Planet Attenborough shaped our world view

David Attenborough has fundamentally changed the way we look at wild animals and the environment, writes Morgan Richards.

Attenborough's documentaries didn't just visualise animals in a new way; they changed the way we looked at wild animals (Source: First Life/BBC)

Imagine a journey across the surface of the Earth. Take in the Galapagos Islands with its different species of giant tortoises. Fly over its rainforests, deserts, mountains and oceans. Consider its poison dart frogs and blind mole rats. See the fossils of extinct ammonites encased in limestone, the flash of turquoise on the underside of a hummingbird's wing and the tiny embryo of a red kangaroo developing inside its mother's pouch. Think of the texture of an elephant's hide, the colourful feathers of a bird of paradise and the wide eyes of a loris.

Now consider how it is you have come to know these diverse animals and environments, and the fragile interconnections that bind them together. If, like me, you're part of a generation who grew up with David Attenborough, chances are it was Attenborough who introduced you to these animals.

Life on Earth (1979) was the first in a long line of landmark wildlife series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and written and presented by David Attenborough.

'Landmark' is the term used by those in the industry to describe big budget, multi-part television documentaries.

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