The Evolution of the Elephant Trunk Explained by Chris Packham in BBC Evolution
Sunday, 19 July 2026
The new BBC series Evolution, presented by Chris Packham, has been garnering favourable reviews and by the clip below, I am sure you will see why. Evolution is a difficult thing to explain, but with the aid of these visuals, and a great script, this new show manages to do it in a way that is both understandable and genuinely awe-inspiring. It takes a subject that can often seem abstract and transforms it into a compelling journey through time, showing how every living thing is connected by the extraordinary process of evolution.
In this clip, Packham begins with the warthog and how it has
evolved to solve a certain problem – the fact that its mouth isn’t really very
close to the ground, which is where it gets its food (you will have to watch
the video to discover this particular adaptation). However, he soon moves on to the elephant,
which had the same problem, but evolution solved it in a different way – by extending
the trunk. Although this isn’t the whole
story – it’s a great clip that covers most of the important elements of this
particularly startling piece of evolutionary magic. On the journey we get to see palaeomastadon,
platybelodon and of course, everyone’s favourite, the mammoth. If you would like
to find how to watch Evolution in your region, visit the BBC Earth website.
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