Speeded-up & slow-motion shots of animals, plants, skies, water, grotesquely enlarged images of the sun & moon, together with totally unnecessary & inappropriate orchestral background music - such are the ingredients of so many programmes professing to show nature as it is.
However, nothing came as a greater surprise to me than to hear David Attenborough in the ' Africa ' series referring to the Rock Python as going off to " crush life out of her victims." He, of all people, should know better. The constrictors, boas & pythons, constrict, they do NOT crush their prey.
A quick strike with it's head & open jaws is suffecient to hold the victim down, which, followed by two or three coils around the body gradually tighten suffeciently to allow their prey to breathe out but not in, hence death is in fact by suffocation, not crushing, a more humane method than that utilised by many other predators.
In 1942 or thereabouts I was posted to a small RAF pilot training camp deep in the African bush, in a country now known as Zimbabwe. The purpose was for me to maintain aircraft so they would stay up in the air until the pilot ( & only the pilot, not the aircraft ! ) decided when it was time to come down again. This gave me a marvellous opportunity to learn to fly. ( unofficially, of course ! ). Also, I was able to set-up a musical appreciation group with records borrowed from the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation. It was well attended, after all, they were a sort of captive audience & had nowhere else to go ! However, most memorable was being able to buy a motorcycle for very little money & use it to explore the bush. This was, I was told, the first BSA to have chain drive, earlier models had a belt. Quite naturally there were fears about being alone in the bush, the greatest of which, to me anyway, was the prospect of encountering snakes. I already had some relatively ' close-up ' experience of snakes in having to remove them from warm aircraft engines after late night ' running- in ' after a re-build. I would use a long stick with a hook on the end & fling them as far as possible into the bush, not knowing whether they were poisonous or not - this disturbed me & demanded I found out more about snakes, buying books & speaking to people who would know more on the subject. Eventually I explored a fairly wide area, acquiring much information on what there was, the species of snake, sizes, numbers etc.. Much feared locally were the Ringhals & Boomslang & of course, the name we all know, the Black Mamba, which is actually grey.
After 2 -3 years I returned to the UK & within a few days paid a visit to the reptile house of the London Zoo. The staff were very interested to know of my travels but even more so when I mentioned having records ( of a sort ! ). These activated some excitement amongst them as they provided additional evidence in their favour against a book which they knew to be highly suspect in it's accuracy & other matters regarding the snakes of Southern Africa. They were delighted with what I was able to provide them with. I was offered sherry from little specimen glasses , not knowing what they had previously contained. I was told they almost always have more specimens than required - would I like a pair of reticulated pythons ?
My mother had the answer; They come, you go !!!
Many years later & living in Scotland I accepted their offer & had a large vivarium installed in our living room with ( at one time ) 2boas & 3 pythons.
However, hadn't realised what a problem this could be - my wife & I rarely got out in the evening together ...........
........difficulty getting a babysitter - I wonder why ?
With especially fond wishes to you all
gamba
However, nothing came as a greater surprise to me than to hear David Attenborough in the ' Africa ' series referring to the Rock Python as going off to " crush life out of her victims." He, of all people, should know better. The constrictors, boas & pythons, constrict, they do NOT crush their prey.
A quick strike with it's head & open jaws is suffecient to hold the victim down, which, followed by two or three coils around the body gradually tighten suffeciently to allow their prey to breathe out but not in, hence death is in fact by suffocation, not crushing, a more humane method than that utilised by many other predators.
In 1942 or thereabouts I was posted to a small RAF pilot training camp deep in the African bush, in a country now known as Zimbabwe. The purpose was for me to maintain aircraft so they would stay up in the air until the pilot ( & only the pilot, not the aircraft ! ) decided when it was time to come down again. This gave me a marvellous opportunity to learn to fly. ( unofficially, of course ! ). Also, I was able to set-up a musical appreciation group with records borrowed from the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation. It was well attended, after all, they were a sort of captive audience & had nowhere else to go ! However, most memorable was being able to buy a motorcycle for very little money & use it to explore the bush. This was, I was told, the first BSA to have chain drive, earlier models had a belt. Quite naturally there were fears about being alone in the bush, the greatest of which, to me anyway, was the prospect of encountering snakes. I already had some relatively ' close-up ' experience of snakes in having to remove them from warm aircraft engines after late night ' running- in ' after a re-build. I would use a long stick with a hook on the end & fling them as far as possible into the bush, not knowing whether they were poisonous or not - this disturbed me & demanded I found out more about snakes, buying books & speaking to people who would know more on the subject. Eventually I explored a fairly wide area, acquiring much information on what there was, the species of snake, sizes, numbers etc.. Much feared locally were the Ringhals & Boomslang & of course, the name we all know, the Black Mamba, which is actually grey.
After 2 -3 years I returned to the UK & within a few days paid a visit to the reptile house of the London Zoo. The staff were very interested to know of my travels but even more so when I mentioned having records ( of a sort ! ). These activated some excitement amongst them as they provided additional evidence in their favour against a book which they knew to be highly suspect in it's accuracy & other matters regarding the snakes of Southern Africa. They were delighted with what I was able to provide them with. I was offered sherry from little specimen glasses , not knowing what they had previously contained. I was told they almost always have more specimens than required - would I like a pair of reticulated pythons ?
My mother had the answer; They come, you go !!!
Many years later & living in Scotland I accepted their offer & had a large vivarium installed in our living room with ( at one time ) 2boas & 3 pythons.
However, hadn't realised what a problem this could be - my wife & I rarely got out in the evening together ...........
........difficulty getting a babysitter - I wonder why ?
With especially fond wishes to you all
gamba
). 
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