{"id":536627,"date":"2026-07-07T00:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/536627\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:51:08","slug":"how-did-the-elephant-become-so-big-new-chris-packham-fronted-bbc-tv-series-uncovers-the-secrets-of-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/536627\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018How did the elephant become so big?\u2019 New Chris Packham-fronted BBC TV series uncovers the secrets of evolution \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How did the elephant become so big? Why do dolphins have such a huge brain? These are just some of the puzzles that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/people\/who-is-chris-packham-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-winterwatch-presenter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Packham<\/a> hopes to solve in his new BBC TV series, Evolution.<\/p>\n<p>What is Evolution about?<\/p>\n<p>Each episode in this five-part series focuses on an extraordinary animal: the elephant; ostrich; bat; dolphin and horse.<\/p>\n<p>To reveal how millions of generations of evolution has finetuned each creature, the clock is wound back along the myriad branches of the tree of life. On the way, he uncovers bizarre creatures that have long died out \u2013 millipedes the size of cars, crocodiles with hooves like horses and sea creatures that appear as crab\/shark hybrids \u2013 but have contributed to life as we know it.<\/p>\n<p>Evolution also explores how traces of evolution can be seen today, such as the hiccups that can be tracked to the first air-breathing fish and the viruses that helped brains evolve.<\/p>\n<p>The series makes use of cutting-edge research and genetic analysis to bring these incredible stories to life in astonishing detail. We\u2019ll also discover the moments when life hung precariously in the balance, facing threats such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/facts-about-uk-invasive-species\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">invading species<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/prehistoric-life\/mass-extinctions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">global extinctions<\/a> and climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Who presents Evolution?<\/p>\n<p>BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham will front Evolution. The series comes after his popular BBC Two series Earth, which explored some of the most important moments in the 4.5 billion-year-old history of planet Earth.<\/p>\n<p>When can you watch Evolution?<\/p>\n<p>Evolution will be available to watch on BBC Two and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BBC iPlayer<\/a> from Monday 13 July 2026 at 9pm.<\/p>\n<p>Top image: Chris Packham with a replica skull of Dorudon atrox, an ancient relative of Dolphins, for Evolution. Credit: BBC Studios\/Freddie Claire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did the elephant become so big? Why do dolphins have such a huge brain? These are just&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-536627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}