Walking with Dinosaurs

Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary mini series which takes us back to the time where dinosaurs ruled the earth.

The series uses computer-generated imagery and animatronics to recreate the reign of the dinosaurs, beginning in the late Triassic period and concluding in the late Cretaceous period at the K-T boundary mass extinction event, 66 million years ago.

Episode 1: New Blood

Episode 1 follows life in the late Triassic period in Arizona. It features Coelophysis, one of the first in the lineage of the dinosaurs, a pair of Thrinaxodon and their desperate struggles to stay alive and to raise a family and a female Postosuchus, a fierce predator designed only for killing.

New Blood concentrates on the harsh conditions Triassic life is put through. The end of episode 1 emphasizes that the age of the dinosaurs has begun.

Episode 2: Time of the Titans

Episode 2 follows the diverse Jurassic megafauna in North America. It concentrates on the lives of a adolescent female Diplodocus and her constant fight for survival against predators and even her own habitat after hatching.

The episode also follows an adult herd of Diplodocus and their ceaseless search for food.

Throughout Time of the Titans we’ll visit some of the other late Jurassic fauna including the armored and dim-witted Stegosaurus, the egg-thieving Ornitholestes, and the lions of the Jurassic, Allosaurus.

Episode 3: Cruel Sea

We’ll focus on life in the late Jurassic period in Oxfordshire in Cruel Sea, follow several Ophthalmosaurus pups and their fight against the elements.

Furthermore, we’ll also take a look at a male Liopleurodon, the largest carnivore ever, visit a small population of carnivorous dinosaurs in the region and how they are able to survive on such small areas.

Episode 3: Cruel Sea concentrates on the environment the inhabitants of late Jurassic Oxfordshire live in. Like the previous episodes, this episode emphasizes the Jurassic megafauna and their success.

Episode 4: Giants of the Skies

Episode 4: Giants of the Skies inspects the lesser known (yet prominent) group of reptiles that dominated the skies during the Mesozoic era: The Pterosaurs. Throughout the episode, we’ll mainly focus on an old male Ornithocheirus and his epic journey to the mating grounds.

As the Ornithocherius travels to the mating ground, we’ll investigate some of the animals he flies past.

These animals include the Iguanodon, a large hadrosaurid and Utahraptor, a ferocious assassin.

Episode 5: Spirits of the Ice Forest

Episode 5: Spirits of the Ice Forest is set in Antarctica during the middle Cretaceous period. The episode focuses on how dinosaurs survive in the harsh and cold conditions during this time.

This time, we’ll follow a colony of Leaellynasaura and examine how they live, procreate and survive.

During the episode we’ll get an insight into the Leaellynasaura social hierarchy functions and visit some of the other Antarctic lifeforms. These are: The large Muttaburrasaurus (the relative of Allosaurus), Australovenator (a megaraptorid theropod dinosaur) and Koolasuchus (a giant, primeval amphibian).

Episode 6: Death of a Dynasty

The sixth and final episode in Walking With Dinosaurs is set in the late Cretaceous, 65.5 million years ago in Montana. Its focus is on the last dinosaur lineage and the K-T boundary mass extinction event.

We’ll meet and follow a female Tyrannosaurus rex trying to reproduce. As we follow the T-Rex, we’ll learn that volcanic activity has created a heavily toxic atmospheric taking its toll on life all-together.

As if this volcanic activity wasn’t enough, dinosaur life is sealed once a 10-mile comet slams into Earth and marks the end of the reign of the dinosaurs.

The epilogue of the series notes that dinosaurs aren’t exactly extinct and that birds are their descendants.

More in this series