"A Life on Our Planet" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Holocene

The Holocene period began around 9630 BC. According to Attenborough, this age is contingent on the stability of its climate, which Earth's vast northern forests and phytoplankton in oceans help to maintain by storing carbon. This stability is endangered as there is too much carbon in the air.

Answer: Fossils

There were ammonite fossils embedded in the disused ironstone quarry he used to frequent. Pliny the Elder named these spiral shell fossils after the Egyptian god Ammon, who, according to myth, wore ram's horns (which the shells resemble).

Answer: Endless Plains

The herd was enormous, comprised of 1 million wildebeest, 1/2 million gazelles and 1/4 million zebra; and the Serengeti, a pastural expanse, seemed endless, but Attenborough learned if it was smaller, it could not maintain the herd, the size of which was necessary for the successful maintenance of the ecosystem.

Attenborough discovered the natural world was finite, and as people saw footage of the planet form outer space on the day of the moon landing, many noticed its vulnerability.

Answer: The oceans had been absorbing the excess heat.

In the 1990s, global warming brought about by greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans exceeded the levels the oceans could soak up, so the temperature of the planet began to rise.

Greenhouse gases are so called because they trap heat from the sun by absorbing infrared radiation. Major greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Since the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas (mostly CO2) emissions have been causing global warming.

Answer: Livestock

At the time this movie was made, the human population had doubled in the previous 50 years, but meat consumption had tripled.

Species of domestic and wild mammals account for only 4% of the mammalian populations on the planet. Only 30% of birds are wild and most of the rest are chickens. In David Attenborough's first 93 years, our planet's flora and fauna has halved. He considers the wild "destroyed".

Answer: Global warming will accelerate.

Arctic ice plays an important role in preventing global warming by reflecting the sun's rays. If summers in the Arctic become ice free, winter ice will be diminished, so the rate of global warming will increase.

Answer: Methane

Methane is an 86 times more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Its release and the melting of the ice caps are considered feedback loops, as they are caused by human activity but greatly contribute to global warming in and of themselves.

Answer: Much of the planet will become uninhabitable.

This rise in temperature would cause Europe to dry up and Micronesia to sink into the ocean. Millions of people would become homeless. A mass extinction would be in progress by this time.

Answer: Geothermics

Geothermal energy is the harnessing of heat within the Earth for energy. Biofuel is the burning of combustible items such as woodchips for electricity. Renewable technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines require the mining and use of fossil fuels and rare earths for their construction and expire after a few decades. Wind turbines kill large birds.

However, renewables do not emit greenhouse gases.

Answer: Making one third of coastal seas no fish zones and restricting fishing

Bans and restrictions on fishing have been proven to allow fish populations to recover. The oceanic nutrient cycle is dependent on large, predatory fish, of which 10% remained when "A Life On Our Planet" was made.

Attenborough's proposed solution to the wicked problem of the looming 6th mass extinction event is the rewilding of the planet. By controlling population growth, relying solely on renewable power sources, minimizing our consumption of meat and returning as much farmland as possible to the wild, we can allow the natural world to rally and thrive.