Directed by Mark Lewis • 1988 • Australia
Starring Tip Byrne, Glen Ingram, H. W. Kerr
Mark Lewis takes the nature documentary into new realms of the humorous, surreal, and downright bizarre with this stranger-than-fiction tale of the ultimate environmental self-own. The cane toad—Bufo marinus, a species native to Central America—was imported by the sack-load to Australia in 1935 in an attempt to rid the country of the greyback beetle, which was rapidly destroying the sugarcane crop. The toads adapted beautifully to their new surroundings. Problem was, the beetle could fly and they couldn’t. What the cane toad is unusually proficient at, however, is making more cane toads—thousands upon thousands more. CANE TOADS: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY tells the wild story of this amphibious assault—warts and all.
Up Next in Directed by Mark Lewis
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Rat
Directed by Mark Lewis • 1998 • United Kingdom
This witty, charming, and unusual documentary chronicles one of the most enduring rivalries in nature: man versus rat in their endless struggle to control New York City. The war is fought on every front—in sewer and subway, tenement and skyscraper a...
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Animalicious
Directed by Mark Lewis • 1999 • United States, United Kingdom
A film about fate, coexistence, vanity, justice, karma, and forgiveness, ANIMALICIOUS collects six stories of people and the animals that shot them, fell on them, and generally brought mayhem of one sort or another to their lives. Fil...
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The Natural History of the Chicken
Directed by Mark Lewis • 2000 • United States
While most know chicken as a dinner-plate staple, few pause to consider this bird’s many virtues. In this fascinating and gently comic documentary, director Mark Lewis delves into the under-recognized complexities of this seemingly simple animal. Thr...
