12 – Continuing the Line

Original air date: 19 December 1990

Above is a graphical outline of the episode, below is a more detailed timeline

Selected material

The proportionately longest sex organ in the world

The barnacle, marked at the bottom of the image, being immobile, needs to stretch very far for a mate. It has the proportionately longest sex organ in the world.

Wolves, their genitals being locked together

The wolves’ genitals are locked together until his sperm has managed to reach her eggs

Attenborough and the royal albatross (the last animal of the series)

She’s already a grandmother and the final words are about her

Introducing the next round of the series, starting with the first episode the final words to this one (sitting by a much studied albatross): “This albatross is over 30 years old. She’s already a grandmother, and this year, once again, she’s produced a chick. She’ll devote the next ten months of her life looking after it. She has faced the trials of life and triumphed. For her little two-day-old chick, the trials are just beginning.”

More episodes

01 - Arriving
02 - Growing Up
03 - Finding Food
04 - Hunting and Escaping
05 - Finding the Way
06 - Home Making
07 - Living Together
08 - Fighting
09 - Friends and Rivals
10 - Talking to Strangers
11 - Courting