2021-01-30_New_Scientist

30 | New Scientist | 30 January 2021

TV

A Perfect Planet

BBC1 and on BBC iPlayer

CRYOGENIC frogs and blood-

sucking finches are among the

many remarkable animals to star

in David Attenborough’s latest

series, A Perfect Planet, which

examines what made Earth

so suitable for life. How was

it that everything about the

planet – including its size, spin,

tilt and distance from the sun

and moon – was perfect for

nurturing life? So much so that it

may be the only planet to host life.

Working with the team that

created Netflix’s Our Planet, this

new five-part series looks at some

of the influential natural forces

that create the ideal conditions

to support life. It also shares

fascinating stories about animals

that benefit from them.

From the remote volcanic

islands of the Galapagos to the

clear blue waters of tropical atolls,

and from the sand dunes of the

Sahara to the frozen world of the

Arctic, the documentary pushes

the boundaries to capture

previously unseen images.

The series starts with one

of the most important of those

creative or nurturing forces:

volcanoes. They created land,

brought carbon dioxide into the

atmosphere, and, as Attenborough

reminds us, life wouldn’t have

started without them.

Opening shots feature colourful

footage of flamingos nesting

around the corrosive waters that

surround an active volcano in

Tanzania. A haunting scene shows

flocks of chicks, unable to fly,

trying to avoid predators as they

trek across muddy plains to meet

their parents in the freshwater

springs where they hunt for food.

The right place to be

David Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet blends earth science with dazzling

images to show how natural forces nurture life, says Ibrahim Sawal

Some of the most fascinating

stories come from the Galapagos.

There is a pregnant iguana making

a perilous descent into a crater

to lay eggs in the hot ash where

they can incubate. Then there

are vampire finches, one of the

world’s most recently discovered

species, which feast on the blood

of seabirds that treat the island

as a pit stop, and are used to the

behaviour, which may have its

origins in a sort of symbiotic pact.

Opening with one of the most

compelling scenes of the series,

the second episode – focusing on

the power of the sun – looks inside

the world of figs in the tropical

rainforest. We see the slightly

disturbing and complex

relationship between the fruit

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episode on the weather, which

restates the message we can’t

hear too often: climate change

is disturbing the weather patterns

that animals rely on. Baby giant

river turtles drown in the Amazon

because the rainy season now

comes too early, and the dry

seasons are too dry. Bee-eaters

that nest in Zambia’s river banks

now face the collapse of their

nests as heat intensifies and dries

them out, while many animals

struggle to find water.

A Perfect Planet’s great blend of

natural history and earth science

makes it one of Attenborough’s

best projects. It will make us think

more about how natural forces

shaped the planet to allow life

to flourish and question the

scale of human impact on it. ❚

Ibrahim Sawal is an intern at

New Scientist

and the fig wasps, some of which

die inside a fig, while others die

after they emerge from it.

Sun also brings the warmth of

spring, even to the Arctic circle,

where wood frogs “defrost”. After

lying “frozen” in the ice during the

winter, a frog’s blood is warmed

by the sun, and it awakens.

In the intense heat of the Sahara

desert, we see how one of the

world’s fastest animals, the silver

ant, avoids boiling in the sun,

and in China, hungry golden

snub-nosed monkeys fight for

food to survive the winter.

The final scene is a real highlight

as shearwaters from New Zealand

prepare for a 16,000-kilometre

flight across the Pacific Ocean to

follow the sun to Alaska, as they

chase summer around the globe.

Warm waters allow plankton to

thrive, making a welcome meal for

millions of hungry shearwaters

and the humpback whales that

have also followed the warmth.

Perhaps the most dramatic

scenes of the series are in the

The corrosive waters of

Tanzania’s Lake Natron

are paradise for flamingo

“ Baby giant river

turtles drown in the

Amazon because the

rainy season now

comes too early”