| Life in the Undergrowth | 
enlarge | Actor: David Attenborough Studio: BBC Warner Category: DVD
List Price: $34.98 Buy New: $23.99 You Save: $10.99 (31%)
New (31) Used (7) from $23.99
Avg. Customer Rating: 70 reviews Sales Rank: 1959
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) Rating: NR (Not Rated) Number Of Items: 2 Running Time: 250 Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1 Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: E2514 UPC: 794051251428 EAN: 0794051251428 ASIN: B000EBD9W6
Release Date: May 2, 2006 Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description David Attenborough guides the viewer through a miniature universe teeming with life never normally seen yet all around us. New technology reveals surreal vistas and their extraordinary inhabitants -- swarming antler moths desert locusts and a mountain of cockroaches -- up close and personal. The bizarre and the beautiful are represented and their habits lifestyles and characteristics explained in David Attenborough's inimitable style. Though small these creatures are as ferocious as any seen before.Running Time: 250 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 794051251428 Manufacturer No: E2514
Amazon.com By getting up close and personal with Life in the Undergrowth, this extraordinary BBC series sets a new standard of excellence in wildlife cinematography. Hosted by veteran nature expert David Attenborough and utilizing the latest advances in macrophotography, the five-part series is dedicated to bugs of all shapes and sizes, from microscopic gnats to cave-dwelling millipedes so large they can capture bats in mid-flight and feast for hours thereafter! The patience involved in filming such previously unseen marvels must have been grueling (as confirmed by producer Mike Salisbury in a splendid bonus interview), but the results are nothing less than astonishing, with a parade of sequences so impressive that even insect-haters will pause in amazement. With an emphasis on reproduction and mating behaviors, each program focuses on a different, generalized group of creatures, many of them never filmed before, so that lay-persons and entomologists will be equally enlightened by discoveries made in the process of filming. As always, Attenborough serves as an expert witness, cordial, fearless, and quintessentially British as he explains what we're seeing, from the nocturnal fluorescence of scorpions (glowing at night in ultraviolet light, they perform a mating dance playfully described as "a nuptial pas de deux") to the mysterious, 17-year life cycle of the cicada. Throughout, we see everything, both frightening and beautiful, from an intimate, bug's-eye view, in detail so vividly colorful that you'll never view the insect world in quite the same way again. (Likewise for the diverse variety of critters on view in episode 3: "The Silk Spinners," which according to Salisbury is capable of curing arachnophobes from their irrational fear of spiders.) Just when you think Life in the Undergrowth couldn't get any more fascinating, it does: episode 4, "Intimate Relations," shows how many insects symbiotically depend on other species for food, shelter, or completion of their reproductive cycles, and episode 5, "Supersocieties," focuses on the social complexities of insect colonists like ants and termites. Enough to give you the creeps for days, you say? Think again, for after seeing Life in the Undergrowth (a perfect companion piece to the Nova episode "The Unknown World"), you may find yourself in the garden, on your knees, eager for a better look at the countless millions of tiny creatures that surround us every day. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 65 more reviews...
Another hit! December 2, 2008 My husband and I love David Attenborough and his documentaries, so I bought this one for my husband's birthday. We both love it! Even I, with my acute arachnophobia, watch enthralled. As with most of DA's documentaries, it fills me with wonder and delight every time. I like it even better than "Planet Earth" because taking on a smaller subject (insects rather than all animals over the whole planet) allows for greater depth.
Our mouths dropped open... October 10, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
True to the style of all of his other "Life" series, Attenborough opens a world that is completely unseen by the higher mammals. He does it beautifully. Even though my husband & I are nature fanatics, some of these creatures had escaped our radar until highlighted by Attenborough; many filmed sequences had us watching with mouths agape in amazement, and were partnered with an exceptional score worth listening to by itself (and is included on the DVD in the special features section). I personally feel that the presence of Attenborough in the film served to impress the sense of scale against these creatures, or in the case of the giant earthworm, to give you the feeling of "being there." If more of this programming wormed its way into our school systems, there would be a more "planet aware" generation. This series humbled this human.
Nature dvd August 31, 2008 This is a great dvd for those kids interested in knowing how the insect world works.....just wonderfull..great filming..
Informative and Entertaining August 29, 2008 If you've yet to experience the world through Sir David Attenborough's singular perspective I suggest you purchase this collection. Truly informative and innovative. Don't waste your money on meaningless and crudely made productions (i.e. I cannot name any because it would not be nice...) for I assure you that this one delivers.
Astonishing even if you know a lot about biology August 25, 2008 Apart from being exquisitely filmed and packed with fascinating content, this series amazed me with its ability to bring to light bizarre and unusual species and their behaviors. For instance, the third episode is on silk spinners, but it doesn't even mention the silk moths because it has so much to say about cave-dwelling silk spinning fluorescent predatory invertebrates and unusual spiders that hunt in highly specialized ways or even poach prey from other spiders. Seeing nature's complexity and beauty revealed in such detail filled me with such awe it was literally a spiritual experience.
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