Crying wolf is a real danger.
That people will object very much to seeing a predator killing its prey, and yet, in the news, will accept showing shots of people shooting one another.
All life is related. And it enables us to construct with confidence the complex tree that represents the history of life.
In the Baboon community, it is not how strong you are that is important, but who you know that counts.
Trade is a proper and decent relationship, with dignity and respect on both sides.
The notion of ever more old people needing ever more young people, who in turn will grow old and need ever more young people and so on, ad infinitum, is an obvious ecological Ponzi scheme.
I remember when we were in the World Cup in Australia and I had to win the singles against Tony Payne, best of seven legs, to win it. I was 2-0 down but ended up beating him I suffer much less than many of my colleagues. I am perfectly able to go to Australia and film within three hours of arrival.
Dealing with global warming doesn’t mean we have all got to suddenly stop breathing. Dealing with global warming means that we have to stop waste, and if you travel for no reason whatsoever, that is a waste.
The more you go on, the less you need people standing between you and the animal and the camera waving their arms about.
The process of making natural history films is to try to prevent the animal knowing you are there, so you get glimpses of a non-human world, and that is a transporting thing.
I’m against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.
I’ve been bitten by a python. Not a very big one. I was being silly, saying: ‘Oh, it’s not poisonous’ Then, wallop! But you have fear around animals.
Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a co-ordinated view about the planet, it’s going to get worse and worse.
Do we really require so many gardening programmes, makeover programmes or celebrity chefs?
Reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as primitive, dull and dimwitted. In fact, of course, they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and very sophisticated.
Warm-bloodedness is one of the key factors that have enabled mammals to conquer the Earth, and to develop the most complex bodies in the animal kingdom. In this series, we will travel the world to discover just how varied and how astonishing mammals are.
Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen. They fly high and low, at great speed, and very slowly. And always with extraordinary precision and control.
We can now manipulate images to such an extrodinary extent that there’s no lie you cannot tell.
All we can hope for is that the thing is going to slowly and imperceptibly shift. All I can say is that 50 years ago there were no such thing as environmental policies.
You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That’s what natural history programmes should be for.