- 2 hours ago
First stop... the Tar Pits, as Gary and Eric investigate the incredible creatures that came after the dinosaurs, from giant ground sloths to savage saber-tooths. It's a trip back to the age of monstrous mammals in this wild and whimsical blast into our prehistoric past.
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00:11okay I think the coast is clear should hope so that night nurse she doesn't have a clue
00:20oh I can't believe you two are out of again come on back to bed oh come on I had
00:26a nap this
00:27afternoon besides we're not bothering anybody here no I have specific instructions not to let
00:34you two guys get together and talk about those dinosaur shows you used to do you just get too
00:38excitable for your information smarty pants we weren't gonna talk about dinosaurs we weren't
00:48no we weren't Gary we're gonna talk about prehistoric
00:54prehistoric mammals hey I remember that show yeah what was that show you know the one about
01:02the weird creatures that came after the dinosaurs like ferocious saber-toothed cats giant blue
01:08catheriums and then Eric ended up in London and those strange guys kept button in it's the one
01:16that started at Rancho La Brea oh yeah the tar pits okay okay you guys can talk but just for
01:25half an
01:25hour and then it's back to bed okay thanks nurse Wilcox okay be good you sure you don't want to
01:34stay
01:34and hear about the show no um no no no I've got things to do I'll be back though okay
01:40okay how did
01:42that show begin well we first heard you say dinosaurs ruled the earth 150 million no no that wasn't it
01:53first we had to let everyone know that this was a special presentation you're right yep oh it's great
02:01fade up
02:15dinosaurs ruled the earth for 150 million years but living in the shadow of these giant beasts were
02:22another type of animal and when the dinosaurs died out the age of mammals began this new dynasty began
02:3265 million years ago and still continues today along the way many strange creatures came and went
02:40including the balucatherian who measured up to 18 feet at the shoulder the largest land mammal to ever
02:47walk the earth so fasten your seat belts as eric boardman and gary owens take you back on a journey
02:54to our extraordinary prehistoric world
02:57and we'll see you next time
03:33The age of mammals has been going on for the last 65 million years.
03:39Scientifically, this span of time in which these warm-blooded fur or hair-bearing animals
03:44have been the dominant life form on the Earth's surface is called the Cenozoic Era.
03:50During this huge expanse of time, many prehistoric creatures have evolved into animals we know today,
03:56while others have disappeared forever through natural selection and extinction.
04:04Eric and I are overlooking a world-renowned link to our prehistoric past.
04:09Yes, these are the famous La Brea tar pits.
04:12And over here is a fantastic view of the main tar lake here at Rancho La Brea.
04:18In this black tar, this pool that you see here,
04:22buried countless bones of animals that once roamed this area about 40,000 years ago.
04:28How did the bones get in there?
04:30That's a very good question. Let me see if I can answer it for you.
04:33Let's go back about 30,000 or 40,000 years.
04:36Now, the tar pits look very much like they do today.
04:39And after the rain, the pits would be covered with a shallow pool of water.
04:42And a prehistoric horse, it's thirsty, right?
04:44He goes down in the pool.
04:46As a drink, his feet get stuck in the deadly tar.
04:49He struggles.
04:50He's trapped. He can't get out.
04:52A wandering saber-toothed cat.
04:54Here's the horse's cry for help.
04:56What does he do?
04:57Wacko jumps down on top of the horse.
04:59He falls in, sinking low on a hungry pack of wolves.
05:04They're hungry.
05:05They jump on both of the wolves.
05:06Wolf, wolf, wolf on top of the...
05:09And high above, the vultures,
05:12A free lunch.
05:14They dive down on top of the saber-toothed cat.
05:16The horse, they're all stuck together,
05:19getting down, wasting, laying in the tar for months.
05:22These poor cleatia skeletons would sink beneath the surface.
05:26And scenes like this were played out countless times
05:30over thousands of years.
05:32Now, does that answer your question for you, little boy?
05:35Good.
05:37If you will follow me, we will go to pit number five,
05:40where we will see the mastodons.
05:43Because...
05:45Now that we all know how the bones got into the tar pits,
05:48let's find out how they got back out.
05:52The tar pits are actually the remains of crude oil
05:55that has seeped up from beneath the earth's surface,
05:58leaving pools of sticky asphalt.
06:00Shortly after the Civil War,
06:02the asphalt was used to help pave the streets of Los Angeles.
06:06But in 1875, scientist William Denton realized
06:10that the bones that had been found in the tar
06:13were from extinct prehistoric animals.
06:16This oil-rich land was owned by the Hancock family.
06:20And in 1913, G. Allen Hancock allowed the L.A. County Museum
06:25to excavate for three years.
06:27Over half a million bones were found during this period,
06:31making this the richest deposit of ice-age fossils in the world.
06:36Realizing the significance of this find,
06:39Hancock donated 23 acres to the county
06:41to preserve this unique site.
06:44Now called Hancock Park,
06:46important discoveries continue.
06:48And in 1977, the George C. Page Museum was built
06:52to house the fossil treasures of Rancho La Brea.
06:56Over a half million people a year
06:57come from all over the world to visit the Page Museum.
07:02Uh, excuse me.
07:04Mister?
07:05Oh, mister?
07:06Yeah.
07:08This is the entrance to the Page Museum, isn't it?
07:11No, this is the line for Space Mountain.
07:15Well, will you let me in and see I have to get in the museum?
07:17Really?
07:18Yeah.
07:18And you don't want to pay like everybody else?
07:21That's just that I'm doing a special for television.
07:23Oh, isn't that nice?
07:26That'll be one adult admission.
07:28You would be amazed how many oddballs
07:30try to come in here every day
07:31saying they're doing a special for TV.
07:33Yeah, but I really am doing a special for television.
07:35Well, I'll prove it.
07:37Hey, Gar, come in here.
07:38Yes, Eric, what's happening?
07:40See?
07:42Gary Owens.
07:44The host of our show.
07:46You know, he does look a little familiar.
07:49Well, you'll recognize his voice.
07:50Say, hi, this is Gary Owens.
07:51Well, that's kind of funny.
07:53Hi, this is Gary Owens.
07:55Oh, no, there's something missing.
07:57Ah, put your hand over your ear, like you always do.
07:59That's cool.
08:00Well, okay.
08:01Hi, this is Gary Owens.
08:03Oh, it really is, Gary Owens.
08:05See?
08:06Now can we get through?
08:07Yes, of course.
08:08Certainly.
08:08That'll be two adult admissions.
08:10Hey, pal, now you two and me.
08:12Hold on.
08:12Just a minute, Eric.
08:14We don't have time for that.
08:15I'll pay for it.
08:16Okay, the two admissions, sir.
08:17All right, here we go.
08:18There's one.
08:21And there's two.
08:22Okay.
08:23Oh, mister.
08:24You did want your cameraman to come in with you, didn't you?
08:27Oh, yes, yes, yes, I do.
08:30Yes, and the makeup lady, and the lady that holds the cue cards, and your sound man, and
08:36the three fellows that say, roll them, roll them, roll them.
08:39Yes, yes, all of them.
08:40Yes, yes.
08:41Thank you, sir.
08:42Hey, my God.
08:44Oh, God.
08:44One of the unique features of the Page Museum is a viewing window that enables you to see
08:48the process of fossil recovery and reconstruction.
08:51And with me is paleontology curator, George Jefferson.
08:55George?
08:56How do you do, Gary?
08:57Hey, it's a pleasure for me to be here.
08:58I know Eric is enjoying it.
09:00Can you tell us just really what goes on in that laboratory?
09:02Well, right now, Gary, we have paleontologists and volunteers cleaning fossil bones from the
09:07original matrix of sediment that they were encased in 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
09:12This particular deposit was recovered when the museum was actually built.
09:16They ran into a layer of fossil bones when the excavation for the foundation of the museum
09:22was taking place.
09:23The interesting thing about this particular deposit is that we have articulated skeletons.
09:27That is, skeletons that are still intact with the limbs together the way they were in
09:32the animal.
09:33We are also being very careful to recover and look at microfossils.
09:37These are the remains of pollen, plant seeds, small shells, insect parts, and bits and pieces
09:44of the small vertebrate animals, too, like mice and lizards.
09:47We're looking at millions of specimens from Rancho La Brea.
09:51It's this huge collection that allows us to better understand and get a very good, detailed,
09:57close picture of what Los Angeles and this particular part of California was like 40,000 years ago.
10:05And we'll be back with more on this mammoth subject.
10:09Mammoth?
10:11Let's see now.
10:13What happened next?
10:16That's right.
10:17I was standing next to an elephant.
10:19And I said, this is Gypsy, a modern Indian elephant.
10:24Now, imagine about a million years ago, her ancestors, six feet taller, covered with fur.
10:31Well, Gypsy's got some fur left over.
10:33They're covered with long fur and tusks ten and a half feet long.
10:37Put it all together, what do you get?
10:38The woolly mammoth.
10:41It was during the Ice Age, a time when the Earth's climate turned very cold, that the
10:46woolly mammoth evolved.
10:48Today, some of the glacial ice from that period still exists, in which the remains of mammoths
10:53have been found, some amazingly well preserved, like this baby found in Siberia.
11:00Now, at least in theory, these specimens present an interesting possibility, a chance to cheat
11:08extinction.
11:08If one found just the right kind of frozen mammoth, there may be a possibility of recovering
11:16some genetic material intact.
11:18And if one thought about the ideal kind of genetic material, it would probably be the sperm.
11:26The sperm in a mammal is kind of like a seed to a plant.
11:29It's a mechanism nature has evolved to store the genetic material in a kind of inert state.
11:38And it's possible that that genetic material could be recovered from a mammoth.
11:43What we wouldn't do with it, probably put it into an elephant ovum.
11:47If successful, the result would be the world's first test tube woolly mammoth.
11:54Another creature that lived here in North America during the Ice Age was also a relative of the elephant.
11:59Now, I'm not talking about the woolly mammoth this time, I'm talking about the imperial mammoth, one of the largest
12:04mammals to ever walk the earth.
12:06This specimen was found right here in Rancho La Brea.
12:10See these skulls?
12:12They all belonged to one prehistoric species, the dire wolf.
12:16Now, they roamed in packs and found easy prey stuck in the tar pits.
12:20The wolves pounced upon their prey only to become trapped themselves.
12:23And that's why, of all the fossils found here, the dire wolves are the most abundant.
12:30And here are the skeletal remains of a prehistoric lion.
12:33If you doesn't mind my begging your pardon, but this isn't just any old prehistoric lion.
12:39No siree, this happens to be the bones of an American lion, which was bigger than the African lion of
12:46today.
12:46So there were lions here in North America.
12:48That's right, and South America too.
12:50You see, I've been studying prehistoric mammals for a long time, and I consider myself quite a mammologist.
12:59Mammologist?
13:00That's right.
13:01Well, then tell me more.
13:02I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.
13:04Oh, my name is Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.
13:07Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Johnson.
13:08Oh, you doesn't have to call me Johnson.
13:11You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny, or you can
13:17call me Sonny, or you can call me Junie.
13:20Or you can call me Ray J., or you can call me R.J., or you can call me R
13:25.J.J., or you can call me R.J.J., or you can call me R.J.J. Jr., but
13:29you doesn't have to call me Johnson.
13:32Okay, uh, Mr. Mammologist.
13:35Oh, just make it Ray.
13:36Fine, Ray.
13:37Are there other animals that we'd be surprised to find here in this part of the world?
13:41Oh, yes, indeedy.
13:42A lot of them.
13:42Come on, I'll show you.
13:43There's some over here.
13:45Now, you see this here, Campbell?
13:47Uh-huh.
13:47Now, I bet you think it's from Egypt or someplace like that.
13:50Of course.
13:50Well, it's not.
13:51It's from right here, made in the USA.
13:55You see, Campbell's originated here in North America about 45 million years ago.
14:00Then about 9,000 years ago, they, uh, they all died out here.
14:04You mean to say that Campbell's originated here, then all went extinct?
14:09Then just what are those creatures with humps wandering around the Sahara Desert?
14:12I didn't say they all went extinct.
14:15Just the ones here in North America kicked the bucket.
14:17The ones that made their way over to North Africa, well, they survived.
14:21How did they get from here to North Africa?
14:24They walked.
14:25You see, back in prehistoric times, there was a land bridge that connected Alaska and Asia.
14:31Now, that's interesting.
14:32So, in other words, the continents were connected at one time, and over generations, the animals migrated over.
14:39Well, that's what I said.
14:41Okay.
14:41Now, earlier you mentioned the camels and the humps.
14:43Now, looking here at the skeleton, I can't tell how many humps this camel had.
14:47That's right.
14:47It could have had one hump or three humps or no humps at all.
14:51You see, humps was only for fat storage.
14:53Fat?
14:54Well, he doesn't get any fossils from fat.
14:57No, they's never found one fat fossil.
14:59Oh, you gentlemen must be talking about how many humps the American camel had, right?
15:04Right, right.
15:05Certainly.
15:05Gary, this fellow was telling me about some of the prehistoric animals that we'd be surprised used to live here
15:09in this area.
15:10Oh, certainly, like the American mastodon being a relative of elephants, I suppose.
15:14Right.
15:14And the llamas they found down there at the tar pits.
15:16Don't forget about those.
15:17Right, right.
15:18Anyway, Gary, we should be moving on.
15:20Well, I understand, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr.
15:23Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.
15:24Yes, a pleasure, Mr. Johnson.
15:26Oh, you don't have to call me Johnson.
15:28You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny, or you can
15:34call me Sonny, or you can call me Jimmy.
15:34Very interesting man, Eric.
15:35Or you can call me Jimmy.
15:36How did you happen to meet him?
15:37Or you can call me Ray J., or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, or
15:43you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ, Jr.
15:46But you doesn't have to call me Johnny.
15:47Okay, Eric, in your opinion, what's the most ferocious dinosaur?
15:52The mean, nasty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
15:54Yeah, that'd be a good answer.
15:56What about the most ferocious and meanest prehistoric mammal?
16:01Oh, meep.
16:02Time's up, I'm sorry.
16:03The Smilodon.
16:05The Smilodon?
16:06What's that?
16:07A Smilodon is more commonly called a saber-toothed cat.
16:10The remains of different species of saber-toothed cats have been found in many parts of the world.
16:16In size and shape, they were like a cross between a lion and hyena, and of course, are distinguished by
16:22their huge upper canine teeth.
16:24They were powerful hunters, which explains their more than 30 million year existence.
16:28But interestingly, some scientists believe that those teeth that grew up to nine inches in length may have ultimately caused
16:36their extinction.
16:37It is possible that those fangs were growing so big that the cats could no longer open their mouths wide
16:43enough to successfully bite their prey.
16:48Now, the tar pits are great, but we don't want you to think that's the only place prehistoric mammals existed.
16:53They existed all over the world, including Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I am right now, at the Museum of Natural
16:58History.
16:59Now, the tar in Los Angeles preserved the bones of the ancient animals so we could study them today.
17:04But I'll bet you're wondering, how did it work in New Mexico?
17:07Well, step this way and I'll show you.
17:13You know, New Mexico is, of course, famous for their underground caves, and they've built an amazing replica right here.
17:19And I'll explain how caves help scientists study ancient mammals in just a moment, but first I want to explain
17:25how most caves are formed.
17:27Now, here's what you need.
17:28You need limestone in the ground, some rainwater, and some carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
17:33And that CO2 combines with the rainwater to form a weak acid they call carbonic acid.
17:40And that acid gets in the ground and meets the limestone underground and dissolves it, eats it away.
17:46So the rainwater carries that dissolved limestone away, leaving a hole underneath the Earth's surface, which we call a cavern
17:53or a cave.
17:54I want to show you one more great cave feature.
17:58Any spelunker, that's somebody who explores caves, is familiar with these formations.
18:03They're called stalactites.
18:05They're caused by dissolved, dripping limestone that builds up over many, many, many years.
18:11This is a stalactite, and below it is a stalagmite.
18:16An easy way to remember those two words, stalactite has a T in it.
18:20That stands for top.
18:22And stalagmite, the G in the ground.
18:26Okay, now I'll explain how caves would help scientists study the prehistoric mammals.
18:31See the skulls of these two guys?
18:32Now, probably what happened is they tumbled through a hole in the Earth and fell down in the cave and
18:36died.
18:37And the damp, dark coolness here in the cave slowed down their decomposition, preserved the bones.
18:43Now, if they had died up on top of the surface of the Earth, the weather and the heat would
18:47have worn those bones away,
18:48and we'd never be able to see them.
18:49These guys could have died as much as 20 or 30,000 years ago.
18:55How long ago did you die, buddy?
18:57He's not talking.
18:58Anyway, now I want to take it a little farther east.
19:01No, no, a lot farther east to London, England.
19:05Here in London, at the British Natural History Museum, they have a remarkable collection of fossils of prehistoric mammals.
19:11Well, take this member of the Glyptodont family, for example, which is an early ancestor of the American armadillo.
19:18Or this, which surely must be the largest example ever of a giant ground sloth.
19:23Let's meet writer-scientist Dougal Dixon.
19:26Fifty million years ago, we had creatures like this.
19:29You went to Therium.
19:31It looks very much like a rhinoceros, but really is not related to the rhinoceros at all.
19:34And he's been extinct for quite some time.
19:36And since then, the rhinoceros has evolved to take its place, lives in exactly the same sort of environment.
19:42Some day, the rhinoceros will be extinct as well.
19:44And in 50 million years' time, there may be something else evolved.
19:48So evolution really has never stopped.
19:50Oh, no.
19:51In fact, in 50 million years' time, there may be totally different animals from what we know today.
19:57This creature, for instance, is the typical desert-living creature.
20:00It's got a face a bit like the face of a camel.
20:02It's got the heavy eyelids and nostrils to keep up the sand and the big ears to radiate the heat.
20:08Of course, it's got long legs as well, so that it can rush across the desert to the next waterhole.
20:12Now, if the whales become extinct, in 50 million years' time, there will be something else, again, whale-shaped.
20:18Now, I suggest that a penguin.
20:21A penguin?
20:22A penguin might very well evolve into the shape of a whale.
20:25It's halfway there already, isn't it?
20:26It lives at sea.
20:27It chases fish.
20:28Just like a whale does.
20:29Just like a whale, indeed.
20:31And this skull.
20:33The wolf is the killing animal of today.
20:36But the wolf may well become extinct sometime in the near future.
20:41And if that happens, something else will evolve to take its place.
20:43Now, I think the rat, the rat is in a perfectly good position to do this.
20:48And if you could imagine a rat growing as big as a wolf, this would be very much what it
20:52would look like.
20:54Wow.
20:54I don't want to be around for that rat.
20:55How about this colorful creature here?
20:57The deer are another group of creatures that may well become extinct in the near future.
21:01And if that happens, something else will evolve to take their place.
21:06Now, I suggest that the rabbit might be in a good position to do so.
21:09This isn't as far-fetched as you might think.
21:11Because if you can imagine 50 million years ago, the ecological niche that is nowadays taken by the rabbit was
21:18then occupied by the horse.
21:1950 million years ago, the horse was small, it scampered through the undergrowth, and it lived exactly as the rabbit
21:24does nowadays.
21:26And here we have a rabbit that has developed, that has evolved along the lines of a deer, with the
21:31running legs instead of the hopping legs,
21:32and a long neck to enable it to reach leaves and the trees and the grass on the ground.
21:37A combination of Bambi and Thumper.
21:39Yes.
21:40Now, what about this strange-looking creature?
21:44This is a really bizarre creature.
21:48A flightless bat from a group of ocean islands in the future.
21:53Now, he walks on his forelimbs, because that's where all his muscles were in the time when he still had
21:59wings,
22:00and his hind limbs have come forward and act as hands.
22:03He's totally blind, and he finds his prey by echolocation, with the big ears at the front,
22:09and a great batch of killing teeth up the front there.
22:12The real one would be about this height.
22:14If you imagine a pack of half a dozen of these things coming at you,
22:17in the middle of the night, through the forest, all screeching at one another.
22:20Don't want to be around then.
22:22I think I'd like to stick around for 50 million years to see if you're right.
22:25I'd like to stick around, too.
22:27But for now, you two guys have got to get to bed.
22:30Oh, come on.
22:31We were just finishing up the Dougal Dixon part.
22:34That's right.
22:35And I was doing such a great job on Dougal, too.
22:38Oh, yeah.
22:39So, can we please end the show?
22:42Oh, okay.
22:43But just for a few minutes more.
22:45Thank you for smoking.
22:47And care.
22:48I got a better idea.
22:53Yeah, good idea.
22:55Good one.
23:01Hey, look, Eric.
23:03The ground sloth.
23:04Right over there.
23:05The tarpets are just ahead.
23:08Yes.
23:08Here we go.
23:13Well, we must be getting near.
23:14There's the Page Museum right there.
23:16Oh, we'll be along now.
23:17Who's there?
23:18Oh, my gosh.
23:19Don't shoot.
23:20Don't shoot.
23:20Don't you guys know the park is closed?
23:23Well, yes.
23:25Hey, wait a minute.
23:26Aren't you those two guys that made that prehistoric program years ago?
23:30Well, yes.
23:31Yes, it is.
23:32That's us.
23:32Boy, that was a great show.
23:34You know, I was in high school the first time that thing aired.
23:36Well, thank you very much.
23:38We just want to take another quick peek.
23:40It's okay.
23:41Be my guest.
23:42No, thank you.
23:43I've got to get that.
23:44Make yourselves at home.
23:46All right.
23:46Thank you very much.
23:50Abrea Tire Pits.
23:51Oh, yes, Miss Wilcox.
23:54Yeah, they're here.
23:56No, don't worry about it.
23:57It's a nice warm evening, and I'll keep my eye on them.
24:00Yeah.
24:01You're going to send a taxi for them as usual?
24:04Okay.
24:05Okay.
24:05Bye-bye.
24:10Well, there they are.
24:12The La Brea Tire Pits.
24:14Just bubbling away like they have for 40,000 years.
24:26Yes, they've told us so much about the past.
24:29And long after we're gone, they'll still be revealing secrets of our prehistoric world.
25:13We'll see you next time.
25:15Bye-bye.
25:18Bye-bye.
25:23Bye-bye.