Presenters like me almost extinct -- Attenborough

The broadcaster -- who has fronted groundbreaking series about flora and fauna such as Life On Earth and Frozen Planet -- has been a familiar figure in natural history programmes for six decades.

Attenborough (86) said 'nature jockeys' like him were unlikely to be needed in the future.

Launching a forthcoming series, Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, he said: "Having a man like me, or a girl or a woman, who can demonstrate these things is actually a little hangover from the past."

Attenborough has revealed that he once used a large lizard as a makeshift car alarm during his travels.

He caught a large chameleon in Madagascar to bring back with him to London Zoo.

But he realised he could use the creature as a security device for his car which already had a missing window from a break-in.

chameleon

"The window was smashed so it was quite a bit of a worry: what are we going to do with all our valuable stuff in the car if we ever leave it?

"So I decided that what I would do is get this very big animal and put him on the steering wheel."

The television presenter then watched from a distance to see whether it was working.

"People were coming around and I watched them come round and go 'aaargh' and nobody would dream of breaking into the car and stealing anything with that there."

David explores the unusual anatomy of the chameleon in his forthcoming series, which begins in January on the Eden channel.

hnews@herald.ie