Perfectly wild

"A Perfect Planet" is a new series shown on BBC Earth, narrated by David Attenborough. When shown on Swedish TV, however, we have to rest contented with Henrik Ekman! I recently watched the first episode, "Volcano".

It´s ostensibly an educational production about the pivotal role of volcanic activity in sustaining life on Earth. Except, of course, that it isn´t. The "educational" angle is just an excuse to show the most spectacular footage of wildlife the BBC could lay their hands on this season. No hard feelings, btw! I mean, who cares about geology, anyway?

First, we get to see Lake Natron in Tanzania, a large volcanic lake where literally millions of lesser flamingoes breed and nest every year. It looks like another planet. Unfortunately for the flamingoes, but fortunately for the ecological balance in nature, marabou storks also gather to feast at those young flamingoes which aren´t fit enough to run away. I assumed the truly spectacular footage from Lake Natron was made by drones (the lake seems to be strongly acidic) but actually it was shot by an actual human who reached the interior of the lake area with a hovercraft! The local Massai tribeswomen even had to help him repair the hovercraft´s skirt... 

Next, we get to see some bizarre footage from the Galapagos Islands. At the small island of Wolf, one of "Darwin´s finches" (actually tanagers) have evolved a truly remarkable behavior. The "vampire ground finch" sometimes attacks the Nazca boobies and literally sucks their blood, weirldy enough without the boobies even noticing. At the island of Fernardina, an iguana climbs down into a volcanic crater 800 meters deep to lay its eggs in the hot sands surrounding the volcanic lake. This almost literal descensus into hell is extremely dangerous for the lizard, due to steep cliffs and falling rocks. 

This first episode ends with scenes of otters and coyotes from Yellowstone and a large gathering of cute-looking but dangerous brown bears from Kamchatka in Russia. 

I´m not sure if "A Perfect Planet" really proves that the planet is perfect, but at the very least, it does seem to be perfectly wild! 

I will certainly continue watching this series with great interest. 

A crazy quilt of creatures

Originally posted in 2013. 

"Wild Russia" is a German documentary series in six parts. It deals with the wildlife of Russia, and is truly spectacular. Indeed, it might be *the* most spectacular series of wilderness documentaries I've ever seen.

The six episodes take us to Kamchatka, Ussuriland, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Arctic and the Urals. Pretty much everything has been included in this series, from Amur leopards and Siberian tigers to more "regular" animals such as brown bears, foxes and wolverines. Or "a crazy quilt of creatures" (sic), to quote one of the narrators. There is also a special episode following the camera crew as it was taping the series, often under pretty dangerous conditions.

The most memorable section shows the Stellar's Sea Eagles in Kamchatka. To survive the winter, these huge raptors gather at a lake full of frozen, dead salmon. The scenery is suitably dramatic, with an active volcano in the background. Another memorable moment: moose swimming across a wide river in the Urals. The German team even managed to film the ultra-rare Siberian white cranes!

This is *not* a review of the DVD shown on this product page, which I haven't seen. "Wild Russia" has been shown on several English-language TV networks, with different narrators. Judging by the title, this is actually the original German version. This is a review of the series itself, which I have seen both on Swedish television, and on Youtube, where it's temporarily available free of charge.

For the series, and the secret forests of Russia: five stars!

The republic of nowhere

Another Rottweiler on a fake Russian stamp...

The real life "Koriakia" (Koryaksky Okrug) is an administrative region of Kamchatka in Eastern Russia. It doesn't issue any postage stamps. All sets of stamps from "Koriakia" are bogus and considered illegal by Russian postal authorities (and, I suppose, the secret police).

In this case, the bogus nature of the stamp is pretty easy to spot: the name of the region is given in English, the name is erroneous even in translation, and the symbol in the lower right-hand corner is actually that of scouting, presumably included to give the stamp an "international" flair.

I don't mind bogus or half-bogus stamps - they are pretty interesting, in their own kind of way - but people should at least know what they are getting. Don't try to sell this to a serious collector of Russian stamps! May the rottweiler eat everyone who disagrees...