Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
All life on Earth began with a Last Universal Common Ancestor – known to some as LUCA. This blob went on to achieve great things, from the remarkable flight and echolocation of bats to the strong flexible trunks of hyper-intelligent elephants (an appendage I think we can all admit we’re a little jealous of).
So, just how does a blob change to become all of those different things? It’s a question we put to Chris Packham and Rob Liddell, presenter and producer of the new BBC documentary “Evolution”. Each episode leads us through the history of life, telling the bonkers tales of survival and adaptation that gave rise to five key animals: the elephant, ostrich, bat, horse, and dolphin. Five animals you might think don’t have much to do with you, until you realize how many human abilities have their roots in wildly different animals.
From how a retrovirus shaped the brain, to gills that became tools for hearing, and why life on Earth had to evolve an arse before it could grow a head, the story of evolution is utterly wild. We caught up with Packham and Liddell to find out more about the series, and why working with velvet worms is much trickier than you’d imagine.
Read more: iflscience.com/how-the-anus-may-have-triggered-the-worlds-first-mass-extinction-event-and-other-evolution-wisdom-with-chris-packham-84083
Video courtesy of the BBC
All life on Earth began with a Last Universal Common Ancestor – known to some as LUCA. This blob went on to achieve great things, from the remarkable flight and echolocation of bats to the strong flexible trunks of hyper-intelligent elephants (an appendage I think we can all admit we’re a little jealous of).
So, just how does a blob change to become all of those different things? It’s a question we put to Chris Packham and Rob Liddell, presenter and producer of the new BBC documentary “Evolution”. Each episode leads us through the history of life, telling the bonkers tales of survival and adaptation that gave rise to five key animals: the elephant, ostrich, bat, horse, and dolphin. Five animals you might think don’t have much to do with you, until you realize how many human abilities have their roots in wildly different animals.
From how a retrovirus shaped the brain, to gills that became tools for hearing, and why life on Earth had to evolve an arse before it could grow a head, the story of evolution is utterly wild. We caught up with Packham and Liddell to find out more about the series, and why working with velvet worms is much trickier than you’d imagine.
Read more: iflscience.com/how-the-anus-may-have-triggered-the-worlds-first-mass-extinction-event-and-other-evolution-wisdom-with-chris-packham-84083
Video courtesy of the BBC
