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00:16Over 66 million years ago,
00:23our world was ruled
00:30by dinosaurs.
00:38The largest animals
00:39that have ever walked the earth.
00:49Today, dinosaur experts across the globe
00:54are uncovering the bones they left behind.
01:00Allowing us to imagine
01:02how these extraordinary creatures
01:04may have lived.
01:08So that we can tell their story.
01:17And they
01:20can walk again.
01:21To be continued...
01:24To be continued...
01:28To be continued...
01:43To be continued...
01:45To be continued...
02:03To be continued...
02:04The Sahara Desert
02:06is one of the most inhospitable environments
02:10on earth.
02:20To be continued...
02:23To be continued...
02:24To be continued...
02:54To be continued...
03:01To be continued...
03:02To be continued...
03:03To be continued...
03:06To be continued...
03:07To be continued...
03:09One here and one here. Wow.
03:14A Spinosaurus.
03:16Wow, that is beautiful.
03:19What do you reckon?
03:20Maybe a rainbow or a rainbow, yeah.
03:22Yeah. I knew we'd find one.
03:28Using the team's discoveries,
03:30we can imagine how it lived and died
03:34one hundred million years ago.
04:02The New York Times
04:03In the late Cretaceous period,
04:07Africa has just broken away from the
04:09from South America, and the land that will become the Sahara is a river system.
04:33Its waters support acres of scrub and forest that provide shade from the intense Cretaceous
04:42Sun, perfect for an afternoon nap.
04:56This is Sobek, the Spinosaurus.
05:08Eleven meters long, his powerful jaws packed with teeth.
05:20Disturbing this monster's sleep could have deadly consequences.
05:26No!
05:30No!
05:36Let's go.
06:11Let's go.
06:33Let's go.
06:34But this isn't lunch.
06:39It's one of his babies.
06:47Sobek is a father.
06:55Like some species of modern birds, once the eggs are laid, the job of looking after the
07:02kids falls to him.
07:23Sobek must keep his young family alive until they can fend for themselves.
07:43A hundred million years later...
07:46Looks like bone.
07:48You got the location, Marco, right?
07:52Nizar and the team are starting to uncover evidence that could shed light on how Spinosaurus
07:58raised their young.
08:02See more?
08:03Any luck on that side?
08:05Bones that show Sobek wasn't built like other dinosaurs.
08:12So, Marco, you can see this nice little curvature here.
08:16I think this is certainly a vertebra.
08:18It's a little fragile, this one.
08:22This vertebra was part of Sobek's six-meter tail.
08:28All right, let's get it out and let's see if we can find more.
08:35In total, the team has recovered more than 40 tail bones.
08:41This should be vertebra number 22?
08:45Yeah.
08:45Okay.
08:46Starting from the smallest one?
08:47We're starting distally, yes.
08:49And for Nizar and fellow paleontologist Francesca Borki, they reveal something unique.
08:58What I think is really remarkable is, like, you get close to the tip of the tail and you
09:02still have these really long spines.
09:07Spines like these are not found on the tail bones of other predatory dinosaurs.
09:14Once you see the shape of the spines, it's quite narrow.
09:19Yes.
09:20And flat.
09:22Basically just a giant paddle.
09:24Yeah.
09:24Yeah.
09:24The more we collect, the more aquatic this thing becomes.
09:29Yeah.
09:31For Nizar, a thin, flat tail can mean only one thing.
09:41Spinosaurus was a swimmer.
09:56Underwater, Sobek is in his element.
10:01Using his huge tail to power him through the water.
10:16He's guarding a nursery pool, the place he and his babies call home.
10:29And with Dad's back turned, the kids take to the water.
10:39This secluded backwater is the perfect learner pool.
10:51So while Sobek's patrolling, the babies hone their hunting skills.
11:10And he's trying to figure out how to do it.
11:11He's trying to figure out how to do it.
11:11He's trying to figure out how to do it.
11:11He's trying to figure out how to do it.
11:13But it's not long before one of them gets into trouble.
11:24If it doesn't get help soon, this baby will drown.
11:30It's not long before one, it's not long before one.
11:59Dad, to the rescue.
12:50With everyone safely back on the bank, the family settles down to sleep.
13:05But they must soon leave the safety of the nursery pool.
13:10And travel somewhere Sobek knows they can catch far more substantial prey.
13:22And the journey ahead will be fraught with dangers.
13:35Because although the dig site is barren and lifeless today, Nizar and the team have evidence
13:48that when Sobek was alive, the Kemkem was far more perilous.
13:55Lots of big predatory fish.
13:57This is a nice jaw.
13:59Absolute monster.
14:00Its rivers teemed with massive carnivorous fish.
14:07And enormous crocodiles.
14:10Look at that.
14:12Okay.
14:14Tip of the snout, right?
14:16This is where the nose end is essentially.
14:20This will be the size of the biggest crocs today.
14:23Big nasty Ilosuchus.
14:27Ilosuchus is an extinct species of croc with jaws over a metre long.
14:34This tooth is very nice.
14:36Still here.
14:37Yeah, they're pretty robust.
14:42If the rivers were dangerous, the land was home to an even more deadly predator.
14:54Yes, it's very well preserved.
14:57I can see all of the simulations here.
14:58Like a steak knife, right?
15:02Carcharodontosaurus was the T-Rex of Africa.
15:06Three metres tall and armed with more than 50 flesh-cutting teeth.
15:13We've got several T-Rex-sized predatory dinosaurs, or even bigger than T-Rex.
15:17Big crocs, giant fish.
15:20Nowhere is safe.
15:21Yeah.
15:22You know, there are really many different ways to die.
15:27These lands were once home to more large predators than anywhere else in Earth's history.
15:42A fearsome collection of carnivores that Sobek must navigate.
15:51If he's to feed his family.
16:03And there's danger lurking at every turn.
16:18Hidden from view, the murky waters are patrolled by at least eight species of ferocious crocodile.
16:43But that's the least of their worries.
16:47Because the family has just entered the territory.
16:55of Carcharodontosaurus.
17:05This fearsome six-ton killing machine.
17:11is also on the hunt for food.
17:16Yes.
17:31You're both.
17:31And there's no pain in the hunt for that if you don't consume it.
17:34And there's no pain in the hunt for you.
17:36It's a concern with me.
17:38We're just one of them.
17:40These guys are at least in the hunt for you.
17:41But the movies are at least one of them.
17:42Is this in the hunt for you?
17:43Why are they got here?
17:51Time to get the babies to safety.
18:09With so many deadly predators around, it will take everything Sobex got to reach his destination without his family becoming
18:20someone else's meal.
18:38And not far from the dig site, on a remote plateau, the team has discovered signs of another monster.
18:53You good?
18:54Okay.
18:54I'm ready to go whenever you are.
18:56Evidence that's best seen from the air.
19:11So how many pictures are we taking in total?
19:13About 500, 600.
19:21So we start down that ridge and then work our way over and do that whole site.
19:40The photographic survey reveals what's hidden here.
19:48Arranged in rows, these aren't just boulders.
19:53They're footprints.
19:59This is a dinosaur trackway.
20:07And to identify which dinosaur made it, Nizar and colleague Dr Roy Smith take a closer look.
20:16You've got this edge here and then quite a nice shape around that side as well.
20:21Yeah, very nice.
20:23Each footprint is a cast of the foot that made it.
20:27So the claw over there, right?
20:30That's me.
20:30I think there's two more there.
20:32Yeah.
20:33The back of the foot.
20:34Yeah.
20:36And at over a metre across, they're some of the biggest ever found.
20:41No.
20:43No.
20:43This is really impressive.
20:45It was a bit missing.
20:45It would have been even bigger.
20:46It would have been even bigger.
20:48We've got a giant here.
20:49Yeah, yeah.
20:52These footprints were made by one of the largest dinosaurs that's ever lived.
21:08Titanosaurs.
21:10Huge, long-necked dinosaurs, 14 metres high.
21:22At more than 60 tonnes, each one weighs as much as a herd of elephants.
21:39But for one elderly member of the group, this has become its final resting place.
21:57And it could provide Sobek with the food he needs for his hungry babies.
22:17But they're not the only ones on the lookout for a free lunch.
22:26An adult Carcharodontosaurus has already laid claim to the carcass.
22:46With his babies to look after, Sobek can't risk injury.
22:55So he must now decide if it's a prize worth fighting for.
23:22Sobek is bigger.
23:25But one bite from these jaws could be fatal.
23:35Sobek's fearsome claws could give him the advantage.
23:42But crucially, the Carcharodontosaurus is built for hunting on land.
24:03The Carcharodontosaurus is built for hunting on land.
24:05So Sobek backs down.
24:19His family won't eat today.
24:25But if they can survive their journey, a much bigger prize awaits.
24:45As night falls, Nizar and the team examine an astonishing fossil.
24:52The place where this was found, it was so narrow you could only just crawl on your belly essentially.
25:01Discovered close to the dig site, it's the remains of an extinct species of fish.
25:08This is the head of Oncopristus.
25:12The brain case, the blade-shaped snout, it's all there.
25:20Oncopristus is commonly known as a sawskate because of the long snout lined with barbs it used to stun its
25:28prey.
25:30This would have been a fairly slow, bottom-dwelling, skate-like animal.
25:38That's insane.
25:44And with Spinosaurus so at home in water, Nizar has a theory.
25:49So this would have been one of the primary food sources for Spinosaurus.
25:55Incredible.
25:55My God, it's amazing.
25:58Whoa.
26:07Sauce gate could grow up to four meters in length.
26:12So a single fish would make a sizable meal.
26:32But once a year, like rays do today, it's thought they gathered to breed in their thousands.
26:49Providing an incredible feast that awaits Sobek and his family.
27:05But in this predator-infested land, danger can strike at any time.
27:29And a hundred million years ago, there weren't just predators on land and in the water, they were also in
27:40the air.
27:42So this is a lower jaw of Alanka.
27:46This is a Chemchem pterosaur.
27:49It is a pretty remarkable specimen.
27:52Wow.
27:54Alanka was a huge flying reptile with a seven-meter wingspan.
28:02Twice that of any bird alive today.
28:08Essentially what we're looking at here is the skull would be going back.
28:13You know, like this.
28:13Yeah, something like this.
28:15A meter, more or less.
28:16Yeah.
28:17Pretty big.
28:18Yeah.
28:18It's probably the largest Chemchem pterosaur.
28:23Its jaws reveal what this flying monster would have eaten.
28:28It's got this really interesting raised structure here.
28:31It's got like a Y shape.
28:33Mm-hmm.
28:34There's a corresponding matching part in the upper jaw.
28:37And so maybe this was something that was used to crush hard-shelled prey.
28:46Although it's adapted to eat shellfish, Alanka was so big it didn't need to be piggy.
28:56It's possible that these things were catching little things on the ground, you know.
29:00Yeah.
29:01When they walked on the ground.
29:02Maybe little dinosaurs, little crocs, amphibians, whatever they could catch.
29:08Yes.
29:08Yes.
29:15With Alanka about, no small creature was safe.
29:41To reach the sauce gate breeding ground, Sobek must lead his young family through the forest.
29:54It's their final challenge.
30:00But the most deadly.
30:23For Alanka, a young Spinosaurus would make a tasty meal.
30:52And the dense foliage provides perfect cover.
30:58For an ambush.
31:00For an ambush.
31:23For an ambush.
31:26In theobs.
31:27Yeah.
31:50For an ambush.
31:51They're fast.
31:51True.
31:51Fair enough till us foize the enemy.
31:52For an ambush.
32:12Too late.
32:21Having come so far, losing one of his babies is a huge blow.
32:39But if Sobek is to keep the others alive, he must keep moving.
32:58As the family emerges from the forest, their journey's end is in sight.
33:12The Source Gate breeding ground.
33:18And the promise of plentiful food for Sobek and his family.
33:31But for his babies to eat, Sobek will have to fight his way to the front of the queue.
33:53And at the dig, Nizar and paleontologist Dr. Gabriele Bindellini have evidence that could reveal how Spinosaurus settled their differences.
34:10So I think this is the tallest we've got.
34:14And it still missed a good portion at the tip.
34:19Yeah, I mean I think we're missing 30, 35, maybe 40 centimeters.
34:26Which makes it super long.
34:28Yes.
34:30Do you want to take this end?
34:31I'll hold it here.
34:32Mm-hmm.
34:35Over a meter and a half long, this is one of the 15 bones that rose up from Sobek's back,
34:41supporting his enormous sail.
34:46I've tried to visualize all of these other spines.
34:49I mean it's a massive structure.
34:57Spinosaurus sails are so big, they must have had an important function.
35:05It's probably like primarily a display structure.
35:08To be seen from the distance.
35:10Yeah, like a peacock.
35:11Yeah, like a peacock's train.
35:15But unlike a peacock, Nizar believes the main function of Spinosaurus's sail might not have been to find a mate.
35:23So you're one Spinosaurus, and you're coming close to another Spinosaurus territory.
35:29And what you're going to see, you're going to see this big sail, right?
35:32And just by looking at the sail, you can go like, ooh, there's a really big Spinosaurus.
35:35I'd better not get close to this guy.
35:37Stay away from here.
35:38I think it would be very efficient at scaring off other predators or rivals.
35:52Sobek's intimidating sail could be just what he needs, to win a prime fishing spot.
36:11Having run the gauntlet of Kem Kem predators, there's now only one thing standing between him and feeding his babies.
36:27A rival Spinosaurus.
36:42Sobek must try to intimidate this older male.
36:47And take his place on the bank.
36:56So, he initiates a ritual dance.
37:03Showing off his sail.
37:18Showing off his sail.
37:19But as a young male, Sobek's sail is smaller.
37:32And not intimidating enough.
37:42And not intimidating enough.
37:48Forced from the bank, where the fish are easier to catch.
37:51The job of feeding his hungry babies has just got much more difficult.
38:16Can we get some measurements?
38:19Yes.
38:19Marco.
38:22But evidence from the dig.
38:26140.
38:29Suggests, Sobek may have been well equipped for the challenge.
38:36It's something we haven't really seen before.
38:40Something new.
38:43One of the missing foot bones.
38:48Sobek's foot bones are similar to those of water birds.
38:52Meaning his feet could have been webbed.
38:57Maybe they're going to wrap it in this.
38:59Tape it.
38:59This one we're going to put in a plaster jacket.
39:02Helping him to swim after his prey.
39:11Where's the box?
39:13And if he caught it, Sobek had another adaptation.
39:19My teeth are really amazing.
39:22That made him a formidable underwater predator.
39:28If I didn't know Spinosaurus was here, I would say this is a crocodile tooth.
39:35Looking at it, the shape is basically the same, you know?
39:40Unlike the broad, blade-like teeth of other predatory dinosaurs,
39:45Spinosaurus teeth are smooth and conical like a crocodile's,
39:49because they both eat the same food.
39:56This is basically your main piece of anatomical weaponry if you're going after fish.
40:03Oh, yeah.
40:04Big fish stabbing slippery prey.
40:07With more than 60 of these teeth in its long jaws,
40:13Spinosaurus was able to tackle the largest fish.
40:20Imagine having to hold on to a big sauce gate, fighting for its life.
40:24Yeah. It definitely wasn't an easy catch.
40:27Yeah. I mean, they put up a real fight.
40:29You need these kind of killing tools, right, to hold on to the prey.
40:35Webbed feet and spiky teeth are critical adaptations that Sobek will need to make a catch.
41:01But even so, success is far from guaranteed.
41:16Although Sobek is faster,
41:21The source gate is more agile.
41:34Time for a change of tactics.
41:36Time for a change of tactics.
41:47Attacking from below.
41:51Like a shark.
41:52Knock on the block.
42:19success but getting his catch to his family won't be easy
42:54this time Sobek is in no mood to give up his kill
43:19By leading them to this land of plenty Sobek has ensured his baby's survival
43:41But his moment of triumph
43:48has come at a terrible cost
43:55So these are small parts of the femur of the thigh bone of our spinosaurus
44:05Slices cut through Sobek's bones have a disturbing story to tell
44:10We looked at some of the sections We looked at the growth lines under the microscope
44:17Trying to look at the age They came out pretty nice
44:19You know it's not as easy as reading growth lines on a tree
44:23But we can narrow it down to an age of 17 to 19 years
44:29At death
44:30Okay so he wasn't that old
44:32Yeah like a young adult-ish you know
44:37Other large predatory dinosaurs are thought to have had a lifespan of about 30 years
44:44But Sobek's bones reveal he was barely an adult when he died
44:52So maybe he could have lived a little bit longer
44:55Yeah, if we assume a similar kind of lifespan for spinosaurus you know late 20s early 30s
44:59It's a life cut short
45:06The evidence hidden within his bones
45:16Suggests Sobek may not have lived to see his family grow up
45:45In providing for his babies
45:47In providing for his babies
45:50He has paid the ultimate price.
46:37He has paid the ultimate price.
46:49And as the great river ebbs and flows, it covers his body with layer upon layer of sediment.
47:04Preserving Sobek's story beneath the desert's shifting sands.
47:12Until he is eventually found, 100 million years later.
47:30Next time, a gang of armored dinosaurs.
47:36Battles to reach adulthood.
47:40Hunted by one of the most fearsome predators that's ever lived.
47:48Oh, boy.
47:51Oh, boy.
48:01Oh, boy.
48:09Oh, boy.
48:13Transcription by CastingWords
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