A study in animal behaviour, it was the third in a trilogy of major series (beginning with Life on Earth) that took a broad overview of nature, rather than the more specialised surveys of Attenborough's later productions.

The production team sought to further push the boundaries of natural history film-making, following on from the advances made in The Living Planet, and were provided with several new challenges.

The sequence of chimpanzees hunting colobus monkeys was only possible through the efforts of Hedwige and Christophe Boesch, who had spent five years studying the apes in the Ivory Coast forests of West Africa.

Furthermore, a new type of camera lens enabled tree ants to be filmed in enlarged close-up just in front of Attenborough – with both subjects in sharp focus.

Filming critical moments in the life of a herd of elephants necessitated the expertise of Cynthia Moss, who had devoted 25 years to researching the animals in Kenya.

The camera team had only one chance to film a 60,000-strong flock of waders flying over David Attenborough's head in Norfolk, and the RSPB was enlisted to predict their flight path.

By contrast, the Florida scrub jays couldn't have been more co-operative: since the particular group being filmed had been studied closely and were used to humans, a bird could land on Attenborough's hand right on cue.

Behaviour seen for the first time included the sequence that was eventually selected to illustrate the series' DVD cover: that of a killer whale pouncing on a colony of sea lions on a Patagonian beach and 'playing' with its young prey before consuming it.

Attenborough begins in the South American rainforest, where the proliferation of animal and plant life does not necessarily make it easy to find food.

Attenborough witnesses a 60,000 strong flock of knot and dunlin suddenly take advantage of a low tide to feed on tiny mud-dwelling molluscs.

Barracuda hunt small fish, and drive shoals of them into bays to be eaten by pelicans, which are besieged by gulls that attempt to steal their catches.

The web of the orb spider is hailed as one of the most elegant food catching devices, and the methods of two others, nephila and its kleptoparasite visitor, argyrodes, are explored in detail.

Finally, tropicbirds, their crops full with food en route back to their nests, are ambushed in mid-air by a group of frigatebirds, whose aim is to make them surrender their cargo.

Attenborough is attacked by a pair of skuas as he approaches their nest, which demonstrates this particular bird's aggressive behaviour, both when taking food and defending its young.

Off the shores of Patagonia, the same group of killer whales returns each year to ambush sea lion pups, which stray out of the safer shallow waters.

The final sequence depicts a troop of chimpanzees displaying strategy and co-ordination as it successfully pursues colobus monkeys through a forest in the Ivory Coast.

The spotted hyena uses its acute sense of smell to guide it while it hunts nocturnally, while galagos urinate on their hands so they can completely mark their movements.

During the hours of daylight, other methods are employed: the rufous elephant shrew, with its carefully cleared network of pathways, has a sharp mental picture of its habitat – even knowing the various shortcuts with which to evade capture.

Attenborough visits the Sahara to illustrate a species that makes the longest overland journey of any insect: cataglyphis, an ant that uses the sun's position to enable it to return to its nest in a straight line.

The albatross is highlighted as one of the most skilled navigators: it can travel up to 1300 kilometres over sea in search of food for its chicks, and still find its way back to the nest.

Burrows and holes can provide considerable refuge, and Attenborough inspects the home of the American prairie dog, an elaborate construction that has its own air conditioning system.

However, the expert in complex nest-building is the weaverbird which makes its abode from over 1,000 strips of grass that are perfectly interwoven – and dismantling it if it fails to attract a mate.

The beaver is responsible for one of the biggest animal dwellings: its wooden lodge that rises from the river bed stays in place from one generation to the next, and so requires constant maintenance.

Attenborough hails the species as the consummate home maker, and explores a 15-foot colony in West Africa that contains 1.5 million insects: he crawls right inside to examine its method of ventilation.

Underwater, a hermit crab is shown adding sea anemones to its shell in order to protect itself from attack by an octopus, and a goby assists a virtually blind shrimp.

However, parasites have their predators, and an example are the finches of the Galápagos Islands that clear the resident giant tortoises of their ticks, and oxpeckers, which do the same for giraffes in Africa (and even use its fur to line their nests).

Meanwhile, some of the most extreme co-operation is demonstrated by the underground naked mole-rat, whose 80-strong clusters are divided into workers (who tunnel perpetually), soldiers (who only act when danger threatens), and a single queen for breeding.

Leafcutter ants are shown transporting their food deep below ground: it has to be planted in a special fungus to convert its indigestible cellulose into something edible, and each stage of the operation is carried out by a different caste of individuals.

The bowerbird invites potential partners to inspect its bower: a specially prepared area that contains a hut or walkway augmented by strikingly coloured objects.

On the other end of the scale, a female elephant undergoes a long pregnancy – 22 months – and so wishes to ensure that her calf is fathered by a strong and proven male.