The Life Of Mammals
The BBC Natural History Collection
Documentary
Host: David Attenborough
BBC Video
Release date: January 22, 2008

To me, Sir David Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, is without a doubt the most watcheable human encyclopedia there is. His boundless enthusiasm and stiff upper-lip English gentleman-like style make him a very pleasant guest in your living room and an enthralling narrator.

David and I go way back. When I was a child I religiously watched Life on Earth (1979) and then The Living PLanet (1984), two differing series exposing some of the most wonderful and some of the most strangest creatures and plants on the planet.

The Life of Mammals is no exception. I actually had to delay my review because I was glued to every episode with the child-like wonder I remember from back then. The difference being that advances in technology have given David and his team abilities far reaching enough to expose many wonders of the mammalian world hitherto kept from our prying eyes over a three-year filming period.

Fiber optic cameras with infra-red lights sneaking through the world of the naked mole rats; Thermal imaging of bats that clearly documents how they can be virtually frozen and then spark up their internal organs and heat up like they are being microwaved in order to get up once in a while for a snack and a drink; Elephants that navigate through pitch black passages of an ancient cave in order to lick up salt from the rock face, something they have done religiously for eons; Skunks, foraging for fallen baby bats in an almost unliveable and utterly dark cave floor where the foul stench of the bats defecation and flesh-eating maggots make for anything but a nice environment to take a camera and film crew.

The show is packed with oddities, the fantastic, and even the ordinary creatures from all corners of the globe. From the armor-plated Pangolin anteater to the Racoon (and you will be very suprised at the racoon – I guarantee)

Encompassing The Life of Mammals can be no easy task. To take such a subject and somehow compartmentalize it for education and entertainment seems daunting, to say the least. Yet the series has been cleverly split up into 10 awesome shows (on 4 DVDs) that highlight the diversification of mammals and explore the furthest reaches of their habitat.

01. A winning Design
02. Insect Hunters
03. Plant Predetors
04. Chisellers
05. Meat Eaters
06. Opportunists
07. Return to the Water
08. Life in the Trees
09. Social Climbers
10. Food for Thought

The Life of Mammals landmark series originally aired on the BBC in November 2002 and has now come to us as a very tastily packaged 4-DVD box set. Each episode is around 50 minutes long and the soundtrack, which you would think belonged to an epic movie, really boosts the drama and spectacle of the amazing cinematography. Did I mention the cinematography? Let me just say that there are people out there that have purchased DVD players just because of this series. Probably.

The special features include no less than six behind-the-scenes featurettes that in themselves are incredibly interesting and make for a nice bonus. There’s also a photo gallery, the original score, fact files, and a montage of images to music.

The Life of Mammals is also available as part of The BBC Natural History Collection (Planet Earth / The Blue Planet / The Life of Mammals / The Life of Birds)