I've been bitten by a python. Not a very big one. I was being silly, saying: 'Oh, it's not poisonous...' Then, wallop! But you have fear around animals.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the unexpected consequences of underestimating wild animals and emphasizes the importance of respect and caution around them.
In this quote, David Attenborough shares a personal experience that illustrates the unpredictability of nature and the risks associated with interacting with wildlife. It highlights the tendency to downplay dangers in the natural world, suggesting that fear of animals is a natural response that should be approached with respect. The anecdote serves as a reminder that even seemingly harmless creatures can pose threats if not treated with caution, encouraging a thoughtful relationship with nature.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a wildlife conservation event to illustrate the need for caution.
I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful - and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.
I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.
I would be absolutely astounded if population growth and industrialisation and all the stuff we are pumping into the atmosphere hadn't changed the climatic balance. Of course it has. There is no valid argument for denial.
There's a small worm called Loa Loa Filariasis. This parasite can survive in one environment exclusively- namely, underneath the skin and inside the eyes of human beings. Children and the elderly in tropical regions (usually the poorest) are the most widely affected. A painful, slow death is virtually certain. The worm can actually live in the host for 17 years before the host finally dies.
The fundamental issue is the moral issue.
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That's why I never do commercials. If I started saying that margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.
Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.
The thing that's made me open my eyes to what was happening to the environment and climate was films and documentaries.
Earlier, 100,000 elephants lived in Kenya and we didn't have any noteworthy problem with it. The problem that we have is not that there are now more elephants.
... the ecological problem of our times demands a radical reevaluation of how we see the entire world; it demands a different interpretation of matter and the world, a new attitude of humankind toward nature, and a new understanding of how we acquire and make use of our material goods.
To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.
"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."
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