Stomatopods on Animal Planet Sunday

[Bob McGee]

I just saw a comercial for a program on Animal Planet which will air Sunday at 8:00 called eXtreme animals (Or something like that)

Apparently it is a top 10 countdown of 10 animals what have very unique predatory habits.

They showed about 1 seconds worth of footage of two mantis shrips going at it and asked the question "Who will be most extreme? The winner may surprise you"

Will the Mantis Shrimp come out on top as "Most Extreme"

They have got my vote!

Bob

 

[JEMichael IV]

I already have my TIVO set to record! Can't wait!

 

[Gonodactylus]

We will see, but don't hold your breath. I have been working with "Extreme Animals" producers for over a year to film a program on stomaotpods. We were set to film in Berkeley in April and I collected a lot of big, nasty gonodactyloids for them, but a couple of weeks before the crew was to arrive, they decided that stomatopods didn't quite fit what they wanted and cancelled. My guess is that what you saw was a promo cut together when they thought that they were going to include stomatopods. The BBC has hours of stomatopod sequences in their film vaults that were taken when we film material for "Fastest Claw" and "Trials of Life".

Roy

 

[Bob McGee]

No way! I ahve *MY* TiVo set as well (I LOVE that thing!)

Well, Gondactylus, that is bad news. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Bob

How can they NOT include stomatopods in an extreme animal countdown? Sheesh!

 

[JEMichael IV]

Is there any way the we can request copys of there videos in there vault so we can see them in our home? That upsets me.

 

[Kinesthesia]

Tonights episodes (back to back) included Most Extreme Jumpers and Most Extreme Gluttons. Looks like next Sunday, the mantis will appear on "Most Extreme Speed"... looked like a new preview with different shots than the first commercial so here's hopin'

 

[JEMichael IV]

Yeah I know, I was a little dissapointed. Hope next week is better.

I would love to get my hands on any research or tapings on Stomaotpods. Anybody know of any? Or any websites offereing videos, etc??

 

[Bob McGee]

WOO HOO!!! I caught the last ten seconds of the Mantis Shrimp segment this evening! Luckily there is another airing of the episode at midnight!

Setting my TiVo!

Bob

 

[RyanN]

Interesting how the mantis only made number 7 on the top 10...maybe that beetle paid the judges off

 

[DreamScape]

what sort of beetle?

can you post the ranking? including species or common name of the animals?
thanks!

 

[RyanN]

DreamScape,

It's probably one you're familiar with...the Australian Tiger Beetle (either Cicindela hudsoni and C. eburneola). I don't remember the order for the rest of the contenders.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Any of you who have seen "Fastest Claw" will remember my lame attempt to measure the striking force of a stomatopod. We ended up semi-faking a shot with a pipette bulb and an oscilloscope. Well today, we finally achieved what I have wanted to do for 15 years. We recorded the power of several strikes from a large male O.s. I trained some O. s. to strike an orange target, If they did, they were rewarded with food - "orange krill". My postdoc, Sheila Patek, built a state of the art force transducer with an orange target attached. This has taken months to build with lots of set-backs, but today was the day that she put the transducer into the tank. Right on cue, the O.s, came out of its burrow, swam up to target, and landed a direct hit. Shortly there after, we got it to land three more blows. It is absolutely amazing when things work the way you plan! I would have laid heavy odds that this would not have happened like I hoped. It will be awhile until the force transducer is calibrated and we can accurately determine how strong the blows were, but looking at the preliminary data, you would not want to have your finger anywhere near those strikes.

Ironically, these animals were purchased and trained for the BBC to film an episode of "Extreme Animals". They backed out at the last minute because they didn't think the footage would be sufficiently dramatic. It would have been!

Roy

 

[Fishiebusiness]

Wow Dr. Roy, that sounds great! Now we can really know how powerful these shrimp are. BTW, would there be any way for a Berkeley sophomore to see some of your shrimp?