The Fresh Prince called. He wants his haircut back.

Grebes are interesting taxonomically. Originally, in the old system of classifying life whereby scientists squinted at creatures and lumped them with whoever they seemed to look most similar too (more or less), grebes were classifed with the similarly aquatic and water-dancing (and awesome-voiced) loons. However, there were doubters, including some wild-eyed crazies who, when they took a closer look at the details of grebe anatomy, determined they shared many unique characteristics (scientists would call them synapomorphies, which are the gold standard for modern evolution-based classification) with . . . are you ready for this? . . . flamingoes. Lo and behold, DNA comparisons bear this out. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, it turns out that flamingo lice are actually closely related to grebe lice, seemingly having diverged only when the two lineages of bird split.

So it seems the hypothetical grebe-loon connection was yet another case of convergent evolution, whereby unrelated organisms evolve to look similar when they set up shop in similar environments. This happens all the time and really messed with taxonomists until DNA sequencing came along.  Here’s a nice tree to give you a sense of who fits where; click “Podicipediformes” to take a closer look at the grebe family itself.

Life is coming in March, my American friends with cable! Get excited!

Then six years later he produced “Winged Migration”, another stunning yet nearly wordless work of art that was an order of magnitude better than the popular favorite “March of the Penguins” released a few years later*. Again he displayed his talent for engaging us emotionally in the lives, struggles, and wonders of being a bird.

Though I still prefer “Microcosmos” (insects are more intriguing to me than most birds), this film has also stuck with me. I’ll never forget the moment when a sage grouse first performed (WARNING: SPOILER. Do not click link if you plan to see the film. Which I hope I have convinced you you should) its mating tupperware burp and Dolly-Parton-inspired ladies’-man dance in the film (clip not from the film but this must be seen to be believed). The whole audience gasped, and then laughed. Several years later I was lucky enough to see this live when I moved to Wyoming.

So it was with great excitement that I read today that Perrin has released a new film in France, “Oceans“, that is dominating the box office. I cannot, cannot wait until it surfaces here.

From the Time Magazine article on the film:

Most French reviewers seem to agree, however, that Océans is Perrin’s most effective work yet in terms of evoking solidarity with endangered nature. It is part of his agenda. He told Le Monde, “We’re entertainers, and I don’t want to be pretentious and start moralizing. But Océans is part of our means of persuasion. We must react urgently, protect, create blue helmets for the sea. Otherwise, humanity is headed toward an unbearable solitude.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1957939,00.html#ixzz0eLpwgXH8

You all know that I couldn’t agree more. It is the philosophy of this blog too.

And in case you’re curious, if you want to see how they packaged it for “American” audiences, see here. This does not speak well of our national character, or at least what Hollywood thinks is the only way they can market to “American” audiences. Apparently, if it’s not warm-blooded and fuzzy, or involves a gripping action scene with a pounding techno soundtrack, we’re not interested. Sigh.

Still can’t wait to see the film. Yay, Jacques Perrin! The world needs as many of his films as we can get. And Jacques, in case you’re reading this, the world is ready for the first big-screen protist, slime mold, diatom, lichen, alga, and fungus documentary. Trust me. Thank you.

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* I actually felt March of the Penguins was only an average nature documentary. My feeling at the time was its popularity could only be explained by the disappearance of all other good old-fashioned nature documentaries, and people remembering what they liked about them. I’ve already talked about “The Animal Bothering Show” style pioneered fairly colorfully by Steve Irwin but copied rather lifelessly by many others. Most of these shows teach you very little coherent about nature — certainly not in the way a David Attenborough documentary does or Wild America did, calmly and quietly following the cutthroat trout through the seasons of its life for a year, inviting you to meditatively take in the sound of the bubbling brook as the fish goes about the business of life. Then again, I’m a nerd. I probably wouldn’t get bored at an 8-hour Proust lecture. : )