Central Texan Hits It Big On Planet Earth

Scientists, nature buffs and stoners alike have gathered in front of their television sets every Sunday night for the past few weeks in order to catch the awe-inspiring footage of the Discovery Channel mini-series, Planet Earth. Originally produced and aired by the BBC, the eleven part mini-series took crews around the world, working for 5 years and shooting 2,000 days of footage with the latest in high-definition camera technology. Capturing the rarities and wonders of our own planet, each night focused on one area of the world (Jungles, Shallow Seas, Deserts, etc.) and the inhabitants of these areas--often caught on film like never before.

The final episode of the series focused on caves, exploring areas such as Mexico's Cave of Swallows. As Earth's biggest cave at 400 meters deep, it could easily swallow up the Empire State Building. The episode concluded by showing off the Lechuguilla Cave, a cave system just discovered in 1986 that houses within its walls dripping limestone mixed with sulphuric acid that has created immense gypsum crystal formations unlike any other known place on earth.

However, our neighbors to the south weren't the only ones getting all the attention Sunday night: the Edwards Aquifer, that water most of us like to swim in, drive over or build on top of, became a full-fledged Hollywood star Sunday night, thanks to its most famous inhabitant--The Texas Blind Salamander (Typhlomolge rathbuni). Getting plenty of airplay, we would argue that the blind salamander was one of the strangest/coolest parts of this series--and it just so happens to be in our own backyard!