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  Nanook of the North – Robert Flaherty (1922)

  March 20, 2013 at 3:45 pm / Human Nature, Technical Notes, Video

  In the days long before the term “documentary” had even been coined this full feature movie did it all. The filmmaker Robert Flaherty (1884-1951) had an early exposure to people of the Arctic. Born in Michigan, he spent quite a bit of time traveling with his father in northern Canada. He developed an ethnographic eye and casually filmed many short sequences of the daily lives of Inuit people. He later decided to put all these clips together to create a […]

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  An Illustrated Introduction to Natural Selection & Sexual Selection – Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2013)

  March 10, 2013 at 1:04 am / Evolution, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Cornell Bird Lab produced a series of quite informative teaching materials to provide scientific explanation for how new species have evolved (and are evolving). Evolution is not only a struggle for existence, it is also an effort to pass on genes to next generation. Modern biology has described mechanisms of evolution with fine details and this video effectively tells how natural selection works with three cartoonified traits in an island setting at the first few minutes. In many animals females […]

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  American Eagle – PBS Nature (2008)

  March 6, 2013 at 11:33 pm / PBS Nature, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  This PBS Nature documentary outlines the life cycle and biology of the iconic Bald Eagle. The plot is centered around two breeding pairs in Iowa and Minnesota. Both nests were installed webcams and have attracted millions of viewers from all over the world. The nests are still active and pairs are now preparing for the breeding season. The nest in Iowa is next to Decorah Fish Management Station. As a top predator highly adapted for fish prey the location provided […]

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  Revealing the Origins of Life – PBS (2011)

  March 6, 2013 at 11:28 pm / Evolution, Molecular Nature, Nova Documentaries, Video

  How life began is a very fundamental question. This short documentary is an outstanding primer for scientific explanation of the origin of life. Featuring Nobel prize winner Jack Szostack of Harvard University and John Sutherland of University of Manchester, it explains the chemical evolution leading to the formation of RNA. Scientists all agree that formation of basic building blocks of life is suprisingly very easy. The burning question is how do they react to form complex molecules? RNA world hypothesis […]

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  Hammer Eyed Fly (Richardia telescopica)

  March 6, 2013 at 11:25 pm / Natural history, NatureDocumentaries.org, Short Observations, Video

  On September 9th 2001, I encountered this hammer-eyed fly (Richardia telescopica) on STR trail (~600m mark) at La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica. I was rushing on my bicycle to my field site one morning. I had to make an abrubt stop because my path was blocked by a tree fall which I believe was a Hampea appendiculata (Malvaceae). I noticed the fly on one of the branches of the downed tree. I rushed to get the camera […]

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  Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air – PBS (2010)

  March 6, 2013 at 5:03 pm / Evolution, Natural history, PBS Nature, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Hummingbirds. Today they are strictly found on American continent but there are hummingbird-like fossil specimens from Germany hinting that this group might have been more widespread in its evolutionary past. More than 8000 species of plants have evolved to get their pollination services from hummingbirds. In 2013 a 50 million year old fossil showed the earliest ancestor of hummingbirds. With a heart beating at 600 beats per minute hummingbirds are champions of survival. The PBS documentary explores a rich repertoire […]

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