
Life in Cold Blood
2008 · BBC One · 60 min · 1 season
S01E05 · Armoured Giants
Tue, 4 Mar, 8:00 am
David Attenborough meets the reptile heavyweights - the tortoises, turtles and crocodiles, showing what it's like to live within a suit of armour, and revealing a dynamic, warm and caring side to these ancient giants. Mating giant tortoises fit together like spoons, green turtles passionately mate in tropical seas, a mother spectacled caiman rescues a huge creche of babies and sophisticated saltwater crocodiles ambush fish just like bears catching salmon.
About
Life in Cold Blood is a study of the evolution and habits of amphibians and reptiles, it is the sixth and last of Attenborough's specialised surveys following his major trilogy that began with Life on Earth.
Episodes
- E01
The Cold Blooded Truth
Tue, 5 Feb· 60 minDavid Attenborough reveals the surprising truth about the cold-blooded lives of reptiles and amphibians. These animals are as dramatic in combat, as colourful in their communication and as tender in their parental care as any other animals. Join giant courting crocodiles, jousting tortoises and bright red sumo-wrestling frogs in their sophisticated, solar-powered lives.
- E02
Land Invaders
Tue, 12 Feb· 60 minDavid Attenborough reveals the surprising truth about the cold-blooded lives of reptiles and amphibians. From steamy jungles to dry deserts, amphibians have taken their first footsteps onto land using their bizarre life histories to break their ties with the water and invade the earth. This episode delves into the extraordinary and intimate lives of the soft skinned amphibians. This includes the marsupial frogs, a peculiar species where the father carries his young in pouches and then gives birth. It also features warring giant salamanders over a metre long and show-off newts that offer displays just like underwater birds of paradise.
- E03
Dragons of the Dry
Tue, 19 Feb· 60 minDavid Attenborough reveals the surprising truth about the cold-blooded lives of reptiles and amphibians, including jacky lizards that wave, wrestling beaded lizards and the largest chameleons in the world jousting in the trees. He also comes across the world's smallest chameleon, which is no bigger than his thumbnail, and the biggest lizard in Australia.
- E04
Sophisticated Serpents
Tue, 26 Feb· 60 minDavid Attenborough reveals the fascinating lives of snakes, the most misunderstood group of reptiles. A CCTV stakeout of wild rattlesnakes hunting shows, for the first time, what sophisticated predators they truly are. Attenborough is also on the receiving end of a spitting cobra's chemical weapons system, while the surprisingly beautiful and tender side of snakes is displayed in the sinuous courtship of kingsnakes, and the water birth of 15 beautiful yellow anaconda babies.
- E05
Armoured Giants
Tue, 4 Mar· 60 minDavid Attenborough meets the reptile heavyweights - the tortoises, turtles and crocodiles, showing what it's like to live within a suit of armour, and revealing a dynamic, warm and caring side to these ancient giants. Mating giant tortoises fit together like spoons, green turtles passionately mate in tropical seas, a mother spectacled caiman rescues a huge creche of babies and sophisticated saltwater crocodiles ambush fish just like bears catching salmon.
Cast

David Attenborough
Narrator




