1994 VHS • Eyewitness Reptile 60 FPS
The Vista Group®
Clips are not offered for this film: no licence or public-domain mark is recorded for it.
Parts
About
Eyewitness Reptile is a documentary program from the BBC Eyewitness series, structured around the Eyewitness Reptile book and produced with the series' characteristic white-background studio photography and location footage.
The program covers all four reptile families: lizards and snakes, turtles, crocodilians, and the Tuatara. Topics include reptile physiology as cold-blooded, solar-powered animals; the thorny devil's dew-collecting spines; the basilisk's ability to run on water; gecko adhesive feet; giant tortoise strength and longevity; sea turtle diving depth and long-distance migration driven by continental drift; crocodilian heat release and prey capture; the difference between crocodiles and alligators by jaw shape and geographic range; the saltwater crocodile named Sweetheart; snake internal organ arrangement; Sidewinder locomotion; constriction; the tongue and Jacobson's organ for scent detection; chameleon color change and independently moving eyes; snake charmer mechanics; warning coloration in coral snakes and frilled lizards; tail autonomy in lizards; Tuatara biology and the threat of introduced predators on New Zealand islands; shelled eggs as the key adaptation enabling reptile land colonization; venomous fangs and anti-venom production from milked snakes; skin shedding and its symbolic meaning; the Komodo dragon; the alligator-snapping turtle; and reptile mythology spanning Egyptian Sobek worship, Hindu serpent symbolism, and European dragon legends. The Reticulated python's record length of 32 feet is cited.
The behind-the-scenes segment covers the Eyewitness Museum's computer-generated architecture, a giant tortoise used to simulate a car jack, 3D animation of lizard-to-snake evolution, and electronic image manipulation of a tail removal sequence using a system called Howl.
- Archive
- Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault
- Licence or status
- The Internet Archive states none for this item.
- Credit
- The Vista Group®
- Language
- English
- Subtitles
- English
- Who can watch
- The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed