|
TELEVISION PROGRAMS“IN COLD BLOOD” - BBC DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
This five part series is airing on occasion on ANIMAL PLANET. The series discusses reptile and amphibians adaptations and behavior. The fifth part in the series Turtles and Tortoises was in part filmed at the Institute. The filming was done over two summers. One great segment is the first time that active management of commensals by a tortoise has been documented (to our knowledge). It all happened the last day of filming when a large female gopher tortoise decided to get a large diamondback rattlesnake to move. The tortoise turned around, raised both hind legs so the feet and large nails were sticking straight out. It then began rapidly kicking at the diamondback, which began violently jerking and jumping away from the tortoise. Sad part of it was that the filming showed part of this but there was no explanation given. I can say that the behaviors at the fire line and homing to its burrow were all done naturally. The series except part 5 have been aired once. We are not sure when it will be shown again. The series DVDs will be on sale at some point.
WILD FLORIDA – PBS SERIES “FLORDIA TURTLES AND TORTOISES”
The Institute had agreed to do a segment on gopher tortoise natural history, research on tortoise communication and how to do relocation. When the filming crew got here, it was one of the rare days we have had here in the sandhills; it rained all day. This made filming tough and if you see the show, you can see we were all pretty soaked. Thanks to Becky Smith over on the Space Coast, they were able to show some great shots. The research being done on turtles of the Santa Fe River was excellent and we recommend watching this or getting copies for classrooms.
|
|
