We don’t tend to watch a lot of television during the week, as it is too much of a distraction. I sometimes let the kids watch a favorite show as a reward or treat, but even that snowballs. One episode can easily become five, especially I am trying to do something like cooking dinner. Plus, many of the kids’ favorite shows are just mindless fluff with no educational value.

One day, I decided to mix it up. I searched Netflix and came across a documentary series that looked interesting. It was called Nature’s Deadliest.

Nature’s Deadliest takes you on fatal encounters with dangerous animals in: Australia, Africa, and Brazil. At the beginning of each segment, there is a screenshot on how long a victim has before a fatality. For example, the box jellyfish found in Australia kills in two minutes. Each animal’s segment also educates you on physiology and interesting trivia about the animal. Did you know that the bull shark can smell blood from a mile away?

The kids loved Nature’s Deadliest. C’s favorite animals were the box jellyfish and the stone fish, while W preferred the “andaconda.” When we visited the local zoo and aquarium, we kept our eyes peeled for our favorites. Alas, there were no box jellyfish–just a ton of smaller jellyfish. But we did see some stone fish and two anacondas (both the zoo and the aquarium each boast one).

We’ve watched other animal documentaries since such as Night, which explores animals’ behavior at night, and Feeding Frenzy, which shows different animals’ feeding patterns. The kids enjoyed these as well, although not as much as Nature’s Deadliest. All of the shows are styled like old National Geographic shows, in that they do not leave anything to the imagination. You will see animals eating other animals up close. Fortunately, the children do not seem to have a problem with that. They understand that some animals eat meat and that they find it in other animals.

Because of the animal shows, we are now the proud parents of four snakes: Snakey, the four-inch rubber snake from the zoo; Sam, the Mardi Gras snake we caught at a parade; Andy, the stuffed anaconda; and Rattle, the stuffed rattlesnake. I plan to make C a box jellyfish pillow if I can figure it out. I also made a collage of the jellyfish from the aquarium to put on his wall. We love our animals in this house, even if they are deadly!

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