Life on Earth: The Greatest Story Ever Told

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Howler monkeys demonstrate why they are so named—their chorus is said to the loudest of any mammal—and their prehensile tails illustrate their agility. Highly acclaimed as a milestone in the history of British wildlife television, it established Attenborough as not only the foremost television naturalist, but also an iconic figure in British cultural life. We would try to survey the whole animal kingdom and consider each great group of animals in the light of the part it has played in the long drama of life from its beginnings until today.

I know Attenborough saw this video, and I hope he knows that the continuity of his work is transgenerational. Termites, ants and some bees and wasps overcame any limitations of size by grouping together and forming superorganisms. In another 40 years, there will be scientists continuing to change the way we understand this living planet. Grass is not easily digestible and most animals that eat it have to regurgitate it and chew the cud. Today, however, it is possible to establish genetic identity of a species in a few hours using a piece of apparatus no bigger than a mobile phone.The scales protect the body from wear and tear and in the case of some species of lizard, such as the Australian thorny devil, serve to protect from attack. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. Most species that live below the thermocline, in the freezing depths of the ocean, have never been filmed, and these are largely represented by still photographs.

I intend no minimisation of the debt owed to them by all of us who take pleasure in watching and thinking about animals.Coral reefs contain the greatest variety of species, many of which are conspicuously coloured to ward off predators or attract mates. Told through an examination of animal and plant life, this is an astonishing celebration of the evolution of life on earth, with a cast of characters drawn from the whole range of organisms that have ever lived on this planet. One whole new branch of science has in recent years spread a great deal of light on the history of life – molecular genetics.

These adaptations can be truly extraordinary: fish that walk or lay eggs on leaves in mid-air; snakes that fly; flightless birds that graze like deer; and bears that grow hair on the soles of their feet. They were made by a small four-footed creature, almost certainly a lizard-like reptile, running across a beach. However, some of their prey, such as the lacewing and tiger moth, have developed techniques to confuse and evade them.This, however, risks imposing an appearance of purpose on the animal kingdom that does not exist in reality. Billion Years in 12 Chapters is an enlightening story of survival, of persistence, illuminating the delicate balance within which life has always existed, and continues to exist today. Attenborough hails the tern as one of the most graceful flyers and the albatross as a skilled glider. If rocks lie in layers, and are not grossly disturbed, then the lower layer must be older than the upper. Not only are there many major categories of creatures – monkeys, rodents, spiders, hummingbirds, butterflies – but most of those types exist in many different forms.

It was nominated for four BAFTA TV awards and won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Documentary Series. From that first foray to the spread of early hominids who later became Homo sapiens, life has persisted, undaunted. For this work, he traveled the world to unearth examples of life forms, many accompanied by vivid color photos. The skin is rich in pigment cells, which provide effective means of camouflage, and the chameleon is a well-known example. Fossil ammonites ( Arnioceras semicostatum), in a sample of rock from the lower Jurassic period (195 to 172 million years ago), Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire, UK.So it seems really very unfair that man should have chosen the gorilla to symbolise everything that is aggressive and violent, when that is the one thing that the gorilla is not—and that we are. Around 1,600 kilometres northeast of the Grand Canyon, ancient rocks of about the same age as those beside the Colorado River outcrop on the shores of Lake Superior. It is the first in Attenborough's Life series of programmes and was followed by The Living Planet (1984). Two examples are the sifaka, which is a specialised jumper, and the indri, which has a well-developed voice. The coelacanth is shown as a fish with bony fins that could have developed into legs, and the lungfish is able to absorb gaseous oxygen.