David Attenborough's Mammals review: These ingenious animals make us humans ... trends now
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Yes please, I'll have one. It means never having to mow the lawn, and an unlimited amount of fertiliser for the flowerbeds. But just the one, thanks — our garden is not big enough for more than a single elephant.
The president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, is threatening to send 20,000 elephants to Germany if Berlin bans the import of hunting trophies. 'This is not a joke,' he adds. Germans ought to have a taste of living 'together with the animals, the way you are trying to tell us to'.
David Attenborough gave us exactly that experience, in Mammals (BBC1). In a Zimbabwe town, elephants come strolling through the gardens every night. These have been their stamping grounds for aeons, and they're not going to change their habits simply because a few humans have turned up.
What amazing ingenuity animals show, using our tools and weapons for their own survival
Cameras following a trio of cheetahs hunting antelope in an African wildlife reserve panned around to reveal the reality of this conservation zone
They block the roads, trample the vegetable patches, rip up tasty bushes and even turn on taps with the tips of their trunks, to sneak a drink.
In an episode focusing on the ways wildlife is learning to exploit human habitats, this was far from the strangest sight. At a Chile port, blubbery sealions with faces like
