这只变色龙自从被发现以来就吸引了博物学家，主要是因为它的颜色变化，同时也引发了各种各样的传说，甚至是由其他动物创造的恶魔间谍。大卫专注于另一个解剖学上的怪癖，那就是它超长、快速推进的舌头，它的瞄准多亏了两个独立控制的眼睛，并结合了完整的圆圈视力。

　　长颈鹿总是让人类着迷，使它们成为埃及总督送给欧洲主要君主的理想礼物。它的整个解剖结构都不正常，无法适应特别长的脖子和腿，大概主要是为了够到高高的叶子。

　　当鸭嘴兽在澳大利亚殖民地被发现时，其奇怪的复合解剖结构似乎是一场彻头彻尾的骗局。考虑到它的生殖系统结合了哺乳动物、鸟类和有袋动物的元素，它耗费了几代人的研究来对其进行分类。

　　与大多数两栖动物不同，产婆蟾蜍的卵被戴在雄蟾蜍的腿上，它们在陆地上交配，而不是在水中，为此雄蟾蜍有“粘性”爪垫。一位才华横溢的动物学家发现，在不同的条件下繁殖它们可能会引发对另一种方法和解剖结构的逆转，一种类似拉马克的达尔文学说修正案，它被滥用于政治目的。他自杀前可能被诬告伪造证据，结果虽然从未在实验室重现，但后来在野外被发现。

　　David重点研究了两种哺乳动物，它们从幼年起皮肤就有过多的皱纹，而且寿命较长。

　　大象有很多适应能力，包括用来冷却它们的“额外”皮肤，以及允许传递重要信息的家庭生活。

　　秃鼹鼠是一种啮齿类动物，它们全天候生活在潮湿的地下群体中，在行为和解剖学上完全和奇怪地适应，甚至没有神经疼痛受体。

　　几个世纪以来，迷信的人们相信独角兽的独角具有神秘的魔力。当独角鲸的第一根象牙被带到西欧时，它被当作独角兽的独角出售，尽管维京人早就知道这种鲸鱼。这颗巨齿的天然用途仍有待推测，尤其是因为它通常只限于男性，一般认为它具有流体动力稳定功能。

　　蜗牛屋通常是扭曲的，这是一种非常成功、强大的设计，就像灭绝的亚扪人一样，亚扪人在恐龙出现之前很久就统治着海洋。对于蜗牛来说，它可以征服土地。

　　斑马是一种从未被驯养过的非洲马，它吸引了西方公众和博物学家。最神秘的是其独特条纹图案，可能是用于交配或更广泛的社交活动，而不是伪装，也可能是为了远离致命的采采蝇。

　　蝴蝶种类繁多，甚至按昆虫的标准来看也是如此，它们的颜色千差万别，通常是明亮或奇异的。一些人表示有毒，其他人则模仿这些。它们看到的光频率比我们脊椎动物多得多，能够区分“看不见的”模式元素

Sir David Attenborough uses this episode to investigate two animals who are capable of true virgin birth - the production of offspring without the need for sex.

This episode explores the story of two animals that hide behind seemingly impregnable coat of arms. Can Sir David Attenborough get in behind their armour and reveal their mysteries?

Sir David Attenborough continues to shine the spotlight on nature's most amazing animals this time looking at the vision in squid and owls. Perhaps not a classic pairing, both owls and squid have incredible adaptations for being able to navigate at night.

Here we discover that some animals are able to trick others into believing they are something that they are not. The art of deception is a powerful attribute for some.

After initially gaining frightening reputations, it's now known that gorillas and bats are a lot gentler and considerate than their early reputations suggest.

Plants and animals have some curious super senses that enable them to see, hear and feel things that are quite invisible to us.

In this episode we explore the remarkable adaptations of two creatures that have evolved to survive the most challenging of conditions and seem to defy the laws of nature.

We'll find out how nature is incredibly inventive and has produced two unique mechanisms of natural construction that have fascinated scientists for centuries; weaving in birds and silk.

"Strange Parents" asks how we usually recognise animals as either male or female and how each sex normally plays a particular role in their own life cycle.

However both hyenas and seahorses completely break the gender rules.

"Magical Appearances" explores how swallows magically appear each spring and asks how did complex and beautiful insects like butterflies suddenly arrive in the summer.

The discovery of the swallow’s epic migration and the revelation that butterflies could metamorphose into totally different looking adults were scientific stories both cloaked in mystery and controversy.

Fleas are supposed to be able to jump the equivalent of a human leaping over St. Paul’s Cathedral and cheetahs purportedly can clock speeds of 70 miles per hour. But are these claims really true? The discovery of the world's most elastic natural protein in insects and the development of a hi-tech tracking collar have helped reveal the truth. So can these creatures really achieve what should be physically impossible?

Orangutans can use tools but such skills remained undiscovered for centuries. They were considered as just clever mimics until discovery in remote Sumatran swamps revealed their true potential. Clever crows also make surprisingly sophisticated tools. How have the curious minds of these two animals helped them become so inventive?

The bodies of some animals stretch and shrink in extraordinary ways. The anaconda can swallow prey twice its own body size - and then wait for over a year until their next meal. The camel’s curious hump can almost double in weight giving it the energy to travel huge distances across deserts. What is the secret behind these expandable bodies?

The blue whale and the flamingo both have bodies determined by their diet. Blue whales grow enormous by feeding on tiny shrimp-like creatures, while flamingos spend their lives eating with their heads upside down. Both are oddities in their own groups and yet both are curiously similar.

Humans are not alone in using medicines against injuries and infection. Some animals protect themselves with natural remedies in the most extraordinary ways. Hippos produce a blood-red “sweat” that acts as a sunblock and helps fight infections, while capuchin monkeys rub themselves with insect-repellent leaves to protect against insect bites.

Salamanders can regenerate entire legs and tails to replace ones they have lost, while deer shed their massive antlers and re-grow them from a few remaining cells each year. How do these creatures regenerate entire body parts and why is it not possible for all animals to do the same?

Hybrids can be bizarre and they can be deadly. We look at two hybrid animals that owe their existence to human interference – the pizzly bear (a cross between a polar bear and grizzly), which has come into being because of global warming, and the killer bee brought into existence because of the transfer of African bees to South America.

Some animals have an extraordinary ability to find their way. The dung beetle, an insect revered by ancient Egyptians, uses the sun, the moon and even the Milky Way to move its prized ball of dung in the right direction. Pigeons are often considered feeble birdbrains, but they have incredible memories that can recall several complex travel routes with amazing accuracy and they even use manmade roads and hedgerows to find the quickest way home.

The giant panda gives birth to the smallest baby of any mammal and has to care for and protect it for many months. The kiwi lays one of the largest eggs in the bird world, which produces a very well developed chick. Why don’t pandas give birth to more developed, robust young and why do kiwis produce a single egg that is a quarter of its body mass and almost too big to lay?

Can animals count? This is a question that has intrigued and fooled investigators for a long time. Just over a hundred years ago, a German horse called Hans was declared a mathematical genius but all was not as it seemed. And strangely, some bamboos around the world flower exactly at the same no matter where they are – are they counting down the years?

David Attenborough investigates two shells that have proved to be winners in evolution: the bird’s shell and the hard shell of the tortoise. The ostrich egg is so strong it’s possible for a person to stand on it without it breaking – how does the chick break out of this fortress? The evolution of the tortoise shell was for a long time a mystery and this bony box offers a lot more than just protection.

The Siamese Fighting Fish is so aggressive it will fight its own reflection until it is exhausted. Recent research shows that the fighting behaviour varies and depends on the personality of the fish! Male kangaroos were once pitted against humans in the boxing ring – the most impressive male kangaroos are solid blocks of muscle with a kick that can kill. Why do they fight and what skills must a winner have?