Synopsis
Mudskippers can only absorb oxygen in their skin if they keep it moist, so they spend most of the day rolling in the mud. Males have a high energy display to help them get noticed so they can mate.
- Programme: Nature's Greatest Dancers
- Episode: 01: The Dance for Love
- Channel: BBC One
- Broadcast year: 2015
- Biology | Reproduction, genetics and evolution | Classification and biodiversity | Morphological and behavioural adaptations
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Nature's Greatest Dancers
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Males fight it out to find the best singing spot in the tree canopy. The higher they sit, the further their call will ca...
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Female birds of paradise are extremely picky - they tour many shows before choosing a mate, so males need a...
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Males fight it out to find the best singing spot in the tree canopy. The higher they sit, the further their call will ca...
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Female birds of paradise are extremely picky - they tour many shows before choosing a mate, so males need a...
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Males fight it out to find the best singing spot in the tree canopy. The higher they sit, the further their call will ca...
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Female birds of paradise are extremely picky - they tour many shows before choosing a mate, so males need a...
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Banana frog karate kicks | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Males fight it out to find the best singing spot in the tree canopy. The higher they sit, the further their call will ca...
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
The picky six-plumed bird of paradise | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Female birds of paradise are extremely picky - they tour many shows before choosing a mate, so males need a...
More resources about Biodiversity and human impact
Amazon deforestation | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Amazon deforestation | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Liz Bonnin witnesses the devastation of the Amazon rainforest from the sky.
Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
From colossal farms in America to the destruction of the Amazon, Liz Bonnin investigates how our hunger for meat is killing our planet.
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth
A 90-minute special, broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall, London, celebrating Sir David Attenborough's groundbreaking career ...
Keeping cool | Nature's Microworlds
Keeping cool | Nature's Microworlds
The Namaqua chameleon has developed an ingenious tactic to avoid the heat of the Namib desert.
04: Galapagos: Enchanted Isles | Eden: Untamed Planet
04: Galapagos: Enchanted Isles | Eden: Untamed Planet
How the Galapagos became one of the most important areas of biodiversity in the world, with almost 2,000 unique species...
06: Coasts | Blue Planet II
06: Coasts | Blue Planet II
The wildlife series narrated by David Attenborough explores the planet's coasts. They are the most changeable of the ocean worlds, but they offer...
Climate change and greenhouse gases | Climate Change: The Facts
Climate change and greenhouse gases | Climate Change: The Facts
A discussion of the devastating impact of burning fossil fuels.
Cotton production and the Aral Sea crisis | Stacey Dooley Investigates
Cotton production and the Aral Sea crisis | Stacey Dooley Investigates
Stacey Dooley visits the Aral Sea Basin in Kazakhstan, which has almost entirely dried up due to cotto...
Desert amphibians | Life in Cold Blood
Desert amphibians | Life in Cold Blood
Spadefoot toads can stay underground in a state of suspended animation for years, but when they emerge they must feed and breed before...
The smallest fox with the biggest ears! | Super Cute Animals
The smallest fox with the biggest ears! | Super Cute Animals
The fennec's ears help it to survive in the heat of the desert dunes.
03: Coral Reefs | Blue Planet II
03: Coral Reefs | Blue Planet II
The wildlife documentary series narrated by David Attenborough reveals the ingenious ways life exists in the undersea cities of tropical reefs.
Adaptation of Polar Bear | Life In The Snow
Adaptation of Polar Bear | Life In The Snow
An exploration of how polar bears have adapted to living in freezing conditions.
Cattle feedyard | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Cattle feedyard | Meat: A Threat to Our Planet?
Liz Bonnin visits a cattle feedyard, a mass factory farm, that contains about 50,000 cows.
Episode 1 | The Great American Buffalo
Episode 1 | The Great American Buffalo
Ken Burns recounts how the collision between two opposing views of the natural world saw the buffalo, which had numbered in the tens o...
02: Great Barrier Reef | Blue Planet Revisited
02: Great Barrier Reef | Blue Planet Revisited
To find out what the future holds for the Great Barrier Reef, scientists monitor green turtles, follow families of breeding bi...
07: Our Blue Planet | Blue Planet II
07: Our Blue Planet | Blue Planet II
David Attenborough explores the issues behind the series' most spectacular stories and examines the future of the planet.
09: Plants | Life
09: Plants | Life
The nature series turns to plants and looks at the ingenious solutions that they employ to counter life's challenges, such as spring-loaded traps, suckers ...
Adaptation of the Arctic Fox | Life In The Snow
Adaptation of the Arctic Fox | Life In The Snow
An exploration of how the artic fox's coat has adapted to survival in arctic winters.
Cauldron of Life | Galapagos
Cauldron of Life | Galapagos
Liz Bonnin joins a scientific team aboard the research vessel the Alucia on an expedition across the Galapagos Island.
Chameleon challenge | Life
Chameleon challenge | Life
While searching for a mate across the huge barren Namib desert, a female Namaqua chameleon seeks shade in the knowledge that tasty desert beetles ...
More from Steve Backshall
Devil rays leaping | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Devil rays leaping | Nature's Greatest Dancers
Devil rays do acrobatic leaps out of the sea at the edge of the shoal to encourage shrimp into the mouths of the other rays.
S01E01 | Our Changing Planet
S01E01 | Our Changing Planet
Steve Backshall, Chris Packham and Ella Al-Shamahi visit the Maldives, Iceland and Cambodia, charting the fight to save the planet’s most endang...
02: Great Barrier Reef | Blue Planet Revisited
02: Great Barrier Reef | Blue Planet Revisited
To find out what the future holds for the Great Barrier Reef, scientists monitor green turtles, follow families of breeding bi...
Bat Doctor | Lost Land of the Volcano
Bat Doctor | Lost Land of the Volcano
An injured bat needs nursing back to full health and the team examine the rare adaptation of the striped possum.
S04E07: Borneo | Deadly 60
S04E07: Borneo | Deadly 60
Although we can't just stop using palm oil - farmers need to grow it to provide an income for their families and as a product it's highly efficien...
03: Mexico Part 1 | Undiscovered Worlds with Steve Backshall
03: Mexico Part 1 | Undiscovered Worlds with Steve Backshall
Steve Backshall leads an elite cave diving team into the largest unexplored cave network on earth. Below a Mexic...
Japanese macaques have a lifestyle unlike all other monkeys | Japan's Northern Wilderness
Japanese macaques have a lifestyle unlike all other monkeys | Japan's Northern Wilderness
Naturalist Steve Backshall and double Olympic gold medallist Helen Glover take a lo...
Episode 1 | Wild Alaska Live
Episode 1 | Wild Alaska Live
A new series on a spectacular wildlife event, live from Alaska with Steve Backshall, Matt Baker and Liz Bonnin. Bears, eagles and orca are gathe...
Live interview interrupted by a blue whale | Big Blue Live
Live interview interrupted by a blue whale | Big Blue Live
Steve Backshall's interview with whale expert Doris Welch is cut short when, against all odds, the team spot a Blu...
25: Antarctica | Deadly Pole to Pole
25: Antarctica | Deadly Pole to Pole
Steve's journey finally comes to an end at the land of extremes - the least inhabited, remotest, highest, driest, coldest and windiest c...
Keeping cool | Nature's Microworlds
Keeping cool | Nature's Microworlds
The Namaqua chameleon has developed an ingenious tactic to avoid the heat of the Namib desert.
Secret Wilderness - Japan | Wild
Secret Wilderness - Japan | Wild
Steve Backshall discovers Japan's wilderness, from majestic cranes dancing in subzero temperatures in the north to giant salamanders hanging...
Episode 3 | Expedition Borneo
Episode 3 | Expedition Borneo
Wildlife adventure series following a team of explorers in the heart of the tropical island of Borneo. One of the team is bitten by a deadly co...