All language subtitles for Planet.Dinosaur 3D.2012.3D.HSBS.1080p.BluRay

We are living through
a dinosaur revolution.

We have pushed the boundaries of
our knowledge further than ever before.

We have a completely
new understanding

of the greatest killers
ever to walk the Earth.

One killer,

first discovered in Egypt,

has become the icon
of these new predators.

A giant dinosaur

with two-metre-long
spines rising over its back.

It was unlike
anything seen before.

It was only in 2005, when
a complete upper jaw was found,

that we could accurately reconstruct
this bizarre creature.

With a skull almost
two metres long,

this dinosaur was a colossal
17 metres from nose to tail.

Four metres longer than T Rex.

The reign of the dinosaurs

began almost
250 million years ago.

But this killer didn't appear until
a time known as the Mid-Cretaceous.

95 million years ago,
its home in North Africa

was a desert surrounding a vast
system of rivers and swamps.

The swamps are refuges
for many large dinosaurs,

like the duck-billed Ouranosaurus.

They're also the hunting
grounds for a killer.

Spinosaurus.

The biggest killer
ever to walk the Earth.

An 11-tonne colossus.

However, for the time being,
these Ouranosaurs

are off this killer's menu.

Spinosaurus is part of a relatively
newly-discovered family of dinosaurs.

They've been found in
South America with Irritator,

in Europe, there is Baryonyx

and Asia, Siamosaurus.

But the last and biggest of all
came from North Africa.

Spinosaurus itself.

And studies of their bones and teeth
revealed something amazing.

Spinosaurus is a predator.

But one that hunts in water.

Spinosaurus is unique.

With long, narrow jaws and
nostrils set high on its head.

Its teeth were straight and conical.

And had a curious pattern
of holes in its snout.

Which give us
a clue to how it hunted.

These are Onchopristis.

Eight-metre-long giant sawfish.

In 2008, a Spinosaurus' skull
was put through a CT scanner.

It revealed that the holes
and sinuses in the snout

looked just like
those of crocodiles.

It's thought these contained
pressure sensors.

Sensors that, like a crocodile,

can detect the movement of prey.

It can strike without
even seeing its victim.

Anywhere else this eight-metre
Rugops might be the top carnivore.

But here, it is dwarfed
by Spinosaurus.

A predator that adapted to exploit
an environment so successfully,

it evolved into a 17-metre giant.

Spinosaurus is the biggest
dinosaur predator ever discovered.

But it wasn't
the first giant killer.

The first giant killer dinosaurs
appeared much earlier.

They lived in the Jurassic period,
150 million years ago.

One of the most iconic
is Allosaurus,

from the Morrison Formation
in North America.

Yet it's only recently that
we've been able to work out,

how these predators hunted.

Allosaurus is the most common
killer in these lands.

Nine metres long, with a battery
of saw blade-like teeth

Allosaurus is a formidable hunter.

A lone Camptosaurus
should be an easy kill.

Allosaurus teeth
were serrated front and back,

perfectly evolved
for tearing through flesh.

However, recent research
has indicated

that Allosaurus' bite
was surprisingly weak.

Calculations suggested its bite
was less powerful than a lion's.

So, just how did this Jurassic
monster hunt and kill?

Camptosaurus relies
on its keen senses

to avoid predators.

Allosaurus on the other hand, is
a fast and powerful ambush hunter.

Despite the apparent
weakness of its bite,

Allosaurus did in fact have
a deadly killing method.

Its skull could withstand a force

more than 15 times
as great as its bite.

This meant that Allosaurus
used its head like an axe.

Its strong neck muscles driving
its top jaw into its prey.

With every impact,
the serrated teeth

would tear through
its prey's flesh.

The victim dying, through a
combination of shock and blood loss.

Saurophaganax.

At 12 metres, it is the biggest
carnivore in the region.

One of the advantages
of being so big

is that stealing another's kill
is that much easier.

With rise of giant predators

and their spread throughout
the Jurassic world

smaller dinosaurs needed
new strategies

if they were to survive.

In recent years, China
has been the focus

of some remarkable
fossil discoveries.

One extraordinary fossil hints

how some may have avoided
these killer dinosaurs.

It lived in the Jurassic
forest of China

a 154 million years ago.

Hiding in these lush forests
is Epidexipteryx.

This forest is home
to many predators

and being small
makes it vulnerable.

This is Sinraptor.

A small dinosaur
like Epidexipteryx

would be of no interest
to a seven-metre adult.

But this is a juvenile.

Being small does have
its advantages.

Everything we know
about Epidexipteryx

comes from
an incredible fossil,

first revealed in 2008.

It showed an animal with a small
skull and large eye sockets,

and unusually long teeth.

With toes suited
to gripping branches

and very long arms and hands,

it suggests that this was a dinosaur
well suited to living in the trees.

The extraordinary,
elongated third finger

is another distinctive
feature of the group.

With this and its
projecting front teeth,

Epidexipteryx has the perfect
tools to hunt for insects.

Prey like this, which is difficult
to catch, is quite a prize.

A prize that can attract
unwanted attention.

Here it's another, larger,
Epidexipteryx.

There is more to this extraordinary
creature than first meets the eye.

The fossil has also revealed

that it was covered in short,
simple feathers.

Feathers that were likely to have
evolved for just one reason:

to keep it warm.

But there is one last
striking feature:

four long feathers on its tail.

These feathers aren't like
those of modern birds.

These are long and ribbon-like.

Almost certainly, only for show.

They're the earliest record
of ornamental feathers.

In fact, the very name Epidexipteryx
means "display feather".

And they're among the most
bird-like of any dinosaur.

Only in the trees
can you be safe

from the large predators
like Sinraptor.

Moving into the trees

opened up an entirely
new world for dinosaurs.

And it wasn't long
before killers followed.

The most dramatic,
found in 2000,

lived in Northeast China
around a 120 million years ago,

at the beginning
of the Cretaceous period.

A dinosaur that took tree-living
to a whole new level.

This is Xianglong.

With prey like this,
predators were sure to follow.

Microraptor.

Microraptor is small,
and well adapted

to chasing prey in the canopy.

Xianglong, however, has a trick.

This is a flying lizard.

And the exquisite
fossils of Microraptor

revealed a surprise.

The feathers of this dinosaur

aren't for keeping warm
or for show.

Their structure is plainly
visible from the fossils.

They are very long, veined
and most importantly,

their shape creates a perfect
aerodynamic surface.

And they aren't confined
to its forearms.

Its legs, too, had long feathers.

These feathers are designed
for one thing only:

Flight.

Microraptor is
a four-winged dinosaur,

that took to the skies.

But Microraptor isn't the only
flying monster here.

Sinornithosaurus more than
capable of stealing prey.

But it has bigger prize in mind.

And Sinornithosaurus
has a deadly secret.

In 2009, a study of Sinornithosaurus

found distinctive grooves
along the length of its teeth.

They resembled those of
the venomous Gila monster.

The grooves of its teeth used
to deliver venom into its victim.

The team even identified what
they thought was the location

of the venom sac in the fossil.

It appeared Sinornithosaurus
could kill with poison.

Having longer flight feathers
on both its arms and legs,

Microraptor is by far
the better glider.

But with no ability
to gain height,

the only way is down.

Microraptor's long feathers
mean it can barely walk

much less run.

Sinornithosaurus
has no such problem.

On the forest floor,
the tables are turned.

Microraptor has
a fortunate escape.

Killer dinosaurs dominated
the land, the trees

and had even taken to the air.

But by the middle of
the Cretaceous period

things were changing.

A new breed of killers
was emerging.

These were
the famed tyrannosaurs.

Formidable hunter-killers

that swept aside
almost all other predators.

Carnivorous dinosaurs that
remained were forced to adapt.

Sometimes going
to extreme length.

One such group was
the bizarre therizinosaurs.

In 2009, the most complete skeleton
found so far was described.

It lived in New Mexico,

92 million years ago.

These swamps
are home to Zunityrannus,

a mid-sized tyrannosaur.

And they're also home
to this weird creature.

Nothronychus.

It's actually a close relative
of the tyrannosaur.

But with one major difference:

Nothronychus has given up
eating meat.

Therizinosaurs had been
a mystery for decades.

Known only from
tantalising fragments.

That all changed with
the discovery of Nothronychus.

It gave us our clearest look
at this strange group of dinosaurs.

It walked upright
on short, stocky legs.

It had wide hips,
and a long neck.

Its teeth showed that these
weren't the teeth of a killer.

Far from its ferocious
tyrannosaur cousins,

this pot-bellied dinosaur

had evolved
into a strict vegetarian.

But armed with viciously long
claws on its forearms,

it was by no means defenceless.

By becoming a plant eater,

Nothronychus has
easy access to food.

Nothronychus thrives here

because it doesn't compete
with the tyrannosaurs.

But just because
you're not competing for food

doesn't mean
you're not seen as food.

Over the next few million years

tyrannosaurs evolved,
getting bigger and more deadly.

They developed into
the ultimate predators

and dominated virtually
all of Asia

and North America.

The most famous of these
might be T Rex,

but it was just the last
in a long line of giant killers.

75 million years ago

North America was home
to the original giant tyrannosaur.

Daspletosaurus.

Its effectiveness as a killer
is clear from its anatomy.

It's massive, with a huge, strong
skull and a powerful muscular neck.

Forward-facing eyes
make tracking moving prey easy.

They've famously short arms,

but with these giant tyrannosaurs,
it's all about the bite.

Daspletosaurus.

With a bite force unmatched by
any other dinosaur in the region.

This is a killer in a completely
different league.

This group have congregated

to take advantage
of an annual event.

A vast herd of Centrosaurus
is on the move.

Unwittingly, they're walking
towards almost certain death.

In Dinosaur Provincial Park,

thousands of bones
have been discovered,

scattered across
the same rock layer.

They belong to the horned
dinosaur Centrosaurus.

And they appear to be the bone
beds of vast killing fields.

Sites of wholesale slaughter.

Seasonal monsoons drives
the Centrosaurs inland,

away from coastal flooding.

Herding behaviour
protects the many...

but at the expense of the few.

And things are about to get
worse for the Centrosaurs.

With a flooded river ahead

and the Daspletosaurus behind,

the stage is now set
for a massacre.

But despite the rich pickings,

it's not the Daspletosaurus

that are responsible
for the scale of the slaughter.

There's an even more deadly
killer at work here.

The real killer
is the weather itself.

Recent studies of this
dense bone bed indicate

that 96% of the bones
are of a single species,

Centrosaurus,

and relatively few of the bones
display any bite marks.

The fossil evidence suggests
that this was a mass drowning.

The result of widespread
seasonal flooding.

An event that we have seen repeated
in over 20 different sites.

And when the waters recede,
new opportunities emerge.

But even in the fight
for rotting flesh,

Daspletosaurus's authority
is absolute.

Tyrannosaurs' domination of
the globe might have been total,

had it not been for a strange quirk
in the arrangement of the continents.

75 million years ago, the planet
had a clear north-south divide,

with no physical link
between the parts of the globe.

It meant the tyrannosaurs couldn't
spread to the southern continents.

Here, a different type
of killer reigned supreme.

These were abelisaurids.

In the last ten years,
Madagascar has provided

the most comprehensive evidence
about these predators.

70 million years ago, Madagascar
was already an island.

In the Cretaceous period, Madagascar
was subject to devastating droughts.

For big predators
like Majungasaurus

scavenging is
the only way to survive.

We thought Majungasaurus
was the top predator here.

But then, in 2003, some bones
of a number of Majungasaurs

were reported gouged
with teeth marks.

It appeared there was a bigger,
more brutal killer at large.

A carcass will attract every
big predator for miles around.

A male Majungasaurus.

It is more than capable
of challenging for the carcass.

This fight is about more

than just winning the feeding
rights to a carcass.

When the bite marks on the
mauled Majungasaurus remains

were studied more closely,

the marks on the bones
were found to match

the only large carnivore
in the region.

Majungasaurus itself.

This is the first, irrefutable
evidence of dinosaur cannibalism.

It might seem shocking,

but it's a behaviour
that clearly shows

the most successful killers

will exploit any situation
to their maximum advantage.

Killer dinosaurs' ability
to adapt was exceptional.

It meant they were able to colonise
every continent on the planet.

Continually evolving
and changing,

their dominance of life
on Earth was absolute.

Yet, they were doomed.

Their downfall was caused by
an asteroid smashing into the Earth.

Travelling 20 times faster
than a speeding bullet,

15 kilometres across,

it slammed into
The Gulf of Mexico.

The impact released more energy
than a billion atomic bombs.

The initial impact
triggered wild fires,

massive earthquakes
and tsunamis.

But most devastating

was the material blasted
high into the atmosphere.

This shrouded the planet in a cloak
of darkness that lasted for months.

Cutting off sunlight,

the Earth was thrown into
almost permanent night.

Animals that survived the blast

were now faced with
their greatest ordeal,

as a devastating chain of
events was set in motion.

Deprived of light,
many plants died.

Plant-eaters are
the first to be affected.

Fresh growth of plants
offers a glimmer of hope.

Allowing the smallest
to scratch out a living.

But these aren't enough
to sustain anything for long.

Scavengers initially
have an easier time of it.

But this surplus is an illusion.

Once gone,
scavengers will starve, too.

The impact resulted in the collapse
of whole food chains,

and the extinction
didn't just affect dinosaurs.

Virtually all life
on Earth was affected.

More than 60% of all species
were wiped out.

Yet, the extinction
wasn't a lottery.

One factor more than any other
determined the dinosaur's fate.

Size.

On land, no animal weighing
more than 25 kilograms survived.

There just isn't enough food
to sustain large animals.

Ironically, it's the very thing
that make dinosaurs so iconic

that condemns them
to extinction.

Synced by: Cooper19
cooper19b@gmail.com