UKTV - Attenborough's Natural Curiosities (2013) Part 2 A Curious Hoax. 31/03/2013 19:29:39

Attenborough's Natural Curiosities

A five part series in which Sir David Attenborough shines the spotlight on some of nature’s evolutionary anomalies and how these curious animals continue to baffle and fascinate. Attenborough turns away from the kind of widescreen wildlife that often sweeps across our screens and adopts a more zoomed-in approach. As you’d expect, it’s exemplary broadcasting. What the series lacks in lush landscapes and beauty shots, it more than makes up for with extraordinary stats. It’s the best kind of educational television.

Part 2: A Curious Hoax

David Attenborough highlights the curiosities that have led to accusations of forgery, but have ultimately helped assist the rethinking of evolution. When early explorers brought the first specimen of a duck-billed platypus to England in 1799, it was considered so bizarre it was deemed a hoax. Similarly, the midwife toad became the centre of a scientific storm in the 1920s that led to accusations of fakery.