Moa's Ark
June 29, 2014 3:27 AM   Subscribe

Moa’s Ark (1990)

The billboards hawking Aotearoa to international visitors sell the experience and environment as ‘100% Pure'. But why is New Zealand's landscape and flora and fauna so unique? Renowned English naturalist David Bellamy, with his famous lisp and impassioned enthusiasm, goes on a journey to discover the answer in this four part series produced by Television New Zealand's Natural History Unit.
Read a brief series synopsis if you like before diving in. Each episode is broken down into five clips. Warning: Episode 4 contains footage of culling of Mutton birds (clip 1, 08.40), a Possum (clip 3, 02.29), and Rabbits (clip 3, 03.45)

Total time: 3:37:18


Some of my favourite bits include:
  • E1 Clip 1 - Meat pie tectonics (towards the end of the clip)
  • E1 Clip 3 - The Taupo eruption and the Napier earthquake
  • E2 Clip 3 - Making a Maori cloak. Traditional Maori foods.
  • E3 Clip 5 - Kauri trees and Tane Mahuta
  • E4 - The entirety of which charters New Zealand's experience creating "lifeboats" - pest-free islands where natural flora and fauna have a chance to survive away from those threats.
Also here's a 2009 retrospective interview
posted by Start with Dessert (3 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
I remember him when he was merely enthusiastically eccentric, rather than the batshitinsane New Zealand Climate Science Coalition member he is now.
posted by scruss at 5:14 AM on June 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


I grew up watching his natural history programs, he's an excellent and enthusiastic presenter. I hadn't heard of him being a climate change denier.
posted by arcticseal at 9:43 AM on June 29, 2014


The meat pie tectonics is so memorable.
posted by slightlybewildered at 9:10 PM on June 29, 2014


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