Plunge into the amazingly unpredictable, unseen world of plants with Sir David Attenborough in The Green Planet, premieres next week,
Plants are the world’s dominant life form, yet we’ve barely scratched the surface in knowing what their existence truly looks like – until now. In The Green Planet, Sir David Attenborough shows us the extraordinary world of plants like never before, revealing behavioural traits not too dissimilar to those of humans.
From Croatia to Costa Rica, Australia to Venezuela, China to South Africa, this stunning series journeys deep into vastly different landscapes around the planet, the plants that are unique to these regions, and their struggle to survive in an ever-changing climate, threatened by extreme weather and encroaching humanisation.
We explore hostile desert terrain where Sir David finds a flower resembling a hairy starfish that smells like rotting flesh; hidden underwater worlds where the most beautiful plants eat animals alive; densely populated tropical forests where plants fight for sunlight; and remarkable living bridges formed by the roots of rubber fig trees in India.
Pioneering technology such as thermal cameras, motion-control robotics, ultra-high-speed cameras, advanced microscopy, and the latest developments in science allow us to peer into the mysterious day-to-day lives of plants in real time, from fresh perspectives.
We discover incredible facts about plants: they are cunning, they hunt, they’re territorial, and they will even kill animals for food or defence. Yet while they might sound vicious, some plants actually care for each other, protect their “relatives” from predators, and create bonds with wildlife.
Sir David says: “We can all work with plants to help make our world greener and a little wilder. If we do this, our future on this planet will be safer and healthier, and in my experience at least, we will also be happier. Plants, after all, are our greatest allies.”
In a time when the environment is in turmoil, The Green Planet is another display of Sir David Attenborough’s unending passion for the natural world, and an awakening to the beauty we stand to lose if humanity fails to act against climate change.
Friday, February 4, at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.
