Last night, BBC rolled out the first part of its six-episode series, Planet Earth II; host David Attenborough and the showrunners wasted no time showing us that nature is sports and being born as anything but a human is scary as hell. Also, snakes are still the devil (even with the 10-year interim between series, this shot of sea snakes is still enough to convince me that land is just fine and the ocean is not meant for man.)
The BBC’s latest offering of high-quality, pants-shitting feats of nature comes from one tiny marine iguana’s introduction to life, or rather, survival. Born on the Galápagos Islands in June, the iguana had to make it through a gauntlet of blind, hungry snakes to lock down a shot at Day 2.
First, this freshly hatched reptile, while also figuring out the whole breathing and walking routine, naturally has the will to let one of these blind fuckers slither past it. I had hope. Then, at the 1:28 mark, the snakes roll the little guy up—there’s even a squishing sound effect—and I figured it was over. Remember, Planet Earth has no problem fucking you up with a little Darwinism (RIP lil’ caribou calf). But this iguana, just a couple minutes old, went the Steve Smith route, wriggling its way out of the tangle of self-centered, big-hit seeking snakes that never learned how to properly wrap up on a tackle. And this was all within the first 10 minutes of life.
How’s your Monday going?