When it comes to protecting our delicate insides, skin is like an external suit of armour. Animals have developed incredible ways of protecting themselves from everything a hostile planet has to throw at them. Professor Ben Garrod discovers how hippos produce their own sunscreen to protect themselves against the dangers of UV rays from the sun, and how a giraffe uses its spots to cool itself down in the blazing heat of the African savannah. Ben also tests the limitations of human skin by plunging himself into a deep freezer to demonstrate how our skin just isn't insulated well enough to cope with extreme cold. He discovers how human skin is an entire ecosystem for bugs and bacteria as he comes face to face with what's growing on his skin. And he gets bitten by mosquitoes and stable flies as he learns that disease-carrying insects have evolved to pierce everything, from human skin to horse hide.

Originally released by BBC Worldwide Learning, 2019. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on June 03, 2022.