- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Dinosaurs ruled the planet for over 150 million years.
00:15They occupied almost every corner of the globe
00:19and came in almost every shape and size imaginable.
00:24Some were truly extraordinary.
00:30We now know that T-Rex was a powerful swimmer.
00:36Velociraptors were cunning, feathered hunters.
00:41And that some dinosaurs had the most bizarre behavior.
00:48But new discoveries are being made almost every day
00:52that tell us more about life on this planet 66 million years ago.
01:00This time, on Prehistoric Planet, we reveal new animals
01:08and new insight into their quest to find a partner.
01:14The challenges faced by raising a family.
01:18And their titanic battles.
01:29Journey to a time when nature put on its greatest show.
01:33This is Prehistoric Planet 2.
01:39Prehistoric Planet 2.
01:42The mouth of a river in Southern Europe 66 million years ago.
01:54The mouth of a river in Southern Europe 66 million years ago.
02:07The mouth of a river in Southern Europe 66 million years ago.
02:11In the aftermath of a tropical storm,
02:14debris is drifting downstream.
02:23And amongst the wreckage, rafts of vegetation ripped from the land.
02:31For a weary pterosaur, this one may be a welcome place to rest.
02:36But it's far from safe.
02:44But it's far from safe.
02:48For the
03:06A huge moshasaur, a deadly underwater hunter, is looking for an easy meal.
03:10He's looking for an easy meal, such as this little dinosaur, Zalmoxie's.
03:27Staying here is too risky.
03:31He needs a larger raft, and quickly.
03:41There's little choice but to swim for it.
04:01He's not the first here.
04:20Another castaway.
04:23A female.
04:30Their raft is drifting out to sea.
04:46Sometimes castaways on rafts like these are washed up on the shores of distant islands.
04:57If they're very lucky, this pair could become pioneers.
05:13And may establish a new population, which eventually becomes a new species.
05:25Unlike anything seen before.
05:31The longer an island has been isolated, the more different its animal inhabitants may become.
05:45These small islands in southern Europe are home to a strange, rather shy, Hadrosaur.
06:00Feeding amongst these pine saplings, Kethys Hadros.
06:25Just a quarter the size of its giant cousins on the mainland, it stands no taller than a human being.
06:39With its unique serrated bill, it can forage among the tough vegetation.
06:54Hunters like T-Rex have never reached this little island.
06:59So it should be a safe place for a mother to raise her brood.
07:11But not necessarily.
07:15It's impossible for you to get her brood.
07:18Sometimes, we've got this little one, but you can either.
07:26You're not a sinner but you'll just be lost.
07:28God knows you.
07:29You're still alive.
07:30It's impossible for you to get hurt.
07:32You have no happiness.
07:34...and Zegopteryx...
07:53...giant predatory pterosaurs...
07:56...the best chance of escape is beneath the canopy of the taller trees.
08:15These small calves have been left behind among the saplings.
08:20Mother and young are separated.
08:38Hatsikopteryx are very intelligent pterosaurs.
08:43Now that the element of surprise has gone, they change tactics.
08:51Spreading out across the clearing, they try to flush out any prey that might still be there.
09:05The youngsters' best hope is to stay completely still.
09:08...and not to run.
09:14...and not to run.
09:17...and not to run.
09:19...and not to run.
09:25...
09:27...
09:31These two are lucky to be back with their mother.
10:01The island-hopping pterosaurs move on to try their luck elsewhere.
10:27The hadrosaurs can return to feeding.
10:43The island of Madagascar has been separated from the African mainland for 80 million years,
10:53so long that most of its animals are now very different from any to be found elsewhere.
11:19This is Symosuchus.
11:25It's not a dinosaur, but a miniature relative of crocodiles, one that lives almost entirely
11:32on land and is strictly vegetarian.
11:38Symosuchus have tough armoured bodies which protect them from attack by the island's predators,
12:00so they can risk dropping their guard.
12:07Sometimes.
12:17Majungasaurus.
12:19Majungasaurus.
12:35is blind in one eye so she finds it hard to make a kill and she's now very hungry
12:44the sinusuchus have a network of escape routes that lead them to their underground
13:08burrows once inside they block the entrance with their heavily armored backs
13:31this little male is unlucky
13:38but he's not helpless
13:55reverse charges tailed swipes and aggressive kicks
14:08the hunter's snout is too broad to reach very far inside
14:20but just to be on the safe side the simosuchus digs even deeper
14:36for the majungasaurus yet another hunt has ended
14:50in failure
15:03simosuchus is not the only evolutionary oddity to thrive on madagascar
15:08the island is also home to another group of very unusual animals
15:21this is a female adalotherium
15:36she's less than two feet long but even so she's still one of the largest mammals to have yet evolved
15:45she spends most of her waking hours searching for food
15:58she spends most of her at the end of this tunnel
16:06there are eggs
16:11potentially a rich source of protein
16:14but she doesn't eat this particular clutch
16:28these are her own eggs
16:30and this is her burrow
16:48the eggs are starting to hatch
16:58the hatchlings eyes have not yet opened
17:18but instinctively they head towards their mother
17:21to feed on milk
17:28she produces it from modified sweat glands on her belly
17:33and for now it's all the food they need
17:36and for now it's all the food they eat
17:48and for now it's all the food they eat
17:49and for now it's all the food they eat
17:50two months later and the cubs have more than quadrupled in size
17:56to produce enough milk for them
17:58their mother must herself eat a great deal
18:04so every night she has to leave the safety of the den
18:07in order to feed
18:21her eyesight like that of many burrowing animals
18:31is not very sensitive
18:37she relies instead on her acute hearing
18:40and if she hears something that might be dangerous
18:47she stays perfectly still
18:56struggle avoided
18:58she returns to searching in the earth
19:04for roots and seeds
19:17the cubs are growing fast
19:24and so are their appetites
19:32the female is now having to search almost non-stop for food
19:36so her cubs are left unguarded for hours at a time
19:56in earth
20:05the hunter
20:06and one particularly well adapted for catching burrowing prey
20:14with its long neck and narrow head
20:17it can investigate any hole that might contain a meal
20:26Let's go.
20:56Let's go.
21:26As night falls, the mother leads her young out of the burrow for the very first time.
21:52For now, at least, they must stay close together.
22:34A thermal camera reveals a huddle of glowing bodies.
22:46Improbata.
22:56Hunters.
22:58Hunters.
22:59Like most dinosaurs, they are warm-blooded.
23:10If they stay warm, they need a lot of food.
23:14So they must make a kill every few days if they can.
23:25The fresh snow muffles the sound of their footsteps, enabling them to move undetected through the forest in search of prey.
23:37A morosaurus.
23:39A plant-eater for whom winter is inevitably a very hard time.
23:49Improbata's specialize in hunting such prey.
24:07The morosaurus is faster than its pursuers.
24:23But it's outnumbered by the pack.
24:35The improbata's long-feathered tails give them remarkable maneuverability.
24:53The chase has reached the very edge of the forest.
25:09Beyond lies a frozen lake half a mile wide.
25:14The clear open space could give the faster morosaurus an advantage.
25:21But the frozen surface is treacherous.
25:26With the improbata closing in, it isn't much of a choice.
25:56A misplaced step.
26:18A chance for the morosaurus to sprint beyond the predator's reach.
26:24But this is an island, so hunters and hunted will almost certainly meet again.
26:44Some islands are so small that they have no large land-living residents.
26:52But they may nonetheless get visitors.
27:02Hatzegopteryx.
27:04This male has arrived carrying a 40 pounded Tethyshadros carcass.
27:18A prize from a recent hunt.
27:20He is 15 feet tall with a wingspan of over 30 feet.
27:36Hatzegopteryx are Europe's top predators.
27:38But this male has come here to reveal another side to his character.
27:50Hatzegopteryx.
27:52Hatzegopteryx.
27:54Hatzegopteryx.
27:56Hatzegopteryx.
27:58Hatzegopteryx.
28:00Hatzegopteryx.
28:02Hatzegopteryx.
28:04Hatzegopteryx.
28:05Hatzegopteryx.
28:06He has constructed a display to make it clear to any females passing overhead that he is looking for a mate.
28:32But he might have a very long wait before he gets a response.
28:36At last, a female.
29:00She seems interested, but a little more persuasion might be necessary.
29:09And he needs to be careful.
29:12One well-aimed peck from her beak could quickly bring his whole mating season to an end.
29:21His display must demonstrate that he has the good genes that a young would do well to inherit.
29:31The dead dinosaur suggests that he's a good hunter, and carrying it here has proved that he's a strong flyer.
29:40But if she is impressed, she isn't showing it... yet.
29:49Time to produce some new evidence of his eligibility.
29:55Head lifts. Invite her to come closer.
30:04Head lifts. Invite her to come closer.
30:09Now... she gives him a little encouragement.
30:25A synchronized dance creates trust.
30:55Between them.
31:19Another male.
31:22He's much younger, but he could still be a rival.
31:48That's him dealt with.
31:55Disaster.
31:57The female has left.
32:06He may have lost his chance.
32:11She's back.
32:24Seeing off a potential rival might even be another point in his favor.
32:33He continues from where he left off.
32:40He continues from where he left off.
32:53One last reminder of his strength.
33:01And this is his only contribution to fatherhood.
33:04It's all over in just a few seconds.
33:17But it's the start of the next generation of these giant flying hunters.
33:32Humans like this may only be small, but like countless others around the world, they bear witness to crucial moments in the lives of some of the most unusual creatures on the prehistoric planet.
34:02During the time of the dinosaurs, the skies were dominated by flying reptiles called pterosaurs.
34:17There were over 250 species, and some of them were enormous.
34:32One of the most interesting, because they're the most bizarre, are the Ajdarkia pterosaurs.
34:37And to try and describe what an Ajdarkia pterosaur is like is very difficult.
34:43They stand as tall as giraffes.
34:45They've got heads that may have been two meters long.
34:48Wingspans of ten meters.
34:50They're just some of the most bizarre things to have ever evolved on Earth.
34:57Despite their size, these giants were well adapted for flight.
35:04So why do we think they hunted on the ground?
35:09The Ajdarkid's wing is a skin membrane supported entirely by a super enlarged fourth finger.
35:16This skin membrane extended from the tip of that giant fourth finger all the way to the top of the hind leg.
35:27Ajdarkids were supremely adapted for the cover in great distance,
35:30but they weren't the kind of animals that were twisting and turning
35:33and making agile movements actually in flight.
35:39This would have made it hard for Ajdarkids to catch other flying animals.
35:44They must have had a different weight hunt.
35:49One of the most prevalent ideas about how Ajdarkia pterosaurs may have fed
35:53is by using this bizarre mechanism of foraging known as skim feeding.
35:59Today, birds like black skimmers feed in this way.
36:05It's the most ridiculous way of getting your food you can imagine.
36:08It is literally pushing your lower jaw through the water and crashing into your food.
36:12A skimmer's neck is built to absorb sudden impacts.
36:17But fossils reveal Ajdarkids had none of these adaptations.
36:24In fact, they would almost certainly break their necks from just the strain of trying to push their lower jaws through the water.
36:31And Ajdarkid had no option.
36:36It must have landed to find food.
36:40But could it really walk fast enough to hunt?
36:46Scientists needed evidence to persuade them that it could do anything more than just waddle.
36:58That evidence comes from 66-million-year-old footprints.
37:03The biggest pterosaur track in the world was made by a walking giant Ajdarkid.
37:10That's not only a cool thing to have, it tells us an awful lot about how efficient they were at walking.
37:15These tracks show they held their limbs directly under their body.
37:22Giving them an upright stance.
37:25Their feet were padded.
37:28And unlike the small pterosaurs, their long legs gave them an enormous stride.
37:36Although Ajdarkids are peculiar-looking animals, they're moving very efficiently.
37:47Ajdarkids combine this very competent terrestrial walking ability with this massive long stork-like face.
37:55They almost certainly were predators that walked around reaching down to grab animals.
38:06We have to remember that the throat size of this thing is half a meter wide.
38:10That's about the width of my shoulders.
38:13We would be on the menu for these things if they were alive today.
38:21Terrorshaws would have been an awe-inspiring sight in the sky.
38:30But these giants were even more impressive and terrifying on the ground.
38:36This was the main scene.
38:39There was an excellent mo到.
38:41No confession.
38:43Please do not.
38:45The edge of this, the woodman själv goes
Recommended
6:13
|
Up next
48:17
42:04
41:07
39:36
41:16
2:14
1:08
37:29
37:05
51:23
41:49
5:45
41:49
46:28
58:54
45:06
47:45
1:24:44
58:00
46:47
49:00