Recent Videos

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  The History of Frame Rate for Film – FilmmakerIQ (2015)

  March 24, 2016 at 11:11 pm / Technical Notes, Video

  This is a great breakdown of seemingly arbitrary and highly variable frame rates we experience today. Until the incorporation of sound which arrived as a superbly egalitarian/standardizing factor into the film, the frame rates were rather floppy. This lecture by FilmmakerIQ is a part of the Technical Notes series by Nature Documentaries aiming to compile useful technical, theoretical and practical knowledge for documentary filmmakers. The compact episode introduces the historical transitions from hand-cranked cinematographic cameras into television and later to […]

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  The Properties of Camera Lenses – FilmmakerIQ (2015)

  March 24, 2016 at 11:08 pm / Technical Notes, Video

  The Technical Notes series of Nature Documentaries aims to compile useful technical, theoretical and practical knowledge for documentary filmmakers. In this lecture from the FilmmakerIQ you will be exposed to some basic properties of the camera lenses such as the focal length and the aperture. The episode is also a good segway into sensor technology which also gets covered in more detail in another episode. The episode gives a quick primer on focal length, field of view, diffraction theory and […]

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  Visitors of Jerusalem Thorn (Paliurus spina-christi)

  March 18, 2016 at 1:07 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, NatureDocumentaries.org, Short Observations, Video

  The Jerusalem Thorn (Paliurus spina-christi) is a native evergreen bush of the Mediterranean basin belonging to the Buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). As you might have already guessed from its scientific name, this is the plant depicted as a torture device (the crown of thorns) on prophet Jesus Christ’s head. The genus Paliurus is quite recognizable by its orbicular-winged fruit. The fossil record for the genus is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere and goes back to the middle Eocene epoch (~34 million […]

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  Visitors of Starry Rosinweed – Silphium asteriscus (Asteraceae)

  March 11, 2016 at 2:00 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, NatureDocumentaries.org, Short Observations, Video

  A brief record of the insect visitors on a starry rosinweed in less than half hour period during August 14th 2010 at the State Botanical Garden in Athens, GA. Visitors/pollinators included long-horned bee (Melissodes bimaculata), Juvenal’s duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis), Carder bee (Anthidium illustre), Fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus), Scoliid wasp (Scolia nobilitata), another long-horned bee belonging to genus Melissodes and Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis). In this short observation, the last visitor of the flower was a Silvery Checkerspot with rather beat […]

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  Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera” (1929)

  March 10, 2016 at 10:45 pm / Technical Notes, Video

  Dziga Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera” has shown the world the capabilities of the cinematographic camera. The silent movie was advised to be accompanied with a fast-moving musical score. Since its release the film has been rendered with many soundtracks. Man with a Movie Camera took 4 years to film. It documents the daily life of modern Soviet city life, spanning four cities — Kharkiv, Kiev, Moscow and Odessa. The manifesto at the beginning of the film heralds the […]

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  The Carnivorous Venus Flytrap Plants Can Count – Jennifer Böhm (2016)

  February 27, 2016 at 3:09 pm / Evolution, Natural history, Video

  Researchers at the University of Würzburg, in Germany have shown for the first time that carnivorous Venus flytrap plants (Dionaea muscipula) have the ability to track time between two stimuli 20 seconds apart precisely. This time keeping ability is a remarkable evolutionary adaptation that minimizes false signals that may lead to unnecessary trap closure. Nature is full of random unexpected events and Venus flytrap survival depends on a reliable trigger mechanism for its trap closure. A sensitive trap closing due […]

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  If a Tree Falls: The Mozambican Forest at Risk – Mike & Sam Goldwater (2010)

  February 25, 2016 at 10:42 am / Ecological Documentaries, Human Nature, Video

  “If a Tree Falls: The Mozambican forest at risk” is a documentary film produced and directed by Mike and Sam Goldwater. The project was commissioned by IIED – the International Institute for Environment and Development exploring the validity and application of the United Nations Collaborative Program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries abbreviated as REDD. The documentary was shot in the Northern Mozambican province of Nampula. The film portrays an example for the tragedy of […]

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  BioBlitz!

  February 17, 2016 at 7:31 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  NEW! UConn BioBlitz June 3rd – 4th 2016 in Two Rivers Magnet School, Hartford CT. 2016 BioBlitz will possibly be the biggest ever organized thus far. You can have more information here. BioBlitz 2015 was a huge success held at UConn Campus on July 24th – 25th 2015. In May 2013, National Park Service/National Geographic organized a BioBlitz in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve near New Orleans, Louisiana. The video above is based on experiences of young participants. […]

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  Lord Howe Stick Insect (is not extinct!) / Sticky – Jilli Rose (2013)

  February 12, 2016 at 9:26 am / Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Evolutionarily speaking, extinction is like the massive hidden part of an iceberg. More than 99% of nature’s experiments have failed but the successful 1% that is remaining is stunning us as we continue to learn. Not all extinction is natural however. As we are more and more certain Anthropocene, Human caused extinction rate is becoming much higher than the natural background extinction rate. Scientists are rushing to assess the on going rate of the extinction in different parts of the […]

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  Carnivorous Pitcher Plant Catches Ants by Changing Slipperiness of Peristome – Ulrike Bauer (2015)

  January 23, 2016 at 9:38 am / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Short Observations

  Biologists have shown that a pitcher plant has a remarkable adaptation for varying the slipperiness of the rim of its trap (the peristome). In Borneo, the pitcher plant (Nepenthes rafflesiana) traps sporadically large group of ants from the same species. In experiments where the trapping surfaces were kept continuously wet the plants no longer captured large groups of ants. When scout ants find a pitcher trap full of sweet nectar, they return to the colony and recruit many more ant […]

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  Paper Wasp Shaves (?) Caterpillar – Ron Goor (2013)

  January 21, 2016 at 3:28 pm / Natural history, Short Observations, Video

  The behavior of this paper wasp worker was recorded by Ron Goor in C & O Canal in Seneca Maryland, United States. At first glance it looks quite curious since it appears as if the wasp is shearing its prey like a sheep. However when viewed carefully the wasp is simply consuming the caterpillar most probably belonging to Virginian Tiger Moth (Spilosoma virginica) before flying back to its nest. While the worker wasp is literally taking “her cut” from the […]

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  Long-term Behavioral Observations on Big Cats of Africa – Beverly and Dereck Joubert / TED Talk (2010)

  January 6, 2016 at 1:48 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Video, Wildlife Documentaries

  Short observations are relatively easy to capture and can be quite informative. On the other hand, long-term observations can be rather expensive and require dedication but enable recording of rare and unusual events. Beverly and Dereck Joubert are certainly one of the most successful long-term observers of our time. Events they capture on film are seemingly serendipitous. Such once in a life time events can only be recorded by being there on a long-term basis and require an almost unblinking […]

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  Evolution Timeline (John Kyrk)

  January 5, 2016 at 10:58 am / Evolution, Global Patterns, Video

  [This video has no sound] Timelines organize information in a linear sequence and help us learn detailed linked events and processes. The interactive cosmological and geological timeline provides a gateway to understand one of the most progressive concepts in recent human history: Evolution. This screen capture video makes a quick introductory summary of cosmological, geological and biological evolution. Significant events since the very beginning of our universe are demonstrated in a chronological order. Evolutionary timeline by John Kyrk is a […]

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  Long-wattled Umbrellabird Eating Oenocarpus fruit in the Chocó Forests of Ecuador – Luke Browne (2013)

  December 30, 2015 at 2:11 pm / Ecological Documentaries, Natural history, Short Observations, Wildlife Documentaries

  Long-wattled Umbrellabirds (Cephalopterus penduliger) are important seed dispersers for many plant species, especially the palm Oenocarpus bataua. Here, a motion-activated camera records a male Umbrellabird eating ripe Oenocarpus fruit on the ground at Bilsa Biological Station in the Chocó forests of western Ecuador. You can notice the pronounced wattle and crest characteristic of male Umbrellabirds. Because of extensive habitat loss across its range (Ecuador and Colombia), populations of Umbrellabirds are declining rapidly and are considered vulnerable to extinction. The Karubian […]

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  Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) – Biosphere 2

  December 29, 2015 at 11:24 am / Ecological Documentaries, Evolution, Human Nature, Video

  Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett- Biosphere 2 started as quite an ambitious challenge. It crammed five biomes into 3 acres of sealed facility and tried to create a mesocosm experiment. It was a “ship-in-a-bottle” style miniaturization of ecosystems; a tiny little man-made Hawaii in the Arizona desert (Hawaii is the only place on our planet where all biomes of the world, excepting Arctic Tundra exist). Biomes of the Biosphere 2 were […]

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