You may know of the multi-talented Dominic Monaghan as the lovable Hobbit, Meriadoc Brandybuck in the mega hit The Lord of The Rings trilogy.
His list of movie and TV credits do not start or end there.
Monaghan created, produces and hosts the Primetime Emmy Award nominate “Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan”.
During an earlier episode Monaghan and his crew found a previously unnamed spices of spiders.
Dominic Monaghan’s spider name. Ctenus monaghani. (Photo: Peter Jäger/Senckenberg)
Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan is an exhilarating travel-adventure series that follows the actor and wildlife enthusiast as he treks through the remote corners of the globe in search of some of the most exotic, bizarre and dangerous animals in the world. From the Travel Channel
The Travel Channel did an excellent job of promoting the new season. Monaghan worked non-stop promoting Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan Season 3 Ep 1 Majestic Mozambique. (The episode is listed on IMDB.com as Mozambique: Whale Shark .)
The questions that came up the most were not about lions, tigers, bears or the thing that sticks his hind legs in the air but his fingernail polish. “Why does he wear fingernail polish?”” Why does he wear it on one hand? “”Why do the nails have different colors?”” Does he paint them?” He was endlessly patient and polite. Personally, I like fingernail polish on a man. It would be hilarious if said something like, “I wave the hand with multi-colored nails in front of the snake to hypnotize it and grab the snake with the other hand.” To paraphrase his answers, he wears the nail polish because he wants to, he likes the colors and someone does the nails for him.
The very best question came from with zappit.com . He asked if there were moments during production that were too dangerous to air? Answer: I’m kind of the animal guy, for the most part. That’s not to say that we have not been in situations that have been dangerous but I think it’s very important to differentiate between fear and danger. Fear is something that makes your brain go into panic mode and you’ll make the wrong decisions. You’ll feel insecure, you’ll feel clunky, and clumsy.
If you haven’t seen Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan think Steve Irwin without the animals biting him.
Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan Majestic Mozambique
**************Minor Spoilers**************
Dominic Monaghan is hot on the trail of the largest fish on the planet – the 42-ton whale shark! Along the way, he enters a local boat race and partakes in an annual fishing celebration.Travel Channel
Dear Frank,
I hope you didn’t faint during play back.
The show is a perfect fit for the Travel Channel. Monaghan effortlessly moves through each clip giving the viewer a feeling of talking with a (amazing) friend. He seems to have an endless knowledge of the animals in each clip.
The show is more than just animals. Monaghan teaches us about the people who live in the area where he is filming. Mozambique, a previous war-torn area, has 1600 miles of beautiful beaches. This is where he hopes to find the shy ginormous fish, “a big needle in an even bigger haystack.”
Deep inside the animal reserve, he show us the heartbreaking effects of poaching. An ancient tree marked by elephants in the past stands as a reminder of the elephants that once lived there.
He saves a very frightened, injured snake from a chicken coop (?) in a village they pass through. Rather than kill the snake he tends it’s wound and relocates it. He enlisted the help of local school children to find animals they knew were near by. When he was cleaning the snakes wounds their faces spoke volumes, but it would be interesting to know what they said about him when he left.
This is a good family show. Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan, by land and sea introduces, you to rare and endangered animals without being preachy.
Did he find the giant shark he was looking for? You will have to watch the episode on Travel Channel to find out.
