Animal Appetites

VHS cover

Animal Appetites is the fourth episode of the first season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry trying to run his own animal restaurant, and learning about how each of his customers feeds. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 7th May 1996.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Animal Appetites.

The narrator greets Henry at his new restaurant, Henri’s Place. The restaurant is already full of different animal customers, that will all want to eat different things. Henry asks the narrator if he knows what they all eat, but the narrator replies that animal appetites can be very individual. A montage of different feeding animals is shown, including ones that feed on nectar, nuts, plants, seafood and more exotic tastes such as snakes and termites. A couple of animals show what Henry perceives to be a lack of table manners, including the chameleon that catches prey with its tongue and the basking shark that filters plankton from the water with its mouth open.

#### First cartoon

* Rattlesnake is eating in a restaurant with Frog as the waiter; his spaghetti gets covered in pepper which causes him to sneeze and accidentally drop his tail in the spaghetti. He bites his tail, gets angry and flips the plate, ending up covered with spaghetti.

Henry tries to crack open nuts, but is unable to – a squirrel, one of his customers, is able to open them with ease. Several nut-eating animals are shown, including the agouti, the pacu fish and the chimpanzee, which uses a stone as a tool for breaking through the shells of coconuts.

#### Second cartoon

* Skunk is painting his house when termites come along and eat his ladder. The ladder gradually gets shorter until Skunk overbalances, falls off the ladder and gets covered in paint.

Henry now tries to find the suitable food for a tiger – after trying to give it plants and insects, he decides to give the tiger sausages. Henry thinks the sausages smell so good that he takes them away for himself, something the narrator says is a bad idea. Carnivorous animals are then shown, including red-bellied piranhas and cheetahs, which has its kill stolen by scavengers including vultures, hyenas and jackals.

#### Third cartoon

* Rattlesnake tries to eat Squirrel by climbing up a lampshade while Squirrel reads a book. Just before Rattlesnake can swallow Squirrel, Squirrel grabs and yanks his tongue thinking it is the light-switch. Squirrel then turns on the light itself and electrocutes Rattlesnake.

Henry is now reminded to do his Special Report, which is supposed to be about how snakes can eat eggs. Henry spins a story about how they hire gorillas to inflate them with bicycle pumps so that they can swallow eggs. The narrator says that Henry’s report was eggs-hausting, and that egg-eating snakes can swallow an egg bigger than their own head by simply dislocating their jaws. Back in the restaurant, Henry has decided to cook vegetarian and has assembled a plate of grass. When the customer is revealed to be a Highland cow, the narrator says Henry will need a much bigger portion. Herbivores need to eat larger quantities of food, such as the proboscis monkey. Giraffes use their long tongues to safely eat around acacia thorns, while elephants knock down trees to reach leaves and in doing so keep the African grasslands open.

#### Fourth cartoon

* Squirrel has disguised itself as a baby Elephant and sits at the table with two other baby Elephants. The mother Elephant serves food for the three of them – while the two Elephant babies suck food up their trunks, Squirrel uses a spoon. After revealing the imposter, the baby Elephants spray Squirrel with their food.

Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards. The bronze medal goes to the koala and the silver to the goat, with the Golden Gecko Award going to the sea otter, which carries a stone in a flap of skin under its arm that it can use as an anvil for cracking open the shellfish that it feeds upon.

#### Fifth cartoon

* Tiger is scuba-diving and trying to catch Fish. Fish escapes and Tiger gives chase, but he is swallowed whole by a giant scuba-diving Dung Beetle. Fish and Dung Beetle swim away together.

Henry has finally got a menu sorted for his restaurant, only for a goat to eat it. The narrator points out that many animals do have peculiar appetites, such as the frigatebird that mainly feeds by stealing fish from other birds, the wolf-eel that feeds on sea urchins and the fishing mouse. Back at the restaurant, one of the penguin waiters eats the fish that were the profits. The narrator says that running a restaurant is difficult when all the customers eat different things, and Henry thinks he hasn’t made the right career choice. The staff then leave Henry to do the washing up himself. The narrator realises Henry is exhausted and hasn’t had a meal himself so gives Henry his favourite food – chocolate-coated bugs. Henry eats them and sets off to look for more, while the narrator wishes him au revoir.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Green-winged macaw, *Ara chloropterus*
* House mouse, *Mus musculus*
* King penguin, *Aptenodytes patagonicus*
* Kinkajou, *Potos flavus*
* Moluccan cockatoo, *Cacatua moluccensis*
* Mallard, *Anas platyrhynchos*
* Milk snake, *Lampropeltis triangulum*
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus*
* Roe deer, *Capreolus capreolus*
* Cane toad, *Rhinella marina*
* Domestic dog, *Canis familiaris*
* Mexican redknee tarantula, *Brachypelma hamorii*
* Tiger, *Panthera tigris*
* Paper kite butterfly, *Idea leuconoe*
* Humboldt penguin, *Spheniscus humboldti*
* Eastern grey squirrel, *Sciurus carolinensis*
* Chimpanzee, *Pan troglodytes*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Domestic cattle, *Bos taurus*
* Domestic goat, *Capra hircus*

### Stock footage

* Spectacled bear, *Tremarctos ornatus*
* Chimpanzee, *Pan troglodytes*
* Eastern grey kangaroo, *Macropus giganteus*
* Four-striped grass mouse, *Rhabdomys pumilio*
* Fiddler crab, Ocypodidae
* Grey four-eyed opossum, *Philander opossum*
* Atlantic puffin, *Fratercula arctica*
* White hawk, *Pseudastur albicollis*
* Bushveld lizard, *Heliobolus lugubris*
* Hummingbird, Trochilidae
* Map turtle, *Graptemys sp*.
* Hippopotamus, *Hippopotamus amphibius*
* Praying mantis, Mantodea
* Jackson’s chameleon, *Trioceros jacksonii*
* Grasshopper, Caelifera
* Basking shark, *Cetorhinus maximus*
* Central American agouti, *Dasyprocta punctata*
* Black pacu, *Colossoma macropomum*
* Red-bellied piranha, *Pygocentrus nattereri*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Thomson’s gazelle, *Eudorcas thomsonii*
* Blue wildebeest, *Connochaetes taurinus*
* Plains zebra, *Equus quagga*
* Ruppell’s griffon vulture, *Gyps rueppelli*
* Lappet-faced vulture, *Torgos tracheliotos*
* African white-backed vulture, *Gyps africanus*
* African golden wolf, *Canis lupaster*
* Spotted hyaena, *Crocuta crocuta*
* Black-backed jackal, *Lupulella mesomelas*
* Hooded vulture, *Necrosyrtes monachus*
* Common egg-eating snake, *Dasypeltis scabra*
* Proboscis monkey, *Nasalis larvatus*
* Masai giraffe, *Giraffa tippelskirchi*
* African bush elephant, *Loxodonta africana*
* Koala, *Phascolarctos cinereus*
* Sea otter, *Enhydra lutris*
* Magnificent frigatebird, *Fregata magnificens*
* Brown booby, *Sula leucogaster*
* Wolf-eel, Anarhichadidae
* Sea urchin, Echinoidea
* Chibchan water mouse, *Chibchanomys trichotis*
* Rainbow trout, *Oncorhynchus mykiss*

## Credits

* Writer - Roger Stennett
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Music - David Poore
* Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer - Kate Beldon
* Researchers - Fiorella Rossi and Clare Dornan
* Production Secretary - Cristina Hughes
* Production Team - Dominic Weston, Karen Steele, Susan Hubble and Tessa Nelson
* Camera - Jonathan Noad, Mike Kamei and Tom Gordon
* Animation - Varga Studio Ltd
	+ Animation Director - Igor Lazin
	+ Animation Co-Ordinator - Krisztina Varga
* 3-D Animation - Ricochet 4 and Henry Lutman
* Titles Post-Production - Sue Land
* Sound Editor - Ken Barton
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Editors
	+ Offline - Colette Hodges
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Thanks to:
	+ Paradise Wildlife Park
* Special thanks to:
	+ Doug Zwick
	+ Nancy Kemp
* Producer - Rob Harvey

## Home media releases

The VHS for Animal Appetites released on 1st February 1997. The cover shows Henry with his tongue out and wearing a bib, and he is accompanied by a red-bellied piranha, a spectacled caiman and a common egg-eating snake.

The spine of the VHS has a photograph of a Bornean orangutan, while the back cover of the VHS has a photograph of an Asian small-clawed otter.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

**How can a snake eat an egg bigger than its own head? Which animal snacks on spiny sea urchins?**

Henry finds out about some surprising things animals like to have for dinner, from the insect-eating chameleon to the leaf-munching koala, in AMAZING ANIMAL APPETITES.

**Cartoon Characters**: \* Eagles • Tyrannosaurus • Rattlesnake • Tiger • Squirrel • Lizards • Elephant • Bat • Fish • Camel • Gorilla • Caveman • Mole • Bear • Stickman • Chicks • Hen • Rooster • Owl • Chameleon • Tortoise • Crocodile • Frog and Toad •
• Parrot • Porcupine • Mouse • Whale • Rhinoceros • Beavers • Snail • Rabbit • Dog • Skunk • Spider • Octopus • Vulture • Woodpecker • Flea • Dung Beetle • Butterfly • Gibbon • Fly • Mosquito • Bee • Beetles • Crab • Pigeon • Carnivorous Plant • Lamb

**Voice Actors**: Eric Meyers • Tom Clarke-Hill
**Season One**: Tropical Birds • Animal Disguises • Nighttime Animals • **Animal Appetites** • Animal Survivors • Animal Senses • Animal Weapons • Animal Builders • Armoured Animals • Mini-Beasts • Animal Babies • Poisonous Animals • Animal Journeys
**Season Two**: Birds of Prey • Desert Animals (Amazing Animals) • Scary Animals • Animal Records • Animal Colors • Animal Mothers • Animal Pets • Seashore Animals • Animal Families • Endangered Animals • An Animal Year • Prehistoric Animals • Monkeys and Apes
**Season Three**: Animal Hunters • Animal Talk • Slimy Animals • Rainforest Animals • Animal Acrobats • Underwater Animals • Animal Neighbors • Giant Animals - Creepy Crawly Animals • Farm Animals (Amazing Animals) • Animal Changes • Extinct Animals • Animal Eggs
**Season Four**: Around the World • Polar Animals • Clever Animals • Underground Animals • Animal Helpers • Woodland Animals (Amazing Animals) • Mountain Animals • Backyard Animals • Tiny Animals • Animal Partners • Scaly Animals • River Animals • Animal Flight