Walking with Beasts

The walking with… series continues with Walking with Beasts. In this series we’ll journey back to the Cenozoic era, stretching from 65 million years ago until present day. It is the time after the dinosaur extinction where mammals now rule the earth.

Throughout Walking with Beasts we get to see recreated animals of the Cenozoic era through the use of computer-generated imagery and animatronics.

The Cenozoic era is also known as the Age of Mammals, because of the large mammals that dominate it. The continents also moved into their current positions during this era.

The documentary series is the second installment of the Walking With… series and a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs.

Like Walking with Dinosaurs, its narrative is presented in the style of a traditional nature documentary. Some of the concepts it illustrates are the evolution of whales, horses, and humans.

Episode 1: New Dawn

49 million years ago, Early Eocene (Germany)
Filming location: Java

The first episode shows how the dinosaurs dominated the land and that mammals were small.

Animals:
Leptictidium · Gastornis · Ambulocetus · Propalaeotherium · Godinotia · Eurotamandua · Titanomyrma · Creodonta · Crusafontia · Didelphodon · Kentisuchus · Tokay Gecko · Green Tree Frog

Episode 2: Whale Killer

36 million years ago, Late Eocene (Pakistan/Tethys Sea)
Filming location: Florida

The second episode is set in late Eocene, when the polar caps froze over and drastically changed the Earth’s ocean currents and climate.

Animals:
Basilosaurus · Andrewsarchus · Embolotherium · Dorudon · Moeritherium · Apidium · Physogaleus · Puppigerus · Cinereous Vulture

Episode 3: Land of Giants

25 million years ago, Late Oligocene (Mongolia)
Filming location: Mexico, Arizona

The third episode takes place during the late Oligocene, in Mongolia, where there were seasonal rains followed by a long drought.

Animals:
Paraceratherium · Hyaenodon · Entelodon · Chalicotherium · Cynodictis

Episode 4: Next of Kin

3.2 million years ago, Late Pliocene (Ethiopia)
Filming location: South Africa, Ethiopia

The fourth episode takes place in the Great Rift Valley in northeastern Africa of the late Pliocene. The climate has changed, and now great grasslands have replaced trees. The episode focuses around a tribe of small hominids known as Australopithecus, one of the first apes able to walk upright and a close ancestor to humans.

Animals:
Australopithecus · Dinofelis · Deinotherium · Ancylotherium · Metridiochoerus · White Rhinoceros · Black-backed Jackal · White-backed Vulture · Grévy’s Zebra · Ostrich

Episode 5: Sabre Tooth

1 million years ago, Early Pleistocene (Paraguay)
Filming location: Brazil

The fifth episode shows the strange fauna of the isolated continent of South America and explores the effects of the Great American Interchange, which had happened 1.5 million years earlier.

Animals:
Smilodon · Phorusrhacos · Macrauchenia · Megatherium · Doedicurus

Episode 6: Mammoth Journey

30,000 years ago, Late Pleistocene (Belgium)
Filming location: Yukon

The sixth episode takes place during the last Ice Age of the late Pleistocene and starts in the peak of the summer.

The North Sea is gone due to the polar caps keeping it frozen. This has caused the sea levels to drop significantly.

Where the North Sea is today, an almost endless green grassy plain stretches for thousands of miles during the summer. In the Late Pleistocene, herds of woolly mammoths, saiga antelopes, bison and a clan of Cro-Magnon could be found here.

The central focus of the episode is the migration of the herd of mammoths as they travel 400 kilometers from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps for the winter and then back again in the spring.

Animals:
Woolly Mammoth · Megaloceros · Woolly Rhinoceros · Cro-Magnon · Panthera leo spelaea · Neanderthal · Saiga Antelope · Grey Wolf · European Bison

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