Walking with Dinosaurs

A short that takes a look at the animals of Jurassic England.

Arizona, USA- 220 million years B.C. In the blazing Pangaean deserts of the Late Triassic, the first dinosaurs appear. The episode chronicles the fate of a predatory Postosuchus driven from her territory, a herd of Placerias struggling to survive the drought and a couple of cynodonts- early ancestors to modern mammals- trying to protect their young from opportunistic Coelophysis. The dinosaurs have not yet grown into the dominant animals of Earth's ecosystems, but the giant Plateosaurus offers a glimpse of things to come.

Colorado, USA- 152 million years B.C. This episode follows a young female Diplodocus, starting with her infancy in the Late Jurassic forests where she must evade predators like the birdlike Ornitholestes. Later, as she moves out of the forests, she comes into contact with giants such as Stegosaurus and Brachiosaurus and must survive attacks from the giant predatory Allosaurus.

Oxfordshire, U.K.- 149 million years B.C. This episode follows a shoal of young fish-like Ophthalmosaurus as they struggle to survive the Late Jurassic seas, evading predators like the gigantic Liopleurodon. On land, the dinosaur Eustreptospondylus scrapes out a living as a scavenger, occasionally preying on pterosaurs like Rhamphorhynchus.

127 million years B.C. This episode follows the last journey of a giant Ornithocheirus, one of the largest flying animals of all time, as he travels from Brazil to his genus's mating grounds in Cantabria, Spain. Along the way, he meets strange animals such as the colorfully crested Tapejara, the armored Polacanthus and the vicious predator Utahraptor.

Antarctica, 106 million years B.C. In the Mid Cretaceous, Antarctica is much warmer than in modern times and covered in lush rain forests inhabited by dinosaurs like the tiny herbivore Leaellynasaura and by relics like the giant amphibian Koolasuchus. Some, like the predatory Allosaurus and giant herbivore Muttaburrasaurus, migrate from the warmer Australia in the summer. Leaellynasaura, however, hibernates during the winter, which is a cold, dark night lasting several months. This episode depicts one year in the life of a clan of Leaellynasaura plagued by territorial competition, egg thieves and predators.

Montana, USA- 65,5 million years B.C. In the last days of the dinosaurs' hegemony over the world, a female Tyrannosaurus struggles to reproduce in a world poisoned by volcanic gases, which has resulted in dwindling prey numbers.