Sir David Attenborough is known for many things – from being a filmmaker to the "human voice of nature" – and now it looks like he can add “social media star” to his long list of achievements.
The beloved environmentalist, known for voicing several world-famous nature documentaries, joined Instagram on Thursday in what he explains is a bid to save the planet.
“Hello my name is David Attenborough and I’ve been appearing on radio and television for the last 60 years. But this is my first time on Instagram. I’m making this move and exploring this new way of communication, to me because, as we all know, the world is in trouble,” he says in a video clip, his first post.
Attenborough goes on to name some of the environmental crises plaguing the planet before saying that over the next few weeks he will be recording messages to explain what the problems are and how we can deal with them.
The social media debut comes only weeks before the launch of David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, a Netflix documentary set to be released on the platform on Sunday, October 4. The film recounts his life, the evolutionary history of the Earth and offers new visions for the future.
According to the post, Attenborough has worked with Jonnie Hughes and Colin Butfield for the documentary, the pair who will be helping him to run his Instagram account.
“Social media isn’t David’s usual habitat,” the caption reads. It explains that he has recorded videos solely for Instagram and the pair will be sharing exclusive clips and behind-the-scenes content through the account.
Five hours after his first post, Attenborough had already amassed more than one million followers, while the video had more than two million views. It remains to be seen whether Attenborough will break Jennifer Aniston's record, though – the actress surprised the internet when she joined Instagram in October last year, gaining 7.1m followers in a day.
