Sir David Attenborough picks 10 animals he would take on his ark Sir David said: "There are a lot of animals today that face the same fate as the dodo. I've been asked to take 10 species I would take me with me on my own personal ark. I could chose those that grab the headlines - the majestic tiger, the spectacular polar bear, the beautiful snow leopard or the magnificent mountain gorilla. They are all animals that I wouldn't want to lose. But there are many other extraordinary creatures out there not in the limelight. These few give a glimpse of the outstanding diversity of nature. Sir David chose the animals to feature in a new BBC Two wildlife special to be broadcast next week. Among the animals Sir David chooses to feature on "Attenborough's Ark" is an unusual salamander called an olm, which lives in the underground lakes and rivers in caves of central European countries including Croatia. Sir David describes the mysterious creature as "one of the ultimate specialists" in the natural world - it has adapted to living in total darkness and can survive for up to 10 years without food. He said: "In Croatia, it was once believed these olms were baby dragons. It certainly is an odd looking creature. It has very tiny legs and an extremely elongated body, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that it lives for up to 100 years. However water pollution in the areas where they live is threatening these unusual animals. The Sumatran rhinoceros is the largest of the animals he picks - the smallest and most endangered of all of the five species of rhino found around the world. There are thought to be just 200 left. There is now a captive breeding programme offering the species some hope. Sir David, who is president of the Butterfly Trust, also chooses a brightly coloured butterfly from New Guinea called Priam's birding for its "exquisite beauty" and because it "lifts the heart." Some of the species he picks are more drab in colour but have unusual adaptations that set them apart. One is the solenodon, a prehistoric throwback that is directly descended from some of the first mammals to roam the Earth. These nocturnal creatures are one of the few mammals to have a venomous bite, but in the Dominican Republic where they live, they are threatened by cats and dogs that have been introduced to the island by humans. "Solenodons are unique," said Sir David. If we lost these little creatures, we would not see anything else quite like them on earth. Another of the less dramatic creatures is a small, mouse-like marsupial from Australia known as the Northern Quoll. In the past 10 years the population of these animals has fallen by more than 50 per cent, mainly because of the introduction of cane toads, which produce a poison on their skin that kills the meat-eating marsupials. Scientists in Australia are now attempting to train captive quolls to avoid cane toads by feeding them toads that have had the poison removed but instead contain a substance that will make them feel ill, but not kill them. They hope that the quolls will associate illness with the cane toads and so avoid them when released into the wild. He also picks a species of frog discovered by Charles Darwin when he landed in Chile in 1834. The amphibian, named Darwin's Frog, is currently threatened by the ash falling from a volcano near the forests where it lives. Sir David said: "It is a very remarkable frog because the male gives birth to its young. It does so out of its mouth. He takes the eggs into his vocal sack where they develop into baby frogs. The layer of ash from the volcano is drying out and killing the vegetation that the frog relies upon. It is pushing Darwin's frog to the edge of extinction. Sir David also recounts a story about a strange scaly creature called a sunda pangolin that he rescued from the cooking pot while filming in Asia early in his career. These creatures, which are similar to anteaters, have hard scales made of keratin, the same material human nails are made from. They are heavily hunted for use in black market medicine in Vietnam and are highly prized for meat. "It is one of the most endearing animals I have ever met," said Sir David. Huge numbers of them are illegally exported, mainly to China. In the last 15 years, over half of the population of sunda pangolins have disappeared. Sir David also picks out a rare hummingbird from the foothills of the Andes in Peru called the marvellous spatuletail, which uses its tail to put on a spectacular but exhausting display to win a mate. His final choice is an unusual sea creature called Venus's flower basket - a kind of sponge that lives at depths of more than 3,100 feet and builds its body out of silica, the same material used to make glass. He said: "This complex glass structure is a marvel of design. What is remarkable is that the sponge grows its glass structures and does not need a red hot furnace that human glass makers use. For me, these are some of the most beautiful and some of the most remarkable living organisms. Natural World Special: Attenborough's Ark will be broadcast on BBC Two on Friday 9 November at 9pm The 10 species Sir David Attenborough would take on his own personal Ark The black lion tamarin The Sumatran Rhino The Solenodon The Olm salamander The Marvellous Spatuletail humming bird Darwin's frog Sunda pangolin Priam's birding butterfly Northern Quoll Venus's flower basket