S01E01 The Infinite Variety
This episode explores the variety of nature as a whole, from the South American rainforest's to the shores of Australia.
Life on Earth
S01E13: The Compulsive Communicators
A look for crucial clues that help to explain how and why we have come to dominate life on Earth. He traces back the African origins of humans to nearly three million years ago, and along the way he goes into caves in Southern France where stone-age people created imaginative paintings of ice-age animals. He also travels to Papua New Guinea to find some hunter-gatherers who have never before set eyes on white people
Overview
The story of life, from the first primitive cells to the plants and animals that now live around us.
Episodes
S01E02 Building Bodies
This episode explores the various sea-living invertebrates, form the shores of Morocco to Delaware Bay.
S01E03 The First Forests
Over 400 million years ago, tiny plants began to invade the land, followed by the first animals - the ancestors of scorpions, millipedes and insects
S01E04 The Swarming Hordes
The role of a few of the millions of insect species, some of which have developed extremely close relationships with plants. Insects pollinate flowers and in some cases neither flower nor insect can survive without...
S01E05 Conquest of the Waters
A look at some of the 30,000 species of fish which exist in populations of billions. They can fly, produce electricity, survive in hot soda lakes or under the Antarctic ice. Some, like the salmon,...
S01E06 Invasion of the Land
Some 350 million years ago, evolution reached one of its most crucial stages when fish crawled from water onto the land and became amphibians. Today, newts, salamanders, toads and frogs still survive in great quantities,...
S01E07 Victors of the Dry Land
A look at the history of reptiles, the first back-boned creatures to solve the problems of living high and dry on the land. Their waterproofed skin and sealed eggs enabled the mighty reptiles to rule...
S01E08 Lords of the Air
We examine the uses and advantages of birds' unique possession - the feather. Feathers are insulators; they provide the surface of the most perfect aerofoils known - bird's wings; and they play a central role...
S01E09 The Rise of the Mammals
A look at the evolution of mammals from reptiles 200 million years ago. This remarkable transition involved the development of mechanisms for regulating body temperature, for allowing the young to develop in the womb and...
S01E10 Theme and Variations
A look at some of the huge variety of mammals. Bats number over a thousand species, many hunt insects, some sip nectar, drink blood, and even catch fish. Contrast those which use sonar with the...
S01E11 The Hunters and Hunted
Explore the eternal duel between the hunters and the hunted - one of the driving forces of evolution. As the hunters develop speed and cunning, the prey becomes increasingly fast and wary in order to...
S01E12 Life in the Trees
David Attenborough's now legendary encounter with young gorillas is featured in this episode as he looks at the history of primates, whose ancestors sought their fortune in the treetops. There they developed binocular vision for...
S01E13 The Compulsive Communicators
A look for crucial clues that help to explain how and why we have come to dominate life on Earth. He traces back the African origins of humans to nearly three million years ago, and...
Cast
David Attenborough
Self - Presenter
