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Planet Earth 2: Watch Sir David Attenborough's mic drop from finale: 'A home not just for us but for all life'

'It is, surely, our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth'

Clarisse Loughrey
Monday 12 December 2016 10:10 GMT
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The BBC's Planet Earth II came to a stunning end in its final episode, turning the camera to our own environments - and the relationship between man and animal, living side-by-side.

From the starling flocks of Rome, to the tragedy of Hawksbill turtle hatchlings disorientated by city lights and struggling to find their way to the sea - though the crew has since reassured viewers that every turtle seen or filmed was collected and placed back into the ocean.

The episode reliably proved both a stunning example of how innovative filming can be used to capture the natural world at its most raw and intimate, but also a thought-provoking reminder of how our own relationship to the landscape impacts the animals must we co-exist with.

Indeed, the episode was capped off with the very first onscreen appearance of Sir David Attenborough himself, in a direct piece-to-camera that entreated viewers to rethink the possibilities of their urban environments; especially when Singapore has seen revolutionary attempts to create symbiotic structures where both humans and animals can thrive.

"Now, over half of us live in an urban environment," Attenborough stated. "My home, too, is here - in the city of London. Looking down on this great metropolis, the ingenuity with which we continue to reshape the surface of our planet is very striking. But it's also sobering. It reminds me of just how easy it is for us to lose our connection with the natural world."

"Yet, it's on this connection that the future of both humanity and the natural world will depend. And it is, surely, our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth."

There's no question Planet Earth II has once more left its mark on the television landscape, currently sitting as the highest rated TV show on IMDB and with the possibility of a third series on the horizon for the BBC.

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