Creatures great, small ...and tall
GIRAFFE, zebra, springbok and wildebeest race against time to find a waterhole during the dry season in Namibia – in a stunning scene from David Attenborough’s latest TV series. Starting tomorrow on BBC One, the show, called Mammals, sees animals’ stories brought to life by the TV star. From the tiniest terrestrial mammal – the Etruscan shrew – to the largest of them all – the blue whale – Sir David, 97, explores how this group of animals has evolved to master almost every habitat on our planet.
As well as giving a thrilling insight, the six-part series focuses on some of the problems facing mammals in a rapidly changing world.
In the final episode – 20 years after his Life of Mammals series – Sir David says: “If we make the right decisions we can safeguard the future not just for our fellow mammals but for all life on Earth.” Yesterday executive producer Roger Webb said: “Being mammals ourselves, the animals featured in the series and the stories told about them are instantly relatable.
“It’s impossible not to admire a mother capuchin monkey who’s able to provide her baby with a drink in a dry, sun-baked forest or a chimpanzee father giving his family a lesson in finding honey buried underground.”
Series producer Scott Alexander added: “Great apes, big cats, dolphins, whales as well as the mythical wolverine and adorable tenrec... who wouldn’t want to make a series with such a wonderful cast of animals?”
The series airs days after it emerged Sir David continues to rake in millions for his natural history shows.
Accounts filed last week showed he made about £4million for the 12 months to last September, and his production company is sitting on a cash reserve of £2.3m.
He also has a tax bill of £833,028 – meaning his income for the year was about five times that figure.
The shareholders of the company are himself, son Robert and daughter Susan, with Sir David owning 54% of the company.