Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK) who mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs. He also studies such things as the 
I don't want to get into the habit of advertising TV shows, but in this case I can make a definite exception. Thanks to the people at Windfall for sending what's known in the business as a TX card. For the Tet Zoo articles on series 1, see...
- Inside Nature's Giants: a major television event worthy of praise and accolade. Part I!
- Inside Nature's Giants part II: whale guts and hindlimbs ahoy
- Enough mammals for the time being: crocodiles on Inside Nature's Giants (part III)
- Inside Nature's Giants part IV: the incredible anatomy of the giraffe
Comments
Can't wait to see this! I thought the previous series was excellent, and a great, fresh variation on the "natural history television program" genre.
Posted by: Kevin | June 5, 2010 10:20 AM
An example of a needless slaughter of a Great White.
It`s much better to catch & release.
Posted by: Bob Michaels | June 5, 2010 12:24 PM
looking forward to these - particularly the python and the squid.
though...quick question - how do you release a Great White after dissecting it?
(well, that's easy, I know...but getting it to swim again, that's the rub)
Posted by: Anthony Docimo | June 5, 2010 12:26 PM
90 minute special on the giant squid? That is going to be so great.
Posted by: Jura | June 5, 2010 1:05 PM
The first series was a pleasant surprise: I was expecting something a bit sensationalist, in a bad way. I hope the second will be as good.
Bob: The animals in the first series were already dead of other causes; one of the goals was to determine cause of death for some of them. Hopefully that's the case this time, too.
Posted by: SimonG | June 5, 2010 1:57 PM
Simon G thanks for the update, as long as they are dead, not like the Japanese who claim they must slaughter the Minke for research
Posted by: Bob Michaels | June 5, 2010 4:40 PM
Hi fans of "Inside Nature's Giants" (or "Raw Anatomy" as it is called in the US). As a member of the dissection team, I can attest that the great white shark was not killed for this series. None of the animals dissected were killed for the purpose of making this film series.
Posted by: Joy Reidenberg | June 5, 2010 8:01 PM
Hurrah! looking forward to this.
thank you Joy for the reassurance.
Posted by: Rosel | June 6, 2010 9:37 AM
Congrats to the ING team for the BAFTA they were just awarded! And nice to see Joy on TV and not wearing an orange suit :)
Posted by: Darren Naish | June 6, 2010 5:02 PM
Hey sorry to go off on a tangent here, but is this youtube clip real?
Kung Fu Bear
It seems too crazy to be true
Posted by: Sebastian Marquez | June 7, 2010 3:52 AM
It's for real. The bear (an Asiatic black bear called Claude) has become a National celebrity (in Japan: Claude is kept at Hiroshima'a Asa Zoo).
Posted by: Darren Naish | June 7, 2010 4:01 AM
Thanks Darren. I saw the article in the guardian but I still couldn't believe it.
That bear would be amazing in a fire dancing routine at a luau here, heh. I guess I'll have to amuse myself with this until Inside Nature's Giants comes out stateside. The first series didn't show here in Hawaii for about a year after you blogged about it.
Posted by: Sebastian Marquez | June 7, 2010 4:42 AM
Was it called Inside Nature's Giants on its Hawaiian release? I heard that it was called something crappy like Gross Anatomy elsewhere in the US.
And Claude the bear is definitely for real. He's been filmed from so many angles, and from all kinds of distances, that I have no doubt that what we can see (filmed by many different people, on all kinds of different cameras) is for real. Furthermore, his 'Kung Fu' behaviour isn't that different from stuff engaged in by other bears. Still very cool though :)
Posted by: Darren Naish | June 7, 2010 5:34 AM
Holy blap! This is awesome. The line-up is near-perfect, too ... although I still wish they'd do a ratite. Still, gotta save something for Series 3, right?
Posted by: Michael P. Taylor | June 7, 2010 9:19 AM
No, it was called Inside Nature's Giants. I know I would have said some pejorative if the program was being sold as Gross Anatomy.
Posted by: Sebastian Marquez | June 7, 2010 1:42 PM
@Joy Reidenberg: Great to know someone from the team visits this blog. If only the giraffe flotation paper was already public when you had the chance to run a test... :)
Posted by: Daniel | June 7, 2010 2:55 PM
My goodness, thank you for introducing me to this show with this post--I've been watching the first season on YouTube and it may be the most enthralling TV production I've ever seen, a total masterpiece of a show IMO. The tone reminds me very much of The Ancestor's Tale (not too surprising given that Dawkins is pretty present in the show). I'm not sure where the writer and readers of this blog hail from, but does anyone know when and on which channel this season will be airing in the US, if it is airing at all?
It's things like these that reassure me that my goal of attaining a career as a zoologist is completely the right thing =) I am so taken with this show!
Posted by: Megan | June 8, 2010 2:08 AM
By the way, will Richard Dawkins be in ING, series 2?
Posted by: Dartian | June 8, 2010 6:55 AM
I'm looking forward to the next series, Plastinating Nature's Giants" in which Gunther Von Hagens pumps a fully grown Fin Whale with acetone followed by reactive plastics and has a 'whale' of a time getting the final plastinate out of the studio!
Seriously - looking forward to this next series immensely.
Posted by: Stu of the Peak | June 8, 2010 12:11 PM
I felt like the programme on the great white shark could have been 30 min longer as they were so much to discover/learn on this discectomy. Or maybe that's me being to greedy. I really really enjoyed it tonight!!
Posted by: Stephanie Bourgeois | June 8, 2010 5:09 PM
Oh I can't wait to see them at the Cheltenham Science Festival tomorrow night!!
Posted by: Stephanie Bourgeois | June 8, 2010 5:10 PM
Hey Stephanie.. it was great wasn't it? The liver was INCREDIBLE. Evidently not that many people know that lamnids are warm-bodied :(
Posted by: Darren Naish | June 8, 2010 6:54 PM
Hi Darren. In response to your post #13, yes, a slightly differently edited version did air under a different title in the US. It was called "Raw Anatomy" and aired on the National Geographic Channel.
Posted by: Joy Reidenberg | August 22, 2010 11:35 PM