Life on Earth (1979)

The first ever episode of the landmark natural history series Life on Earth. David Attenborough explores the wildlife and landscape that in…

Bright blue starfish, crimson feather stars, shell-less snails in designs as extravagant as any Paris fashion show, shrimps of every colour…

For most of Earth's history there was no life on land. But over 400 million years ago some tiny plants began an invasion from the water, cl…

David Attenborough looks at the role of a few of the millions of insect species, some of which have developed extremely close relationships…

Fish occur in populations of billions and there are over 30,000 species, more than in any other group of backboned animals. The development…

Some 350 million years ago, evolution reached one of its most crucial stages when fish crawled from the water onto the land and became amph…

David Attenborough looks at the history of reptiles, the first back-boned creatures to solve the problems of living high and dry on the lan…

The story of life, from the first primitive cells to the plants and animals that now live around us. David Attenborough examines the uses a…

Mammals have proved to be one of the most adaptable products of evolution. David Attenborough looks at their evolution from reptiles 200 mi…

A little furry animal from the jungles of South East Asia, called a tree shrew, has attracted great interest from scientists because it sho…

David Attenborough explores the eternal duel between the hunters and the hunted - one of the driving forces of evolution. As the hunters de…

David Attenborough's now-legendary encounter with young gorillas is featured in this episode as he looks at the history of primates, whose…

David Attenborough looks for crucial clues that help to explain how and why we have come to dominate life on earth. He traces back the Afri…