Everglades: Home of the Living Dinosaurs

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there…unless, of course, you're in the Florida wilderness, where it's an everybody-wants-to-eat-the-poor-baby-alligator world. But don't feel too sorry for them; these creatures, when fully grown, are at the top of a complex food chain where the weak are preyed upon and eaten by the strong. In Everglades: Home of the Living Dinosaurs, the latest addition to Disney's excellent New True Life Adventure series, young viewers are introduced to the Florida Everglades, a vast subtropical region of wetlands, grasses, and tiny islands that are home to one of the oldest species on earth: the alligator, a prehistoric creature similar in many ways to their ancestors of 150 million years ago. Alligators aren't the only poster animals for the predatory/prey relationship. Consider the local grasshopper, which after eating the leaves of the poisonwood tree, smells and tastes so bad that predators are inclined, as Dionne Warwick once put it, to walk on by. In addition to highlighting the various denizens of the Everglades with characteristically outstanding wildlife footage, the program also reminds viewers that while the Everglades once covered most of southern Florida and was home to millions of animals, today it is in serious jeopardy from development. As an added bonus that is surely appreciated by moi if not perhaps by the target audience, the program is narrated by John Corbett, of Northern Exposure and Sex and the City fame. Highly recommended. Also newly available in the series: Sea of Sharks. Aud: J, H, P. (J. Asala)