Sir David Attenborough has encountered hundreds of species in his 92 years, but you may be surprised to hear that his favourite animal is in fact the human being. During the premiere of his new series Our Planet, Sir David chatted to press on the red carpet and revealed: "Human beings [are my favourite]! If you were surrounded by all kinds of animals in a zoo and you also had your child there, who would you go for?"
Reflecting on the impact that humans have on the planet, Sir David went on to say: "We're changing it now and in the wrong way. That's the point. We're a very, very effective species. We dominate the Earth. It's something like 90 per cent, a huge percentage of animals en masse are human beings – the proportion occupied by monkeys, elephants and tigers is tiny compared to our one species."
Sir David and the royal family attend premiere of Our Planet:
Our Planet, which premiered on Netflix on Friday, is an eight-part series that explores the precious wonders of the world. The programme took four years to film in 50 countries in continents including Africa and South America. Narrator David also looks closely at the planet's remaining wilderness areas and their animal inhabitants.
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Despite the negative impact humans have on Earth, the documentarist praised teachers and the younger generation, saying: "Teachers are doing a wonderful job. I get so many letters from pupils and schoolchildren so I have no doubt that teachers are actually doing a fantastic job. And young people, people in their teens, are some of the most energetic, which is not surprising bearing in mind it's their world."
Sir David revealed his favourite animal is the human being
Sir David was the guest of honour at Thursday night's premiere held at the Natural History Museum. The documentarist was on hand to welcome Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as other famous faces including David and Brooklyn Beckham and Ellie Goulding. Charles, who is president of the World Wildlife Fund UK, gave a speech saying: "I must say I was enormously touched to have been asked here this evening along with both of my sons to launch this really remarkable series.
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"It is also a much-awaited opportunity to pay tribute to Sir David Attenborough for all he has done over so many years to bring wonder and fascination and in creating desperate plight of the natural world to our attention. Above all he has done so much to lift the veil of ignorance from our eyes about the integrated and innate beauty of our home."
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