The Trials of Life: A Natural History of Animal Behavior

Download Book
“Watching and filming animals world-wide has occupied most of my working life. By the end of the 1970's, the marvels and wonders I had witnessed had become a dazzling, almost confusing kaleidoscope and I began to feel a need to put them in some kind of order, to try to produce a coherent survey of the natural history of the planet. So I started on a decade of work which was to result in three books and three 13-part television series: Life on Earth, The Living Planet and The Trials of Life. Between them, they looked at the three major aspects of natural history that can be studied simply by observing living wild animals - their diversity, their ecology and their behaviour. The Trials of Life surveys the last and most dramatic of these. Every animal, whether rat or rattlesnake, lobster or llama or a human being, must during the course of its life face a series of problems - growing up and collecting food, finding its way around and defending itself against enemies, getting along with its fellows and finding a mate. But though the problems may be the same, the solutions are astoundingly varied. Ants in the Sahara find their way across the featureless sand by taking repeated observations on the sun, fireflies attract their mates by flashing signals like Morse code, and teams of chimpanzees hunt down monkeys in west African forests, collaborating in the most complex way yet observed in the animal world.” -- David Attenborough, January 1992

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

Download Book
In this scientifically informed account of the changes occurring in the world over the last century, award-winning broadcaster and natural historian shares a lifetime of wisdom and a hopeful vision for the future. See the world. Then make it better. 'I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity. I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake - and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will to do so.'