Original subtitles

Nature is full

creatures with extraordinary shapes,

but as he offered some this an advantage?

I was lucky to meet

Some of the most delightful creatures on the planet, but some

come prominence because of their special biology.

Our knowledge about some of them for centuries.

Others were recently discovered.

In this series, we learn their story

And we also revealed what are considered curiosities of nature.

David Attenborough curiosities OF NATURE

In this episode, search the two creatures

Cara normal transformed into something extraordinary,

chameleon's tongue very long to catch prey ...

... And her long-necked giraffe with reaching the treetops.

When and how these animals have reached the limits?

Stretched to DEADLINES

The chameleon is a really strange creature,

both in behavior and as a disguise, like nothing on earth.

Not surprisingly, it has generated all sorts of legends and myths.

This is the "History quadruped animals," Edward Topsell,

Written in the 17th century,

And there he called chameleon "an impostor, a voracious hunter,

"impure and sinful by the laws of God."

Some believe that is the work of the devil that made parts of other animals,

tail monkey, crocodile skin,

broaºtei language, rhino horn,

And eyes do not know whom.

It was a creature sent to Earth to spy for the devil.

When I first saw a chameleon, 50 years ago,

I was struck by his beauty

And intrigued by ciudãþenia body and especially his tongue.

Despite chameleon disguise

It turned into a coveted curiosity.

But also savanþii and naturaliºtii

They were contrariaþi's behavior and anatomy.

Looks and behaves differently from any reptile.

Even today, we discover new things

about the eyes of unique, amazing language

And the ability to disguise and change.

Chameleons are hard to find because it is moving slowly

but also because merges perfectly with the environment,

In terms of coloring.

Most of my face is a dwarf chameleon in Natal, South Africa.

If a snake is threatened,

do not have to change their color too much,

because color vision of a snake is very weak,

But if it is threatened by a bird, you must hide very well.

Some species of chameleon, and are 85 family,

tighten disguise with great fineness may change.

If you see a snake approaching from below,

colors become more open and less visible in the sky.

On the other hand if the threat comes from a bird

the colors become darker background so it will fit under them.

A chameleon colors are influenced not only the environment

but also temperature, light and his emotional state.

Beneath the screen there is a male rival.

Let's see what happens if you remove the screen and the two are seen.

More intensely colored male is dominant,

And immediately tighten add colors brighter, more aggressive.

The other male remains dark

too scared to change their color and retreats.

It's clear who's boss.

Chameleons are emotional creatures.

Dark color notifies anger.

The female on the right, does not feel like advances

male full of hope and more vivid colors.

The way chameleons have come to alter the color

naturaliºtii puzzled early on.

An English called Barrow, who traveled to Africa in the 19th century,

thought that the color change is caused by something in the air.

He wrote, "Next to change their color, chameleon

"inspirã lung,

"and his body swelled double the size of normal

"And after that deflated gradually begin to change their color."

It's an accurate observation of what happens

When the chameleon gets angry and then his anger passes,

but basically changing color has nothing to do with air.

A French biologist, Milne-Edwards inerpretat correct this.

He wrote, "There are two layers of pigment

"seated one another,

"but arranged so as to appear simultaneously under the cuticle

"And so sometimes it masks manner as one another,"

This is true.

Today we know that chameleon skin

It has three layers of pigment cells called cromatofore expandable.

They contain pigment red, yellow, blue and white

And a deeper layer of black melanin that controls light reflection.

Chameleons change color used not only to hide,

but also to communicate between them.

Anyone close look chameleon is fascinated with his own eyes.

Protrude on both sides of the head mount as if on some shifts,

And practically eyelids are joined,

less a point micuþ exactly in the middle.

An extraordinary thing is that you can move the independent.

This means that a chameleon can see at the same time,

above and below.

Thus any insect that lands nearby is immediately seen.

His brain receives messages seem separate from each eye

And he sees and receives them alternately very quickly,

but independent of one another.

Not Integrate.

The advantage

in that it provides three dimensional view around,

invaluable work.

This extraordinary view is essential

in the way that uses their chameleon another amazing element,

Namely excessively elongated tongue.

How language works and how it is composed,

perplex naturaliºti first thing to understand.

This copy Kept

It shows us in detail the impressive language of a chameleon.

The physical structure of the language is easy to explain,

Although it is somehow a complicated organ,

a tube that is based on a cartilaginous rod, cone.

Pernuþa the end is tough and sticky

And can catch prey.

But the mystery by which such devils

It can be driven and designed out of his mouth

It was harder to explain.

Maybe how a frigate tighten guºa inflates under the beak,

or how a frog who cry tighten throat sac inflates

They can provide some clues.

Both use air.

Or maybe that helps us argue eyes snail tentacles.

Post them on the one projects using hydraulic fluid blood.

But none are insufficient.

It is a more complex process.

Language is a muscular tube that, when it is relaxed, sits on a cartilaginous rod.

When the chameleon is about to hit,

tongue muscles at the base put it in position for launch.

When prey is aligned and distance calculation,

super-fast muscles shrink and propels language before lightning.

While language þâºneºte on cartilage,

an energy surplus a push toward the target.

Then, as an elastic band,

is pulled back into the mouth of a chameleon.

Recently, high-speed shooting were revealed to detail.

The tip of the tongue that thinks it's tacky,

excrescenþe is covered with microscopic prey generates sucþiunea and locks.

Chameleons are truly extraordinary creatures

And have surprises for us even today.

This year, a scientist working in Madagascar

He discovered a chameleon micuþ of only 29 mm length.

It is the smallest vertebrate in the world.

It is incredible that a vertebrate organs

fit into as small a body,

including extraordinary language.

Subsequently, another amazing story elongated structures,

not a language but a neck.

The chameleon has a long tongue as his body twice.

And very long giraffe neck.

These are some creatures that have transformed into something extraordinarily normal.

Curiosities of nature are highly modified.

The giraffe is an animal that is not how not to impress.

High 6 meters, or 19 feet, is taxable

disguise a strange and mysterious biology.

Our attraction to such unusual creatures is centuries old,

And a characteristic curiosity us,

long neck respectively.

Such a structure looks something impossible in nature,

but now better understand complex biological body giraffe.

Gaining knowledge about this creature

It can be exemplified by three special giraffes

And by fascinaþiei for exotic story of a crowned head.

In the 19th century, a giraffe named Zarafa, which means "charming" in Arabic,

It had a strong impact in Europe of socially and scientifically.

It was one of three caught in 1826 on the orders of the viceroy of Egypt,

who wanted to offer gift graþiile to enter France, Austria and England.

Zarafa, the most sturdy of three, has been offering France,

As seen in the paintings of Jacques Raymond Brascassat.

He traveled from Egypt to Marseilles on a ship.

France reached the guards decided it was too risky to continue on water

And they decided to walk from Marseille

to Paris, way over 885 kilometers.

For some, this trip was doomed to failure,

but careful planning and biology giraffe were in favor of it.

A French scientist avant-garde,

Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire,

I was given this task.

But there is something important related to the Zarafa

which ensured the success of the journey.

Her age.

He was very young, was just eight months.

Baby giraffes are very robuºti,

can stand and run to one hour after birth.

They have very long legs relative to the body,

only 0.5 meters shorter than the adults.

Long legs helps them keep up with their mothers,

Zarafa so it was well-worked.

Zarafa food was crucial.

Baby giraffe suck up to one year and was well fed Zarafa.

While driving drank more than 25 liters of milk per day,

milk obtained from three cows.

Mãrºãluia to step together with her escort.

After almost 320 km, Zarafa has come to Lyon

And Saint-Hilaire interrupted journey.

He hoped it go on a boat for the journey.

As he waited, 30,000 people have visited it Zarafa see.

For the public, it was a strange creature, exotic,

And were very nedumeriþi the existence of such a long neck

And were curioºi how it can support the weight of an animal.

In those days, the giraffes were considered some ciudãþenii,

some camels with horns

whose consequence their neck swelling were thin.

But exactly what is attractive to Saint-Hilaire to Zarafa.

He was fascinated by genetic exaggeration and how they occur.

Their long neck allows them to feed

with leaves that are not available to other herbivores.

How can they sustain physical, vertical, such a long neck?

Ha-ha!

Giraffe anatomy studies have revealed this.

A ligament long, thick as a cable, ran the length of the neck.

He counterbalances the weight of the head and neck,

And the relaxed position is tight.

Thus maintaining law and head throat involves a minimum muscular effort.

Bending the head is a movement more difficult,

Because it must extend tough ligament.

The ability to feed on tall trees

the only reason for a long neck?

As the giraffe in the wild behavior was better known,

people discovered that males beat rivals hitting necks.

Was this a reason and have developed a long neck?

Then someone and attracted attention that females have long neck

so that that idea fell.

In fact there is no clear answer,

but access to food up a better vigilance and regulation of temperature,

all shaped the giraffe's long neck.

During the march, Zarafa has continued to attract curioºii.

Few had seen such a creature.

It seemed impossible.

How can a giraffe to pump arrow brain neck so long?

And as the blood does not return immediately to his feet?

The giraffe's long neck,

but basically it has the same number of vertebrae as ours,

Seven ie,

but his blood pressure is twice as high as ours.

Bigger than any other animal.

The pump that produces such pressure, heart,

Surprising, is not high,

but it's very powerful.

This is a section through the left ventricle

See how thick and is cardiac muscles, almost 8 cm.

This powerful pumps blood through the arteries push the head

then returns through the jugular vein

equipped with valve-shaped pocket

which prevents blood return to head

If the animal bends drinking water for example.

Giraffes drinking water from ground hard

And in fact rarely do.

Obtains its water from leaves and shoots.

The only way you can bend toward water is rãºchirarea forelimbs

or bending them at the wrist.

Compared with the legs, the giraffe neck is short.

Wildebeests and zebras touch the ground without having to bend and legs.

Only forest giraffe and her relative, the okapi,

have short necks compared to their feet

So you have to rãºchireze or bend them.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the giraffe is leg length.

And they certainly were the key to success Zarafa.

At Lyon, was to rest

And to continue their journey to Paris by boat.

But things have not gone according to plan.

There is no boat came to Lyon so we kept going on foot.

It took 41 days to travel the 880 km to Paris.

Saint-HiIaire, her trusty comrades, was exhausted, when the giraffe was shaped.

He wrote, "increased weight and get stronger.

"Musculatura i s-a accentuat,

"Fur has become smoother than her arrival at Marseille."

Zarafa was the presence of King Charles the Tenth

And temporary shelter in the greenhouse

din "Jardin des PIantes".

It was a true ambassador

And 60,000 people saw it in the first three weeks in Paris.

In the early 19th century were a novelty giraffes

And their biology and how living in the wild were still a mystery.

Zarafa's success was due to the interpenetration

Unusual characteristics of the giraffe and a good synchronization.

YouTube her long legs and milk diet allowed her journey through France.

The body felt strange proved that performed perfectly.

Our story began with three giraffes arrived in Europe.

Zarafa was the most robust and lived more than 18 years.

The Austrian lived just one year,

King George VI and the one sent in England, died two years later.

Saint-Hilaire learned a lot from Zarafa

and she became an important figure in France crcetarea Zoo.

Giraffe brought to England triggered a huge interest in animal research

And scientific center of gravity has changed from France to England.

Zarafa we must thank for her role in deciphering the biological mysteries

The giraffe's body and her long neck.

Creatures such as giraffe and chameleon

and continues to reveal their biological secrets.

I am truly some curiosities of nature.