Chris Mooney is a freelance writer and the author of two books, 
While I love Randy Olson's 'Flock Of Dodos', one science documentary remains the most memorable of all... 'Cane Toads: An Unnatural History'. I had the pleasure of watching this fantastic film once again with a number of graduate students last week and I'm convinced it gets better every time. If you somehow missed out catching it during biology 101, the product description from Amazon.com provides a good synopsis:
"A fat, ugly creature whose sole purpose in life is the pursuit of sexual gratification is rapidly taking over Australia! The Cane Toads were imported by the sackload from Hawaii to Australia in 1935 in an attempt to rid the country of the Greyback beetle, which was rapidly destroying their sugarcane crop. The Cane Toads adapted beautifully to their new surroundings. Problem was, the beetle could fly and the Cane Toad couldn't. What the Cane Toad is unusually good at, however, is making more Cane Toads--thousands upon thousands more. If Monty Python produced a National Geographic Special, it would be Cane Toads!"
Here's a preview:
If you haven't seen 'Cane Toads', go rent it. This delightful documentary is one you're sure to remember and enjoy for years to come!
Comments
The movie is also available to watch instantly on netflix. I just saw it last weekend. It was alright; more about the reactions of different people to the cane toads than the toads themselves.
Posted by: Laelaps | May 5, 2008 10:09 AM
In Australia, this is a very popular documentary to teach. I've used it with Year 10 students with great success.
You might also like their other works by Mark Lewis:
The Wonderful World of Dogs (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280205/)
and
The Natural History of the Chicken
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257954/)
:) Podblack.
Posted by: Podblack | May 5, 2008 10:32 AM
I'm not sure if this is the documentary I saw about cane toads, but I vividly remember one scene from it. There is a long shot down a deserted two lane road. In the distance you see a minivan coming towards the camera. Every few seconds you see the minivan swerve. As it gets closer you begin hear these loud pops. It took me a few moments more to realize that the driver was swerving to hit cane toads in the road.
Posted by: CLM | May 5, 2008 10:50 AM
CLM,
That's the one. I also enjoy the scene with the little girl who dresses her pet cane toad up like a princess and has tea parties with it.
Sheril,
Thanks for reminding us about this great film ;)
Posted by: Emily | May 5, 2008 10:54 AM
CLM
You missed the detail that makes that scene work. It's just after the face-to-face interview at the start of the trailer where the guy talks about "running around"
In the foreground of that shot there's a jogger, and you think the voice over is from the jogger when suddenly the minivan swerves at exactly the point where the voice over says something like [paraphrase] "I find if I can line them up front-on they sort of go pop"
It's a classic piece of misdirection and one of the funniest things I've ever seen on film.
Posted by: JM | May 5, 2008 12:19 PM
Don't forget about the original cane-toad-inspired soundtrack, featuring such classics as the Cane Toad Blues!
Posted by: Miriam | May 8, 2008 9:05 PM