentary film The End of the Line by Charles Clover mentioned in this episode draws attention to the problem of overfishing. About 400 million years ago, the Falkland Islands were part of the supercontinent of Gondwana, located between southern Africa and what is now Queen Maud […]

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Voyage of Darwin’s Beagle – Episode 5: The Paradise of Competition (2009)

February 12, 2015 at 12:27 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Global Patterns, Natural history, Video

The Galapagos islands has been a pivotal single location where everything came together in Darwin’s mind. The geology of the archipelago and almost every species (Tortoises, iguanas, finches) he observed on each island showed significant variation. The Galapagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador are about 1000 km (620 miles) west of South America. As the three craters on the largest island (Isabela Island) suggest, the archipelago was created by volcanic eruptions. Each year roughly 60,000 tourists visit these islands. […]

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