Sir David’s warning of extinction
SIR David Attenborough is back on our screens tonight with a stark warning – that one million species on Earth are now threatened with extinction.
The one-hour film, Extinction: The Facts, on BBC One at 8pm, is very different from his usual work celebrating the natural world.
The naturalist, aged 94, said: “We are facing a crisis and one that has consequences for us all.” The film has the stunning images of animals and plants you would expect from an Attenborough production but also horrific scenes of destruction.
In one sequence monkeys leap from trees into a river to escape a huge fire. In another a koala limps across a road
in its vain search for shelter as flames consume the forest around it.
Of the estimated eight million species on Earth, one in eight face being wiped out, one expert warns.
Another tells us that since 1970, animals with backbones, such as birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians, have declined by 60 per cent.
Sir David says that the speed of extinction has been rising dramatically.
It is reckoned to be now happening at 100 times the natural evolutionary rate – and is accelerating.
In one of the most moving sequences in the powerful film, Sir David tells of his personal experiences.
He says: “Over the course of my life I have encountered some of the world’s most remarkable species of animals.
“Only now do I realise just how lucky I’ve been – many of these wonders seem set to disappear forever.”