Mammals

Sir David Attenborough reveals how Mammals have conquered the Earth, uncovering the secrets to their success with their winning design, incredible adaptability, unrivalled intelligence, and unique sociability.

66 million years ago, when the reign of the dinosaurs came to an end, mammals were set free to exploit every corner of the planet. In this series we will reveal the strategies and behaviours behind their astonishing success, their unique traits, their incredible parental skills, plus a supreme intelligence that lets them learn, remember, problem solve, and work together to find solutions.

In six episodes we will show how mammals have taken advantage of every major environment on earth. They are found in every ocean, on every continent and in every habitat, from frozen wildernesses, dense jungles, baking deserts, even the dark depths of the open ocean and the skies above our forests.

COLD - Thanks to their great ingenuity, combined with a thick fur coat, mammals can survive where no others can, in the cold of the planet’s extreme frozen worlds. Here we see a polar bear learn remarkable new hunting skills and witness the rarely seen caring side of the not so mythical wolverine.

HEAT - With fur designed to keep you warm, keeping cool is never going to be easy, yet mammals are found in the hottest, driest places on earth, from Africa’s Sahara Desert to Australia’s barren outback, where they have found remarkable ways to stays cool, find water, and beat the heat.

DARK - Originally confined to the night during the time of the dinosaurs, many mammals have, with heightened senses verging on superpowers, become masters of the shadows. Today, some are even returning to the dark side as their daytime world gets more and more crowded.

WATER - Very few mammals have managed to lose all ties with land and conquer life in water, one of the greatest challenges for an air breathing mammal. Those that have are some of the cleverest of all, forming surprising bonds not just amongst their own but with other species as well.

FOREST - From down in the undergrowth to high above the treetops, we see how mammals have conquered every level of the forest with perfect camouflage, secret messages, and even the power of flight, but now many face new challenges as they are forced to adapt to a changing world.

THE NEW WILD - It is two decades since Sir David looked at the “Life of Mammals.” In that time the issues facing mammals have grown and grown – today, less than 6% of the world’s mammal biomass is made up of wild mammals, and many face extinction. As well as bringing a fresh understanding of this remarkable group of animals we highlight many of the problems faced by mammals in a rapidly changing world. To do this, we explore how mammals are coping living alongside perhaps the most successful mammal of all – us, revealing both winners and losers in today’s new wild.