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David Attenborough may have lived a perfect life, travel the world and see its wonders before their devastated tourism. Talk to Robin McKie about his remorse first battle with climate change deniers, and his favorite place on earth

is hard to believe that Sir David Attenborough has abused an animal in your life. This is a man for whom the natural world is sacred, after all. However, in the middle of our interview, organized to promote his new television series

Attenborough: 60 years in the wild

a sheepish look through the great naturalist traits when I wonder if you have any regrets about his career. "Jumping animals. Sorry about that," he said. Blinking in disbelief. Judi Dench, it is as if he had admitted to sniffing glue. Attenborough explains. "Fifty years ago, I used to go along, the pursuit of a giant anteater and pull it out by the tail, so that we can take. Sorry for this kind of thing. But these are different times. "

Then there was the time he and his crew were stranded in Borneo and short of something to film. "I found a small alligator and we have a sequence of cod with him. Shot so close it looked like a very large crocodile. Then took off his shirt and jumped on. Everyone thought he had a fight with a crocodile size. "God you're brave, he said. I wish I had not."

And as consumption of turtle eggs, he grimaces. "It was horrible, salty. I wish they had not."

as crimes against nature, it is minor transactions should be admitted. However, they are informative - it is easy to forget how attitudes have changed since wildlife Attenborough began his career in 1952 in programs such as

and later

Zoo Quest . Wild creatures have been seen from one of the Victorian era. They were there to follow, captured, tied up and taken to England to be curved case. Attenborough was not different from other naturalists of the time, recognizes.

Zoo Quest was certainly in that mold and create. In nine years, he was released, staff travel Attenborough with London Zoo in a tropical country to capture an animal in the zoo's collection, a practice which is considered quite acceptable at the time. Attenborough first assignment was Picathartes locate a white collar Sierra Leone on the basis that no other zoo in Europe had or even know what he looked like. "I thought," Oooh, a bird that nobody has ever seen and should become the first European to get one. ". It was really childish. "

Today Attenborough, like the rest of us, has a larger animal friendly, as the new series accurately. Indeed, if Attenborough: 60 years in the wild

have an item that is transition. How attitudes toward the natural world has changed and how the knowledge of living beings has been transformed by modern science. Not to mention the jump took place in film technology to bring the wonders of the world in our rooms before, watches, cameras liquidate stop-frame photography and thermal imaging.

An example of these technological changes are presented in the elegant lounge Attenborough own west London. It is dominated, not by images of wildlife art or native, as expected, but a giant 50-inch 3D TV. Now Attenborough is certainly not a geek - can not drive and has trouble answering his cell phone, he says - but he has pioneered a series of recent programs for Sky 3D. It is clearly subservient to the technology and eager to show its wonders.

Attenborough swarming around him, leaving albums from a Blu-ray player, and flipping scenes. Tasks that require a lot of kneeling and bending, which Attenborough conducted without any hint of stiffness or pain that would leave many young men moaning. Dressed in a blue open-necked shirt, pants and shoes from China - Attenborough uniform judging by other interviews - which could easily pass for a man 20 years younger and is clearly determined to follow the latest developments in their profession.

"I started my career in broadcasting in the old line 405, in black and white television that was broadcast from Crystal Palace," he added. "I would not not to make a program that will be displayed in 3D on the big screen color when I was offered the opportunity.

"In addition, as a medium, the 3D TV is certainly not perfect. You are limited to what photography. You can not use long lenses because of underlying problems. Cameras and require two or three men to carry them. But, oh, when you see pictures at intervals of flowering plants in 3D, the results are quite fascinating. "

However, the real change in our vision of the natural world is not due to improvements in television technology, but that has been done by scientific revolutions, particularly in the fields of biology and geology. These are real game changers, believes Attenborough. "We forget what we have learned over the last 60 years. College once asked one of my professors why he did not tell us about continental drift and I said, jokingly, that if I could show that there was a force that could move the continents, then I might think about it. idea was moonlight, I was informed. "

But we now know that continental drift explains much variation in plants and animals on the planet - for example, the presence of similar families of earthworms in Central Africa and in the center of South America - continents were once together. Continental drift priority

, Attenborough first major series on the natural world, in 1979. His former teacher that the program is not registered.

in 1990, reached the top of the rainforest cranes spitting cobras by crushed by a Scottish grouse belligerent, and, of course, was prepared by gorillas in this glorious sequence
Life on Earth

.
So what part of the world recommends giving people the opportunity to enjoy the creatures living at its best? With iguanas in the Galapagos? The Amazon rainforest? His answer comes as a surprise. "People say you can not beat the rain, but this is simply not true You go and your first thought is: .. Where the hell are the birds Where are the animals hiding in the trees, of course, right?., Whether you want the beauty and wildlife, you want a coral reef. Wear a mask and put his head under water. The view is incredible.