00:00Pseudotherium argentinus is a small mammalian ancestor that lived 230 million years ago
00:27in what is now Ischigualasto in western Argentina.
00:32He lived alongside the oldest known dinosaurs in the world,
00:36but he also lived with other mammal-like reptiles,
00:41of which it differed by having more mammalian characteristics.
00:46Its size is similar to that of a currant rat,
00:49and possibly fed on insects that handed help by its very long fangs.
00:55As a colorful fact, Pseudotherium skulls, with its long snout and pined fangs,
01:01reminds Scrat, the nice saber-toothed squirrel of the Ice Age movie.
01:07In 2002, the movie Ice Age was released.
01:27The very first animal featured in this film was a fictional saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat.
01:32Throughout the film and subsequent sequels, Scrat is used as a comic relief.
01:38Scrat became one of the most popular characters of the movies,
01:42even though he wasn't based on an actual animal.
01:44But fast forward to 2011 and Fossils of a New Mammal were published,
01:48bearing striking resemblance to Scrat.
01:51Say hello to Chronopio dentia cutis.
01:54This animal was basically a real-life version of Scrat,
01:57only it did not live during the Ice Age.
02:01Rather, it lived around 99.6 to 96 million years ago during the Cretaceous.
02:07In fact, this animal was found in the Candelaros Formation,
02:11the exact same formation as Giganotosaurus.
02:18Chronopio is known from a few fossils consisting of skull material.
02:22The original fossils were found in Argentina around 2006 and were published in 2011.
02:29From these fossils, it was discovered that this small animal had a set of saber teeth.
02:34Chronopio was shrew-sized and measured about 10 to 15 centimeters or 4 to 6 inches in length.
02:41While Scrat likes to gobble down on nuts,
02:43Chronopio would have eaten the insects, grubs, and other bugs of its time.
02:47Despite being dubbed a saber-toothed squirrel,
02:51Chronopio wasn't actually a squirrel or related to them.
02:54Rather, they belonged to the now-extinct order of mammals known as Dryolestida.
02:58Like all mammals at the time,
03:00these animals lived in the shadows of their more impressive dinosaur neighbors.
03:05While the larger predators like Giganotosaurus would have left them alone,
03:08they most likely would have had to stay clear of the smaller predators like Buitryraptor.
03:12Much is still unknown about these animals' paleobiology,
03:19and future discoveries will only further our understanding.
03:22Despite being such a small and rather unimpressive animal,
03:25Chronopio's discovery was significant because it helped scientists better understand
03:30the mammals of Mesozoic South America.
03:33And of course, it's cool seeing a fantasy animal
03:35actually be discovered as a reality through the fossil record.
03:42Oh!
03:54Oh!
03:57Oh, my God.
04:27Oh, my God.
04:57...slash frozen in a deep glacier ice core has reanimated during thawing and escaped laboratory containment.
05:04The animal known archaeologically as Scrat is described as small, furry, fast, and completely nutty.
05:11Considering his tiny size, he's enormously aggressive.
05:18When it comes to the one thing that he obsesses about, he loves acorns. He's obsessed with acorns.
05:28We don't think Scrat is dangerous, but we can't be certain. He's very strong.
05:38I don't want to alarm anybody, but I think it's important to remain calm at a time like this.
05:43Squirrels. Cute. Fuzzy. And a little crazy.
06:00Squirrels belong to the order Rodentia, with 365 species in seven squirrel families.
06:12They include the tree squirrel, ground squirrel, and the ancient saber-toothed squirrel like the one you see here, also known as a Scrat.
06:20The Scrat was one ferocious little squirrel.
06:25The Scrat's eyes are located high and on each side of their head.
06:29This allows them a wide field of vision without turning their head.
06:33But the Scrat's brain is about the size of a walnut, sometimes resulting in bad decision-making.
06:43The Scrat will use its long incisor teeth to break open the shell of a nut, if it can hold on to the nut.
06:52The Scrat's teeth will grow up to six inches a year, but are worn down by constant use.
06:57The Scrat will clean his nut by licking or rubbing it on his face before it's buried.
07:03This leaves a scent to the nut, which helps the Scrat find it later, even under a foot of snow.
07:09When a Scrat senses danger, its first instinct is to stand motionless.
07:15Then...
07:16However, even in death, a good squirrel always gets his nut.
07:27The Scrat's teeth will grow up to six inches a year.
07:57In what context do they have a good lookout for, generally maybe in the next two months.
07:59The Scrat's teeth will grow up to seven inches a year and London to be finding it as possible for, each spider by the smoother order.
08:07So there's 검acă não did so much the same thing in front of their body.
08:12They're not always going until the end of their head.
08:16But if you're a bald evil guy, you may fall for a cross to greenery of a day.
08:26When we first start the process of making one of these movies, I'm involved pretty early
08:42on in the whole process.
08:45I get a script, or at least a story treatment, that outlines who the characters are and what
08:54kind of animals they might be, and then I just start to draw.
09:08The favorite character among people I meet is the Scrat.
09:11It's always a Scrat.
09:12One of the writers came up with the idea that they needed some kind of creature that would
09:18be trying to bury its nut in the very beginning of the film.
09:24The writer, his name is Bill Fraig, he's actually a story artist.
09:27He came to my studio at Blue Sky, and I had this whole wall full of drawings of every different
09:35kind of animal I could think of that might have lived in the Ice Age.
09:39And he noticed this one squirrel, rat thing on the wall, and he said, that would be great.
09:47And so they built this whole sequence around the Scrat.
09:52As it turns out, it was the very first sequence that was animated.
09:56And when it came time to put a trailer together, this was a natural choice.
10:01They used what they had already animated.
10:05And it turned out to be the perfect trailer, because there were no words.
10:08It was just this squirrel trying to bury its nut, and this chaos that ensues as a result.
10:14And it became a hugely successful trailer.
10:19And it did just what you want a trailer to do, which is to make people say, hey, what's that?
10:24I want to see that, whatever it is.
10:27And it was so successful that people really wanted to see that character in the rest of the film.
10:35So the writers had to figure out how to weave Scrat into the whole movie without him getting really involved in the story.
10:48And so if you look at that film again, you'll notice there's only, I think there's only one scene where he actually interacts with Manny, Sid, and Diego.
10:59My wife tells me that I put myself into all of my characters, and I think I do to some extent.
11:28I mean, when I look at the Scrat, I can relate to the Scrat.
11:32He represents some aspect of me.
11:37I mean, there are times where I get very nervous and agitated.
11:40When I'm drawing him, I really feel it.
11:44I really get into the character.
11:46I do with all the characters I do for the Ice Age films.
11:58Scratte, as they ended up calling her, is Scrat's girlfriend.
12:11After three movies, Scrat just looking for his nut wasn't going to be enough, I don't think.
12:17And they came up with this brilliant idea of having Scrat be interested in the only other thing that could possibly interest him except for that acorn.
12:32And that's a female Scrat.
12:35And the way it's written, it's very clever.
12:38It's a love triangle.
12:40It's, does he love Scratte, or does he love the nut?
12:44And it turns out that she is after the nut, too.
12:48So, it's a kind of a struggle between the three of them.
12:53The Scratte is everything Scratte is not.
12:57He's, uh, she's, um, she's beautiful, and she's smart.
13:03And, uh, she flies, too.
13:05She's a flying squirt.
13:06Look!
13:08Get out of here!
13:10Ah!
13:11Ah!
13:12Ah!
13:13Ah!
13:13Ah!
13:13Ah!
13:13Ah!
13:14Ah!
13:14Ah!
13:14Ah!
13:15Ah!
13:15Ah!
13:16Ah!
13:16Ah!
13:17Ah!
13:17Ah!
13:18Ah!
13:18Ah!
13:18Ah!
13:19Ah!
13:39My favorite drawing, of all the drawings of Scratte, my favorite one here is this one.
13:44It's because even clutching the nut, even the foot is on the top of the putty.
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