VIDEO: Fry Finds "Funniest Ever" Mating Ritual

[rucky]

When Stephen Fry goes in search of the rare kakapo - "the old night parrot of New Zealand" - he finds himself privy to an unusual mating ritual which is "one of the funniest things he has ever seen".
Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine have been tracking down some of the most endangered animals on the planet in a six-part series.

Video at link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8281382.stm

[MineralMan]

1. Too funny, but that bird isn't too bright...

[rucky]

2. Could be why it's endangered.

unsuccessful interspecies dry-humping?

[Orrex]

3. Douglas Adams, of all people, did a terrific bit on the kakapo

I believe it was part of/in support of his book Last Chance to See, but I heard him talk about the bird in a live appearance at the University of Texas in 1992.

Great stuff!

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The series is a follow-up to that

The zoologist Mark Carwardine that the parrot is humping was Adams' co-writer and presenter of the original radio series.

Mark Carwardine, a former World Land Trust (WLT) Trustee and keen supporter, worked with the late, great, Douglas Adams on a series called Last Chance to See, some twenty years ago. Their journeys took them as far afield as Zaire in search of the Northern White Rhino, China in search of the Yangtze River Dolphin and the Amazon in search of the Manatee. and the book of the series was published in 1990 as a companion to the BBC radio series. In 2001 Mark and Douglas were discussing the possibility of new adventures, when sadly Douglas suffered a heart attack and died that year.

Stephen Fry was a close friend of Douglas Adams, and when Douglas and Mark spent their year travelling the world, Stephen lived in Douglas' house, and recalls "taking urgent phone calls to send maps and lenses to faraway places." It seemed a natural evolution that Stephen should take over where Douglas left off and in 2008-09, exactly 20 years after the original journey, Stephen and Mark found themselves heading off to in search of those same animals, to look at how they had fared over the past two decades.

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2009/08/watch-wlt-supporters-mark-carwardine.htm

Main site for the programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/lastchancetosee/