Original air date: 5 February 2003
Above is a graphical presentation of the episode, a more detailed text version of the timeline is below
Selected material
Chimps breaking nuts
A chimpanzee breaking a nut by using a tree trunk as an anvil
Attenborough watching the chimp steadying the nut on the trunk
The fall of the Mayan civilisation (seen from a space satellite)
Satellite images used to indicate the reason for Mayan downfall (a pick of those in the programme)
Final words (in full): “Three and a half million years separate the individual who left these footprints in the sands of Africa form the one who left them on the moon. A mere blink in the eye of evolution. Using his burgeoning intelligence, this most successful of all mammals has exploited the environment to produce food for an ever-increasing population. In spite of disasters when civilisations have over-reached themselves, that process has continued, indeed accelerated, even today. Now mankind is looking for food, not just on this planet but on others. Perhaps the time has come to put that process into reverse. Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it’s time we control the population to allow the survival of the environment.”