About this season
It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates, the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.
Episodes (3)
1. Your Inner Fish
Aired 9 April 2014 • 59 min
In the opening episode, Neil journeys from an American highway to the Arctic Circle to connect our lungs, arms, legs and hands to a prehistoric fish that crawled onto land 375 million years ago.
2. Your Inner Reptile
Aired 16 April 2014 • 59 min
Episode 2 traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptilian ancestors - from ferocious beasts that ruled the Earth, to a little shrew-like animal that lived 195 million years ago.
3. Your Inner Monkey
Aired 23 April 2014 • 59 min
In the final episode, Neil tracks our hands, feet, colour vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on perhaps the most important legacy of all - a path to the human brain.