The Lost Land Of The Volcano.2
Hello, hello, hello,
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Oh my goodness, did you remember to watch the second part of the series I was telling you about.
It was amazing. What a triumph for the BBC. This makes up for their past failings. This is what they are best at.
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This week we saw the team leader, Dr. George McGavin, continuing to collect all sorts of insects from the forest and to find many that are new species.
His enthusiasm was childlike and wonderful when he found some strange new caterpillars on a tree trunk, and then put them away in a cage to see if they would form chrysalises. His hope being that they might hatch out before he had to leave the site.
His look of joy, when a finely marked moth emerges in the middle of the night, is a pleasure to watch.
He turns out to be a romantic, who decides that, as he is missing his wife’s birthday on that very day, he will name the moth after her.
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I applaud the sentiment, but I would prefer to have a bird named after me.
She, however. probably had other things in mind than that possibility, when she fell for him, and therefore did not act sensibly and chose a scientist who specialised in the more photogenic of the available species.
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Gordon was eminently watchable as usual.
I, of course, only watch him for the purposes scientific edification, and not for the fact that he is very charming and looks like George Clooney.
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This week, he was searching the forest looking for Birds of Paradise, to attempt to film their mating rituals.
These birds are amazing, with plumage of a stunningly beautiful red colour, and they also have bright green tail wires which they use in display.
He eventually climbed up a tree and waited there in the pouring rain, before unexpectedly getting an even better piece of film than he had been dreaming of.
To begin with, he was filming two male birds displaying to each other with great enthusiasm, and then suddenly two female birds arrived on the scene.
His joy and excitement when the male and female finally mated was contagious, and as Gordon put it at the ultimate moment…. “You will be mine.”
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But that was not the high point!
That arrived when the second female also chose that same, magnificent male.
Gordon’s observation then was, “If you look that good, then you get more than one female in one day!
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He also visited a tribe of about 500 who live in the shadow of Mount Bosavi.
They do not have very much, and can actually see that if the trees are cut down then they will be able to have money, to spend on education and healthcare. They have no mosquito nets and many of the children die from outbreaks of Malaria..
I have to admit surprise at them not using any medicines obtained from the jungle, as I have seen happen in film taken about South American rainforest tribes.
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It was fun to see the villagers dress up in their ceremonial feathers and then dance.
Gordon looked very fetching in his headdress too!
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For those of you who enjoy a Bruce Willis type of look in your scientific men, then Jack is well worth watching.
Not lacking in either expertise or charm, these particular scientists!
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Steve continued his explorations deep in the caves, on the island of New Britain, and ended up two miles underground before becoming ill and needing to get back up to the surface again.
They spent a while above ground, tending to various rashes, cuts and other body damage, before going straight back down again.
Indefatigable, and totally mad, as far as I am concerned.
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If you have missed these programmes you can still see them by using BBC catchup on your computer.
Go on, spoil yourself.
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J.x.
The answer to the Great Game Question is a resounding “Yes” to both Gordon and Jack.
And probably Dr George, if he approaches everything in his life with such appreciation and enthusiasm.
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These scientists are trying so hard to prove why we must save the rainforests, in the face of such general apathy.
GOD BLESS THEM>
