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The Dinosaurs Episode 2
Transcript
00:00:03One hundred and twenty-five million years ago, winter rages across the north.
00:00:17Entire species have been pushed to the brink.
00:00:28Even the largest dinosaurs are unable to endure this cold.
00:00:38Like these sauropods migrating south.
00:00:49Weta came early this year and caught them off guard.
00:01:01With hundreds of kilometers ahead of them, this time it will be an especially harsh journey.
00:01:13But the bitter cold is not the only danger in this frozen land.
00:01:19There is a much greater threat here in these woods.
00:01:24Euteranus.
00:01:38Euteranus.
00:01:40The Snow King.
00:01:43Euteranus.
00:01:46An early relative of T-Rex.
00:01:51With a thick, insulating coat of feathers, he's perfectly adapted for life in a world this cold.
00:02:04But his feathers also serve a more sinister purpose.
00:02:14Camouflage.
00:02:16The ultimate weapon for an ambush hunter.
00:02:38With silent precision, he picks out the smallest member of the herd.
00:02:59In a savage, ever-changing world.
00:03:01In a savage, ever-changing world.
00:03:12Some will rise.
00:03:13Some will rise.
00:03:15And some will fall.
00:03:20But through it all, the dinosaurs will expand their empire.
00:03:25And advance relentlessly.
00:03:28To seize Earth's final frontiers.
00:03:52To have time for this day.
00:03:52Now where they have to be.
00:04:00To have a few years of destruction.
00:04:01And now where they are.
00:04:01They cannot predict the fate of a hunter.
00:04:01They cannot predict the fate of the world.
00:04:01To have thetight, their death's famous.
00:04:03And how it will be.
00:04:03Do notенко the deadline for us to be.
00:04:03For the last time in the戦�.
00:04:04So close your love to the enemy came to us.
00:04:10To have time in the city.
00:04:10While I'll try to command their window.
00:04:11To have the big, because there's a very small cast out.
00:04:42Transcription by CastingWords
00:04:43It's a new age for life on Earth, an age of extremes.
00:04:52New worlds are forming that will give rise to the most famous dinosaurs of all time.
00:05:03The North is still gripped by cold, but not for much longer.
00:05:14Earth's most violent forces are staring once again.
00:05:22Volcanoes seethe and fume, warming the planet.
00:05:39But some will pay a price for this warmer world.
00:05:42The North is still gripped by cold.
00:06:12The North is still gripped by cold.
00:06:22As global temperatures continue to rise, the snow and ice all but disappear.
00:06:35Huge, meltwater rivers tear through the land.
00:06:44This thawing of the north is expanding the dinosaur's empire even further.
00:06:51And in surprising new ways.
00:07:00In this fresh, fertile landscape, Sauropod no longer need to migrate.
00:07:07But it's also a new world for one of the dinosaur's oldest rivals.
00:07:15The pterosaurs.
00:07:18They are now bigger and badder than ever.
00:07:25Including Grey Draco, the ghost dragon.
00:07:35But he's an intruder here.
00:07:42Because these trees are the home of Longipteryx.
00:07:47A new kind of dinosaur.
00:07:51Less than 20 centimeters tall.
00:07:54But highly territorial.
00:07:56Especially during nesting season.
00:08:11They're also equipped to take on the pterosaurs.
00:08:17Now they too can fly.
00:08:28In a previous era, flying dinosaurs like Ancyonis could only glide.
00:08:36Now they're able to flap their wings and maneuver with precision to strike at their enemies.
00:08:50They're fast and fearless.
00:09:03It only gets worse for the towering pterosaur.
00:09:08Because Longipteryx are distant cousins of you Tyrannus, the Snow King.
00:09:15They're armed with the teeth and claws of their clan.
00:09:29After ruling the skies since the Triassic, pterosaurs are now being matched by the dinosaurs.
00:09:43But as the dinosaurs fight to expand their empire into the air, an even greater revolution lies ahead.
00:10:00Not in the mountains, or the skies, or the oceans.
00:10:06The biggest twist in Earth's tale is unfolding quietly.
00:10:12Almost in secret.
00:10:17Seven million years later.
00:10:19Seven million years later.
00:10:21This new force is slowly rewriting the dinosaur's story.
00:10:36This is one of the first flowers this forest has ever seen.
00:10:42Just one.
00:10:44And a vast and diverse new generation of plants.
00:10:51And they will become a phenomenon with the help of a close ally.
00:11:02Beetles.
00:11:04They carry pollen from one flower to the next.
00:11:14Nature's most reliable delivery service.
00:11:22Helping these new plants spread far and wide across the globe.
00:11:27Beast jeunes shallì.
00:11:32A people and the creatures of the stars have always turned in.
00:11:34Wralt train the ducks and then Done may come into a submarine,
00:11:34Figuring andã‚“etts plast remainingled everywhere to lui.
00:11:45But this new generation of plants has a dark side.
00:11:56While they need to attract pollinators, many are also evolved to repel herbivores.
00:12:06With spines, thorns, and poisons.
00:12:16Nature's defensive weapons.
00:12:23This green revolution changes everything for the plant-eating dinosaurs, including the
00:12:34great stegosaurs.
00:12:42They are herd animals by nature.
00:12:46But this young stegosaur, barely two years old, is all alone.
00:12:57She is the last of her herd.
00:13:10To eat these tougher new plants requires a mouthful and chew food in a way her primitive
00:13:16jaw cannot.
00:13:24She's starving.
00:13:37These once great herbivores are unable to adapt to this new world.
00:13:49It's one reason why their 50 million year existence will come to an end.
00:13:56Extinction.
00:14:04But in the wake of the stegosaur's demise, a new era will emerge.
00:14:14Over the next 15 million years, these new plants evolve and diversify.
00:14:22Spreading across the planet and ever further into the dinosaur's empire.
00:14:35The green revolution now covers the globe.
00:14:40And not just the land, but the water as well.
00:14:48Even providing cover and food for underwater explorers like ankylosaurs.
00:15:17This bathing beauty is a different kind of dinosaur.
00:15:27He's a plant-eater, like the stegosaurs, but a fancier one, much fancier.
00:15:40Because unlike the stegosaurs, his advanced jaw can crush food in a way that makes eating
00:15:48any kind of plant easy.
00:15:53It's the perfect adaptation for this diverse new world.
00:16:03He wants to take full advantage of all this great kingdom has to offer.
00:16:10And he has a plan.
00:16:19It's a long trek, but the journey is worth it.
00:16:27It's just a long trek, but it is worth it.
00:16:40This is the one place where he can truly be himself.
00:16:52of.
00:16:54His passion is singing.
00:17:02He even has special olives in his snout that amplify his song.
00:17:11So it can be heard far and wide.
00:17:51A female has answered his call.
00:17:55It's time to charm her with his deep, sultry humming.
00:18:06Then he shows her his stylish armor.
00:18:18It's all very persuasive.
00:18:37Their fancy attire does have some drawbacks, mind you.
00:18:44On the whole though, heavy armor and an improved jaw are setting them up for success.
00:18:57But what no dinosaur could possibly know is that their empire has been gradually shrinking.
00:19:08Hidden below the waves, this world, once ruled by dinosaurs, is now completely out of their
00:19:20reach.
00:19:26And there's a reason.
00:19:31At the very bottom of the ocean, a slow, imperceptible shift reshaping the planet.
00:19:47The seabed is fracturing from an endless progression of eruptions.
00:20:15Earth's tectonic plates are shifting, breaking apart the ocean floor, lifting it higher.
00:20:24Over millions of years.
00:20:30The water above has nowhere else to go, but up.
00:20:36By the middle of the Cretaceous, sea levels reach their highest point in history.
00:20:43Over 200 meters higher than they are today.
00:21:00The rising oceans repaint the map of the world, erasing entire land masses.
00:21:10The continent of Europe is reduced to a giant archipelago.
00:21:15That includes the Isle of Herzeg.
00:21:22Where isolation and evolution have created a kind of neverland for the dinosaurs.
00:21:30A world where normal rules don't apply.
00:21:39This is the home of Magyarosaurus.
00:21:43A sauropod.
00:21:47And like other sauropods, he uses his long neck to reach the highest vegetation.
00:22:02Thing is, this vegetation is only two meters tall.
00:22:09Which makes Magyarosaurus about the size of a pony.
00:22:27On Hanseg, where there's limited space and food, sometimes smaller is better.
00:22:34Yeah.
00:22:48But unlike Magyarosaurus, for predators, bigger is still better.
00:23:06As tall as a giraffe, one of the largest pterosaurs to ever live.
00:23:15The nightmare, Hatsycopteryx.
00:23:23She's flown to this island to feed on dinosaurs.
00:23:35The youngest member of the herd gets separated.
00:23:45But it won't be an easy catch.
00:23:49Unlike his giant cousins, he's light on his feet.
00:24:15But being this small, he can't see the others.
00:24:25They found a safe hiding spot.
00:24:27Perfect for their size.
00:24:29A insane sight.
00:24:56BASIC.
00:24:57SIREN NOISES
00:24:58GASIC.
00:25:02I don't know.
00:25:41I don't know.
00:25:57I don't know.
00:26:27I don't know.
00:26:30I don't know.
00:26:30Sea levels are close to the highest they've ever been.
00:26:40Creating a water world that no dinosaur has dared to enter.
00:26:51But that's about to change.
00:27:04Lurking in this mangrove swamp is a carnivore that has specially evolved to take on the
00:27:12final frontier.
00:27:21A dinosaur pioneer.
00:27:35Spinosaurus.
00:27:53Spinosaurus.
00:27:59The forest provides plenty of prey.
00:28:05But another reason she's gotten this big is because of where she goes to escape the gloom
00:28:12of the swamp.
00:28:26Here, the high sea levels have turned the oceans into a new hunting ground for the dinosaurs.
00:28:33Where bigger is definitely better.
00:28:59Spinosaurus is adapted to a planet that is now mostly ocean.
00:29:06And in this age, some of the largest prey is here in the water.
00:29:24sharks.
00:29:29In a flat-out chase between a shark and a giant dog-paddling dinosaur, the shark will always
00:29:36win.
00:29:40But there's more to Spinosaurus than meets the eye.
00:29:49Dinosaurs aren't just becoming bigger.
00:29:53Some are cunning, too.
00:29:56She's going to make the sharks come to her.
00:30:08Her snout is wired with sensors that can detect the slightest movement.
00:30:16Now, all she needs to do is keep completely still.
00:30:35The best hunters are the patient ones.
00:30:41And her patience is starting to pay off.
00:30:50The blood in the water is drawing the sharks closer.
00:31:07The sight that is crucial here...
00:31:08Wait, wait...
00:31:29She doesn't move.
00:31:35She knows how this game is played.
00:31:54Brains and brawn, a killer combination that is finally letting the dinosaurs get a foothold
00:32:04in the ocean.
00:32:12Their reach is now global and extends to the very ends of the earth.
00:32:23To what will one day be Antarctica.
00:32:35While Spinosaurus is stalking the shallow seas and the tropics, the world's southernmost
00:32:41landmass is not the frozen wilderness we know today.
00:32:47It's a green, flourishing Eden.
00:32:55Where even in the dark, evolution is lighting the way.
00:33:07And thriving in the darkness are the dinosaurs.
00:33:22By this stage in the late Cretaceous, their empire is so vast that they now dominate every
00:33:30continent on Earth.
00:33:39And yet, while their reign is global and their rule almost unchallenged, their story will take
00:33:52a dark turn, creating endless coastlines, hundreds of tropical islands, and opportunity.
00:34:20But these islands are no paradise.
00:34:26They are home to a formidable predator.
00:34:32One of the fastest, most agile dinosaurs of its kind.
00:34:40North America's answer to the Spinosaurus.
00:34:43North America's answer to the Spinosaurus.
00:34:54Just...not in the way you would think.
00:34:57Not even remotely.
00:35:01This is Hesperonis.
00:35:04He is formidable.
00:35:06And he is fast.
00:35:10But he's pretty much the opposite of his giant terrifying cousins.
00:35:23He's awkward and clumsy and has tiny teeth.
00:35:31Not exactly the traits of a ferocious hunter.
00:35:35But what he does share with Spinosaurus is that he's not confined to dry land.
00:35:48In fact, he's the most advanced aquatic dinosaur in history.
00:35:58Like some sort of prehistoric penguin, he's able to swim far out the sea to access feeding
00:36:06grounds that were previously out of reach.
00:36:10areas of whispered from such spurondu ýage
00:36:15Mm hmm.
00:36:26Man COMMENT
00:36:27This is the bounty of his new Blue Realm.
00:36:38Down here, his big, clumsy feet become powerful propellers, and his 94-needle-shark teeth snatch
00:36:50fish with ease. But as an air breather, he's still tied to the surface.
00:37:20And the surface is not a safe place to linger. Because below, there are beasts, twice the size
00:37:33of a killer whale.
00:37:40Mulsasaurs.
00:37:47The apex predators of these seas.
00:37:58Hesperonis must get back to the shore.
00:38:05But the Mosasaur moves with frightening speed.
00:38:11Luckily, Hesperonis is much more agile.
00:38:19But he's exhausted.
00:38:23Which gives the Mosasaur one last shot.
00:38:44Hesperonis is a true survivor. Venturing further into the ocean than any dinosaur ever has.
00:38:54But these waters are treacherous, even for the best swimmers.
00:39:06Despite the dinosaur's success in the shadows, the Mosasaurs rule the waves.
00:39:19Eight hundred miles north, on land, it's a different story.
00:39:35Furilled by a warm, stable climate, the dinosaur's dominance here is unrivaled.
00:39:48The great sauropods are thriving among the tall trees, as they have since the dawn of the Jurassic.
00:40:00But down below, there has been a revolution.
00:40:09A female handersaw.
00:40:14While she may be dwarf in present company, she's actually larger than an elephant.
00:40:22And she won't be held up by these giants.
00:40:26Because nothing can stop a mother on a mission.
00:40:31And that mission is to feed her family.
00:40:37Who are somewhere down there.
00:40:50Long ago, their cheek-stepping ancestors were scarce and scattered.
00:40:57But hadrosaurs are now so successful, their herds are thousands strong.
00:41:05The greatest gatherings of dinosaurs the world has ever known.
00:41:11But this female's family isn't traveling with the herd.
00:41:17They are in the safety of the creche.
00:41:20A sprawling nursery for hundreds of young hadrosaurs.
00:41:26including her own.
00:41:32At six months old, they have insatiable appetites.
00:41:37And will eat almost anything she brings them.
00:41:43Anything.
00:41:54Feeding in this bird-like way takes a lot of refills.
00:41:59So, she's constantly leaving to go find food.
00:42:04And when moms are away, little ones will play.
00:42:28With the wingspan of a fighter jet,
00:42:32pterosaurs are now bigger than ever.
00:42:36And creches are the perfect hunting crowns.
00:42:40Where unguarded nests are the easiest pickings.
00:43:00Despite the threat from this towering monster,
00:43:02the mothers will defend their babies in all costs.
00:43:19But the giant pterosaur is determined to feed.
00:43:25But the giant pterosaur is determined to feed.
00:43:30The screams from the nest are like a dinner bell to the predator.
00:43:47But the little ones aren't just crying in fear.
00:43:51They are calling for help.
00:43:56As good as the birds have the ability to be month to leave!
00:44:09This fierce instinct to protect their young...
00:44:13is central to the hydrosauros remarkable success.
00:44:19but other dinosaurs are taking defense to a whole new level because the arms race
00:44:26between predator and prey is escalating and this will give rise to the most iconic dinosaurs of all
00:44:41time this will take so long that the continent of North America will shift the land buckling up into
00:44:50the sky the Rocky Mountains it's here in the foothills below
00:45:05that the dinosaurs are making any impact
00:45:19pachycephalosaurus using their outrageously thick skulls to do for supremacy
00:45:32and alongside them a dinosaur with even more impressive headgear
00:45:44triceratops
00:45:52she may look like a rhinoceros but she's twice the size of one
00:46:00and armed with spear-like horns over one meter in length
00:46:11triceratops and pachycephalosaurus have impressive weapons
00:46:17yet there are some here that are even more armed and dangerous
00:46:32under the cover of darkness the latest and greatest of the armored warriors
00:46:39six meters long and highly territorial
00:46:46panchylosaurus and the ventris
00:46:55he's on patrol for intruders
00:46:59bold enough
00:47:09his tank-like torso is covered in dozens of thick bony plates
00:47:19and what's more
00:47:20he has a powerful new weapon
00:47:27a club-like tail weighing half a ton
00:47:31that he can use to take on whatever stalks these forests
00:47:40he senses something
00:48:06his borders have been breached
00:48:10by the worst possible intruder of all
00:48:23the tyrannosaurus wrecks
00:48:25and what's inside of all
00:48:29he is
00:48:29and what's inside all the earth
00:48:53and what's inside of an diagram
00:48:55is therefore
00:48:58Let's go.
00:49:38Ankylosaurus vs. T-Rex.
00:49:48An evolutionary stalemate.
00:49:51Millions of years in the making.
00:50:10But in this arms race,
00:50:13there's one thing that does set these dinosaurs apart.
00:50:20Intelligence.
00:50:44Let's go.
00:50:56T-Rex is one of the most fearsome predators of all time.
00:51:02And to remain at the top of her game, she must eat the equivalent of 200 steaks every
00:51:10day.
00:51:13And yet, so far, she hasn't eaten a single bite.
00:51:20That's because she has special plans for this takeout meal.
00:51:29But ankylosaurus is no light snack.
00:51:38Six tons of muscle and bone with an assortment of lumps and bumps.
00:51:55Even for T-Rex, it's quite a drag.
00:52:13Finally.
00:52:26Finally, her journeys end.
00:52:38And the reason she's gone through all this effort.
00:52:52Five hungry hatchlings.
00:53:06A ferocious killer?
00:53:07Yes.
00:53:10But also a devoted mother.
00:53:27She will ensure her little ones are well fed.
00:53:34To give them the very best start in life.
00:53:42Something their distant ancestors could only dream of.
00:53:49Far back in the Triassic, tiny Marasuchus hatched into hell.
00:53:53So, these dinosaurs in the making, forced to live in the shadows, hiding from the ruling reptiles.
00:54:06But when fate intervened, they turned catastrophe into opportunity.
00:54:16And began their monumental rise.
00:54:22Growing bigger, stronger, and ever more formidable.
00:54:32In time, they would triumph, not just on land, but in the sea and the sky.
00:54:43After 160 million years, the dinosaurs are now so dominant, nothing on earth can stand in their
00:54:53way.
00:54:59But something not of this earth will.
00:55:04Because as this family's journey is just getting started, another journey is approaching its end.
00:55:16The asteroid, now hurtling towards earth at 50 times the speed of sound, will finally have its date with destiny.
00:55:54It smashes into the earth at 50.
00:55:56The ocean off the coast of Mexico with the power of a billion atomic bombs, temperatures
00:56:05are hot enough to vaporize the seabed, along with every living thing for hundreds of kilometers.
00:56:20Far away in the foothills of the Rockies, these great dinosaurs have no idea what's about
00:56:28to hit them.
00:56:47The largest earthquakes in history.
00:56:58But the worst is yet to come.
00:57:02An enormous wall of superheated debris explodes outward.
00:57:22The dinosaurs, caught beneath this death cloud, are entombed.
00:57:30Their world is so hot, it literally bursts into flames.
00:57:42Even the toughest armor is no protection.
00:57:53The cloud quickly engulfs the entire planet, suffocating it with ash.
00:58:00Shrouding it in darkness.
00:58:15Shrouding it in darkness.
00:58:40The few still standing at the end of the day are in a nightmare, choking in the gloom.
00:59:13My nightfall, the death toll for the dinosaurs, is catastrophic.
00:59:43Starved of the sun's rays, an impact winter descends on the earth.
00:59:54Global temperature is dropped by 25 degrees Celsius.
01:00:01Conditions too cold for almost any dinosaur to withstand.
01:00:16Giant sauropods laid to rest in the cinders of the very trees that made them so tall.
01:00:38In their crowded colonies, those who live together die together.
01:00:51Protective mothers cannot shield their young from the freezing temperatures.
01:01:00The punishing cold has also taken its toll on the most famous dinosaur of all.
01:01:14The tyrant king has fallen.
01:01:34Even the mighty tyrannosaurus rex will not survive this.
01:02:06The rain of the dinosaurs.
01:02:10It has finally come to an end.
01:02:37But 66 million years later...
01:02:41The dinosaurs.
01:02:43The dinosaurs are rising again.
01:02:49This time, at our hands.
01:02:58Today, their fossils stand as monuments to a lost world.
01:03:03But more than that, they are the keys that unlock the secrets of the dinosaur story.
01:03:13Our understanding of their lives is now greater than ever.
01:03:17From their very first moments to their very last.
01:03:26And the revelation that on Earth's darkest day, not all dinosaurs died.
01:03:34Some were small enough to find shelter from the apocalypse.
01:03:41And survive even to this day.
01:03:47The flying dinosaurs we now call the birds.
01:03:56And the clues to their past are hiding in plain sight.
01:04:18The remarkable journey that started 235 million years ago continues alongside us.
01:04:29They are the last remaining link to a long lost kingdom that was the age of the dinosaurs.
01:04:42The survival of the yours.
01:04:44D very first modules.
01:04:47You
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