walking with dinosaurs

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A Review by Cindy B. Bitangcor

Bio159 (Zoogeography)-T67

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Walking with Dinosaurs A Documentary Series Review

by Cindy B. Bitangcor B.S. Biology (Zoology) –IV

Submitted to Prof. Edgardo C. Aranico

Walking with Dinosaurs, broadcasted in 1999, is a 6-part series on the rise, reign, and fall of the animals that ruled in the age of the dinosaurs. The series set out to create the most accurate portrayal of prehistoric animals ever seen on the screen. Combining facts and informed speculation with cutting-edge computer graphics and animatronics effects, the series took two years to make.

The documentary has 6 parts. These are:

Part 1 New Blood 2 Time of the Titans 3 Cruel Sea 4 Giant of the Skies 5 Spirits of the Ice Forest 6 Death of a Dynasty

Part 1: New Blood The first episode started in 220, 000, 000 BC–Late Triassic, and gave an introduction to long extinct animals such as Coelophysis, Placerias, Thrinaxodon (identified as „cynodont‟), Postosuchus, Peteinosaurus, Plateosaurus, and a Lungfish. A dragonfly was also shown.

Coelophysis, meaning "hollow form", is a lightly-built, 3 meter tall carnivorous biped. It is the first known type of dinosaur. In this episode, it stalks a herd of Placerias(mammal-like reptiles). Later, still searching for food, the Coelophysis discovers a small mammal burrow, and captures a young Cynodont (“dog-teeth”). Its father unsuccessfully attempts to protect its young from the attacker. Later at night, the cynodont parents are shown eating their remaining young before leaving their home. Later in the film, as the drought worsens, the Coelophysis begin to cannibalize each other.

A Peteinosaurus is a flying dinosaur related to the Pterodactyl. In the series, it cools himself in what little water can be found in the drought.

A Postosuchus (“Crocodile from the past”) is one of the largest carnivores of this time.

The film ends with the arrival of a herd of Plateosaurus.

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Part 2: Time of the Titans (152, 000, 000 BC – Late Jurassic)

Allosaurus, Anurognathus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Ornitholestes, Stegosaurus, unidentified small ornithopods, Dung Beetle and the Damselfly

Diplodocus, meaning “double-beam”, is named after a peculiar bone structure in their tails. They were massive herbivorous sauropod. This episode chronicles the story of a young diplodocus and her hatchlings. Growing in the dense forest, they face many dangers including packs of small Ornitholestes(“bird robbers”), an Allosaurus(a slightly smaller, distant cousin to the Tyrannosaurus), and a Stegosaurus, who accidentally kills one of the young with a swipe of its enormous tail. All but two of the Diplodocuses – the mother and one of her young, survive through their perils, which include a huge forest fire and a resulting fire storm. Reaching the planes, the two join a herd of Diplodocuses. The mother is attacked by a hungry Allosaurus, and is saved by another Diplodocus who uses its terrific tail to fend off the predator.

In time, the Diplodocus will evolve into much, much larger dinosaurs.

Part 3: Cruel Sea (149, 000, 000 BC – Late Jurassic)

Cryptoclidus, Eustreptospondylus, Hybodus (identified as a ‘shark’), Ichthyosaur (identified as a ‘fish’), Liopleurodon, Ophthalmosaurus, Rhamphorhynchus, Perisphinctes (identified as an ‘ammonite’),

Horseshoe crab, Jellyfish and the Squid

As the film opens, a Liopleurodon (meaning “smooth-sided teeth" – the largest apex predator to ever live) is seen bursting from the ocean and catching an unsuspecting Eustreptospondylus (“well-curved vertebra” and was a distant cousin of the Tyrannosaurus, measuring about 5 meters in length).

A pod of Ichthyosaur (“fish Lizards” – 6 meter long lizards shaped like fish) arrive from the deep ocean to give birth. One mother, having difficulty giving birth is attacked by a couple of Hybodus (“humped tooth”) sharks, who are in turn chased off by a Liopleurodon which chomps down onto the Ichthyosaur, biting its body in two and leaving the tail to sink to the depths.

A group of Horseshoe Crabs gather on the shore to lay their eggs, attracting Rhamphorhynchuses (“beak-snout” – small flying pterosaurs) which feed on them.

The episode ends with one of the young Ichthyosaurs swimming out to open sea, where it will grow, and return when it is an adult ready to give birth.

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Part 4: Giant of the Skies (127, 000, 000 BC – Early Cretaceous)

Iberomesornis, Iguanodon, Ornithocheirus, Polacanthus, Tapejara and the Utahraptor

This episode begins and ends with a shot of the same dead Ornithocheirus (meaning “bird hands”; the largest known flying dinosaurs; could reach a wingspan of up to 12 meters yet it only weighed as much as a moderately overweight man). Six months in Brazil, this dinosaur is among the company of many smaller related pterosaur species, such as the Tapejara (“the ancient entity”).

In search of a mate, the Ornithocheirus begins a long journey to Spain in search of a mate. Along the way, he crosses a line of migrating Iguanodon (“Iguana-tooth” – a 10 meter long ancestor of the duck-billed dinosaurs), Polacanthus (“many prickle”- a 4 meter long armour-plated plant eater related to the stegosaurus) and a pack of Utahraptor (“Utah‟s predator”) on the hunt. To pass the time while waiting out a storm, the Ornithocherus grooms himself by removing Saurophthirus(1 inch long fleas – 25 x larger than today‟s fleas) parasites from his body. Attempting to enter a forest, he is chased away by Iberomesornis (“Spanish intermediate bird” – small, sparrow-sized proto-birds).

Finally reaching his destination, but delayed and exhausted from surviving a storm, he cannot reach the center of the landed male Ornithocherus competing for mating privileges, and dies of exhaustion. The film ends with his corpse being cannibalized by a young Ornithocherus.

Part 5: Spirits of the Ice Forest (106, 000, 000 BC – Middle Cretaceous)

Australovenator, Koolasuchus, Leallynasaura, Muttaburrasaurus, Steropodon and unidentified Pterosaurs

Spirits of the Ice Forest follows the struggles of a clan of Leaellynasaura as they struggle through the cold Antarctic winter. It showcases the survival mechanisms used by the animals which inhabit this cold, inhospitable climate, such as suspended animation, hibernation, veracious eating and group body-temperature.

During the spring, a group of Leaellynasaura (meaning “Leaellyn's lizard” – a small bipedal herbivore also known as the „Australian Polar Dinosaur‟) are seen eating the fresh plant growth and building nests to lay their eggs. By summer, many of the Leaellynasaurus eggs are eaten. Eventually, only one hatchling survives. The Leaellynasaurus continue to prepare for winter and care for the young, which are by the end of the warm season. When winter finally arrives, the clan are able to use their hard beaks and sharp eyesight to forage for food through the long polar night that descends upon them. The following spring, two male members of the clan battle for mating rights, establishing a new dominant pair for the new year.

A Koolasuchus (a ½ ton amphibious predator that filled the ecological niche of crocodiles) rouses from hibernation and heads to a river where it will stay to hunt for the

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summer. She will remain here until it comes time to leave and find a place to hibernate for the next winter.

On the plains, Muttaburrasaurus (an 8-meter long grazing herbivore related to Iguanodons) go about their business, consuming a store of food to last them through the ever-approaching winter. When the summer ends, they leave the seasonal plains of the south to the warmer lands in the north.

Part 6: Death of a Dynasty (65, 500, 000 BC – Late Cretaceous)

Anatotitan, Ankylosaurus, Deinosuchus, Didelphodon, Dinilysia, Dromaeosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Torosaurus, Triceratops (carcass), Tyrannosaurus, unidentified small ornithopods, unidentified small

theropod (carcass), unidentified mammal (carcass) and the butterfly

This final episode follows the trials and tribulations of a female Tyrannosaurus (aptly named “Tyrant Lizard”) as she tries to hatch a brood. Abandoning her initial nest because her eggs have become infertile due to the poisoning atmosphere, her mating calls are answered by a male who is feasting on a young Triceratops (“Three-horn face”) it has killed. After mating, she drives the male off and begins a long fast to protect her new batch of eggs. She defends against raids by Dromaeosaurs (“Running Lizard” – a small, 2 meter long scavenger dinosaur that ran on its hind legs and used its sharp fangs and a sharp claw on their feet) and Didelphodons (small marsupials – mammals which filled the ecological niche that foxes do today).

Of the three eggs which hatch, the competitive young quickly pick on the runt of the litter, ending in its demise by starvation, predation, or perhaps even cannibalism by its own siblings. The mother Tyrannosaurus kills an Anatotitan (“Duck-face” – a large 12-meter long flat-headed herbivore) to feed herself and her young. Several days later, while protecting her young, she is fatally injured by an Ankylosaurus (an 8-meter long herbivore a heavily armoured body with a massive bony club at the end of its tail it swings for defense – traits it shares with the more commonly known Stegosaurus).

The two remaining hatchling Tyrannosauruses remain by the body of their mother until the next morning when they, and the rest of the non-avian dinosaurs on Earth are killed by a massive asteroid measuring 10 kilometers across slams into the coast of Mexico, triggering the 'K-T Extinction Event', one of the smallest of the 5 major world-wide extinction events which have taken place on Earth in the past 540 million years.

The film closes with a short scene featuring present-day Earth, dominated by large mammals, and numerous dinosaurs known as birds.

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