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Cultivating a Curious Mind: 100 Years of David Attenborough

With David Attenborough celebrating his 100th birthday this year, I wanted to share a bit about how he inspired me through the ground breaking work that he’s done. I grew up watching his documentaries, listening to his iconic voice and further fuelling my passion for the environment as I got older. Whenever I watched him on TV, I was always in awe of the exciting adventures he went on, witnessing nature’s phenomena up close.

Figure 1. David Attenborough.

I have watched many David Attenborough documentaries, but his Natural Curiosities series remains as a top favourite of mine. It’s a bit more obscure compared to his other documentaries, as the whole purpose of the series is to investigate strange evolutionary occurrences and mysteries of the animal world. One episode I thoroughly remember was about Clever Hans, a horse living in the early 20th century that was able to answer mathematic problems by tapping the answer with his hooves. Attenborough set off to figure out whether Hans, and other animals in general, could actually count. He found that although Hans appeared to answer questions correctly, he was actually following the body language of his handler to know when to stop tapping his hooves, particularly his facial signals. So no, Clever Hans did not actually solve those math problems, but I still find it incredibly fascinating that he had the ability to recognize the facial expressions of his owner to determine whether or not he should tap his hooves. 

Video 1. Trailer for David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities.

This series in particular made me realize that there’s still so much we don’t know about animals, that there are plenty of odd creatures existing in both past and present times, and that there’s so much left to discover. The fact that David Attenborough continues his lifelong passion for nature into his 100th year on this planet, and remains an advocate for the environment through his documentaries, truly shows the impact he has created. He made me realize that no matter how old you are, the flame for your passion never goes out and it's never too late to pursue what you love. I for one cannot wait to see his upcoming documentary Blue Planet III later this year, and what else he has in store for the future.
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