"The Insatiable Appetites"
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I'll bet when our prehistoric ancestors first dug for tubers and planted seeds in Europe, one of these little robins appeared within a couple of days. Other animals must have done the same job for them before human beings did. Once, not so long ago, wild pig were common all over Europe, and they're great diggers and rootlers. So maybe the robin's boldness and friendliness with other kinds of animals started in prehistory, even before human beings arrived in Europe.

— David Attenborough

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I'll bet when our prehistoric ancestors first dug for tubers and planted seeds in Europe, one of these little robins appeared within a couple of days. Other animals must have done the same job for them before human beings did. Once, not so long ago, wild pig were common all over Europe, and they're great diggers and rootlers. So maybe the robin's boldness and friendliness with other kinds of animals started in prehistory, even before human beings arrived in Europe." in the context of ""The Insatiable Appetites"" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "David Attenborough" (Quotes, The Life of Birds (1998)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
David Attenborough

About David Attenborough

Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS (born 8 May 1926) is a British broadcaster and writer specialising in natural history who has mainly worked for the BBC since the early 1950s.