Planet Earth
Tonight, I watched this special on the Discovery channel, "Planet Earth." I watched half the thing with my mouth hanging open, it was beautifully shot. But I have to say, I'm tired of the constant opinionating on the scenes, a problem not limited to this series, but prevalant on a lot of these sorts of shows, more nature-drama than nature-documentary. I realize they're trying to be poetic in their description, but they aren't doing a good job. It started off saying how conditions on earth are perfect for all the living things. Well, yes, but only because life evolved under those conditions. If the conditions had been different, life would have evolved to be perfectly suited to those conditions. They have it bass ackwards.
Later, at a different scene, in an African delta, they say that "where ever life thrives [shot of an antelope]... trouble follows [shot of an african hunting dog stalking through grass]. Trouble? That's not trouble, that's life itself! Life lives on life; and the antelope eating the living grass is as much a predator as the dog. Same thing.
But as I watched the aerial views of the dogs' hunt, and, even more so, an earlier scene of wolves going after caribou, I was struck by something. Often you hear it put as a struggle or a fight, but it isn't. The chase is just running, and when the wolf caught the calf, it didn't even go for the kill right away. For a moment, it just stood over it, and the calf did not flee, nor did it struggle when the wolf did finally bite down. And even if you want to consider that a struggle, you must agree that it's a very small percentage of an organism's time. Mostly it's eat, sleep, play. Kinda makes you wonder what the fuck we're doing wrong, with all our stress, eh?
On another note, I've decided that this time next year, I'm going to be in Georgia, making my start on the Appalachian Trail. In the meantime, I'm going to work and save up some money, plan some logistics, and get in shape, then I'm off to the mountains. It feels good to have made this decision, even if it is so far in the future. I almost did it this year, but realized I'd be jumping into it unready, which wouldn't bode well for completing the 2000+ mile trail.
Later, at a different scene, in an African delta, they say that "where ever life thrives [shot of an antelope]... trouble follows [shot of an african hunting dog stalking through grass]. Trouble? That's not trouble, that's life itself! Life lives on life; and the antelope eating the living grass is as much a predator as the dog. Same thing.
But as I watched the aerial views of the dogs' hunt, and, even more so, an earlier scene of wolves going after caribou, I was struck by something. Often you hear it put as a struggle or a fight, but it isn't. The chase is just running, and when the wolf caught the calf, it didn't even go for the kill right away. For a moment, it just stood over it, and the calf did not flee, nor did it struggle when the wolf did finally bite down. And even if you want to consider that a struggle, you must agree that it's a very small percentage of an organism's time. Mostly it's eat, sleep, play. Kinda makes you wonder what the fuck we're doing wrong, with all our stress, eh?
On another note, I've decided that this time next year, I'm going to be in Georgia, making my start on the Appalachian Trail. In the meantime, I'm going to work and save up some money, plan some logistics, and get in shape, then I'm off to the mountains. It feels good to have made this decision, even if it is so far in the future. I almost did it this year, but realized I'd be jumping into it unready, which wouldn't bode well for completing the 2000+ mile trail.
posted by Brandon at 10:06 PM
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