This is the newest habitat on Earth. It’s here that animals have to contend with the greatest change that is happening to the face of our planet. David Attenborough, Planet Earth s2e6: Cities
New York: This Peregrine Falcon looks down into an ideal habitat … A multitude of ledges on which falcons can nest … New York City has the highest density of nesting Peregrine Falcons anywhere on the planet. ibid.
A leopard: every night under the cover of darkness they come out to hunt … Leopards have attacked almost two hundred people here in the last twenty-five years. But humans are not their usual prey … Pigs: the leopards prefer to hunt the domestic animals people have brought to the city in considerable numbers … The highest concentration of leopards in the world is right here. ibid.
This tradition goes back over 400 years. The human butchers put out the bones they don’t need, and these hyenas deal with them. They’re the only animals that can. ibid.
Pigeons are by far the most successful urban bird. ibid.
We, after all, are the architects of the urban world. Now over half of us live in an urban environment … Yet it’s on this connection that the future of both humanity and the natural world depend. It is surely our responsibility to do everything in our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us but for all life on Earth. ibid.
Two hundreds million years ago our planet looked very different than it does today. It was entirely covered by sea which surrounded one super continent we call Pangea. And then Pangea began to break up. Life was cast adrift on fragments of land. And these fragments eventually became our seven continents. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet I: Antarctica, BBC 2019
We are changing the world so rapidly that wildlife is now facing its greatest challenges yet. ibid.
Of all the continents, one was sighted by humans just two hundred years ago. ibid.
Only one mammal can live this far south: the Weddell seal. ibid.
One of the richest feeding grounds in all the world’s oceans. ibid.
The frozen surface of the sea hides a great secret: it may be hostile above the ice, but below it conditions are so stable that life over millennia has had time to diversify. Creatures here grow to a great size. ibid.
Asia: the largest of all the world’s continents. It stretches from the Equator to beyond the Arctic Circle. This is a continent of extremes. Here, temperatures can drop to bellow minus sixty degrees Celsius. On land, survival is almost impossible. But for a few weeks of summer the ice melts, and the coast is transformed. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet II: Asia
Pacific walrus … 100,000 of them: almost the entire world population is here. They are gigantic. ibid.
Asia has the hottest deserts, highest mountains and tallest jungles on our planet. This is a continent of incredible variety. ibid.
Meet the blue-faced, golden-coated snug-nosed snow monkey. They are among the heftiest of monkeys … The whole group snuggles together at the slightest opportunity to keep warm. ibid.
The bird was mistaken. It was a viper with a lethal bite. This species has only recently been discovered … On its tail movable scales have been modified to look like a spider’s legs, and its tip like an abdomen. ibid.
At the southern tip of South America the Andes mountains rise almost vertically. Their very height affect life throughout the continent. The barren slopes look inhospitable. But like all parts of South America they are actually rich with wildlife. A family of Puma. They live further south than any kind of cat on Earth. David Attenborough, Seven World, One Planet III: South America
Here on the coast of Peru there are so many seabirds fishing in the offshore waters that the cliffs are covered in droppings over a metre thick. ibid.
The Andean bear: only a few thousand remain. They eat mostly leaves and fruit. ibid.
A few patches of forest still remain. One in Colombia is the home of one of the world’s rarest monkeys: cotton-topped tamarins. They are critically endangered. They live largely on fruit and are particularly fond of tree sap: this is packed with sugars, so it also attracts insects. ibid.
Once fledged, these young [parrots] will follow their parents for up to a year learning where to find the salts. ibid.
Anacondas are the largest of all snakes. They grow to over 200 kilos. And they usually stalk their prey from the water. ibid.
Australia: an island continent cast adrift during the time of the dinosaurs. Isolated from the rest of life on land for millions of years, the animals cast away here are today like none elsewhere. This is a land of survivors. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet IV: Australia
The animals and plants here are armed: built to live alongside dinosaurs. ibid.
At nearly two metres tall, the cassowary rules this forest. ibid.
A little red flying fox … a wombat … kangaroos … dingoes … koalas … jumping spider … Reptiles: Australia has more species of them than any other continent … The wild budgerigar … Sharks: there are more species here than anywhere else on Earth … The Tasmanian devil … now endangered. ibid.
The driest inhabited continent on Earth. ibid.
Europe. Home to more than 700 million people. This is a continent that has been transformed by humanity. It is a crowded world. But not all of it. There are still precious areas of wilderness, and living within them, some very surprising animals. Forests once covered 80% of Europe. Now only half of it remains. A brown bear: one of only 1,500 that are left in Finland’s forest. David Attenborough, Seven World, One Planet V: Europe
Gibraltar: Home to Europe’s only monkeys. Barbary Macaques. Four family troops live here. ibid.
One continent on our planet changes more dramatically than any other: North America. Whole landscapes here can be transformed in a matter of minutes. And all life has to be ready to seize the moment. Getting it wrong can be disastrous. But time it correctly and there can be great rewards. This is a land of opportunity. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet VI: North America
The coldest wilderness of all lies in the Arctic north … The Canadian lynx: no other kind of cat anywhere lives further north than this one. ibid.
Over 1,000 tornadoes touch down here every year. ibid.
A relative of the elephant: a manatee … Every autumn they need to find warmer waters. ibid.
Africa: no continent on Earth today has such spectacular wildlife. At its heart lies a vast tropical rainforest. Over a million square miles of wilderness, much of it still unexplored, even now. There are more animals and plants in these jungles than anywhere else on the continent. But even in this land of plenty, wildlife facing major challenges. David Attenborough, Seven Worlds, One Planet VII: Africa
Chimpanzees: the elders in this group know where to find the most nutritious food and how to extract it. But if they are to survive to adulthood the youngsters must learn these skills from their parents. ibid.
These lakes are now one of the richest freshwater habitats to be found anywhere. ibid.
Hyenas from all over the Namib head to where the sand dunes meet the sea: somewhere along this seemingly barren stretch of land there is food in great quantity: Cape fur seals: there are around 10,000 of them here. ibid.
Aardvark: it’s the world’s largest burrowing animal. Its sense of smell is extremely acute. Shovel-like claws and powerful legs enable it to dig down to depths of five or six metres. A full-grown aardvark needs to eat about fifty thousands termites every day. Termites are highly nutritious and full of moisture, and they can be collected here year-round. Aardvark are usually nocturnal … Aardvark here are close to starvation. Changes in the world’s climate are affecting many of Africa’s animals. ibid.
So if we didn’t have the cyanobacteria we wouldn’t be around. We owe our heritage to the scum of the Earth. Robert Roy Britt, live science online
The survival of some of these building blocks – can they be delivered to the Earth that would help seed a planet so the conditions of life can begin to exist? Peter H Schultz, AMES high velocity research lab
All of us came from the same place. We have so many things in common with bacteria there is just no doubt about it. Ken Nealson, geobiologist
Now it has been suggested by other people that maybe life on Earth was brought here by a visitor from another planet. While this possibility is remote it certainly can’t be excluded on the basis of the results we have found. Dr James Lawless, In Search of Ancient Astronauts, 1973
I have always felt that man is a stranger on this planet. A total stranger. I always played with the fancy maybe a contagion from outer space is the seed of man. Eric Hoffer, writer & sociologist
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. Mahatma Gandhi
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder