Life is an ambitious, exhilarating and beautifully illustrated study of animal behaviour, exploring the key groups of animals that inhabit this planet and their survival strategies. From cold-blooded reptilian killers to the armoured invaders of the insect world, the long-distance migratory birds to predatory mammals and the sociable and intelligent primates, "Life" reveals animal behaviour as never been seen before. By focusing on intimate details of life, the book draws us into a fascinating primal story.
Starting with the challenges of childhood, we see how polar bears court, how baby penguins learn and how elephants look after each other in adulthood. How huge populations co-exist in a coral reef, weevils use their bodies as a toolbox and perhaps most familiar to us, the parental, nurturing instincts of the orangutangs. With emotional story-telling and breathtaking photography, this is an unmissable companion to 2009's landmark natural history programme.
Martha Holmes was the series producer of Life. She is a marine biologist with a PhD from the University of York and has produced programmes for major series including Life in the Freezer and Blue Planet, as well as the BAFTA-winning Wildlife Special: Polar Bear. Michael Gunton was the executive editor of Life and is director of development for the BBC NHU. He has a PhD in zoology from the University of Cambridge. Mike was series editor for The Natural World for three years and executive producer on numerous films and series, including Ultimate Killers, Galapagos, David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth and Alan Titchmarsh's British Isles: a Natural History.