Attenborough’s Life in Colour

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Attenborough's Life in Colour

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The vital role colour plays in the daily lives of many species.

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David Attenborough

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Attenborough's Life in Colour: Series 1: Seeing in Colour

Seeing in Colour

BBC One - Attenborough's Life in Colour, Series 1, Seeing in Colour

David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour.

Using the latest camera technology, David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour: to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies.

The natural world is full of colours. For us, they are a source of beauty, but for animals they are a tool for survival. David Attenborough reveals the extraordinary ways in which animals use colour: to win a mate, to fight off rivals and to warn enemies. In India, peacocks dazzle females with magnificent tail feathers; a tiny hummingbird in the deserts of North America unfurls his spectacular headdress as he dances for a mate; and in the darkness of a rainforest, powerful mandrill baboons signal their status with red and blue face masks, while tiny frogs warn of deadly poisons with brilliant colours.

New camera technologies - some developed especially for this series – also allow us to see colours and patterns usually invisible to human eyes. Ultraviolet cameras reveal bright signals on a butterfly’s wings and facial markings on yellow damselfish that are used as secret communication channels. Some animals can also detect polarised light, and specialist cameras can now show us how fiddler crabs see the world, and how mantis shrimp have strange polarisation patterns on their bodies to signal to a mate or rival.

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Attenborough's Life in Colour

Series 1

Seeing in Colour

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