Snakes On A HD Channel. Rattlers, Mambas, Fer de Lance, Anacondas, Eyelash Pit Viper, etc. Big, detailed, vibrant, often quite deadly snakes and with quite possibly the absolute best quality sound I’ve ever heard on any show. Anyone catch this yet?
The Beauty Of Snakes was on Discovery HD last night but I see The Animal Planet is carrying it as well.
My 7 year old and I watched awestruck last night. Even if snakes scare you, this was really fascinating, sometimes creepy but eminently enjoyable.
See, I have a problem with this. A common king snake, a corn snake, or an emerald boa is even more beautiful than any of those, but they’re all harmless. Most snakes are harmless. But they have to focus on the dangerous species because that’s better television. It gives an inaccurate impression of what snakes in general are like, and perpetuates so many people’s irrational fear of all snakes.
Then my description was a poor representation of what the show’s about. The gorgeous False Coral snake, the Rainbow Boa, they and many others equally harmless were breathtaking to behold. Yeah, there were a lot of Sidewinders and the huge Black Mamba racing across the beach left a deep impression in both my mind and the couch, but all in all it was a positive appreciation of their beauty and skills more than anything else.
A female Garter whose scent attracted males from 20 miles away, resulting in a breeding ball. XRays of snake skeletons showing vestiges of ancestral limbs, etc. Much was presented and its effect was to glorify, not scare.
Thanks, lieu. I apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Hey, no problem. They showed a 4 1/2 foot long tree snake reach from one branch to another across a 3 foot span. Incredible! Some shots were made from beneath a glass pane while a specimen crawled across, thus demonstrating the mechanics by which their scales and contortions propelled them along. For an hour we were glued to the set.
Am I alone in thinking that there’s something worthwhile in showing the beauty of scary things?
You aren’t alone. I once saw a program that showed a 14 foot long cobra raise its front half off the ground and wrap itself around a tree limb approximately six feet above the ground. I was blown away. This snake didn’t merely climb the trunk. It reared itself off the ground and grabbed the tree branch with its front coils and lifted itself into the tree that way. Snakes are indeed remarkable creatures.
Harmless or venomous, I’ve been fascinated by snakes since I was a little kid. I’ll be looking for that show on Discovery HD. Thaks, lieu.
Gee, I’d never have guessed, Crotalus. 
Well, maybe I am slightly more fascinated by the venomous ones. 
Not surprised with a name like yours, Crotalus.
This makes me happy my HDTV was delivered Wednesday.
Missed it by that much!
There was another show (NOVA?) that had a long tracking shot at “snake-eye” level of a king cobra traversing some ruins in India. Breathtaking.
Yes, there’s something worthwhile in showing the beauty of living things in general. Including, strangely enough, human beings.
Is there a “snake cam” in existence?
Some video taken from the snake’s motion point of view or infrared in the case of pit vipers?
