Having a long and acclaimed career can be both rewarding and costly, something Sir David Attenborough attested to in a Reddit AMA on Wednesday.
The naturalist and broadcaster is widely considered to be a British national treasure and respected across the globe, even receiving a personal invitation from ‘huge fan’ President Obama to the White House on his birthday.
But, despite a distinguished career spanning six decades, Sir David still has his regrets. He revealed his biggest after one person expressed their surprise at seeing archive footage of him eating turtle eggs.
The user wrote: “I saw Zoo Quest for the first time a bit back on the BBC iPlayer and was surprised to see you eating the turtle eggs at the beach. With that in mind, are there things you've done in the past on film that you regret from a conservation stand-point?”
He replied: “Yes, in the 1950s we collected animals for zoos which never bred, or were not likely to breed. And that I regret.”
The 89-year-old was forthright about the sacrifices he has made in his personal life for the sake of her career, admitting that he had missed parts of his children growing up.
Sir David also made his feelings clear on a number of subjects: he has no interest in travelling to space, his scariest experience was being charged by a rhino, and, if he could be any animal, it would be a sloth, before demonstrating a more a lighthearted side.
