‘Planet Earth’.
With my country voting to leave the European Union and the United States imploding politically, it seems clearer today more than ever how different — how divided — we are as a race. There’s been so much mistrust, so much anger. As this stormy year reaches its end, however, an oasis of common ground has emerged. Ten years ago, naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough brought to the nation his most astounding television series: ‘Planet Earth’. It revealed scenes from the highest peaks and the deepest jungles, of species and behaviour most humans had never seen before. Now, in 2016, ‘Planet Earth II’ has come. Ten years of further developments in science and technology have meant even more breathtakingly special stories from nature recorded on camera. The once-familiar thud of my awestruck jaw hitting the floor on a Sunday evening has returned. Best of all, from what I’ve heard online and in conversations it seems that, regardless of our societal and political divisions, it’s a thud echoed across millions of homes worldwide.
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There have been three episodes of this series so far, and each has been completely inspiring. The scenes of jungle fauna last night were too stunning for me not to place them here, on this little blog of mine, simply for me to return to and continue gazing.
“They cover less than six percent of the earth’s surface but they are home to half of all the plants and animals on land. Jungles have just the right amount of light, water, and nutrients, and they have had — every day — for millennia.”
“Everything in the jungle has to compete for space.
Only two percent of the sun’s rays reach the ground, so even the plants must battle for the light they need if they’re to grow.
Three hundred years ago, this Hura tree began its race for light. And every day since, it has absorbed the light and water it needed to grow into a giant. It has succeeded in doing what every tree must do to survive: rise above the gloom of the jungle floor. And what is more, its success has given life to others. Its branches now carry a thousand other plants. These particular ferns, figs, and orchids live only on the branches of other trees. A thousand plants growing on one single tree. Throughout the forest, this story is repeated endless times. As a consequence jungles are home to more species of plants than anywhere else on earth, and they in turn support a wealth of animals.”
“In some jungles it rains so much that for part of the year the trees are almost totally submerged — the forest floor is thirty feet below the water’s surface. This is a mysterious world, a place few people have explored. We have much to discover about the animals for which this is home… including some you might never to expect to find amongst trees. Here, a thousand miles from the sea, are dolphins.”
“For the coming of the night, a new cast of jungle characters takes to the stage. Fungi unlike plants thrive in the darkness of the forest floor. They’re hidden until they begin to develop the incredible structures with which they reproduce. Each releases millions of microscopic spores which drift invisibly away. Many have fruiting bodies which reach upwards to catch any feeble current there might be in the clammy air. But some become luminous. Why fungi light up has remained a mystery — until now. Scientists studying the brightest fungi in the world think they might have an answer. Like a beacon the light attracts insects from far and wide… [which — like bees and pollen — the fungi use to spread their spores.]”
