Discovery Channel's Life - Review

The Discovery Channel's latest eleven part event, Life, began tonight with the first two episodes - Challenges of Life, and Reptiles and Amphibians. Oprah Winfrey narrates the series, and I'm sorry to tell David Attenborough, she's just a lot easier on the ears! Challenges of Life begins with an amazing scene in which 3 Cheetah siblings intend to take down an Ostrich, something none of them could dream of doing on their own. As we have come to expect, the photography is amazing and this series uses all of the latest HD technology available. While watching the Life series, you are treated to sights that you are unlikely to see elsewhere even if you seek them out. Life and death moments, which pass in the blink of an eye, are slowed down for us so that we can appreciate how dramatic they truly are. We witness a Panther Chameleon's strike on a Praying Mantis, which we would miss the majority of if we so much as blinked. The Panther Chameleon's tongue seeks out its prey at fifty feet per second after all.

The series traverses the globe illuminating the challenges that the species inhabiting our planet face on a regular basis. Throughout the Life series, we get to witness the breakthroughs that species make while adapting to life in diverse habitats. In Florida, a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins is seen creating "mud-rings" around fast swimming fish. The dolphins use their tails to stir up the soft silt on the bottom, which causes it to contract around the fish causing them to panic and leap from the water in an attempt to escape over the ring, landing them directly into the mouths of the waiting dolphins. Many similar scenes play out in Challenges of Life.

The two episodes play back to back with Reptiles and Amphibians following Challenges of Life. We see how Reptiles and Amphibians manage to survive in the harshest of environments and witness some of their more clever actions. We watch as Garter Snakes wake from hibernation struggling to warm themselves over the course of many days in order to have a chance at mating with an awakened female. One of the males arises days after the rest appearing as if he will have no chance at mating. Cleverly, he gives off a pheromone resembling that given off by the females causing him to be swarmed by the other male snakes, whose heat he absorbs, allowing him to accomplish in minutes what took them many days. It isn't often that reptiles strike the majority of us as being clever or bring a smile to our faces, but it's rather hard to deny it here.

I highly recommend tuning in to Discovery's Life series so that you too can witness the amazing photography and jaw-dropping antics of species from all over the planet. You won't be disappointed. The entire series will also be available on DVD and Blu-ray at the Discovery Store. The footage of the Western Grebe's courtship display is worth it alone, but this series offers something for everyone. Tune in to Discovery on Sunday nights at 8pm.