The Americas

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Crashcourse said:

Yeah, she just walked away.

I just looked them up on wikipedia. 

Quote

Rheas are polygynandrous, with males courting between two and twelve females and females commonly mating with multiple dominant males during the breeding season. After mating, the male builds a nest where each female lays eggs. The nest is a simple scrape in the ground, lined with grass and leaves.[15] The male incubates from ten to sixty eggs. The male will use a decoy system and place some eggs outside the nest, then sacrifice these to predators so they do not attempt to get inside the nest. The male may use another subordinate male to incubate his eggs while he finds another group of females to start a second nest with.[13] The chicks hatch within 36 hours of each other. Right before hatching, the chicks begin to whistle.[27] The group of females, meanwhile, may move on and mate with other males. While caring for the young, the males will charge at any perceived threat approaching the chicks, including female rheas and humans. The young reach full adult size in about six months but do not breed until they reach two years of age.[15]

Also learned there is a population of feral rheas in northwestern Germany, after several couples escaped from an exotic meat farm in the '90s, and also a small population in the UK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(bird)#Feral_populations_in_Europe

[possibilities]

Those beetles "mouth fighting" and then the way they portrayed the female as so completely passive-- not only doesn't she participate in choosing her mate, but she also gets thrown off the branch when he's done impregnating her! Wow. That's some story. 

I was glad the sister puma shared the carcass. 

 

[DanaK]

Reminder that there’s a BTS special for the season tonight

[Crashcourse]

This is fascinating.  What a grueling, challenging, yet satisfying job to be a wildlife photographer.  You really have to love your job to do this kind of work. 

It's also interesting to see all of the equipment they use, especially that suction camera tag they were able to put on the sperm whale. 

That guy who was standing in the pouring rain really did get a nice shower!

[AnimeMania]

I am surprised that the Sperm Whale camera tag didn't just upload the video to a satellite instead of relying on someone to find the camera, that seems extremely risky.

[rcc]

The eagle feeding the young one was emotional for the crew and me too. Sitting up in that tree for so long to get those shots was amazing dedication.

 

[ams1001]

This was amazing. I love their excitement at seeing what they caught when they couldn't be looking at the camera in real time.

[possibilities]

I wish all interactions between big animals and humans (like the pumas and the bears) would be that relaxed and not full of fear.

[DanaK]

NBC Universal executives talk about the series

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/the-americas-finale-nbc-tom-hanks-nature-series-1236197046/