#our planet netflix

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

SO THIS IS A THING

[harpagornis]

Pterosaurs on Life On Our Planet

As my previous review showed, Life On Our Planet has issues. One of the issues is how it portrays pterosaurs, in the episode In Cold Blood (which you already know by the title is a doozy.

Here, the sole direct depiction of pterosaurs portrays Pterodactylus (not identified as such but clearly meant to be it based on its anatomy and time period) hunting baby turtles from the sky. Anatomically, the animal is alright: fuzzy body covering, appropriate wing structure, even lips covering the teeth (a novelty only recently considered by paleoartists). Where it falls short is in the behaviour: it is seen attacking baby turtles from the sky, when the actual animal foraged on aquatic invertebrates by swimming or wading.

In other words, like a duck being portrayed acting like a frigatebird.

This is the only significant appearence of pterosaurs in the series. They brief appear in the asteroid episode (using the same model; bold to suggest ctenochasmatoids were around in the KT event…) and that’s it. They’re essentially treated as footnote in the show, and their greatest achievement, being the first vertebrates to ever fly, is given to birds instead.

An all around disappointing depiction.

[troythecatfish]

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Do you think dinosaurs' ghosts are proud of birds?

[marshmallow-biscuit-blog]

Just finished "Life on Our Planet" and I literally beg, please watch it, for the final episode alone, the ending message.

[mrultra100]

One of, if not, the best segments in LOOP. Arthropluera is one of my favorite prehistoric animals, so it’s nice to see the giant millipede boi be realized in a whole new light.

[earthanthem]

(via GIPHY)

[slogokonnor99]

Month recap time!

This month's drawings:

- Johanna plays with some baby Scutosaurus

- Two male Enchodus try to woo a female, but scare the crap out of David

- Frida falls for a booby trap and is now the subject of interest of a Camptosaurus

- A baby Isisaurus thinks Twig is its parent

[petimetrek]

Is Life on our planet (Netflix) really that bad? I was actually excited to watch it.

[unsealedcube77]

[Narrator: Morgan Freeman]

The lizard jumped into the water to evade the preditor. However, lizards are not particularly known for their swimming capabilities.

The lizard has water repellent skin, which allows it to slowly breathe out an air bubble to help it breathe.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

I am *not* encouraged by the synposes for Life on Our Planet

like... holy "life is a big competition" (its not) and "mammals rise to their natural place" (that's not a thing) and "birds don't count as dinosaurs because they survived" (I hope I don't have to explain why that's bad to y'all) Batman

[harpagornis]

Watching Life On Our Planet. Feels like a step down from Prehistoric Planet, what with sharks being living fossils (they're not), terror birds being outcompeted by sabertoothed cats (they weren't) and other outdated nonsense.

[eldaryadiary]

I was quite excited to finally watch Life on our planet. 10 seconds in, already disappointed - upset, even.

Sharks, living fossils.

As a paleontologist, hearing the words living fossil hurts. They souldn't be used, especially in a scientific context.

A fossil is, by definition, dead - usually an organism that has been dead for millions of years.

" Living fossils " has been used to talk about living organisms - extant species - that look very similar to their fossil - extinct - ancestors (coelacanths, sharks, dragonflies,...). It implies that these organisms have not evolved for millions of years (reminder : all currently living organisms are exactly as evolved, we've all been evolving for the same amount of time since LUCA). It is used by ignorant journalists and, most importantly, by creationists who are using "living fossils" as a proof that evolution isn't real.

So, yeah, you could say it's just a journalistic oxymoron. But using it when adressing an audience is hurtful to evolutionary biology / paleontology.

The prefered term is panchronic species :)

[indoraptorgirlwind]

Aww, look at that t-rex couple they're so cu-

*meteorite flash*

NOooOOoOOOoooOOoOO!

*end of episode*

Dude...

[dream-this-nightmare-over]

Stiles Stilinski: I’m 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bones; sarcasm is my only defense.

Morgan Freeman narrating Life on our planet: The mammal's intelligence is his only defense