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TV, , Documentary, Jurassic Fight Club S01E01 Cannibal Dinosaur 2008
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00:02The following is a graphic depiction of a violent prehistoric battle. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:17It's the ultimate battle of the sexes. A male and female engage in a fight to their death.
00:26Now, new discoveries reveal the fight will go beyond bloodletting.
00:32It's a domestic dispute that will end with one dinosaur committing one of the most vicious acts of the prehistoric
00:40world.
00:45They're the Earth's first fighters. The ultimate predators.
00:50New discoveries in forensic science bring to life the prehistoric art of war.
00:57This is Jurassic Fight Club.
01:05Time travel back 70 million years ago to the prehistoric world.
01:11Two supercontinents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland, increasingly fracture.
01:18Wild animals evolve and adapt to a violent Earth.
01:22On Gondwanaland, volcanic activity transforms the chaotic terrain.
01:28Africa splits from South America.
01:31Then India breaks from Africa.
01:34Leaving behind a landmass that will become Madagascar.
01:44On this lush green island, seasonal rains as well as extreme droughts and dramatic temperature changes have pitted dinosaur against
01:53dinosaur.
01:54In a world of vanishing food and water resources, predators are forced to fight for survival.
02:04Life on Madagascar during the late Cretaceous was pretty difficult.
02:07The world's climate was changing and it forced dinosaurs to adapt.
02:11The larger the landmass, the less of an impact these changes had.
02:15But when you live on a small island, these changes are intensified.
02:19So to deal with them, dinosaurs on the island of Madagascar had to adapt in ways that other dinosaurs would
02:25never dream of.
02:291996.
02:3125 miles outside of the city of Mahajanga in northwestern Madagascar.
02:38Paleontologists are on a routine excavation.
02:42But as they continue to dig, it's clear that there is something strange about this particular find.
02:51As scientists unearthed more remains, forensic and anatomical clues began to paint a picture of the unidentified dinosaur.
03:01One thing became clear.
03:04These bones did not belong to a plant-eater.
03:06They belonged to a predator.
03:11We can very often tell whether bones belong to herbivores or carnivores just by looking at them.
03:16In the big carnivorous dinosaurs, you have hollow bones.
03:21And hollow bones, of course, can support the animal as long as the bone around the outside is dense enough
03:27to support the weight of the animal.
03:31In a lab, paleontologists observed something that stunned them.
03:36Peculiar marks and deep gashes in the bones.
03:40The gashes were spaced 10 to 17 millimeters apart.
03:44Scientists were amazed.
03:46These were bite marks.
03:49Could an epic fight have taken place here?
03:54Were paleontologists looking at a 70-million-year-old crime scene?
04:04At first, the paleontologists had no idea who or what had made these markings on the bone.
04:09But using some of the same techniques that modern forensic scientists do today,
04:14they were able to solve the mystery of who it was that made these injuries over 70 million years ago.
04:22Scientists first needed to identify the dinosaur.
04:25They turned to fossil evidence found in the same area.
04:29Close by was a remarkably well-preserved skull of a large predatory dinosaur.
04:35This predatory monster was a meat-eating dinosaur called Majungatholus.
04:41It was the T-Rex of the beast.
04:46This remarkable discovery gave paleontologists an opportunity to see inside the skull of this rare dinosaur.
04:55Dr. Lawrence Whitmer of Ohio University is head of one of the most advanced dinosaur research laboratories in the world.
05:03Through today's technological advances, he is able to dig deeper into the stories of the bones and the brain cavity
05:11than ever before.
05:12CT scanning has opened a new door into dinosaur behavior and the mystery of what happened here.
05:20CT scanning is a medical technology that allows us to look inside an object.
05:26But we can use that same technology on dinosaurs to look inside their skulls to see through the rock to
05:34see how these animals are built.
05:37We can look at the bony brain cavity in CT scan and from that extract what the form of the
05:44brain was like, as well as all of the tissues that are surrounding that.
05:50CT scanning of the skull of Majungatholus gave Whitmer and his team clues into every aspect of this predator.
05:58Its senses of vision, hearing, balance and agility.
06:03By comparing the size and shape of the brain and inner ear canals to those of modern birds and reptiles,
06:10scientists now have unprecedented insight into the behavior of Majungatholus, how it lived and how it could have fought.
06:21At first glance, the skull revealed some unusual details. The exterior was covered in a thick, rough texture, ending in
06:30a three inch thick horn that jutted from the top of the skull.
06:37What makes this male Majungatholus look so odd are the bumps and strange horns and spikes that stuck out all
06:43over its skull.
06:44These are actually designed to show rivals that this male is a mature adult.
06:50They're also designed to attract a mate. These odd horns and spikes were probably brightly colored. These are makeup.
06:58It's the signal that screams to the ladies, check me out.
07:02One of the interesting things about the horn of Majungatholus is that it is very rough and the bone is
07:09very sort of cauliflower like and bumpy.
07:12And in fact, that bumpiness actually pertains to most of the skull.
07:18The texture was a valuable clue. The male's head was not merely a hood ornament.
07:23It was a weapon that could be wielded against both rival and prey. A true battering ram.
07:32One of the things that we think is going on with the bumpy skin of Majungatholus is that it relates
07:37to combat.
07:38They're potentially actually interacting in a very direct, physical way, head-to-head or head-to-flank kind of combat.
07:45It's a very unusual kind of thing. The kinds of structures that we don't really see in animals like Ceratosaurus,
07:52where the horns we see are almost delicate kind of structure.
07:55So what we see with Majungatholus is a kind of structure that was built for combat.
08:02When you look at the design of the skull of Majungatholus, you can compare that to modern-day bighorn sheep.
08:07It's very heavily built and perfectly designed to take a heavy beating.
08:16Majungatholus thrived and fought to the death more than 70 million years ago.
08:21Fossil evidence proved that the island of Madagascar teemed with a variety of plants and animals.
08:28But in the island paradise, Majungatholus was at the top of the food chain, the ultimate predator.
08:37Every environment has an apex predator. That is, the ultimate predator, the top of the food chain.
08:44On North America, Tyrannosaurus rex was that apex predator. But on the island of Madagascar, it was Majungatholus.
08:55Majungatholus was the top predator in its community. In general, it would have spent its day stalking around for prey,
09:02killing something,
09:03and when it killed it, ate it, and rested for a while.
09:08As more bones emerged from the possible crime scene, scientists began to get a clearer picture of the true size
09:16of this island terror.
09:18He was a two-legged predator, standing nine feet tall, 28 feet long, and weighing one ton.
09:25The mass of a baby elephant.
09:30Along with its size and a reinforced head-butting skull, one weapon stood out that made Majungatholus even more dangerous.
09:38A mouthful of serrated, meat-slicing teeth.
09:43A closer inspection of the jaws would reveal that, like a shark, Majungatholus had rows of teeth that worked like
09:51a conveyor to continuously replace worn teeth.
09:56The teeth of Majungatholus were pretty incredible. They were replaced throughout its entire life.
10:01When a tooth got dull, it would fall out and be replaced by a brand new tooth.
10:06They were also serrated on both the front and back edges, making them perfect for slicing meat.
10:13But Majungatholus still had one additional weapon that was capable of delivering a lethal blow.
10:20Its massive tail.
10:22With reinforced bones and powerful muscles, the dinosaur could wield its tail like an oversized baseball bat.
10:32Although Majungatholus was a force to reckon with, it was not without its shortcomings.
10:38Even the king of the jungle had his weaknesses.
10:41The first was its unusually small arms.
10:47Majungatholus's arm is incredibly short.
10:49It's got an upper arm bone, but its forearm has shrunken, so it's basically a wrist.
10:55From the elbow to the hand is probably less than a foot.
11:00It definitely does not have any functional grasping ability.
11:05It doesn't have any slashing ability.
11:07It's basically a vestigial arm.
11:10Its second drawback was its legs, which were relatively short compared to its overall body size.
11:19The length of dinosaur legs certainly had an effect on how fast they were.
11:24Animals with longer legs were presumably faster than animals with shorter legs.
11:30What we see in Majungatholus is an animal that's not built for speed.
11:34This is an animal that was pretty fast, but still not the kind of swift-footed runner that we see
11:40in other kinds of dinosaurs.
11:43It is estimated that Majungatholus may have been able to run only 10 to 15 miles per hour.
11:50Not much faster than an average human.
11:52But given its densely forested environment, speed may not have been as important to this hunter.
12:00It didn't have to be particularly fast because there were no really fast dinosaurs known from its environment.
12:05So, you only have to be faster than your meal.
12:08You don't have to be faster than something else that you're never going to see.
12:14Cat scan evidence revealed the dinosaur's third weakness.
12:18Poor vision.
12:21With Majungatholus, we can look at the brain structure and see that the visual centers are not tremendously enlarged.
12:28They're relatively modest.
12:30One of the really interesting aspects of the visual system is whether these animals had binocular vision.
12:36In other words, did their visual fields overlap?
12:40Because that actually provides depth perception.
12:44Majungatholus has very limited binocular vision.
12:47The construction of their skull made it a little bit more difficult to get that binocular vision.
12:52So, as they're sizing each other up, they're going to be really kind of looking from side to side.
12:55But if one moves quickly, it's going to get out of that binocular vision.
12:58So, there'll be a lot of juggling for position between these guys.
13:02Kind of like boxers will do before they start their fight.
13:06Somehow, an apex predator at the top of the food chain was attacked and killed.
13:12The attacker was unknown.
13:14Fossil evidence has given investigators new insight into the behavior of Majungatholus and what could have happened at this site.
13:23But a new clue lies just inches below the surface of the soil.
13:28A discovery will reveal one of the most disturbing pieces of dinosaur evidence ever unearthed.
13:38Halfway around the world, paleontologists have unearthed the remains of a dinosaur named Majungatholus.
13:45The bones had deep gouges and wounds, suggesting that a massive battle had taken place.
13:50The bite marks were so violent that they left embedded gashes in the bone.
13:58It is here where the investigation took a surprising turn.
14:04Paleontologists continue to study the scene and look more closely at the marks.
14:08What they found would reveal evidence of one of the most gruesome acts in the animal kingdom.
14:16Cannibalism.
14:19There were two Majungatholuses in this battle.
14:22One apex predator killed another.
14:24On the island of Madagascar, they made a pretty incredible discovery.
14:28They found the fossilized skeleton of a Majungatholus with bite marks from another Majungatholus.
14:36This is absolute evidence that a battle took place and one Majungatholus killed the other.
14:42The common perception is that most predatory dinosaurs were cannibals.
14:48But in fact, this discovery would become the first clear case of dinosaur cannibalism ever found in the prehistoric world.
14:57When the paleontologists studied the tooth marks, they used high-powered microscopes to look deeper into the evidence.
15:02What they found were tell-tale signs of serrations, meaning the culprit who chewed these bones had serrated teeth and
15:10jaws powerful enough to cut the bone.
15:13Since no other dinosaur on Madagascar had been found with teeth this large, it pretty much ruled out all of
15:18the predators.
15:20Measuring the width, length, and serrated edges of the teeth, and calculating the spacing between the teeth in the jaw,
15:28investigators were able to determine that the teeth and jaws of Majungatholus matched the gash marks in the bone almost
15:36perfectly.
15:39Majungatholus has serrated teeth. Each one of those little serrations is called identical.
15:45The identical marks found in the bones were spaced about 0.48 millimeters apart.
15:50In studying Majungatholus teeth, paleontologists discovered that they had an average spacing of about 0.5 millimeters.
15:58That's nearly identical to those left on the bone.
16:03What began as a routine dig was shaping up to be a battle to end all battles.
16:08Two Majungatholus in a fight to the death.
16:12But one question remained. Were these bite marks just the result of a fight?
16:17Or did one Majungatholus actually eat the other?
16:22We know this wasn't just fighting, not just bite marks on the snout, for example.
16:26These are tooth marks that are on the inside bones of the body, on leg bones and back bones and
16:35ribs that you couldn't get to from the outside.
16:37So clearly, at least on occasion, Majungatholus ate other Majungatholus.
16:45Now that scientists had proof that they were looking at cannibalism, what other evidence is there to piece together how
16:53these cannibals would have fought in this battle?
16:57In addition to the CAT scans and the fossil remains, paleontologists must study modern animal behavior for clues.
17:07The one thing that doesn't change in the animal kingdom is behavior.
17:11All animals, including man, have the same basic behavioral traits as our ancestors.
17:16Knowing this, paleontologists are able to look at modern life as a way to understand the behavior of prehistoric.
17:25There is little doubt that a male Majungatholus was a formidable creature, but now a new theory arose that would
17:32dramatically change the dynamic of the fight.
17:35What about the females?
17:38While studying the fossil site, investigators had to ask the question, could one of the dinosaurs in this battle be
17:45female?
17:47It's a question that would not be easy to answer.
17:50But studying the fossilized remains of similar dinosaurs and looking to modern animals for clues, paleontologists attempt to answer the
17:58question.
18:00The first step was to find out how female dinosaurs sized up compared to males.
18:08Majungatholus, like most theropods, most meat-eating dinosaurs, there was probably a sexual size difference between the males and the
18:16females.
18:17In Tyrannosaurus rex, we know that the biggest and baddest ones were females.
18:20But we don't know yet, because we don't have enough specimens, how Majungatholus fit into that scheme.
18:27Although there may have been a difference in size, their basic skeletal design would have remained the same.
18:34The female would have had the same short arms and legs, sharp teeth, and powerful tail.
18:41But what about their general appearance?
18:43Would the male and female look alike?
18:47When we look at lots of different kinds of animals today, and people are a good example, the males and
18:52the females look different.
18:53We call that sexual dimorphism.
18:55And a good question is, was Majungatholus sexually dimorphic?
19:00Did the males look different from the females?
19:02Once we look at theropod dinosaurs, virtually any species where we have multiple specimens,
19:08we do see that there tends to be two morphs, or two types, once you get to the adult stage.
19:16One may be heavier than the other, for example, the other may be more lightly built, more gracile,
19:22or it may be that they have a difference in the crest on top of the head, or the bump
19:26on the top of the head in the case of Majungatholus.
19:29Unfortunately for Majungatholus and most theropod dinosaurs, we don't have a lot of specimens to work with.
19:36But there's a clue.
19:39Remarkably, over the past two decades, numerous fossil discoveries, including feathered dinosaurs,
19:45have proven a relationship between birds and predatory dinosaurs.
19:50From this fossil evidence, paleontologists believe that like in male birds,
19:55the male Majungatholus would have been more brightly colored and adorned than the female.
20:02In order to understand things like color and behavior of prehistoric life, we have to look to modern life to
20:10give us those clues.
20:11Well, Majungatholus and birds are related. We know that. The evidence is very clear.
20:16And birds, the males, have a much brighter color pattern.
20:21Male birds also have strange ornamentation on their skull.
20:25Look at a guinea fowl or look at a turkey.
20:29You'll find that the female skulls are relatively plain and the male skulls are very bright and have a lot
20:35of these fleshy appendages that make them attractive.
20:39One thing that we can sort of suggest is that animals that clearly had visual display organs, things on their
20:46body, is that they probably used them.
20:48It's very reasonable to suggest that these different kinds of structures that we see on the skull of Majungatholus or
20:55even other kinds of predatory dinosaurs are in fact the kinds of features that would be used in courtship displays
21:03among these different kinds of animals.
21:06Along with skin color, ornamentation of their skulls, and their body sizes, there was another clear difference between the sexes.
21:15She was a warrior.
21:18The female was much more aggressive when defending her young.
21:22It's a vital piece of information.
21:25Paleontologists believe that this actually helped hone her fighting skills.
21:32A full-grown Majungatholus is pretty much able to take care of itself.
21:36But babies are a different matter.
21:38There's a lot of animals that would love to be able to snuff you out when you're little so that
21:41you don't ever grow to full size.
21:44Females got to deal with not only things that want to harm her, but things that want to harm her
21:49young.
21:49And there's a lot more animals that are willing to step up against a baby than there are against an
21:54adult.
21:54So the female is forced to defend not only herself, but her baby from predators.
21:59And that's what gives her fight skills that a male will never have.
22:04As in any investigation, the environment plays a crucial role in piecing together any mystery.
22:11The prehistoric world is no exception.
22:15Like a modern day battlefield, scientists must study the climate and terrain in which they would have fought.
22:21We know that the land 70 million years ago varied from densely forested to jungle-like to swampy.
22:30Based on the variety of plants, Madagascar would have seen seasonal changes and times of severe drought.
22:39Evergreen and conifer trees reaching 100 feet high covered much of the landscape.
22:45If you look at any forest today, like Yellowstone Park for instance, we've done a great job of clearing out
22:51the fallen logs and debris that usually litter the forest floor.
22:54Of course back then that wouldn't have happened.
22:57So moving through those forests could have been incredibly difficult, especially during a fight.
23:04As it turns out, the terrain would play a vital part in this investigation.
23:10Paleontologists now know that the bones were moved.
23:13And not only that, they were moved very soon after the dinosaur died.
23:17This tells us one thing.
23:20Flash flood.
23:23Looking at the geology of the dig site, paleontologists could see that the bones had been washed into their final
23:28resting place.
23:29This location was not where the battle had taken place.
23:32It's simply where the remains of the eaten dinosaur ended up.
23:36The evidence suggests that flood waters carried them there.
23:41In late 2007, experts first began to reconstruct a plausible ramp up to this battle from 70 million years ago.
23:55A male Majungatholis could have entered the territory of a female.
23:59His motive was sex, but she has other ideas.
24:04When approached by a male, the female would have been very cautious until she understood his intentions.
24:11To protect herself and her territory, she must make it clear that she is no pushover.
24:20Paleontologists think that to ensure her safety, the female could have relied on three distinctive moves before launching into an
24:27attack.
24:28The first move is to stand her ground.
24:33When you're approached by a rival, the last thing you want to do is turn, tail, and run.
24:37First it means you lose your territory, but worse, your rival might think you're food.
24:42The rules of the animal kingdom are pretty clear.
24:44Break one of these rules and you're liable to end up dead.
24:48She would then have moved to step two.
24:51Turning her body sideways will show the male her massive size.
24:57Next came the flash of those razor sharp teeth.
25:01Bearing her teeth would send a very clear signal to an aggressor.
25:06Once the female would have made her rival aware of her disposition, it is up to him to convince her
25:12that he is here to mate, not kill.
25:17Mating can be a pretty dangerous thing if the object of your desire has three inch long serrated teeth and
25:22a bad attitude.
25:23The first thing she's going to suspect is that you're there to challenge her for her territory.
25:27The male had better do everything possible to show this female that he is not a threat.
25:32To demonstrate his intentions and change her mood, the male would have begun to perform a courtship dance.
25:40CAT scan evidence shows that the brain of Majunga Tholus was incredibly small and therefore primitive.
25:47Leading paleontologists to speculate that this dance would have been very simple.
25:53Certainly given the brain size of something like Majunga Tholus, which has a relatively primitive brain,
25:59we would expect them to have the kinds of primitive, very ritualized courtship rituals that we see in lizards and
26:08crocodiles today.
26:09Very stereotyped, rigid kinds of courtship behaviors.
26:14Although the male tries his best, the female is not receptive.
26:19He has no idea that he's dancing with the devil.
26:25Ripped from the continent of Gondwanaland, by the violent upheavals of the Earth's tectonic plates, the island of Madagascar is
26:33born.
26:35Surrounded by sea, the island quickly becomes a lush green Garden of Eden.
26:40But evolution has a way of spoiling this pristine environment.
26:45A terrifying inhabitant emerged.
26:47Majunga Tholus.
26:50In these steamy jungles, a colossal battle of the sexes took place.
26:55Was this just a lover's spat, or was there more to this story?
26:59To help piece together a viable scenario, paleontologists would size up the competitors.
27:10The skeletal design of Majunga Tholus shows that these were very powerful animals.
27:17But was there a difference in size and strength between male and female?
27:22We do see some differences between the different specimens that we find of Majunga Tholus.
27:28It's hard for us to know whether those are just differences between different individuals,
27:32or differences that we can associate to differences in sex.
27:35Both of these animals would probably be fairly comparable in terms of their general size and strength and general capabilities.
27:45Although these were not considered giant predators, they were still packed with muscle.
27:51What effect would this have on their speed and agility?
27:57Majunga Tholus is not necessarily a fast and agile animal. It doesn't have to be.
28:01It lived on an island, and the prey animals that lived with it were relatively slow.
28:05But I think the female would have been a little bit faster and more agile than the male.
28:11We know that in this particular group of dinosaurs, when you look at the attachments of the muscles in the
28:17legs,
28:18that there's some slight differences between the males and the females.
28:21The fact that there's a stronger shelf in what we think are the males seems to suggest stronger muscle attachments.
28:27And that means that they may have had more powerful muscles in the legs,
28:31which may mean that on one hand they were stronger, but maybe on the other hand they were not as
28:36fast.
28:38In addition to their formidable build, the male and female hold a jaw full of serrated teeth,
28:45and a domed head used as a battering ram.
28:48They used both when they went head to head on the battlefield.
28:56We have the same weapons, basically the same weapons.
28:59There's no more teeth, no fewer teeth, there's no difference in design of teeth.
29:03It's only in what's going on in their brain, and what's going on in their automatic responses to things that
29:10are built up over lifetime experiences.
29:13When it comes to attacking an adversary, the sexes are quite different.
29:18The male acquired hunting skills necessary to capture prey or a suitable mate.
29:23However, like modern birds and reptiles, the mother wrapped up more hours on the front lines as a defensive fighter,
29:32protecting her offspring.
29:35Now, if the female were actually defending its young, then that in a sense changes the equation,
29:40and consequently the intensity of battle might be different.
29:43Because at that point, the intensity wouldn't be just about a meal or about territory,
29:49it would be about her heritage, her genes, and her future.
29:58Life on Madagascar was a difficult struggle for an adult Majundatholus.
30:02But survival for a juvenile was nearly impossible without the protection of an adult.
30:08Being confined on the island of Madagascar in the Lake Cretaceous was pretty tough,
30:13because what it did is it took all of the dinosaurs and forced them into a very small area.
30:19So unlike animals on the mainland, where the female could leave the juveniles unattended while she hunted,
30:25on Madagascar because all these animals were confined in such a small space,
30:29it was much more likely that somebody would happen across these babies.
30:33And when you're an unprotected baby, there's a tremendous amount of danger.
30:37In the dark, dense forests of Madagascar, danger came in many forms.
30:42But one in particular, isolationism, had an effect that would turn this island paradise into a prison
30:50where only one sentence was carried out. Death.
30:55On an island where you're separated from others,
30:58it means the chances of meeting a mate from the opposite sex are reduced.
31:03And more importantly, it means that those that you meet, you could very well be very closely related to.
31:08So the number one problem is inbreeding.
31:12And with inbreeding comes a couple of very nasty side effects,
31:15like you have less of a tolerance for disease, your bone structure can be weaker,
31:21you're a lot more susceptible to early death.
31:24But the number one problem with inbreeding is that the possibility of creating mutations exists.
31:32Majungatholus may have had that ugly face because it was the end result of inbreeding.
31:40Relying on evidence collected from the dig sites and knowledge of modern animal behavior,
31:47experts can recreate a plausible scenario
31:52where a female competes with a male in a final fight to the death.
32:05You are about to see a graphic depiction of a violent prehistoric battle.
32:12Viewer discretion is advised.
32:19Planet Earth, 70 million years ago.
32:28A male Majungatholus is on the prowl for a female.
32:34He picks up the scent of a female Majungatholus.
32:38He knows it's a female simply by her scent.
32:40He moves in cautiously, knowing that if she has a mate, there could be a confrontation.
32:50Slowly, cautiously, the male moves further into her territory, following her scent like a roadmap.
33:00He works his way towards the center of her territory, looking for this female.
33:04He finds her.
33:06She's in a small, open clearing, surrounded by very dense vegetation.
33:11He moves in and begins to demonstrate his intentions.
33:15He's not an aggressor.
33:17He is simply trying to woo her into mating.
33:20He goes through a series of steps designed to put her into a non-defensive mood.
33:26She doesn't react the way he expects, and he doesn't understand it.
33:30The female is uninterested in his advances.
33:33He sways slowly back and forth again to try to describe to her his intention.
33:39She refuses to accept his advances.
33:42She bares her teeth and hisses with a deep, rumbling brow.
33:47This is a clear message that she's looking for a fight.
33:50The Majungatholus male continues his dance to try to entice her, but she will not respond.
33:56She continues in an aggressive posture.
33:58The male tries to shift his position, perhaps put her in a different area, and see if that will change
34:04her mood.
34:06But the female's focus is not exclusively on the male.
34:12As he moves to the side, he realizes that hidden behind her is her offspring.
34:19The male knows immediately.
34:22That's the reason why the female is not responsive to his reproductive dance.
34:27The male realizes the female will not be responsive as long as her offspring is alive.
34:34He knows he's got to get rid of that baby.
34:36In his brain, his mind switches over from reproduction to killing.
34:42He needs to take out that baby, and he needs to do it without being killed himself.
34:48The female becomes suspicious of the male's sudden change in attitude.
34:53Her maternal instincts shift into overdrive.
34:57She knows he's seen the baby.
34:59She puts herself between the baby and the male, as the male slowly begins to outflank her and outmaneuver her
35:05to have access to the baby.
35:08The baby lays motionless, but the male has already spotted him.
35:12He needs to take him out.
35:16The male lowers his head and rushes in, mouth agape, trying to grab the baby.
35:20But the female is quick to react and lowers her head and rams the male with incredible power.
35:28The male, being bigger, recovers relatively quickly and turns to face the female.
35:33He knows that he may have to attack the female in order to get to the juvenile.
35:38He doesn't want to kill the female, but he will if he believes his life is in jeopardy.
35:44Although the male is larger in size, the female can match that with incredible veracity.
35:49She's defending her young and will fight to the death.
35:52The male turns his attention back towards the female.
35:56The female knows that the male has seen her offspring.
36:00Enraged, she kicks up dirt like a mad bull, pawing the ground before charging.
36:06The male has got to be careful.
36:08He knows a protective mother can be extremely violent.
36:11But his reproductive urges outweigh caution.
36:16They go through a series of steps, each trying to intimidate the other.
36:20But it doesn't work.
36:21The male is intent on reproduction and the female is intent on defending her young.
36:26The male is intent on killing that juvenile and the female is intent on defending him.
36:31The male again moves in for the kill.
36:34But the female shifts sideways and swats him with her powerful tail.
36:40The male absorbs the blow and regains his footing.
36:43He launches a second frontal assault.
36:46The female again thwarts his advances.
36:49The male attempts to lure the female further away from her baby.
36:54He makes a series of mock charges and draws back with each one.
36:58Once she is far enough away from the baby, the male rushes her head on.
37:02The female loses sight of her surroundings.
37:06She trips on the log and falls to the ground.
37:09This is the opportunity the male has been waiting for.
37:11The female Majungatholus made one fatal error.
37:14She was so focused on defending her baby, she lost track of her environment.
37:20When you place a big foot like Majungatholus has on the ground, you better be assured of your footing.
37:27And she wasn't.
37:28And that's what tripped her up and gave the male his opportunity.
37:32The male advances towards the defenseless baby.
37:35With the female now out of the picture, he seizes his best chance to go for the kill.
37:41With his razor sharp teeth, he grabs the unguarded baby.
37:47Although the male has made the first kill, this battle is just beginning.
38:0170 million years ago, a baby Majungatholus is snatched from his mother.
38:10The male knows he needs to kill the offspring in order to successfully mate with the mother.
38:19The male Majungatholus has this baby in his jaws.
38:22The male Majungatholus has this baby in his jaws.
38:22He shakes and crushes it with tremendous force.
38:26The juvenile lays helpless in his jaws.
38:37For a brief moment, the jungle is silent.
38:46Then suddenly, from out of the brush, the female charges into view.
38:51The mother goes for the jugular.
38:55She now launches an attack on the male and grabs him by the rear of the neck.
39:01Using all the power she has, she crushes the vertebra in the male's neck.
39:08The male drops the baby as he slumps to the ground.
39:11He is unable to move.
39:14She severed his spinal cord.
39:16He is completely helpless, but still alive.
39:19The female leans down and sniffs her baby to look for signs of life.
39:25There is absolutely no movement and she knows the baby is dead.
39:31Although she risked her life to save her young, the female Majungatholus is incapable of mourning.
39:39The brain of a dinosaur works like a light switch.
39:42There is an on and there is an off.
39:44They only think of one thing at a time.
39:47They live in the very moment they are in.
39:50When she realized that her baby was dead, the female Majungatholus' brain switched over from maternal to dinner.
39:58She now sees her baby as a food source.
40:02She has got to replenish the calories she burned fighting the male.
40:06Her baby is the first course.
40:08The male is the main course.
40:12But the female isn't fully satiated.
40:16She now turns her attention to her second victim.
40:23He is still alive, but he can't move.
40:27He makes a perfect target and he is going to get eaten alive.
40:32She leans over, rips open his stomach and continues her feeding frenzy.
40:41The female Majungatholus shoves her head into the stomach cavity of the male.
40:45She is seeking the most nutritious parts.
40:48She pulls her blood covered nose out of the stomach and in her jaws are the liver.
40:54This is the most precious part of her prey.
40:58The liver is usually the first thing predators are going to eat.
41:01It's the largest organ in the body and more importantly, it's rich in vitamins and iron.
41:06And this is something predatory dinosaurs crave.
41:09The cannibal dinosaur will continue to gorge until her gut is full.
41:15This is not an act of vengeance.
41:18The female Majungatholus eats the male for sustenance, not to get even for what it did to her young.
41:24Although these monsters appeared evenly matched, the male's miscalculations and missed opportunities cost him the fight and his life.
41:35Had the male Majungatholus found this baby unguarded, it would have killed it.
41:40When the female would return, she would instantly go into reproductive mode because she didn't have a baby to defend.
41:47But because she was there defending the young, the moment the male killed it, she instantly attacked it in an
41:55effort to save the baby.
41:58Despite the female's victory, her species eventually loses a bigger battle.
42:03They became extinct 65 million years ago.
42:09Majungatholus faced the exact same consequences all animals do during an environmental change.
42:15The island of Madagascar was drifting further out to sea.
42:20Plant life suffered first.
42:22As those plants began to disappear, herbivores that lived on them began to disappear.
42:27And that left Majungatholus with having nothing left on the menu except for another Majungatholus.
42:35Paleontologists are currently prospecting for more clues about this elusive cannibal dinosaur.
42:43As people continue to explore Madagascar for more fossils, some of the things we'd really like to see about Majungatholus
42:49are, are there really differences between the sexes?
42:53And in order to test that idea, we need more skulls.
42:58Scientists still continue to search for the differences between the sexes of this dinosaur species.
43:03But one thing's certain, 70 million years ago, one Majungatholus showed another who's boss on the prehistoric battlefields of Madagascar.
43:20Next week on Jurassic Fight Club.
43:25He was the king of all dinosaurs.
43:30But to one rival, he was prey.
43:35New science reveals how Tyrannosaurus rex, the most aggressive hunter ever, became The Hunted.
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