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Life Trilogy #3
The Trials of Life
"Watching and filming animals world-wide has occupied most of my working life. By the end of the 1970's, the marvels and wonders I had witnessed had become a dazzling, almost confusing kaleidoscope and I began to feel a need to put them in some kind of order, to try to produce a coherent survey of the natural history of the planet. So I started on a decade of work which was to result in three books and three 13-part television series: Life on Earth, The Living Planet and The Trials of Life. Between them, they looked at the three major aspects of natural history that can be studied simply by observing living wild animals - their diversity, their ecology and their behaviour.
The Trials of Life surveys the last and most dramatic of these. Every animal, whether rat or rattlesnake, lobster or llama or a human being, must during the course of its life face a series of problems - growing up and collecting food, finding its way around and defending itself against enemies, getting along with its fellows and finding a mate. But though the problems may be the same, the solutions are astoundingly varied. Ants in the Sahara find their way across the featureless sand by taking repeated observations on the sun, fireflies attract their mates by flashing signals like Morse code, and teams of chimpanzees hunt down monkeys in west African forests, collaborating in the most complex way yet observed in the animal world." -- David Attenborough, January 1992
The Trials of Life surveys the last and most dramatic of these. Every animal, whether rat or rattlesnake, lobster or llama or a human being, must during the course of its life face a series of problems - growing up and collecting food, finding its way around and defending itself against enemies, getting along with its fellows and finding a mate. But though the problems may be the same, the solutions are astoundingly varied. Ants in the Sahara find their way across the featureless sand by taking repeated observations on the sun, fireflies attract their mates by flashing signals like Morse code, and teams of chimpanzees hunt down monkeys in west African forests, collaborating in the most complex way yet observed in the animal world." -- David Attenborough, January 1992
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
156 people are currently reading
2196 people want to read
About the author
David Attenborough
173 books2,724 followersSir David Frederick Attenborough is a naturalist and broadcaster, who is most well-known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, produced in conjunction with BBC's Natural History Unit. The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005) and Life in Cold Blood (2008).
He is the younger brother of director and actor Richard Attenborough.
Photo credit: Wildscreen's photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive's launch in Bristol, England © May 2003
He is the younger brother of director and actor Richard Attenborough.
Photo credit: Wildscreen's photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive's launch in Bristol, England © May 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
September 26, 2015
David Attenborough, a man with an insatiable passion to witness, wonder and study our fascinating living planet, made natural history approachable for layman through a series of highly informative and engaging documentaries and companion books, of which the ‘Life’ trilogy, I consider as my favorite. In ‘Trials of Life’ the third work in the trilogy, Attenborough take us on a journey around globe telling us about ‘Ethology’ or the objective study of animal behavior, in his signature style of flair and simplicity.
David Attenborough, the ever curious observer of the natural world
David Attenborough – ever dedicated to travels & observing the nature – when he resigned his administrative position in BBC in 1979 for pursuing his passion for filming & writing made this remark, which underline his love for being in the field observing the wonders of nature. His curiosity and passion to learn and the penchant nature in which he shares the results of his study to his viewers/ readers without being too much academic makes his works easy to follow and understand.
The ‘Life’ Trilogy
The ‘Life’ series of documentaries and companion books, which cover an entire spectrum of living things spread across the whole globe, offers an expansive impression of our natural world and are widely acclaimed for the extreme simplicity of the presentation. While ‘Life on Earth’, the first work in the series, concentrated on the development of animal life from it’s beginning, in ‘ The Living Planet’, Attenborough traces evolution through a study on how animals physically adapted their bodies in accordance with their environment. In ‘The Trials of Life’, the final part of the trilogy, Attenborough travels across the globe inspecting the how & why of animal behavior.
The Trials of Life or ‘A study in animal behavior’
The dust cover jacket of the Hardbound edition, with its photograph of a ‘killer whale preying on sea-lion cubs on a lonely beach in Patagonia’, itself can spark the interest in a nature enthusiast by offering a sneak peek at the theme of this volume – the ways in which animals behave and utilize their bodies for survival.
While making the study of animal behavior, Attenborough doesn’t limit his selection to any particular geographical location or to any specific life forms; he inspects a whole range of representatives from the animal kingdom – mammals, insects, reptiles, fish, birds – from all over the globe and painstakingly observe and tell us about the behavioral patterns of the animals and how they use their bodies to guide the various phases of their life.
Like the other works in the series the book is neatly organized into a sequence of chapters, which inspect a specific phase of life for every living beings – like birth, growing up, hunting, courting etc – and concentrate in great detail how animals tackle ‘the trials of life’ at each stage by adapting their behavior towards survival.
It tells us that the ultimate aim in each of these behavioral patterns is oriented towards survival and eventually passing their genes to the next generation.
In the Initial chapter titled ‘Arriving’, we are presented with that amazing phase of life called ‘Birth’, by inspecting some of the fascinating ways in which life forms comes into the world. In one of the most profligate of strategies adopted by a species for survival we meet the crimson crab, which is endemic to the Christmas Island, and their saga of annual mass migration from forest through the islands towns to reach the sea for spawning.
Red Crabs migrating to the sea, Christmas Island
In this perilous and costly journey we come to know about a tiny life form and it’s behavioral strategy entirely based on sheer numbers –millions of crabs spawning at the same time with each crab producing about a hundred thousand eggs -, designed to beat the multitudinous hazards they face for their offspring in the form of predatory fish and secluded nature of the Island.
A Malleefowl [Source]
In the same chapter we come across the Malleefowl living in the open scrub country of Southern Australia and their complex process of keeping the eggs warm using a primitive form of incubator that they make from decaying vegetation and sand. The whole process is very complex and lengthy and is aimed in keeping the eggs close to 34° C for several months. Attenborough explains this process in great detail and the science involved in it that the birds perform like clockwork will amaze the reader.
In the chapter ‘Finding Food’ the reader will make acquaintance with the ‘Honeypot Ants’ of central Australia and their unique way of tackling the problem of storing honey for yearlong use. They use a number of ants – specialized workers known as repletes – virtually as jars.
The repletes used as jars among Honeypot ants [Source]
These repletes are kept in galleries down the ground and are fed with the honeydew and nectar collected by worker ants. A fully ‘stored’ honeypot ant’s abdomen can grow to the size of a large pea and they cling on to the roof of the galleries as storage tanks; when needed they regurgitate the honey droplets for the use of the whole ant nest.
These are just three random animal behaviors I picked from this book for the purpose of sampling and I can assure you that it contains hundreds of more such mesmerizing stories related to the mechanisms of survival from the animal world.
Altogether the ‘Trials of Life’ – and the entire ‘Life’ series – is a very good introduction to natural history, which apart from the tonnage of information it presents is further enriched by the energetic, ever curious mind of Attenborough. The book can delight even a general reader with no interest in natural history and its studies just due to the sheer simplicity of the narrative and the stunning quality of the photographs.
David Attenborough, the ever curious observer of the natural world
“My first assignment obliged me to stand knee-deep in bat droppings, in a cave in Borneo. I found that much preferable.”
David Attenborough – ever dedicated to travels & observing the nature – when he resigned his administrative position in BBC in 1979 for pursuing his passion for filming & writing made this remark, which underline his love for being in the field observing the wonders of nature. His curiosity and passion to learn and the penchant nature in which he shares the results of his study to his viewers/ readers without being too much academic makes his works easy to follow and understand.
The ‘Life’ Trilogy
The ‘Life’ series of documentaries and companion books, which cover an entire spectrum of living things spread across the whole globe, offers an expansive impression of our natural world and are widely acclaimed for the extreme simplicity of the presentation. While ‘Life on Earth’, the first work in the series, concentrated on the development of animal life from it’s beginning, in ‘ The Living Planet’, Attenborough traces evolution through a study on how animals physically adapted their bodies in accordance with their environment. In ‘The Trials of Life’, the final part of the trilogy, Attenborough travels across the globe inspecting the how & why of animal behavior.
The Trials of Life or ‘A study in animal behavior’
The dust cover jacket of the Hardbound edition, with its photograph of a ‘killer whale preying on sea-lion cubs on a lonely beach in Patagonia’, itself can spark the interest in a nature enthusiast by offering a sneak peek at the theme of this volume – the ways in which animals behave and utilize their bodies for survival.
While making the study of animal behavior, Attenborough doesn’t limit his selection to any particular geographical location or to any specific life forms; he inspects a whole range of representatives from the animal kingdom – mammals, insects, reptiles, fish, birds – from all over the globe and painstakingly observe and tell us about the behavioral patterns of the animals and how they use their bodies to guide the various phases of their life.
Like the other works in the series the book is neatly organized into a sequence of chapters, which inspect a specific phase of life for every living beings – like birth, growing up, hunting, courting etc – and concentrate in great detail how animals tackle ‘the trials of life’ at each stage by adapting their behavior towards survival.
It tells us that the ultimate aim in each of these behavioral patterns is oriented towards survival and eventually passing their genes to the next generation.
“All organisms are ultimately concerned to pass on their genes to the next generation. That, it would seem to a dispassionate and clinical observer is the prime objective of their existence. In the course of achieving it, they must face a whole succession of problems as they go through their lives. These problems are fundamentally the same whether the animals are spiders or squirrels, mice or monkeys, llamas or lobsters. The solutions developed by different species are hugely varied and often astounding. But they are all the more comprehensible and engaging for they are the trials that we also face ourselves.”
In the Initial chapter titled ‘Arriving’, we are presented with that amazing phase of life called ‘Birth’, by inspecting some of the fascinating ways in which life forms comes into the world. In one of the most profligate of strategies adopted by a species for survival we meet the crimson crab, which is endemic to the Christmas Island, and their saga of annual mass migration from forest through the islands towns to reach the sea for spawning.
Red Crabs migrating to the sea, Christmas Island
In this perilous and costly journey we come to know about a tiny life form and it’s behavioral strategy entirely based on sheer numbers –millions of crabs spawning at the same time with each crab producing about a hundred thousand eggs -, designed to beat the multitudinous hazards they face for their offspring in the form of predatory fish and secluded nature of the Island.
A Malleefowl [Source]
In the same chapter we come across the Malleefowl living in the open scrub country of Southern Australia and their complex process of keeping the eggs warm using a primitive form of incubator that they make from decaying vegetation and sand. The whole process is very complex and lengthy and is aimed in keeping the eggs close to 34° C for several months. Attenborough explains this process in great detail and the science involved in it that the birds perform like clockwork will amaze the reader.
In the chapter ‘Finding Food’ the reader will make acquaintance with the ‘Honeypot Ants’ of central Australia and their unique way of tackling the problem of storing honey for yearlong use. They use a number of ants – specialized workers known as repletes – virtually as jars.
The repletes used as jars among Honeypot ants [Source]
These repletes are kept in galleries down the ground and are fed with the honeydew and nectar collected by worker ants. A fully ‘stored’ honeypot ant’s abdomen can grow to the size of a large pea and they cling on to the roof of the galleries as storage tanks; when needed they regurgitate the honey droplets for the use of the whole ant nest.
These are just three random animal behaviors I picked from this book for the purpose of sampling and I can assure you that it contains hundreds of more such mesmerizing stories related to the mechanisms of survival from the animal world.
Altogether the ‘Trials of Life’ – and the entire ‘Life’ series – is a very good introduction to natural history, which apart from the tonnage of information it presents is further enriched by the energetic, ever curious mind of Attenborough. The book can delight even a general reader with no interest in natural history and its studies just due to the sheer simplicity of the narrative and the stunning quality of the photographs.
November 17, 2011
A short review, a longish aside with some personal ramblings and pictures of animals!
I really really liked this book. I thought about giving it five stars, but because I'm class-ocentric and I enjoyed Life of Mammals better, I felt my star ratings should show this distinction. Currently, or as current as when I was reading this, I am reading two animal books. One was great and one so far sucks. This is the great one.
Note: If David Attenborough would make a beautiful book / five part BBC documentary on Foxes it might be my favorite book / documentary ever made
As the title suggests, this book is about the various trails that confront animals at the various stages of their life. The book is laid out in chapters starting with the difficulties and unique ways different sorts of animals come into the world, and ends with a chapter on fucking (with some pictures, (as a note dragonfly fucking is much more involved than the picture would lead you to believe. The male dragonfly produces it's sperm from it's sex organs (like one would guess) and then transfers the sperm to a sort of surrogate 'penis' in it's neck. Then when mating he sticks his organic dildo of sorts into the female dragonfly. This fake penis is sort of like the strap-on dildo thing from Seven and makes descriptions of a cat's penis sound pleasant by comparison. It has all kinds of hooks and barbs on it which the male dragonfly uses to 'clean' out the female of any previous dragonfly man juice, he does this for about nineteen minutes and then takes about a minute to leave his own deposit of dragonfly dna nectar. Needless to say, but Sir David Attenborough described this in a much more tasteful manner than I did)). The middle chapters deal with other aspects of life, such as fighting, communicating, eating, navigating, courting, living in proximity to others, and it's awe-insprining all the diversity and ingenuity out there in the animal world for overcoming all of the different trials living organisms face in life.
A favorite animal fact from the book? I don't know if this is a favorite but it amused me greatly, since I'm immature. Female red-backed salamanders choose their mates by going through piles of shit that male red-backed salamanders leave in front of their burrow openings. The female inspects the feces looking for the male who has the richest diet, and prefers a mate who dines heavily on succulent termites as opposed to salamanders who chow down on the Chef Boyardee meal of plain out ants.
What did I learn from this book that helps me understand a baffling part of the way people interact, and subsequently made me realize yet another way why I'm a total failure in a Darwinian sense? The way guys shit-talk each other and go through verbal nonsense when they are gearing up to fight one another. I never got this. But I see now that it can be explained as a ritualized (albeit retarded ritual) biological response to dealing with another male in a confrontational manner. All sorts of animals have all kinds of threatening ways of acting when they are confronted with a foe that are used to stave off conflict, to show they are tougher without having to actually go through with fighting. From a survival point of view this behavioral 'shit-talking' allows for conflicts to be resolved, the weaker one slinking off without real violence being escalated. This allows the stronger animal to show superiority without the actual risks of winning but getting injured or wasting precious energy in a fight. A lot of animals have some kind of pre-fight ritual that serves to prove who is really the dominate one. So, in a modern day human perspective, this means that whoever is the bigger shit-talking retard can 'win' the fight by getting the other person to slink off thinking that the bigger retard really is going to do all of the nonsensical shit they are promising to do when they puff out their chests and start 'fronting'. I don't think I could ever take part in this verbally retarded smack-talk fest that guys do, it would embarrass me too much. I'd most likely just walk away from the person, thus giving them the 'victory' which in the wild means giving in to the dominant male who now has the better territory or the the right to mate with more females or whatever, which means the retards DNA is more likely to get passed on than me. If I didn't walk away, or if I really wanted to fight someone I would be more likely to just attack them then engage in the shit-talking, which also from an evolutionary point of view isn't good. I'd be more likely to get hurt in some way and risk my chances of survival and passing on my DNA by fighting instead of shit-talking, even if I won; and more importantly I'd probably get into fights without first really sizing up an opponent and leave myself more open to getting hurt by taking on someone who could be me grievous bodily harm.
Not that situations to fight present themselves to me on any sort of regular basis (it's actually been years and years since I've had some retard shit-talk at me and try to start something), but just realizing what my responses would be I realize yet another way that I'm most likely an evolutionary failure.
If you've read through all this nonsense you deserve a treat.
Here are some animals!
Satin bower bird and his nest.
Red-backed salamander
[image error]
Sea-horse giving birth
Giraffes necking (this is their own particular form of shit-talking before an actual fight)
And baby foxes, because there were no foxes in the book......
I really really liked this book. I thought about giving it five stars, but because I'm class-ocentric and I enjoyed Life of Mammals better, I felt my star ratings should show this distinction. Currently, or as current as when I was reading this, I am reading two animal books. One was great and one so far sucks. This is the great one.
Note: If David Attenborough would make a beautiful book / five part BBC documentary on Foxes it might be my favorite book / documentary ever made
As the title suggests, this book is about the various trails that confront animals at the various stages of their life. The book is laid out in chapters starting with the difficulties and unique ways different sorts of animals come into the world, and ends with a chapter on fucking (with some pictures, (as a note dragonfly fucking is much more involved than the picture would lead you to believe. The male dragonfly produces it's sperm from it's sex organs (like one would guess) and then transfers the sperm to a sort of surrogate 'penis' in it's neck. Then when mating he sticks his organic dildo of sorts into the female dragonfly. This fake penis is sort of like the strap-on dildo thing from Seven and makes descriptions of a cat's penis sound pleasant by comparison. It has all kinds of hooks and barbs on it which the male dragonfly uses to 'clean' out the female of any previous dragonfly man juice, he does this for about nineteen minutes and then takes about a minute to leave his own deposit of dragonfly dna nectar. Needless to say, but Sir David Attenborough described this in a much more tasteful manner than I did)). The middle chapters deal with other aspects of life, such as fighting, communicating, eating, navigating, courting, living in proximity to others, and it's awe-insprining all the diversity and ingenuity out there in the animal world for overcoming all of the different trials living organisms face in life.
A favorite animal fact from the book? I don't know if this is a favorite but it amused me greatly, since I'm immature. Female red-backed salamanders choose their mates by going through piles of shit that male red-backed salamanders leave in front of their burrow openings. The female inspects the feces looking for the male who has the richest diet, and prefers a mate who dines heavily on succulent termites as opposed to salamanders who chow down on the Chef Boyardee meal of plain out ants.
What did I learn from this book that helps me understand a baffling part of the way people interact, and subsequently made me realize yet another way why I'm a total failure in a Darwinian sense? The way guys shit-talk each other and go through verbal nonsense when they are gearing up to fight one another. I never got this. But I see now that it can be explained as a ritualized (albeit retarded ritual) biological response to dealing with another male in a confrontational manner. All sorts of animals have all kinds of threatening ways of acting when they are confronted with a foe that are used to stave off conflict, to show they are tougher without having to actually go through with fighting. From a survival point of view this behavioral 'shit-talking' allows for conflicts to be resolved, the weaker one slinking off without real violence being escalated. This allows the stronger animal to show superiority without the actual risks of winning but getting injured or wasting precious energy in a fight. A lot of animals have some kind of pre-fight ritual that serves to prove who is really the dominate one. So, in a modern day human perspective, this means that whoever is the bigger shit-talking retard can 'win' the fight by getting the other person to slink off thinking that the bigger retard really is going to do all of the nonsensical shit they are promising to do when they puff out their chests and start 'fronting'. I don't think I could ever take part in this verbally retarded smack-talk fest that guys do, it would embarrass me too much. I'd most likely just walk away from the person, thus giving them the 'victory' which in the wild means giving in to the dominant male who now has the better territory or the the right to mate with more females or whatever, which means the retards DNA is more likely to get passed on than me. If I didn't walk away, or if I really wanted to fight someone I would be more likely to just attack them then engage in the shit-talking, which also from an evolutionary point of view isn't good. I'd be more likely to get hurt in some way and risk my chances of survival and passing on my DNA by fighting instead of shit-talking, even if I won; and more importantly I'd probably get into fights without first really sizing up an opponent and leave myself more open to getting hurt by taking on someone who could be me grievous bodily harm.
Not that situations to fight present themselves to me on any sort of regular basis (it's actually been years and years since I've had some retard shit-talk at me and try to start something), but just realizing what my responses would be I realize yet another way that I'm most likely an evolutionary failure.
If you've read through all this nonsense you deserve a treat.
Here are some animals!
Satin bower bird and his nest.
Red-backed salamander
[image error]
Sea-horse giving birth
Giraffes necking (this is their own particular form of shit-talking before an actual fight)
And baby foxes, because there were no foxes in the book......
March 28, 2023
You bet I had to get the signed edition (consolation prize for not having been at the flagship store of Waterstones last year when Sir Attenborough was there in person).
This subject is not new. There is a documentary series with several seasons that the international treasure presented many many years ago. Then came the book version. This is the update of that book since life changes constantly - and there are some new and fascinating insights indeed!
The chapters are once again as follows:
1. Arriving
2. Growing Up
3. Finding Food
4. Hunting and Escaping
5. Finding the Way
6. Home-making
7. Living Together
8. Fighting
9. Friends and Rivals
10. Talking to Strangers
11. Courting
12. Continuing the Line
So yeah, from sex to birth and ending with death - this book covers it all. In between, we follow mothers (and fathers) rearing their young (or foisting them onto unsuspecting others), feeding them, them learning to hunt or finding the right plants themselves, then them finding a place to live and securing territory (either through cooperation or being the best adapted/strongest), before they have to find a mate and begin the cycle all over again. A very deep look into social structures and behaviorisms.
There are examples from every class of animal in every corner of the planet. Some are well-known and familiar, some are new, not least because we continue to learn about the world we live in - but also because humans change the world significantly and it has a significant impact on the animal kingdom.
As I've come to expect, the book is written in a very amicable style. It's as if you sat down with Sir Attenborough and he told you of his travels and discoveries. A very cozy way of educating people of all ages and a delight to read in print as well as audio (narrated/read by Sir Attenborough himself). Seriously, he's a treasure-trove of knowledge and insight and he has such a unique way of "presenting" it all.
Just yesterday, I decided to get the collector's edition of the Life collection (DVDs). As old as some of the seasons are, they are still the non-plus-ultra in documentary-making if you ask me and they are a fixture of my childhood as is Sir Attenborough's charming way.
This is the third in the trilogy and therefore the end of the series' update. We've come to the end of a journey - regarding the books and, unfortunately, also the author's life (he'll be 97 in May). The sheer amount of things he's seen and experienced is enough to fill a host of books but it is also extremely fascinating to witness the changes in our world through his eyes. Not least because of this, these books are a hallmark of their genre and should be read by everyone.
March 24, 2025
ENGLISH: Complementing one of the television series about the lives of animals that made David Attemborough famous, this book can be read separately from the series and is very interesting, with 12 chapters (one for each episode of the series) that deal with issues vital to many animals: finding food, escaping predators, building houses, living together, fighting, communicating, finding a mate and reproducing.
In the last chapter I caught a major mistake. It says this: Many small animals (aphids and mites, wasps and termites) are able to dispense with the problem of having to copulate for many generations. They can produce eggs that develop without any contact with sperm. The offspring produced are clones, individuals genetically identical to their single parent. An ability like this is of particular interest when an animal needs to generate a large force of workers to take quick advantage of a fleeting opportunity. Thus... queens of termites and bees surround themselves with whole armies of workers.
This is not correct. Worker bees and termites are not clones of the queen, since they are born from fertilized eggs. Among hymenoptera, males are haploid, but they are not clones of the queen, who is diploid. Furthermore, when a queen wants to quickly fill the hive, anthill or wasp nest with workers, she does not produce males, but females. Aphids do produce clones of themselves, and what this chapter says about them is correct. In short, here Attemborough has really screwed up.
ESPAÑOL: Complementario con una de las series de televisión sobre la vida de los animales que hizo famoso a David Attemborough, este libro puede leerse separado de la serie y resulta muy interesante, con 12 capítulos (uno por entrega de la serie) que hablan de cuestiones vitales para muchos animales: encontrar comida, escapar de los predadores, construir casas, vivir juntos, luchar, comunicarse, encontrar pareja y reproducirse.
En el último capítulo le he pillado un fallo importante. Dice esto: Muchos animales pequeños (áfidos y ácaros, avispas y termitas) son capaces de prescindir durante muchas generaciones del problema de tener que copular. Pueden producir huevos que se desarrollan sin ningún contacto con el esperma. Las crías producidas son clones, individuos genéticamente idénticos a su único progenitor. Una habilidad como ésta es de particular interés cuando un animal necesita generar una gran fuerza de trabajadores para aprovechar la rápida ventaja de una oportunidad efímera. Así... las reinas de las termitas y abejas se rodean a sí mismas con ejércitos enteros de trabajadores.
Esto no es correcto. Las abejas y termitas obreras no son clones de la reina, pues nacen de huevos fecundados. Entre los himenópteros, los machos son haploides, pero tampoco son clones de la reina, que es diploide. Además, cuando una reina quiere llenar rápidamente de obreras la colmena, hormiguero o avispero, no genera machos, sino hembras. Los áfidos sí producen clones de sí mismos, y lo que dice de ellos este capítulo es correcto. En fin, que en este punto Attemborough ha metido la pata hasta el fondo.
In the last chapter I caught a major mistake. It says this: Many small animals (aphids and mites, wasps and termites) are able to dispense with the problem of having to copulate for many generations. They can produce eggs that develop without any contact with sperm. The offspring produced are clones, individuals genetically identical to their single parent. An ability like this is of particular interest when an animal needs to generate a large force of workers to take quick advantage of a fleeting opportunity. Thus... queens of termites and bees surround themselves with whole armies of workers.
This is not correct. Worker bees and termites are not clones of the queen, since they are born from fertilized eggs. Among hymenoptera, males are haploid, but they are not clones of the queen, who is diploid. Furthermore, when a queen wants to quickly fill the hive, anthill or wasp nest with workers, she does not produce males, but females. Aphids do produce clones of themselves, and what this chapter says about them is correct. In short, here Attemborough has really screwed up.
ESPAÑOL: Complementario con una de las series de televisión sobre la vida de los animales que hizo famoso a David Attemborough, este libro puede leerse separado de la serie y resulta muy interesante, con 12 capítulos (uno por entrega de la serie) que hablan de cuestiones vitales para muchos animales: encontrar comida, escapar de los predadores, construir casas, vivir juntos, luchar, comunicarse, encontrar pareja y reproducirse.
En el último capítulo le he pillado un fallo importante. Dice esto: Muchos animales pequeños (áfidos y ácaros, avispas y termitas) son capaces de prescindir durante muchas generaciones del problema de tener que copular. Pueden producir huevos que se desarrollan sin ningún contacto con el esperma. Las crías producidas son clones, individuos genéticamente idénticos a su único progenitor. Una habilidad como ésta es de particular interés cuando un animal necesita generar una gran fuerza de trabajadores para aprovechar la rápida ventaja de una oportunidad efímera. Así... las reinas de las termitas y abejas se rodean a sí mismas con ejércitos enteros de trabajadores.
Esto no es correcto. Las abejas y termitas obreras no son clones de la reina, pues nacen de huevos fecundados. Entre los himenópteros, los machos son haploides, pero tampoco son clones de la reina, que es diploide. Además, cuando una reina quiere llenar rápidamente de obreras la colmena, hormiguero o avispero, no genera machos, sino hembras. Los áfidos sí producen clones de sí mismos, y lo que dice de ellos este capítulo es correcto. En fin, que en este punto Attemborough ha metido la pata hasta el fondo.
May 30, 2021
Much like Attenborough's wonderful TV shows which cover an abbreviated version of the companion series, his book is a thoughtful and interesting series of vignettes detailing selected animals. He has broken down the book into 12 chapters and uses an amazing variety of animals to illustrate the chapter theme. For example, Chapter 8 is titled "Fighting". Instead of treading down familiar paths using typical characters such as lions or bears, he spends more time with unusual subjects like anemones. I had no idea that anemones even move, let alone fight, so the book is often a treasure trove of behavior unavailable elsewhere in a single volume.
Immensely readable. Sir David does a wonderful job making the mundane life of animals fresh and exiting. Well done.
Immensely readable. Sir David does a wonderful job making the mundane life of animals fresh and exiting. Well done.
May 18, 2023
There are some people who have a total and immediately recognisable voice. A voice that brings comfort, certainty, and interest to the ears of many of us. David Attenborough has such a voice. Whenever I hear his dulcet tones, I know that I am hearing the sounds and words of a man committed to truth, concerned for the environment and with unquestionable knowledge. I listened to this audio book to sooth my soul and soak the aural sounds into the marrow of my bones.
As I am sure most readers would have seen this, and many of Attenborough’s oeuvre of animal life documentaries. He would rank as the greatest exponent for the saving of the natural world, sadly with the rising rate of animal extinction his success has been measured. But listening to him still gives the reader some hope.
As I am sure most readers would have seen this, and many of Attenborough’s oeuvre of animal life documentaries. He would rank as the greatest exponent for the saving of the natural world, sadly with the rising rate of animal extinction his success has been measured. But listening to him still gives the reader some hope.
December 16, 2024
When David Attenborough lists one animal fact after the other for ten hours it’s “incredible” and “a sensation”. When I do it I’m “probably on the spectrum” and “ruining Thanksgiving dinner”.
I’ve got so many uncomfortable animal fun facts on deck, you wouldn’t believe.
I’ve got so many uncomfortable animal fun facts on deck, you wouldn’t believe.
May 12, 2024
Nie wiedziałam, że to trzecia część trylogii o zwierzętach - tym razem o ich zachowaniu. Znakomita pozycja - autora nie trzeba reklamować - a audiobook czyta oczywiście... Krystyna Czubówna. Wyobrażam sobie, że wersja papierowa jest pełna pięknych zdjęć. Książka jest niezwykle ciekawa, napisana lekkim i przyjemnym językiem - trafia do każdego czytelnika. Z tego względu może być znakomitym prezentem, nawet dla osoby, dla której czytanie książek jest wyzwaniem.
June 30, 2021
Maravillosa colección de breves ensayos (doce en total) que tratan distintos temas sobre los animales, desde la reproducción a la lucha pasando por la simbiosis, la adaptación a los extremos... Sir David Attenborough escribe (y lo traducen) de manera igualmente hipnótica que cuando habla en sus documentales. Una auténtica gozada de libro. Obra maestra.
July 27, 2015
Excellent examination of the natural world and animal behavior. The narrative is organized well and looks at animal behavior starting with birth and ending with 'continuing the line' (sexual behavior). In between, there's a look at growing up, finding food, hunting, making a home, living together, fighting, friends and rivals, talking, and courting. It is a fascinating look at the wide variety of animals and the adaptations that they've made to their environment. The photos are lovely and illustrate well the author's points. This book leaves you in awe of the wonders of the animal world.
Quote to remember:
All organisms are ultimately concerned to pass on their genes to the next generation. That, it would seem to a dispassionate and clinical observer, is the prime objective of their existence. In the course of achieving it, they must face a whole succession of problems as they go through their lives. These problems are fundamentally the same whether the animals are spiders or squirrels, mice or monkeys, llamas or lobsters. The solutions developed by different species are hugely varied and often astounding. But they are all the more comprehensible and engaging for they are the trials of life that we also face ourselves.
Quote to remember:
All organisms are ultimately concerned to pass on their genes to the next generation. That, it would seem to a dispassionate and clinical observer, is the prime objective of their existence. In the course of achieving it, they must face a whole succession of problems as they go through their lives. These problems are fundamentally the same whether the animals are spiders or squirrels, mice or monkeys, llamas or lobsters. The solutions developed by different species are hugely varied and often astounding. But they are all the more comprehensible and engaging for they are the trials of life that we also face ourselves.
March 23, 2023
'Trials of Life' is another superb book by Attenborough looking at animal and plant behaviour that aids in their survival. Like all of his books his style is extremely easy to read and you are soon drawn in to the fascinating lives of the various animals he describes. Throughout the book you get one page of text and another full page of the most stunning photography you are ever likely to see and occasionally you'll get a double spread for a particularly impressive image. This looks at animal behaviour in relation to eating, reproduction, fighting, finding shelter, making friends and a whole range of other traits besides. As part of the Attenborough collection this can't be missed, but it is well worth a look in it's own right and makes for a couple days of informative and completely engrossing reading. The wonder of nature has rarely been so well presented, and yet we've become used to that from Attenborough and anything less would be a let down. This more than lives up to this high standard.
March 3, 2024
A bunch of descriptions of how animals are bloody weirdos. Love it.
March 19, 2023
Fascinating, engaging and truly easy to follow this is your classical David Attenborough: thoughtful, informative, and compelling.
There are twelve essays explaining different animal behaviours, some of them absolutely bewildering, tbh :P I liked the way in which they are structured: from birth to reproduction, going through feeding, fighting, socialization... The circle of life, really
I think I've seen all his TV documentaries, and after listening to this one, you can be sure I'll be going to get all the audiobooks.
There are twelve essays explaining different animal behaviours, some of them absolutely bewildering, tbh :P I liked the way in which they are structured: from birth to reproduction, going through feeding, fighting, socialization... The circle of life, really
I think I've seen all his TV documentaries, and after listening to this one, you can be sure I'll be going to get all the audiobooks.
June 24, 2024
Absolutely wonderful. Stunning, interesting, comprehensive, insightful, presented in a clear way... I've been brought up on a steady diet of films and series by Sir David Attenborough and I expect nothing but excellence from him. I wasn't disappointed. If you know and love his works, you'll love it as well - and if you don't, what's wrong with you?
While it would be best to read this book narrated by the man himself, Krystyna Czubówna, the Polish legend, is a close second.
While it would be best to read this book narrated by the man himself, Krystyna Czubówna, the Polish legend, is a close second.
January 28, 2025
Listening to Sir David Attenborough talk about animals and nature will always be 5* for me.
November 27, 2025
Another fascinating and informative David Attenborough book. Always such a pleasure to read and always so many surprising, interesting and often bizarre facts about the vast array of life around us. Definitely 5 star!
March 18, 2017
You know, most of the time reading nonfiction is boring. But this was actually interesting! All the stages of different animals throughout the time they were born to when they die. EVERY DETAIL(of their life)!
September 19, 2022
It was good for me to finish reading the trilogy. However I found this was my least favourite out of the three. It felt slower moving.
March 30, 2025
Azt hiszem, ez volt az első Attenborough-könyv, amit olvastam, hiába tartom hatalmasra a munkásságát és láttam már számtalanszor a tévében-moziban. Igaz, hangoskönyvben már több könyvét meghallgattam.
Azok is tetszettek, de ez is "állati" pozitív élmény volt. Bekezdésről bekezdésre meg tudott döbbenteni egy újabb és újabb ténnyel az állatvilágból. Egészen elképesztő dolgokról ír - tényleg olyan, mintha egy természetfilmet fogadnék be, csak olvasva. A vizuális hatást a fantáziánk mellett a képek is segítik - habár ezek tömbösítve vannak, és nem is hatalmas méretűek (az anyósomnál megtalált korábbi kiadás kb. A/4-es méretben tartalmaz képeket, ráadásul minden 2-3. oldalon).
Akárhogy is, remek könyv, jó a stílusa, és tényleg olyan lenyűgöző dolgokról ír (kezdve a születéstől, a felcseperedésen, otthonteremtésen, utazáson, harcokon és párválasztáson át, egészen újra a megtermékenyítésig), hogy nem lehet nem odafigyelni és elképedni. Legyen szó tényleg férgekről, halakról, emlősökről, ízeltlábúakról, bármiről. És ami hasonlóan nagy szó, hogy az ember már mindezeket megfigyelte.
Azok is tetszettek, de ez is "állati" pozitív élmény volt. Bekezdésről bekezdésre meg tudott döbbenteni egy újabb és újabb ténnyel az állatvilágból. Egészen elképesztő dolgokról ír - tényleg olyan, mintha egy természetfilmet fogadnék be, csak olvasva. A vizuális hatást a fantáziánk mellett a képek is segítik - habár ezek tömbösítve vannak, és nem is hatalmas méretűek (az anyósomnál megtalált korábbi kiadás kb. A/4-es méretben tartalmaz képeket, ráadásul minden 2-3. oldalon).
Akárhogy is, remek könyv, jó a stílusa, és tényleg olyan lenyűgöző dolgokról ír (kezdve a születéstől, a felcseperedésen, otthonteremtésen, utazáson, harcokon és párválasztáson át, egészen újra a megtermékenyítésig), hogy nem lehet nem odafigyelni és elképedni. Legyen szó tényleg férgekről, halakról, emlősökről, ízeltlábúakról, bármiről. És ami hasonlóan nagy szó, hogy az ember már mindezeket megfigyelte.
February 4, 2023
David Attenborough has the most amazing voice narrating this book. I felt like I was watching the BBC tv shows without the visual lol. Fascinating to be able to document animal behaviours to this level of detail. Loved it
January 4, 2024
Not a quick or easy read imo but very interesting
August 18, 2024
Nat geo bez wizji. Zwierzęta, przyroda, świat są AMAZING
March 12, 2025
Really fun book actually
May 28, 2025
Loved this.
April 22, 2025
A very chill and entertaining audiobook, as expected from Sir David.
May 22, 2025
Not the most enthralling piece by the legend but still amazingly descriptive and informative
August 18, 2025
As passionate and brilliant as always, I consistently listen to these books as it's such a joy to hear them in David Attenborough's voice. Fascinating to hear so much about animal behaviour, definitely worth a read!
October 20, 2008
Really interesting. This is the companion book to the documentary series that came out when I was a teen. I love David Attenborough!
Read
October 24, 2014The Trials of Life 07182005
A Natural History of Animal Behavior David Attenborough
A Natural History of Animal Behavior David Attenborough
June 18, 2023
Relishing in self-anointed sagacity, Homo sapiens like to draw a parallel between themselves and other animals. Monogamy is a case in point. We also stay away from compassionless, patriarchal, selfish or cold-blooded creatures. Soon we will have to accept that neither is quite right.
Propagation of genes may not satisfy a human, so we would like to think that nature is brimming with meaningful activities until we lay eyes on a period cicada, buried seventeen years only to mate. Neither is hard-earned copulation encouraged. Male zebra longwings wait near the chrysalis of a female for an ambush ‘invasion’. The question of consent never seems to bug the butterfly as well as the female gold orb-weavers and blackfoot tarantulas.
Of all the hunting scenes, dismemberment of primates reeks of the most terror. No less savage than lion feasting on its stepchildren, chimpanzees outmanoeuvring colobuses is regarded with unequal empathy. Discrimination runs deep here. What has gone wrong is likening animals to human beings in behavioural terms, without acknowledging that we know too little about them and always think too high of our own generalisations.
We no longer link courtship to reproduction. And we have rewritten the means of production. Some Kenyan aboriginals exhibit the charm of collaborating with animals like honeyguides, quite literally, to find honey. But something unheard of, does not mean it is something nonsensical. The female fireflies in the American northeast are cannibals that leverage their sexual allure to which passionate suitors will fall prey. The ‘nursery’ of ostriches may resemble ours but our resemblance only goes so far.
David Attenborough, zoologists and the producers are priceless contributors for elucidating things we thought we knew, and things we didn’t know we don’t know. The images included and footages not included are both priceless learning materials and incriminating evidence against our glaring ignorance.
Propagation of genes may not satisfy a human, so we would like to think that nature is brimming with meaningful activities until we lay eyes on a period cicada, buried seventeen years only to mate. Neither is hard-earned copulation encouraged. Male zebra longwings wait near the chrysalis of a female for an ambush ‘invasion’. The question of consent never seems to bug the butterfly as well as the female gold orb-weavers and blackfoot tarantulas.
Of all the hunting scenes, dismemberment of primates reeks of the most terror. No less savage than lion feasting on its stepchildren, chimpanzees outmanoeuvring colobuses is regarded with unequal empathy. Discrimination runs deep here. What has gone wrong is likening animals to human beings in behavioural terms, without acknowledging that we know too little about them and always think too high of our own generalisations.
We no longer link courtship to reproduction. And we have rewritten the means of production. Some Kenyan aboriginals exhibit the charm of collaborating with animals like honeyguides, quite literally, to find honey. But something unheard of, does not mean it is something nonsensical. The female fireflies in the American northeast are cannibals that leverage their sexual allure to which passionate suitors will fall prey. The ‘nursery’ of ostriches may resemble ours but our resemblance only goes so far.
David Attenborough, zoologists and the producers are priceless contributors for elucidating things we thought we knew, and things we didn’t know we don’t know. The images included and footages not included are both priceless learning materials and incriminating evidence against our glaring ignorance.
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