Veteran naturalist and presenter Chris Packham is set to embark on a sweeping exploration of life's origins and development in his new five-part BBC series, 'Evolution'. The programme aims to challenge conventional understandings of how species have changed over billions of years, focusing on pivotal moments of rapid transformation rather than solely on slow, incremental shifts.
Packham's infectious enthusiasm for the natural world underpins the series, which begins with the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) – a single-celled organism that existed approximately 4.2 billion years ago. He highlights the enduring physical connection between all living things and this ancient ancestor, describing it as an 'absolutely brilliant' concept that underpins the diversity of life on Earth, from humans to elephants.
The series is structured around fundamental biological processes, each illustrated through a specific animal. For example, the elephant is used to explain the evolution of breathing, while the bat demonstrates the complexities of eating and sustenance, being an animal that consumes its own bodyweight in insects daily. Packham also delves into reproduction via the ostrich, thinking through the dolphin, and locomotion through the horse, aiming to shake up common misconceptions that evolution is solely a slow process and that humanity represents its ultimate culmination.
Packham's approach to storytelling is notably pragmatic. While he expresses a romantic appreciation for fossils, he acknowledges that repeatedly showing 'a piece of rock' may not engage a general audience. Consequently, the series incorporates AI-generated images to visualise long-extinct creatures, such as the palaeomastodon. This blend of traditional natural history and modern technology reflects Packham's view that human cultural evolution, including advancements like AI, will profoundly affect our species.
Beyond the scientific explanations, Packham encourages viewers to rekindle a 'childish' sense of wonder about the natural world. He advocates for asking fundamental questions, such as 'How did an elephant get a trunk? Why has it got a trunk? Why haven’t I got a trunk?' This emphasis on curiosity seeks to counteract what he perceives as a societal tendency to become 'lazy' and lose the capacity for profound inquiry.
The series also touches upon the development of basic biological functions, such as digestion. Packham humorously recounts the early, inefficient systems where organisms had a single opening for both ingesting food and expelling waste, a stark contrast to the specialised systems seen in more evolved creatures like the bat, where sensory organs are strategically located near the mouth for efficient feeding.
Source: BBC