Where Do Most Kingfishers Really Live? | QI

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Most of the kingishes of the world live near what?

[00:00:03]>> Water.

[00:00:03]>> Rivers.

[00:00:04]>> No, they don't.

[00:00:05]>> Forest.

[00:00:05]>> Kingfishes.

[00:00:06]>> No. Most of the kingishes in Britain live near water.

[00:00:08]>> They live near. But most of the kingishes in the world don't. No. Not near water at all.

[00:00:13]>> Well, why are they called kingfishes?

[00:00:15]>> Because that's a British word for them because we in Britain see them by the river.

[00:00:18]>> Well, they're called kingfishes all over the world.

[00:00:20]>> No, they're called in Greek and not called think they call them.

[00:00:24]>> Why does the Greek for king fisher?

[00:00:25]>> Hian. Exactly. But it doesn't mean fisher.

[00:00:27]>> There it is. Fishing. It's Brit in Britain.

[00:00:31]>> From Britain again.

[00:00:33]>> In Britain.

[00:00:35]>> He does. I mean, the evidence is there.

[00:00:38]>> Not if you go to go to >> somewhere that is in Britain.

[00:00:44]>> Africa, for example.

[00:00:45]>> Well, I've seen a king fisher in not not anywhere near a river. You're right.

[00:00:48]>> Yeah. They mostly >> Yes. mostly in Africa. They live in disused termite nest.

[00:00:54]>> It look lost.

[00:00:55]>> They live in disused disused termite nests. You haven't got a fish on your bill.

[00:00:59]>> Yeah.

[00:01:00]>> Any hints of river around here? Water.

[00:01:04]>> What is the color of that king fisher?

[00:01:07]>> It's so turquoisey really, isn't it?

[00:01:09]Turquoise.

[00:01:10]>> Brown.

[00:01:10]>> It's brown.

[00:01:11]>> Yeah.

[00:01:12]>> This program is getting more and more.

[00:01:15]>> It is actually a sort of optical illusion. In fact, the the actual color pigment is brown, but it irides.

[00:01:21]Well, I must remember I'll go to the middle of the Sahara Desert and get one >> and then put it in a darkened room and see what color it is.

[00:01:28]>> Yeah.

[00:01:29]>> So, but but just because it's not near a river doesn't mean it's in the Sahara Desert.

[00:01:36]>> Are you saying that the color it is isn't the color that it appears to be?

[00:01:38]>> The color. No, because all color is perception. Just about a wavelength of color.

[00:01:42]>> That's kind of what I meant by color.

[00:01:43]>> Yeah. But it's a bluey color. But the but the if you examine it in terms of its actual pigmentation >> right up close.

[00:01:49]>> Right up close rather than the way it is presenting with the light striking it.

[00:01:53]>> All right. So if I examine it without any light.

[00:01:55]>> No.

[00:01:57]>> Oh that feels brown.

[00:02:00]>> I just don't understand when you do this on the show. You go that brown thing is a blue thing. That blue thing is brown.

[00:02:05]>> I know. I know. But iridesence is a very particular quality in the same way that petrol is not rainbow colored, but you put it on water in a puddle and it seems to be, but it's not the color of petrol.

[00:02:16]>> Nobody knows what color petrol is.

[00:02:18]>> Exactly.

[00:02:18]>> Cuz it goes into your car. I don't see it.

[00:02:20]>> That's right.

[00:02:21]>> There used to be. No one has ever checked.

[00:02:23]>> Nobody's ever What color is it?

[00:02:26]>> They used to have pink blue diesel, didn't they? For red diesel, which you're not allowed to put in your car.

[00:02:31]And I don't.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah. Quite right.

[00:02:36]Evading tax, Jeremy. It's a slippery slope. Gor, >> thank you for watching. Do remember to subscribe to the Qi channel and click here to watch more videos.