The natural world is full of colours. For us, they are a source of beauty, but for animals they are a tool for survival. David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour: to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies. In India, peacocks dazzle females with magnificent tail feathers; a tiny hummingbird in the deserts of North America unfurls his spectacular headdress as he dances for a mate; and in the darkness of a rainforest, powerful mandrill baboons signal their status with red and blue face masks, while tiny frogs warn of deadly poisons with brilliant colours.
Sir David shines the spotlight on some of nature’s evolutionary anomalies and reveals how these curious animals continue to baffle and fascinate.
Following his visit to the Great Barrier Reef in 1957, naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough returns and uses the latest filming techniques to unlock the secrets of the natural wonder.
Filmed in one of the most extreme and hard-to-reach locations in the world, Galapagos with David Attenborough is Sky 3D’s third collaboration with the multi-award winning natural history broadcaster. Using pioneering 3D-techniques and technology to explore the unique environments and species of the Galapagos, it will take viewers on a voyage to understand the stunning archipelago which changed the way we see the world and has long-remained a place of true interest with the nation’s favourite naturalist.
David Attenborough embarks on a remarkable 500 million-year journey revealing the extraordinary group of animals that dominate our world, and how their evolution defines our human bodies.
It s a small world after all. In this revolutionary new series, David Attenborough reveals the marvellous adaptability of the most successful group of animals on the planet. Using pioneering macroscopic filmmaking techniques, he explores in unparalleled detail the intricate, sophisticated behaviours of these fascinating creatures and the complexity of the environments they build and inhabit, in a world normally hidden from the human eye. From armies of killer ants to spiders weaving silken trap doors, ferocious scorpions with paralysing stings, beetles shooting boiling chemicals at their enemies, bees communicating with a waggle dance and assassin bugs that clothe themselves in their victims corpses; David Attenborough will as never before take viewers deep into the macroscopic world of bugs.
Sir David Attenborough goes back in time to the roots of the tree of life, in search of the very first animals, telling their story with stunning photography, state of the art visual effects and the captivating charm of the world’s favorite naturalist.
David Attenborough embarks on an extraordinary journey to search for the origins of animal flight, beginning his epic global exploration in the unexpectedly skilful world of the flying insects, through to the evolution of birds from their flying dinosaur ancestors..
Over three very personal films, Sir David Attenborough looks back at the unparalleled changes in natural history that he has witnessed during his 60-year career.
Wherever the scientists look, they find living lights. We will enter into the unknown universe of the dark deep sea where the only illumination is living light. Here weird and wonderful creatures hunt, mate and even hide using light! Bioluminescence is everywhere, in the soil, on the land and throughout the oceans. Astonishingly, living light may be the norm, not the exception. And it is important. For the luminous life of the vast ocean depths plays a crucial role in the biological balance of the planet; and their environment may be a key to global warming. Join Sir David Attenborough and a team of the world’s leading scientists and deep-sea explorers on a quest to reveal the secrets of living lights.
A natural history event like no other, Wild City will reveal the hidden wild inside the Lion City. Deploying the latest filmmaking techniques and narrated by natural history legend Sir David Attenborough, this three part series will be an awakening for the eyes and the mind. See Singapore like never before!
The alpine mountains of the Swiss Jura set the stage for a natural drama – the epic tale of two cities. On the surface, they appear almost identical – but over the course of a year, these cities will experience dramatically different fortunes. Like any city, they’re made up of social networks and transport infrastructures, to keep the inhabitants informed and fed. But unlike our urban jungles, these cities are made and run by wood ants… The story is told, almost like a medieval saga: David Attenborough is our guide through the mysterious realm of ants, presenting a cast of queens and workers, scouts and soldiers with all their amazing stories.
David Attenborough recounts his very personal experiences with the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. Ever since they were discovered over a century ago, these remarkable creatures have been threatened by loss of habitat, poaching, disease and political instability. But despite all odds their numbers have increased. David tells the extraordinary tale of how conservationists like Dian Fossey have battled to save the mountain gorilla from the brink of extinction.
From the deep oceans in a state-of-the-art submarine on the Great Barrier Reef, to the ancient rainforests of Borneo, David Attenborough embarks on a unique natural history adventure across the globe and through time.
A collection of seven David Attenborough specials, Attenborough in Paradise represents some of the famed naturalist's most personal quests and passionate enthusiasms. Programming includes Attenborough tracing a piece of amber in The Amber Time Machine, discovering the history behind a strange figurine in The Lost Gods of Easter Island, and realizing a childhood dream by visiting New Guinea to record the spectacular courtship displays of the birds of paradise. The set also includes Life on Air, a 2002 tribute to Attenborough, chronicling the world-renowned natural history expert's 50-year career at the BBC, presented by Michael Palin
As part of a season of programming marking Sir David Attenborough's 90th birthday, four of his favourite films are brought together as the renowned naturalist looks back on his personal highlights.
Now a world-famous veteran of wildlife presentation on television, Sir David Attenborough was eight years old in 1934 when he saw his first natural history film. It featured the popular naturalist Cherry Kearton, one of the earliest pioneers of wildlife photography and filmmaking. “Kearton’s films captured my childish imagination,” says Attenborough. “It made me dream of traveling to far off places to film wild animals.” Years later, those dreams became an illustrious reality. For over half a century, Attenborough has been at the forefront of natural history filmmaking, witnessing an unparalleled period of change in our planet’s history. His first-hand accounts offer a unique perspective on the natural world. To mark his 60th anniversary on television, Nature presents Attenborough’s Life Stories, a three-part retrospective of his life and work.
Sir David Attenborough was asked to choose 10 endangered animals from around the world to put onto a hypothetical ark. It is a tough ask, bur for Sir David it’s the unusual ones that interest him.
Delve into the secret lives of charismatic, captivating animals as they fight for their families against the odds. Get caught up in real life drama. Narrated by David Attenborough.
Entering the strangely slow world of plant time, Attenborough explores how plants cleverly adapt to the changing seasons, including the explosive drama of seed dispersal and the bursts of colour as they bloom. 'One of the most wonderful things about filming plants is that you can reveal hidden aspects of their lives,' said David Attenborough. 'You can capture the moment as one plant strangles another, and as they burst into flower. But whilst time-lapse photography allows you to see things that no human being has ever seen before, the added element of 3D takes the audience even further still.'
Africa is a 2013 television series co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and the Discovery Channel. It focuses on wildlife and wild habitats in Africa, and has been four years in the making.
Invertebrates had been largely ignored by filmmakers in the past, due to the difficulties in filming them, but advances in lens and camera technology gave the makers an opportunity to film the creatures at their level. The series features a balance of everyday European invertebrates such as the wolf spider and housefly and more exotic varieties such as the redback spider of Australia and venomous centipedes of the Amazon. This was the first time that such animals had been photographed at such a high level of detail for television, and provided not only casual viewers but also scientists with a new understanding of certain species' behaviour.
Occasional series of one-off documentaries, each examining the lifestyle of a particular animal.
Sir David Attenborough joins an archaeological dig uncovering Britain's biggest mammoth discovery in almost 20 years.