Beautiful short film about decomposition of a whale carcass

When an animal as big as a whale dies, its body becomes a whole new ecosystem. One whale carcass can support other forms of life for 50-to-75 years—basically as long as the whale itself lived.

This gorgeous video (I am not kidding. You will not need a unicorn chaser.) illustrates how that cycle works, using paper cutouts and simple puppetry. It's mesmerizing and enlightening.

The video was made for a Radiolab episode about whale falls, and was put together by Sharon Shattuck and Flora Lichtman. Amazing work!

Video Link

Thanks to Ferris Jabr

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

MORE: death • life • papercraft • puppets • Science • video • whale

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KEEYVOKLLBZUMX3PLWZ735JM4E yahoo-KEEYVOKLLBZUMX3PLWZ735JM4E

This is really neat. It would benefit from a time scale to indicate how long each phase lasts rather than just providing the total.
petershultz

This is a unicorn chaser! (at least if you love beautiful puppetry)
Culturedropout

That’s one of the most beautiful decaying corpses I’ve ever seen. Not that I’ve… uh… Hey – what’s that over there???!?

I just want to know if the “sulphophiles” have to register and put little signs in their yards…
GuyInMilwaukee

Wonderfully done. May I suggest they depict the decay of the country’s infrastructure next?
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  One decaying electric grid can feed a pack of vultures and do-nothings for 75 years, almost as long as the grid itself was alive!
jsd

Radiolab is a national treasure.
Ben Ehlers

I laughed at loud at the hagfish. Thank you for making my morning brighter.
Tye Austin

Cool vid. Even cooler if you listen to RadioLab Podcast first
Larry Rubinow

-10 points for failure to use Harry Nilsson’s “Think About Your Troubles” as the soundtrack. Otherwise, beautiful!
- munuhmunuh
  
  Nilsson is great, but I’m giving bonus points for using a Rachel’s song!
- Walter Sims
  
  He died and left his body to bottom of the ocean…
Rich Keller

I like this, but I kept expecting Isabella Rossellini to pop up and say, “What does he think I am, a black hagfish?”
yupgiboy

Larry, I immediately thought the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2O3cUN8yWk
shutz

But what happens to a bowl of petunias in a similar situation?
- Guest
  
  It thinks “Oh no, not again.”
- D. Keith Higgs
  
  3 weeks in the compost bin and they’re dirt.
Halloween_Jack

There’s something ineffably cool about the idea of an entire ecosystem, or even civilization, springing up in the body of an enormous creature. Futurama has done a couple of episodes along those lines (one in Fry’s body, one in Bender’s), and China Mieville’s New Crobuzon has a district called Bonetown, which features a gargantuan fossilized ribcage–no one knows how they got there, what sort of creature it was, or where the rest of the skeleton is.
chaopoiesis

Phase 4: pie.
Guest

There’s also a short film about the energetic disassembly of a whale carcass.

I wouldn’t exactly call it beautiful, but it is enlightening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_t44siFyb4
garyg2

Lovely.

And always a pleasure to hear Rachels, most underatednest band ever.
Spriggan_Prime

I loved this segment on Planet Earth series Deep Seas episode.
teufelsdrochk

I propose all radiolab mentions now be preceded by…”MacArthur genius grant winner Radiolab”.
dlbancroft

Was just listening to this one, love radiolab – can really see why Jad Abumrad just won the MacArthur genius award, though not sure why he did over the other guy…
Mister44

I LOVE deep sea stuff. I skimmed the video, and it was kinda neat with the puppets, but I like the real thing better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbGk4sHROg

Warning – if you don’t like watching hagfish make short work of putrid flesh, this video is not for you.

This is a fish, but it has my favorite giant isopods! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKnvNe5qZUk&feature=fvwrel

:45 seconds into it, crank up “Yakkity Sax” and smile.
teapot

Thanks for reminding me about stinky meat.. That site taught me that anything can be a thriving ecosystem.

Also this animation is really nicely done.