David Attenborough’s ‘Mammals’ Is a Breathtaking Wonder
For more than 40 years, Sir David Attenborough has given voice to the natural world, producing and narrating BBC documentaries that shine a spotlight on the flora and fauna that make the Earth such an endlessly fascinating and amazing place. Marked by a unique intimacy and empathy, Attenborough’s ventures are the gold standard of their non-fiction field. With Mammals, he adds another triumph to his peerless legacy, investigating the myriad ways that mammals strive to survive and thrive on this ever-changing planet, a task made more complicated by their interaction with the most advanced and dangerous mammal of all—the human being.
Premiering on July 13 on BBC America and AMC+, Mammals is a six-part docuseries led by Attenborough’s distinctive commentary, and it adheres closely to the template that the esteemed broadcaster, writer, and author has pioneered for decades. Anyone familiar with Planet Earth or Blue Planet will feel right at home with Attenborough’s latest, whose episodes are guided by a unique theme and get up-close and personal with a variety of creatures across the seven continents. From the blistering cold of the Arctic tundra to the sweltering heat of the African desert, this gorgeous and mesmerizing journey around the globe finds majesty in the specifics of everyday animal life, all while subtly elucidating how mammals’ ingenuity and tenacity, loyalty and competitiveness, and viciousness and compassion make them a lot like us.
Attenborough’s series begins in the dark, with a female Zambian leopard stalking baboons in a tall tree, her efforts as patient as they are ruthless. Mammals’ night-vision footage of this hunt is so awe-inspiringly striking that it immediately sets the tone. As Attenborough explains, back when dinosaurs roamed the land, mammals were mostly nocturnal as a means of avoiding fearsome predators and the sun’s oppressive heat. This led many to develop heightened senses that allowed them to persist in the face of difficult conditions, such as the fennec fox, whose giant ears grant it extraordinary hearing that’s vital to pinpointing the beetles, lizards, and gerbils that live under the Saharan sand, and upon which it wants to feast. It also lets it detect the far-off calls of potential mates, which is crucial come January when the breeding season begins.