mermaid program on animal planite

[t walgamuth]

did anybody watch this show? I watched most of it last night and tonight. if all is true it is an astonishing discovery.

the show perports to show that huminoid "mermaids" and men live off the coast of south africa.

they show photoos of the creatures, including a phone video of a live one.

they say that the us and south african govt have conspired to supress it.

my question is why?

[retmil46]

Uhhh, Tom, you didn't happen to imbibe any alcoholic beverages to celebrate Memorial Day, did you?

Gotta admit though, I'm less incredulous at that claim, than if they claimed to have found an honest politician.

What was the title of the program? I'll reserve judgement until I can view the evidence - although with claims of "government supression", my BS detector is starting to chirp - might be another show by a "fringe" group with an agenda to push, a la "Whale Wars".

[cmac2012]

I'm watching it now, interesting stuff. Not sure what to make of it, seems like such a critter would have been found by now.

Seems like the piece is more about the new Navy sonar.

At times it feels like some sort of Blair Witch Project spoof.

**EDIT**

I did a search for the 'spears found in ocean fish' claim and found this site:

http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120528065900AAkdtLZ

Turns out they admit that it's fiction in the closing credits. It's at the end of the credits, you have to pause to read it. Some of it is interesting, one wonders if maybe the apes that became humans did spend some time more in the water, might explain the hairless thing.

I did a search on the 'baby swimming instinctively' point and found this site, debunks that notion pretty well:

http://www.aquaticape.org/swimbaby.html

[t walgamuth]

I am pissed.

What a waste of time.

[retmil46]

Oh wonderful. You can bet that now, some of the less astute people that watched the show and didn't catch the "fiction" part of the credits, are going to be regaling everyone with "mermaids are real, I saw it on Animal Planet".

Sounds like instead of doing a proper job of presenting a serious scientific analysis of an alternate evolutionary possibility, stating from the outset that it was fiction - they decided to go the "National Enquirer" route and sensationalize it to boost ratings.

Animal Planet must be running short of ideas for programming. Seen the same thing happen with Discovery, History, Sci-Fi, etc - after a while, they run out of material and seemingly just throw anything on to fill the time slots and pull in viewers.

[t walgamuth]

I consider myself a fairly intelligent observer. I watched the beginning and almost every minute of it but did not watch the credits. I did not see anywhere it was identified as fiction.

Animal planet just went way down in my estimation with this crapola.

If it had been presented as a theoretical possibility I would probably have watched it anyhow as it was fascinating, but I really feel cheated out of my time now.

[retmil46]

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I consider myself a fairly intelligent observer. I watched the beginning and almost every minute of it but did not watch the credits. I did not see anywhere it was identified as fiction.

Animal planet just went way down in my estimation with this crapola.

If it had been presented as a theoretical possibility I would probably have watched it anyhow as it was fascinating, but I really feel cheated out of my time now.

My comments regarding "less astute" viewers didn't include present company, Tom. No insult intended.

You had the intelligence and wisdom to ask for a second opinion, to ask the rest of us "is this for real?".

By "less astute", I was referring to the crowd that believes WWF wrestling is "real" - they'd have bought this program hook line and sinker, as from the sound of it, it was well enough done to actually be believeable in some aspects - even if they'd caught the "work of fiction" admission at the end.

[elchivito]

Doesn't mean they aren't real.

[MTI]

It must be true, there was a "Futurama" episode where Fry falls for a mermaid from underwater Atlanta.

[BAVBMW]

Originally Posted by MTI

It must be true, there was a "Futurama" episode where Fry falls for a mermaid from underwater Atlanta.

Uh, dude? That show is from the future. The mermaids haven't evolved yet.

MV

[cmac2012]

I dunno, I'll give them a break on this. The tone had a fiction vibe to it, sounded more like actors than actual scientists. And it does make you wonder. I was under the impression that our sort of perspiration is different from other land mammals. And I'm not sure if the layer of fat thing they went with is for real. I had to ask myself if a baby dropped in water wouldn't drown and that has to be false. A baby is ill equipped to get out of any kind of scrape.

But the hairless thing is intriguing. And some huge portion of humanity live close to ocean's edge. At least Animal Planet got us talking about the 'aquatic ape' notion.

[elchivito]

I believe in Mermaids. You can't prove they don't exist.

[retmil46]

Originally Posted by elchivito

I believe in Mermaids. You can't prove they don't exist.

Ask a tuna fisherman -

"Ask any mermaid
You happen to see
What's the best tuna?
Chicken of the Sea."

[panZZer]

Originally Posted by elchivito

I believe in Mermaids. You can't prove they don't exist.

uh what I still wonder is do they got coochies--or just nice tits??
anyhow I bet they smell fishy either way

[INSIDIOUS]

Just can't let this thing rest.