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Documentary, Walking with Dinosaurs Ep 1 The Orphan
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00Over 66 million years ago, our world was ruled.
00:30By dinosaurs.
00:39The largest animals that have ever walked the earth.
00:50Today, dinosaur experts across the globe are uncovering the bones they left behind.
01:00Allowing us to imagine how these extraordinary creatures may have lived.
01:10So that we can tell their stories.
01:17And they can walk again.
01:22To be continued...
01:29Eastern Montana.
01:48A vast, untamed wilderness.
01:57With extraordinary stories to tell.
02:03This is Dinosaur Country.
02:15Here, a team from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is excavating an iconic species.
02:33A Triceratops.
02:36Oh, sweet!
02:39But this is no ancient giant.
02:42But it's really small.
02:44Very young individual.
02:46Got a nice baby trake.
02:49A phenomenal find.
02:53The team calls her Clover.
02:58Studying her bones, we can begin to imagine her world.
03:05And tell her story for the first time.
03:18At the end of the Cretaceous...
03:41North America is a vast expanse of green.
03:54Where Montana is today, there is a lush landscape of sprawling subtropical forests.
04:02Criss-crossed by water waves.
04:07This is Laramidia.
04:12Home to prehistoric giants.
04:19And the occasional...
04:22Not so giant.
04:30Meet Clover.
04:32The Triceratops.
04:35Barely half a meter tall.
04:40She's the size of a large dog.
04:43Clip.
04:46They're in the state.
04:48Clip.
04:49Clip.
04:50And the lion.
04:52Clip.
04:53Clip.
04:54Despite her size, Clover roams the jungle alone.
04:57Clip.
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05:13These strange white objects
05:23mean one thing
05:25Playtime
05:39But curiosity
05:41Can be a dangerous thing
05:44When you're living in a land of monsters
06:10Clover
06:11Clover's remains are a chance to uncover the story of a youngster
06:18A once in a lifetime opportunity for team leader Eric Lund
06:25Check out these teeth
06:40Oh wow
06:42Clover's tiny jawbone has been painstakingly reconstructed by fossil restorer Nicky Simon
06:48Isn't she gorgeous?
06:50She is gorgeous.
06:51It's beautiful
06:52Don't often find upper jaws this complete
06:56I'm alone with all the teeth in them
06:58No wear on them
07:01No wear on them
07:02The teeth's edges for slicing through plant material are still razor sharp
07:08Check them out
07:09Sure
07:10Oh yeah
07:16These have barely been used
07:18They almost look carnivorous
07:21Clover's
07:23The teeth are a clue to Clover's young age
07:26Look at how small this upper arm bone is
07:29Yeah?
07:30Let's see
07:31Let's see
07:33By measuring Clover's arm bone
07:35Well over a foot
07:3734 centimeters
07:39They can more accurately estimate how old she was
07:42She must have only been about three years old
07:45Which means she was just a baby
07:48A baby
07:56Buried all alone
07:58Seems to be by herself
08:02Haven't found any adult bones in this quarry
08:04Without the herd, without a mother
08:07Very vulnerable
08:13We'll never know why Clover was alone
08:19What we do know
08:21Is that in the late Cretaceous
08:24Young, solitary dinosaurs
08:27Don't last long
08:34An inferno draken
08:55An inferno draken
08:58A giant pterosaur common at the end of the Cretaceous
09:02With a 5 meter wingspan
09:06It tries to intimidate Clover
09:13And then
09:15There's the razor sharp beak
09:21But Clover is nimble
09:32And this mother
09:41Just wants her egg back
09:43This time
09:47The little Triceratops
09:49Was lucky
09:50And this mother
09:51Just wants her egg back
09:53This time, the little Triceratops was lucky.
10:08But danger lurks everywhere.
10:15And it gets much, much bigger.
10:37A mile from Clover's dig site, more fossilised remains are emerging.
10:44So we've got a bone over here that's very thin, very slender, very long.
10:56This looks like one of the processes off of the tail vertebrae and helps lock the tail
11:02into a much more rigid structure.
11:06These thin bones may once have formed part of a thick, muscular tail six metres long.
11:12But this was no Triceratops.
11:18This is sort of a meat-eating dinosaur feature.
11:26Paleontologist Ellis Mulready holds the final clue.
11:30It's a little bit beat up.
11:35It's a really thick tooth designed for crushing bones.
11:41It's got those kind of drawn together serrations.
11:43You can still feel them.
11:46I would love to meet the creature that had this tooth, but it would be a bit scary.
11:50Yeah.
11:55It's a tooth that can only belong to one animal.
12:20It's a tooth, standing four metres tall, and weighing in at eight tonnes.
12:33Tyrannosaurus rex.
12:47With one-and-a-half-metre-long jaws, the Earth's most infamous predator could swallow clover whole.
12:55Fortunately, the hunter's focus is elsewhere.
13:11Padded feet act like shock absorbers, keeping its approach quiet.
13:24For T-Rex, a light snack.
13:37For Clover, a terrifying first encounter.
13:53And it won't be her last.
14:05Up to 20,000 T-Rex roam Laramidia.
14:12To survive, Clover needs protection.
14:17And fast.
14:22Ready?
14:24Ready.
14:25In the search for more clues, Eric and evolutionary ecologist John Kniepe are heading deeper into the wilderness.
14:37You asked me about snakes earlier.
14:38Oh, yeah.
14:39There was just a baby rattler in the bottom there.
14:44They want to understand who was sharing the forest with Clover.
14:50All right, I'm ready when you are.
15:01It's obvious from the evidence on the ground...
15:03A little bit of bone here coming out.
15:05...that Clover's world was teeming with other dinosaurs.
15:09Some bigger pieces.
15:10Pretty busted up.
15:12That one's got a bit more surface.
15:16One familiar species is turning up more than any other.
15:21Most of them belong to Triceratops.
15:25Triceratops once dominated this area.
15:29They've been sitting on the surface a really long time.
15:33They're pretty weathered.
15:54One fossil shows why Triceratops was so successful.
15:59It's like a big brow horn.
16:02Oh, man.
16:07It's a bit busted up.
16:12You can still see where all the blood vessels would be, even on the horn.
16:16Yeah.
16:17In life, this horn would have been over a metre long.
16:22And behind it, a protective bony shield almost two metres wide.
16:28Here was a creature seemingly custom-built for fighting off large predators.
16:33Got these big horns on the front of your face.
16:36Wave them around.
16:37Maybe make a T-Rex sink twice before attacking you.
16:39Triceratops' formidable defences made it one of the most successful dinosaur species of its day.
16:56Meaning an adult Triceratops would be the perfect protector for clover.
17:05This old bull will do nicely.
17:27Triceratops will do nicely.
17:28Triceratops'
17:29Triceratops'
17:30Triceratops'
17:31Triceratops'
17:32Triceratops'
17:34Triceratops'
17:35Triceratops'
17:36Triceratops'
17:37Triceratops'
17:38Triceratops'
17:39Triceratops'
17:40Triceratops'
17:41Triceratops'
17:42Triceratops'
17:43Triceratops'
17:44Triceratops'
17:45Triceratops'
17:46Triceratops'
17:47Triceratops'
17:48Triceratops'
17:49Triceratops'
17:50Triceratops'
17:51Triceratops'
17:52Triceratops'
17:53Triceratops'
17:54Triceratops'
17:55But there's a problem.
18:13Who needs a troublesome youngster following you around?
18:25As another day ends, clover is still alone.
18:41And darkness is setting in.
18:46Eric thinks clover may have had good reason to fear the night time most of all.
19:07Back at base camp, he uses a scan of a T-Rex skull to print a 3D model.
19:16This is the endocast of a T-Rex.
19:31For an animal that has a head a meter and a half long, not a real big brain,
19:37a dinosaur is not doing calculus, but it was enough to do what the animal needed to do.
19:42It was very successful.
19:46Right. It just needs to process the information.
19:48Exactly.
19:49It's got a lot of sensory input.
19:52Though small compared to a human's, this brain is fine-tuned for hunting.
19:58We've got these really big olfactory bulbs in the front.
20:03That's for smell.
20:04That's for smell, yeah.
20:06T-Rex probably had one of the most sensitive noses of any dinosaur.
20:11It's probably picking up on minuscule parts per million.
20:15And it wasn't just the killer's sense of smell that was supercharged.
20:19Here in the middle would be the part of the brain that controls vision.
20:24T-Rex does.
20:25Really big eyes, just like an owl, that take in a lot of light.
20:30These incredible senses likely made T-Rex a lethal nocturnal hunter.
20:37As darkness descends.
20:59It's time to begin the hunt.
21:14Locking on to a tell-tale scent.
21:16It seems that supper is nearby.
21:31Whilst most creatures have sought safe places to sleep.
21:37Clover is awake.
21:40She must bulk up by a ton each year to reach full size.
21:43So feeds often through the night.
21:50In the darkness, she sees little.
21:57But T-Rex sees her.
22:00Perfectly.
22:13In the darkness, I already know.
22:14Yet I have a pain.
22:17She cannot drive over, but it is not that.
22:19Is she still alive?
22:20What do you see?
22:22I can't follow.
22:24It's a good thing.
22:25How do you see her?
22:30A lot of people are here.
22:32Are you still doing something?
22:33I'm not aware of.
22:36Do you.
22:37Saved by her size.
23:07Luck seems to be on Clover's side.
23:35She's survived a close encounter with T-Rex.
23:50And from the sound of things, a new ally may be close at hand.
24:17In the search for more giants, the team is putting to the test the very latest fossil hunting techniques.
24:25A 66-million-year-old treasure hunt using 21st century technology.
24:34I think if we fly out towards those Badlands, that would be a great spot.
24:40The gyros stabilize.
24:42Eric's teamed up with paleontologists Thomas Kaye.
24:46I'm going for arm.
24:48And Dr. Michael Pittman.
24:50Ready to launch.
24:53Their prototype laser drone scans the ground with UV light.
25:05Searching for the tell-tale glow of minerals within ancient fossils.
25:14To create a treasure map of prehistoric remains.
25:20You see here, we've got some specks.
25:23Maybe the size of a tennis ball.
25:25Interesting, but you know, we want the big stuff.
25:29It's early days for the technology.
25:31And it has limitations.
25:36But one spot on the ground...
25:38Bang!
25:39Look at that.
25:40...is glowing brightly.
25:41So that must be a really big piece.
25:43That's big.
25:53As dawn breaks, Eric and Nicky head into the Badlands to see this enormous fossil.
26:05Look how big it is!
26:06It's the lower leg bone of a truly colossal dinosaur.
26:15Seems to have been sitting out on the surface for quite some time.
26:19This is a big bone.
26:22This animal would have been, you know, maybe around six, seven meters long.
26:29But this is no Triceratops.
26:31It's not a T-Rex, either.
26:36It's aelp.
26:41Echoing through towering trees
26:53The calls of perhaps the strangest dinosaurs who roam here.
26:58Edmontasaurs.
27:16Herd animals known as the cows of the Cretaceous.
27:21Weighing over six tons, these social creatures tolerate Clover.
27:34As a fellow plant-eater, she's no threat to them.
27:42The herd could give Clover the protection she needs.
28:03And it's not just safety they offer.
28:07A playmate.
28:37A playmate.
28:44In amongst these giants,
28:49In amongst these giants clover can begin to feel safe, but danger is never far away.
29:19Sixty-six million years ago, T-Rex rules over these lands.
29:38The apex predator for over two million years.
29:43As it rolls over, just get your hands under it.
29:46The team wants to discover how this fearsome hunter took down its prey.
29:54Inside this protective plaster coat is the predator's leg burn.
29:59Eric thinks there might be more underneath.
30:01One, two, three.
30:06Protruding from the rock, one of the giant's vertebrae.
30:12Beautiful preservation.
30:13It was a big, big animal.
30:16It allows Eric to estimate more accurately T-Rex's full size.
30:22On the order of 30 feet, maybe more, 10 meters, something like that.
30:32They wrap their discoveries in a protective plaster jacket.
30:38It's just a tiny fraction of T-Rex's skeleton, but it's enormous.
30:46They're just so huge.
30:59Alive, adult T-Rex weighed over eight tons.
31:03But this enormous weight may actually have been a hindrance.
31:09Maybe not a 40-mile-an-hour jeep-chasing animal of Jurassic Park.
31:14Their physiologies just wouldn't allow them to run that fast.
31:17Probably speed walker.
31:19T-Rex probably couldn't run for fear of breaking its own legs.
31:26With a top speed of just 15 or 20 miles an hour.
31:32Not exactly slow, but a fast human could out-sprint one.
31:36I think you could.
31:38I think I'm going to take a sharp turn and he's going to have a hard time following me.
31:42I think we only just got to be faster than him.
31:49Maybe I'm a little overconfident.
32:01So adult T-Rex weren't sprinting after their prey.
32:10This killer relied on another tactic.
32:17The element of surprise.
32:21As Clover and the Edmontosaurs sleep soundly, T-Rex approaches slowly from downwind.
32:31But it's not easy being stealthy when you're the size of a bus.
33:01The Edmontosaurs form a defensive line.
33:21The Edmontosaurs form a defensive line.
33:28Rearing up on their hind legs to appear as big as possible.
33:35But holding your nerve isn't easy.
33:42And it only takes one of the herd to panic.
33:57So, is it too fast?
33:58I don't know the isto.
33:59I don't know.
34:00The pain and the ego is really too fast.
34:01I'm going to carry it.
34:02The anointing pick.
34:03The end of force.
34:06The end of force.
34:08The end of force.
34:10The end of force.
34:14A lucky escape for Clover, not for her new friend.
34:41With the adult Edmontosaurs on the move, Clover is alone once more.
35:09Fossil was a game of chance in the late Cretaceous, and the odds were stacked against young dinosaurs
35:14like Clover.
35:16The team has tracked down a remarkable fossil with a chilling tale to tell.
35:25It may look like a nondescript lump of rock, but its shape and texture tell the experts
35:35this is a coprolite, fossilised faeces.
35:42Eric works with fossil restorer Aubrey Knowles…
35:4567 and a half centimetres or 26.5 inches.
35:50…to examine this prehistoric poo.
35:52This is a massive turd.
35:54It's a really big turd.
35:58Most coprolites can't be attributed to any specific species.
36:04But bone fragments within the dino dung reveal this was the waste product of a meat-eater.
36:12And then, there's the matter of size.
36:15So, we're at 15.7 centimetres across, or 6.2 inches.
36:21That's a wide cloaca.
36:23That is a very wide bum hole.
36:28The only large-bodied carnivorous dinosaur that could have possibly dropped this would
36:34be a T. rex.
36:36So, very, very cool.
36:39It's an astonishing fossil.
36:43The excrement of the most notorious predator in history.
36:47It's interesting how many bones there are preserved in the dropping.
36:52By examining coprolites, it's even possible to identify the killer's victims.
36:59T. rex feces have been found to contain bones that are small and smooth.
37:06That speaks to a more juvenile or young prey.
37:11The bones of babies.
37:13Baby dinosaurs would be very vulnerable.
37:16Bite-sized.
37:18Energy is precious.
37:19You can go after easy prey.
37:21Kneading a quarter of a ton of meat a week to sustain their enormous bulk.
37:28Baby dinosaurs like clover were a common meal for T. rex.
37:34Nothing is off the menu.
37:35T. rex.
37:36Nothing is off the menu.
37:39T. rex.
37:40You can change in town.
37:41T. rex.
37:42You can stop again.
38:00T. rex.
38:04Naïve, defenceless, and small enough to swallow whole, Clover would make an excellent snack.
38:34With nowhere to hide, it's a good time to bump into an old acquaintance.
39:04Few creatures can challenge T-Rex, but a full-grown Triceratops might be the only animal that doesn't need to turn and run.
39:34Who wins in a fight? Triceratops or T-Rex?
39:47The two giants were locked in an evolutionary arms race, adapted to battle each other.
39:56But Eric thinks Triceratops may have had a surprising trump card.
40:04This fossilised fragment was once part of the huge frill extending from the back of the skull.
40:11But it wasn't solid bone.
40:17All these vascular channels on the surface, all these pits and grooves that are in it, go all over the surface of the frill.
40:27This surface was covered in a lot of blood vessels.
40:32The blood flow suggests to Eric, a Triceratops frill was more than just a shield.
40:39The idea is that they could change the colour pattern of their frill, flash these different colours.
40:47Pushing all this blood up into its frill, this would be a great way to send a message.
40:52That would have been really intimidating.
40:56The giants are evenly matched.
41:06Each weighs over 8 tonnes.
41:21Each with fearsome weaponry.
41:33But Triceratops plays his trump card.
41:42Flushing blood into his frill creates huge colourful eye spots.
41:51They make Triceratops seem even bigger.
41:54But T-Rex isn't Apex Predator for nothing.
42:20How was the person like me?
42:41Stalemate.
43:03But for T-Rex, there's still an easier meal.
43:09Close by.
43:11Oh, my God.
43:41Most young dinosaurs never made it to adulthood, and clover was no exception.
43:54But as the dig season draws to a close, her exact cause of death is still unknown.
44:04You know, we're not sure how baby clover died.
44:07In digging her bones up, we haven't found any evidence of predation.
44:14There doesn't seem to be any injuries, no bite marks, things like that.
44:19Up to this point, it remains a mystery.
44:24Got it.
44:25All right.
44:34But we do know one thing.
44:38If clover had died as a meal for T-Rex, there probably wouldn't be any remains at all.
44:46For clover, it seems as if time has run out.
44:56But she still has one advantage.
44:57Her size.
44:58With T-Rex distracted.
44:59A moment.
45:00With T-Rex distracted.
45:02A moment.
45:03A moment.
45:04Of surprise.
45:05A moment.
45:06A moment.
45:07A moment.
45:08A moment.
45:09It's a Elliot's eye come and has been wiped out by murder.
45:10As if she was outside, telling her not hiding, is known as she is here.
45:11But she still has one advantage.
45:12She still has one advantage.
45:13Her size.
45:21With T-Rex distracted.
45:28A moment of surprise.
45:58Clover has survived her encounter with history's most infamous killer.
46:17For now, she's safe.
46:27And while this old bull may not seek her,
46:56may not seek the company of a youngster.
47:03Clover's not giving up.
47:06Just yet.
47:13Clover's not giving up.
47:20Clover's not giving up.
47:27Clover's not giving up.
47:31A moment of insurance is going soon on Walking with Dinosaurs.
47:38We take the plunge in the most dangerous river in Earth's history.
47:53The smallest member of the biggest herd on an epic journey.
48:03Get up close with the deadliest pack of predators.
48:12Follow an island giant looking for love and meet the band of brothers on the run from
48:21a ferocious and cunning adversary.
48:51.
48:58.
48:59.
49:00.
49:01.
49:02.
49:03.
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