Sir David Attenborough joins Instagram because 'the world is in trouble'

Sir David Attenborough has joined Instagram at the age of 94, to warn people that “the world is in trouble”.

The much-loved documentary-maker shared his first video on the site on Thursday and it had amassed 207,000 followers within an hour.

Introducing himself, Sir David said: “I’ve been appearing on radio and television for the past 60 years but this is my first time on Instagram.

Read more: David Attenborough warns of ‘man-made disaster on global scale’ in climate change film

“I’m making this move and exploring this new way of communication, to me, because as we all know, the world is in trouble.

“Continents are on fire, glaciers are melting, coral reefs are dying, fish are disappearing from our oceans. The list goes on and on.

“But we know what to do about it and that’s why I’m tackling this new way, for me, of communication.”

He went on: “Over the next few weeks, I’ll be recording messages to explain what the problems are and how we can deal with them.

“Join me or as we used to say in those early days of radio, stay tuned!”

The video was shared alongside a message from two people who worked with the broadcaster on A Life On Our Planet.

Read more: New David Attenborough series recycles footage from Netflix series

They explained that they would be helping to run the account as “social media isn’t David’s usual habitat”.

Sir David received a warm welcome to the platform, with fans saying they were thrilled to see the “legend” on social media.

Tennis star Andy Murray was among those to comment writing: “Welcome to Instagram Sir David!”