A very long time ago, some tiny creature discovered how much more efficient it is to convert its neighbour into food than to convert sunlight into food. By the time of the dinosaurs, the ever-escalating arms race of predator and prey had brought about some of the most remarkable deadly killing machines that the Earth would ever see.
Palaeontologists are discovering and re-creating the mechanisms by which the dinosaurs gradually adapted to flight; and they're finding that the Pterosaurs were once as diverse as modern birds.
Some 60 Million years ago, a strange and fierce bear like creature tested the waters of an ancient ocean, it's descendants - Whales and Dolphins.
In isolated pockets of the Cretaceous and Jurassic worlds, the evolutionary experiment of the dinosaurs sometimes seems to have run amok. The result: extremes of size, shape, and lifestyle that seem to defy the notion of survival of the fittest.
Human paleontology reaches back to find the origins of human kind. PaleoWorld explores how we survived, the gaps in our knowledge, and the twists, turns, and dead ends in our evolutionary pathway.
While the dinosaurs ruled the earth, super giant squid, ancient sharks and 20 foot long crocodiles held sway in the seas.
When the curtain rang down on the dinosaurs, the mammals took centre stage. But mammals actually had their start long before the first dinosaurs - and they were as bizarre and mysterious as the dinosaurs themselves.
With astonishing rapidity, tiny mammals stepped into the void left by the extinction of the dinosaurs. In the blink of an eye, evolution-wise, giant predators once again strode the earth: saber-toothed lions and tigers, dire wolves, and even saber-toothed marsupials.
Fossils attest to dinosaur mating rituals.
This episode explores mistakes of paleontologists about prehistory.
From Godzilla, the fire-breathing film star of the 50s, to Sue, the latest and greatest Rex discovery of them all, these dinos were the perfect predators--or were they? The debate is ongoing, even as we learn more intimate details about this creature.
From the smallest notch on a giant fossil, paleontologists can infer the most amazing details of the long-missing parts of a dinosaur--nervous systems, vital organs, giant musculature, and even how well they can hear and see. High-tech medical equipment is now letting us see inside the head of a T. Rex and into the unhatched embryos of dinosaur eggs.
Dinosaurs flourished on every continent 65 million years ago. Then they vanished. Many incompatible theories have been developed to explain the dinosaurs' extinction.
Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus, Seismosaurus - those were the biggest creatures to ever walk the earth. Now a new contender for the title of ""biggest of them all"" is coming out of the earth in Argentina.
Of all the battles fought in the world of paleontology, few have the passion to rival that of modern man's ancestry. Does Neanderthal man live on in our genetic mix or was he an evolutionary dead end? For years paleontologists Milford Wolpoff and Chris Stringer have been tearing at the bones of this argument.
Researchers study tracks made by dinosaurs.
Behavior and migratory patterns of dinosaurs.
According to palaeontologist Bob Baker, there's plenty of evidence to show birds are dinosaurs. Using natural history footage of live animals combined with a detailed look at the fossil record, maverick paleontologist Baker shows us the evidence.
Most people associate mammoths with red-haired, shaggy-coated creatures that roamed the frozen steppes of Eastern Europe, disappearing during the Ice Age. How did they get there and why did they disappear? The mammoth site in South Dakota provides clues to the mysteries of the past.
The rhino has existed five times longer than the average species. Trace the history of the rhino from its earliest relative, just four inches long, to a later one that stood over 33 feet high. At "Rhino Pompeii" in Nebraska perfectly preserved fossils can be found dating back 10 million years. There is no site in the world with this degree of preservation.
When the dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago, it was killer birds not mammals which dominated areas of South America.
On the tip of South Africa in the Karoo basin is a treasure trove of fossils paleontologists believe to be from carnivorous dinosaurs. Re-created in vivid detail are the lives of these great creatures.
About rats on the island of Anguilla 120,00 years ago that there "three times the size of man."
Study of the Troodon, one of the longest lived and most intelligent dinosaurs.
The 250 million year history of the crocodilians is the evolutionary success story.
The Sabre Tooth Cats, predators so ferocious they preyed on mammoths and mastodons. The last died out 11,000 years ago, but could they return from the stock of today's wild cats?
From Bone Creek in the U.S., explore Pachycephalosaurus, Homalocephale and Stygimoloch.
Paleontologists are turning to this fossilized tree resin because it is a superb record of life on earth millions of years ago. It is also the only substance which preserves DNA from the time of the dinosaurs. Travel to hazardous amber mines deep in the mountains in the Dominican Republic, on a mission to find new life forms embedded in amber millions of years old.
In Prince Creek, Alaska, explore Ugrunaaluk (Edmontosaurus), Nanuqsaurus (Albertosaurus), Pachyrhinosaurus (Triceratops), Lambeosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus and Sauropods.
A review of the Morrison Formation and Cedar Mountain in the U.S., explores Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Gastonia and Utahraptor..
In the summer of 1995, PaleoWorld followed paleontologist Paul Sereno out to the Sahara to dig for dinosaurs. He came back with two remarkable finds: one, an almost complete body, was an entirely new species that had never been seen before. The other, an enormous skull, has proved to be the biggest predatory dinosaur in the world.
When the first man walked on two feet it was a giant step forward. But how and why it happened has always been a mystery. Now new discoveries are revealing the story of how we evolved into apes that walked.
Of all the dinosaurs that walked the earth, the Ceratopsian or horned dinosaurs are the best known. Thanks to freak catastrophes that stopped these dinosaurs in their tracks, paleontologists have a snapshot in time enabling them to unravel the inner world of dinosaur society.
Discover Rapetosaurus (Titanosaur), Majungasaurus and Vorona on a trip to the Maevarano Formation in Madagascar, a sedimentary rock formation from the late Cretaceous period.
From various sites around the U.S., discover what Deinonychus, Komodo Dragon, Maiasaura, Pteranadon, Sauropods, Triceratops, and Tyrannosaurus Rex had for breakfast.
From Hateg Island and Bauxite of Cornet in Romania, learn about the "small" dinosaurs that roamed the area.
Exactly how birds began to fly has always been a bit of a mystery. Scientists found 140 million-year-old fossils of the Archaeopteryx, which could glide for distances, but could not fly or land like modern birds. Now, three birds from about 115 million years ago have been uncovered in Spain. Have archaeologists uncovered the flying missing link?
No modern shark can compare to these amazing ancestors, and certainly none of these creatures could match the awesome Megatooth.
Scientists are looking at the real sea monsters of the past for clues that might answer the Loch Ness monster riddle.
Scientists get new information about the brontosaur.
Scientists have unearthed details in the Montana Badlands, telling us how dinosaurs reared their young. Raised inside nests, the offspring of the duck-billed dinosaurs had to grow up quickly to fend off potential predators lurking in the shadows.
Explore the evolution of snakes, including Pachyrhachis, Hovasaurus, Mosasaur, and the Paleopython.
Scientists unearth a dinosaur graveyard in New Mexico.
Ever since their discovery dinosaurs have ruled our imaginations. But one new kid on the block has outstripped all the others in its reputation for viciousness- the raptor.
Who is the mightiest dino of all? Will T-Rex be the king or will Giganotosaurus reign? Explore the 'Big Boys' of the dinosaur world.
Scientists suggest reasons for the dinosaurs' extinction.
From the White River Badlands in the U.S., discover the ancient mammals that roamed the land. From elephant shrews and hideous hyenas to enormous cats and killer hogs. Join us as we take a walk on the wild side.
Don't let their small size fool you. Although tiny in dinosaur terms, Troodon can hold their own... cunning, ruthless, and razor-sharp serrated teeth.
