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There's Something About Species

1. Original Title: Espèces d’espèces
2. Author: Raphaëlle Chaix, Vincent Gaullier, Denis Van Waerebeke
3. Director: Denis Van Waerebeke, in coll. con Vincent Gaullier
4. Editor: Audrey Maurion
5. Photography: Sabine Lancelin
6. Music: Ruelgo
7. Sound: Yves Laisne, Hugues Peyret, Julien Sicart
8. Production: Blanche Guichou/EX NIHILO
9. France
10. 82 min.
11. 2008

Do you know that you are an Amniote like the golden eagle, a tetrapod like the rattlesnake? Quite counter-intuitive, isn’t it! However, from the point of view of evolution, that is absolutely correct. Long ago, the common ancestor of the snakes discovered the knack of slithering and thus “lost” its feet.
The objective of There's Something About Species is to peer into the Tree of Life and to demonstrate that the millions of species on our planet, including human beings, all belong to a single huge family.
How should we classify these living species? What characteristics should we use? The number of feet? The presence of wings, of feathers?
The film also informs us of the state of current knowledge, and corrects some of the most popular misunderstandings about evolution. Man is not descended from monkeys – we are both descended from a common ancestor. And we are not more evolved than bacteria: man has invented all sorts of things, but bacteria are capable of reproducing 14 times per minute at a temperature of 100°C. Just try that!
There's Something About Species presents us with a new view of the Tree of Life, showing us the (sometimes baffling) ways in which we are related to other living species. It provides a clear picture of the current state of the life sciences in a playful and entertaining way. Ranging from the study of the evolution of the living world, to the curious inventions of nature, it highlights the terms and stakes of the ongoing scientific debate about the origin of life on Earth and its evolution.