ICER members film with Sir David Attenborough

David Attenborough’s TV series “Rise of Animals” documents the evolution of vertebrates. In the first of a two part documentary, Sir David explores new fossil evidence from China which sheds light on the origin of animals with backbones. These primitive fossils bear a striking resemblance to a creature found in British rivers today, the lamprey. Lampreys are the most primitive of living vertebrates, with skeletal structure consisting of strong cartilage, rather than bone. Lampreys have been the focus of a number of ICER research projects, and we were instrumental in enabling Sir David to film a segment outlining key characteristics of this living fossil. Having collected some brook lamprey (Lampetra planeri), Andrew Vowles, Jim Kerr, and Lynda Eakins spent the day on set (the River Test, Hampshire) filming a number of sequences for the documentary.

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