The Life of Mammals

Superb television. This really tales me back to my childhood, it's probably the definitive account of mammal behaviour. Attenborough often appears on camera to make his point and I enjoy seeming him on front of the screen. The music is lovely but never overdone, there's so much to learn, my favourite part was probably about the beavers. The cinematography is really well done without all the spinning around we got later on. Sometimes a simple tripod shot can be the best. The series formed part of s longer series of docs looking at insect, plant bird, animal and reptile behaviour. I highly recommend this.

AS on Feb.5,'03 I sat through the last episode of The Life of Mammals on BBC1, switching off the TV, I was convinced that this had to be the most impressive documentary series on nature and life, more particularly on mammals, for the moment the most successful species on the planet. It is next to unbelievable that, after the myriads of documentaries on practically every animal, Attenborough still manages to come up with a documentary that never ceases to amaze. And this is not only because many images were first-timers. I guess it is because it focuses on animals that are closest to us, and are therefore often regarded as less 'exotic', and because this series proves us dead wrong in that respect, that this is such an amazing piece of film. But there's more:

Despite the fact that the images range from great to downright unbelievable, this is perhaps not the single feature that makes this series unique. It is the way the story is told. There's of course the never-topped David Attenborough. But, because the story loosely unfolds around the evolutionary stages in the life of mammals (beginning with the platypus), AND at the same time manages to pull it off to show you the whole of the variety of mammals around the world without losing track of the scope of each episode, you get a real glimpse of what biodiversity means. Furthermore, the series really makes the case of evolutionary theory in a crystal clear way. The in and of itself very simple principle of evolution often gets misinterpreted, e.g. when one starts to think of evolution as having a 'goal'. Since the main issue here is the power to adapt of mammals, the focus is, more than ever, on the importance of the environment as the steering force towards either many specialized species or less generalists, continuously flowing from one mode to the other.

What's more, the series really makes it clear how evolution gradually has shifted from selection on the basis of innate predispositions, to selection on the basis of the ability to learn during the lifetime, which makes a species much more able to adapt itself to environmental pressures and, in the end, enables them to overcome them. And then, at the end of the series, which focuses on the great apes and, ultimately, us humans, the whole story draws together superbly. I wondered how they would pull it of: would they preach about impending doom due to humanity's estrangement of its own nature, or would they just sing the hosanna of this marvelous little zoo we live in? Instead, Attenborough avoids these pitfalls. On the one hand he makes it clear that our behaviour and the way we treat our planet is nothing but the very natural consequence of evolutionary pressures that, for the moment, have put us on top of the pyramid, and this in a relatively short span of time. On the other hand, he does suggest that, if it were only BECAUSE we top the pyramid, we do have to take care that this environment which is responsible for who and what we are doesn't crumble under the pressure of its own success-story. Maybe it's about time that we think about constraining our own numbers?

In short, this series is a must for anyone with even a passing interest in the very nature of life in all its diversity or anyone needing arguments to convince people of the why of caring for nature. I'll buy it as soon as it 's out. And I knew that from the third episode. A classic.

Good series. I'm loving this series which will teach you something new. Especially this nice way with close shots and many details.

The Life of Mammals look for me little older, than filmed in 2002, it look as something +- 1990 or similar quality. Because it, my vote for this beauty series isn't higher. The quality isn't so high, how it may be...

In summary this is good education film about mammals, each its part is well separated.

Comments are well and not too scientific, so this film may be good for all age groups especially the youngest ones.

For me personally may be the film little more scientific. I'm see his main purpose to teach kids in elementary school. But its good for older too...

As with all BBC "Life" series of documentaries the life of mammals contains, and in spades, amazing never seen before footage, an appropriately matching musical score, high production values and the calming, fascinating narrative,and infectious enthusiasm of sir David Attenborough .

All these elements mean some of the best TV has to offer and a benchmark for documentary. Some of the highlights of the series are the never seen before footage of the platypus nest. The Kangaroos giving birth and the elephants salt mining. Yet life of mammals scores, in my book, less than all other Life series.

so what went wrong here? i am afraid old Davy dropped the ball with this one; he has remained respectably fairly neutral on the subject of evolution in his past series, he mentions the facts, why and how animals, plants..etc are behaving, and leaves it up to the audience ,to conclude for themselves ,if its all the result of evolution or intelligent design .

This time around ,he threw the rules and long standing tradition of BBC aside and instead decided to keep regurgitating the still much debated theory of evolution through out each and every single episode in this 10 parts series as if it is a universally agreed upon fact ! And then ends the series with an hour long episode citing the similarities between apes and humans and regurgitates that human's were apes again and again as if it's a universally agreed upon fact . So much, that my uncle, a long time fan of David's work, was rolling his eyes many times during the last 2 episodes.much of the footage in last two episodes highlighting monkeys social nature and behavior is interesting,but clearly the narration was not objective.Rather than wasting time trying to shove evolution down peoples throats, precious time could've been spent showing more rare species and fascinating FACTs about mammals.

This review is not intended to spark a never ending evolution / creation debate, but with all due respect to the BBC and sir David, if you want to make the case of evolution, then make another dedicated show to debate the theory and represent other points of view in a neutral and objective way, the BBC way, or at least the way it used to be. That being said I still feel this series is worth watching, but ,for many may not hold the same replay value as other "Life" series .

I remember when I was a child seeing David Attenborugh BBc documentaries , fascinated sitting in my sofa.

This is another excellent new Attenborough documentary, I am surprised not to find more comments about Attenborough BBC films. It's a different style, it's other kind of TV, it's closer to art, or novels. It's simple. artistic and deep It's artistic and abstract, changes themes and the plot of the screenplay looking for a different wildlife overviews.

It is a musical and complex docu film and very simple too, uses the scientist concepts and artistic wonderful language which every can understand and gets quickly people attention. I am worried about not to find 10000 votes, I expected to find perhaps not less than 1000 IMDb votes. On other hand I have a question for anybody who read this comment ¿ are Yang Tse dolphins who appear in one of this episodes? I am very sad to listen that could be almost extinct.