Weaver birds are the great experts – it’s the males who do the building. ibid.
Beavers: One of the most massive of all animal constructions. ibid.
Wasps chew up wood and mix it with their saliva. ibid.
Bees’ wax: the workers secrete it from glands on their abdomen. ibid.
The most impressive of all animals’ homes are built by the smallest of all labourers: termites. ibid.
Different kinds of animals are often regular companions and get on well with one another. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life VII: Living Together
The shrimp and the gobi [fish] .. The blind landlord provides the accommodation and the tenant provides a guidance service. ibid.
The hermit crab and the anemone. ibid.
Australian ants and caterpillars. ibid.
Giant tortoises and finches. ibid.
Manta rays and attendant fleet of small fish. ibid.
Groupers and small wrasse. ibid.
When things are scarce in this harsh world you may have to fight to get your fair share. In this case it's food: meat. But you may have to fight too to get the best available mate that's around or territory. The Trials of Life VIII: Fighting: Fight or Flee?
Again a tool for feeding has become a weapon for aggression. ibid.
Not all seniorities are settled in such a straightforward way particularly within groups. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life IX: Friends and Rivals
It’s the lionesses who do most of the hunting. ibid.
Baboons live in even bigger groups – up to 150 or so. ibid.
For baboons it’s not how big you are but who you know that counts. ibid.
For a Vampire [bat] it pays to help your neighbours whether they are related or not. ibid.
Naked mole rats: the colony is perpetually tunnelling. ibid.
Five million insects have become effectively one. But what a superbly efficient one. ibid.
You have to get your message through, and not only to friends but to enemies. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life X: Talking to Strangers
With the coming of darkness everybody seems to be using sound. ibid.
A jellyfish outlined by its own pulsing illuminations. ibid.
Every dolphin has its own particular name whistle. ibid.
But this is a Blue-footed Boobie. And when a male starts to court a female he leaves her in no doubt about that. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life XI: Courting
Surely the most spectacular of all is the display of the peacock. ibid.
How to pass on their genes to the next generation ... the solutions are amazingly varied. David Attenborough, The Trials of Life XII: Continuing the Line
Elephant: twenty-two months of pregnancy then a further four years of feeding it on milk. ibid.
Polygamy has appeared in many very different parts of the animal kingdom. ibid.
Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds I: To Fly or Not to Fly? BBC 1998
There are also small fury mammals – bats ... they’re flying out to catch their evening meal of insects ... Bats are latecomers to the skies. ibid.
The ostrich is the biggest and heaviest bird alive today. ibid.
Kiwi: Its tiny vestigial wings are invisible, buried in its plumage, and it’s lost all sign of a tail. ibid.
Getting into the air is not easy. Indeed for many birds it’s by far the most exhausting bit of the whole business of flight. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds II: The Mastery of Flight
Pelicans give breathtaking displays of synchronised formation flying. ibid.
A skeleton with fewer bones than a mammal’s. ibid.
In the evenings a barn owl can waft over the countryside as silent as a moth. ibid.
Hummingbirds: they beat routinely twenty-five times a second. ibid.
Sap is an excellent food – energy rich and easily flicked up with the tongue. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds III: The Insatiable Appetite
The sword-billed hummer – which has the longest beak in relation to its body of any bird in the world. ibid.
Crows are among the most intelligent of birds. ibid.
No group of animals living out of water have developed a wider range of techniques and indeed tools for collecting that food than the birds. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds IV: Meat-Eaters
Boobies live on the coast, but their fishing grounds are way out in the open ocean. ibid.
The Royal Albatross and the Wandering Albatross have the biggest wingspan of any living bird. And they circle the globe in search of food. ibid.
The great grey owl hunts in the Artic ... The owl listens for its victims. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds V: Fishing for a Living
But there’s one bird that exceptionally has an extremely acute sense of smell ... Turkey vulture. ibid.
Different kinds of hornbills paint themselves different colours. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds VI: Signals and Songs
All birds have good eyesight ... they have excellent colour vision. ibid.
This is the most delectable of natural sounds: it’s an hour before dawn, it’s spring, this is an English woodland, and all around the dawn chorus. ibid.
The most lyrical of all European songsters – the nightingale. ibid.
The most elaborate, the most complex, the most beautiful song in the world ... the superb lyrebird of South Australia. ibid.
The male streamertail ... shows off in front of her with a special courtship flight. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds VII: Finding Partners
Red-headed weavers in Africa often nest in colonies. ibid.
New Guinea: A work of art: this is its creator: the Vogelkop bowerbird. He has a passion for interior decoration ... Its beauty that wins her heart. ibid.
What can rival the train of a peacock? ibid.
Rheas: that’s unusual behaviour for a male – taking total responsibility for incubation and chick-rearing. ibid.
Sooty terns: there is one thing that compels them to come down to earth: the demands of the egg. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds VIII: The Demands of the Egg
Sociable weaver: a large communal apartment block. ibid.
Rosella [parrot] parents are scrupulously fair and they make quite sure that even the youngest gets its proper share of food. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds IX: The Problems of Parenthood
The storks like many birds are exemplary parents. ibid.
There is scarcely a corner of the globe that birds have not colonised. David Attenborough, The Life of Birds X: The Limits of Endurance
City life may offer birds attractions that are rather less obvious than food. ibid.
Thousands of starlings put on a spectacular display of formation flying over the darkening city. ibid.
The last wild passenger pigeon was sighted in 1889. ibid.
With skill and care and knowledge we can ensure that there is still a place on Earth for birds in all their beauty and variety. ibid.
Dwarfed by the vast expanse of the open ocean the biggest animal that has ever lived on our planet. The Blue Whale – thirty metres long, and weighing over two hundred tons ... Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant. David Attenborough, The Blue Planet I: Introduction, BBC 2001
Our planet is a blue planet; over 70% of it is covered by the sea. The Pacific Ocean alone covers half the globe. ibid.
Sardines: common dolphins are coming in from the open ocean to join in the feast. ibid.