''The Amber Time Machine'' is a
BBC documentary written and presented by
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
. It's the 12th episode of the 22nd series of the British wildlife documentary television series ''
Natural World''. It was first transmitted in 2004 and later became part of the ''
Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages'' collection of seven documentaries.
The documentary shows Attenborough searching for the identities of preserved creatures inside a piece of
Baltic amber that was given to him by his adoptive sister when he was twelve years old.
It then shows how a group of scientists can reconstruct an entire twenty million-year-old ecosystem through pieces of
Dominican amber. Examples include a tadpole preserved in amber after falling from a
bromeliad
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...
.
Attenborough then discusses the scientific feasibility of
DNA being preserved in amber, and the science behind the 1993 hit techno-thriller ''
Jurassic Park
''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'', in which his elder brother
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...
starred as
John Hammond. Several attempts were tried, with DNA eventually being recovered from a
weevil that was several million years older than ''
Tyrannosaurus rex''. Attenborough reasons that a few old, rare pieces of amber may contain DNA.
See also
*
List of ''Natural World'' episodes
References
External links
*
2004 British television episodes
Amber
BBC television documentaries
Documentary films about nature
Documentary films about prehistoric life
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