Unlike previous series, each period begins with "tech specs" highlighting specific traits of that period (location, oxygen content, later global temperature, and hazards).
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| - Unlike previous series, each period begins with "tech specs" highlighting specific traits of that period (location, oxygen content, later global temperature, and hazards).
- Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs - broadcast in North America as Before the Dinosaurs: Walking with Monsters - is a three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles. It is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and by Avery Brooks in the American version. Using state-of-the-art visual effects, this prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs shows for example how a two-ton predatory fish came on land to hunt. The series draws on the knowledge of over 600 scientists and shows nearly 300 million years of Paleozoic history, from the Cambrian period (530 million years ago) to the Early Triassic period (248 million years ago). It was written and directed by Tim Haines.
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| Producer(s)
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| Narrator
| - Kenneth Branagh
- Avery Brooks
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| Original channel
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| Preceded By
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| Title
| - Clash of Titans
- Reptile's Beginnings
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| Aux
| - 250(xsd:integer)
- 300(xsd:integer)
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| Original run
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| DirectedBy
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| OriginalAirDate
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| EpisodeNumber
| - 2(xsd:integer)
- 3(xsd:integer)
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| Episodes
| - Clash of Titans
- Reptile's Beginnings
- Water Dwellers
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| ShortSummary
| - :300 million years ago: Carboniferous
:Place: Kansas, USA
:Oxygen Content: 40% above today
:Hazards: giant insects
The second episode shows the swampy coal forests of the Carboniferous. It explains that because of a much higher oxygen content in the atmosphere, giant land arthropods evolved, such as a Mesothelae spider , Meganeura; a giant dragonfly the size of a eagle and Arthropleura; a huge millipede relative. A Mesothelae hunts down a Petrolacosaurus. She comes back from her hunting expedition only to find her burrow has flooded. Not only that, the Petrolacosaurus she caught is stolen by a Meganeura. On the spider's search for a new burrow, she passes a pond full of Reptiliomorphs . Later she is chased by an Arthropleura, which is later killed in a fight with a Proterogyrinus. The Mesothelae finally chases a Petrolacosaurus out of its own burrow and moves in. A storm brews and the narrator explains that its high oxygen content makes the atmosphere very combustible, so lightning is a real danger. The Proterogyrinus are seen leaping out of the water to catch Meganeura, which were driven below the tree canopy by the storm. Later, lightning and a forest fire pour in, devastating the life around. At last, only some animals survive... including Petrolacosaurus, who finds the dead body of the Mesothelae and begins to feed upon the spider's carcass.
Animals:
Primitive Mesothelae
Petrolacosaurus
Meganeura
Arthropleura
Proterogyrinus
:280 million years ago: Early Permian
:Place: Bromacker, Germany
:Global Temp: 20% colder than today
:Hazards: extreme seasons
The episode then moves on to the Early Permian, where the swamp-loving trees of the Carboniferous have been replaced with more advanced conifers that are better adapted to survive in a changing climate. Petrolacosaurus and a few other diapsids have evolved into the sub-group of creatures called pelycosaurs like the Edaphosaurus which are now closely related to mammals. They live in herds and have outgrown their arthropod contemporaries in size. A pregnant female Dimetrodon, another pelycosaur, hunts the Edaphosaurus herd, beginning with a fake charge to expose the weak and the juveniles. She finally kills a baby Edaphosaurus, but is forced to abandon her kill when the scent of blood attracts others of her kind, all highly-aggressive males. She builds a nest on a hill and is watched by an egg-stealing Reptiliomorph. Some time after laying her eggs, another gravid Dimetrodon tries to take over her nest. After a long duel, the original female drives off the intruder, but is badly injured and fatigued in the process. A male Dimetrodon approaches the now unguarded nest, but luckily kills the thieving reptiliomorph and leaves the eggs unharmed. The eggs hatch and the mother's bond with her offspring is severed. The episode ends with the wounded mother joining other adult Dimetrodon in attacking her own young which race to the trees and hide in dung to escape. At the end the narrator says that the reptiles will evolve to tighten their grip on land, becoming "new reptiles."
Animals:
Dimetrodon
Edaphosaurus
Seymouria
Meganeura
- :250 million years ago: Late Permian
:Place: Siberia
:Global Temp: 60% hotter than today
:Hazards: extreme heat, volcanic activity
The third episode is set in the Late Permian, on the supercontinent Pangaea, which was covered by a vast and inhospitable desert. In this arid climate, early therapsids, which are described as more "mammal-like" than reptile, are shown fighting to survive alongside other animals. The programme starts with an old Scutosaurus, a relative of turtles, being killed by a female Inostrancevia, a type of gorgonopsid which later joins others of her kind at a small waterhole. Other inhabitants of the area include Diictodon, a small burrowing dicynodont. In the pool itself is a starving labyrinthodont that ambushes the female gorgonopsid in desperation and quickly retreats. A herd of Scutosaurus arrive and eventually drink the waterhole dry. The female gorgonopsid tries to dig out a pair of Diictodon but is unsuccessful. Upon returning to the waterhole, she unearths the labyrinthodont wrapped in a "cocoon" which it utilized to survive drought. In a torpid state, it is helpless and quickly killed. The gorgonopsid is eventually killed by a sandstorm, foreshadowing the oncoming Permian–Triassic extinction event. The Diictodon meanwhile are able to adapt by digging their burrows deeper, occasionally unearthing plant tubers for sustenance.
Animals:
Inostrancevia
Diictodon
Rhinesuchus
Scutosaurus
:248 million years ago: Early Triassic
:Place: Antarctica
:Global Temp: 40% hotter than today
:Hazards: Ambush Predators
Diictodon is seen evolving into the larger Lystrosaurus. The Lystrosaurus multiply into vast herds that must continually migrate in order to find fresh foliage. Also featured is the small insectivorous Euparkeria that is depicted as an ancestor of the dinosaurs. When the Lystrosaurus herd traverses a ravine, one is killed by a pack of venomous Therocephalians, though the herd doesn't show concern for the victim. Encountering a river, the herd enters the water and is attacked by numerous Proterosuchus. Many are killed, but the majority escape and continue their migration. The narrator explains that despite the dominance of Lystrosaurus, eventually the world will recover in full from the Permian-Triassic extinction event and other reptiles will overtake them. The episode ends as a Euparkeria is confronted by a Proterosuchus: as the smaller reptile rapidly begins to evolve into an Allosaurus and the scene cuts to the Late Jurassic where it passes two Stegosaurus, the narrator explains that mammals are destined to be confined to the shadows as a new group of animals becomes the dominant species on Earth. The Age of Monsters is over. This is the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs.
Animals:
Lystrosaurus
Euparkeria
Proterosuchus
Euchambersia
prehistoric Dragonfly
Late Triassic /Late Jurassic
Allosaurus
Stegosaurus
Diplodocus
Anurognathus
Brachiosaurus
Epanterias
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| Followed By
| - Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie
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| abstract
| - Unlike previous series, each period begins with "tech specs" highlighting specific traits of that period (location, oxygen content, later global temperature, and hazards).
- Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs - broadcast in North America as Before the Dinosaurs: Walking with Monsters - is a three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles. It is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and by Avery Brooks in the American version. Using state-of-the-art visual effects, this prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs shows for example how a two-ton predatory fish came on land to hunt. The series draws on the knowledge of over 600 scientists and shows nearly 300 million years of Paleozoic history, from the Cambrian period (530 million years ago) to the Early Triassic period (248 million years ago). It was written and directed by Tim Haines. It has also aired as a two-hour special on the Canadian and American Discovery Channel. At the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006 it won the Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More).
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