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[ominous music playing]
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[Morgan Freeman] Millions of years
before the age of dinosaurs…
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our planet was ruled
by equally magnificent beasts.
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[low grunting]
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Two great dynasties had emerged
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and were vying for domination.
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[wailing]
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This is the story
of the battle to conquer land…
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[growling]
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…and how it changed everything
for life on our planet.
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[roaring]
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[rousing music playing]
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[snarling]
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[trilling]
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[screeching]
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[rousing music continues]
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[growling]
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[wind howling]
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[rumbling]
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[rousing music intensifies]
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[music fades]
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[somber music playing]
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For most of our planet's history,
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land has been inhospitable to life.
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A bleak and desolate realm…
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more like the surface of the moon…
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than like Earth today.
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It's hard to imagine
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how anything could ever make
this hostile place its home.
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But from beneath the waves,
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where life had thrived
for more than a billion years,
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one curious life-form was among the first
to rise to the challenge.
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Lichen may not look remarkable,
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but they are in fact completely unique.
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A pioneering partnership.
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[intriguing music playing]
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Neither plant nor animal,
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lichen are a strange combination
of fungi and algae…
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that only together had what it took
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to overcome the extreme hostility
of barren Earth.
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[ethereal music playing]
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But they were more than just pioneering.
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They were groundbreaking.
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As they spread…
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[stirring music playing]
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…their tiny filaments
helped to break down rock
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and produce the first ever soil…
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paving the way for plants to take over.
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Micro plants, like moss,
were first to appear.
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With leaves only one cell thick,
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they couldn't grow upwards,
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but could spread out.
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Reproducing faster than lichen,
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they soon carpeted the land,
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which they ruled undisturbed
for the next 40 million years.
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[music intensifies]
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[music fades]
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But a green revolution was coming…
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that would change the landscape forever.
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Key was the evolution of a new compound,
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lignin.
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Lignin strengthened
the plants' cell walls…
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allowing them to grow bigger and stronger
than ever before.
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No longer confined to carpeting the land,
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plants began to battle
for the real estate above,
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fighting for access to light.
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[dramatic music playing]
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[music fades]
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Eventually, some plants grew so tall,
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they towered above the world around them.
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[majestic music playing]
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Today's redwoods are nature's skyscrapers.
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Reaching heights
of more than a hundred meters,
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they are the tallest living things
to have ever existed.
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But redwoods are just one
of more than 400,000 species of plant,
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the most visible signs of life
on our planet.
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[music fades]
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Back in Earth's distant past,
the arrival of plants
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created new habitats
for the next invaders from the sea.
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[unsettling music playing]
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The first animals to ever set foot on land
were the arthropods.
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Relatives of the trilobites,
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their hard exoskeletons
had served as useful armor underwater.
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On land, that armor supported them
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and prevented them from drying out.
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They could also breathe
through this tough exterior.
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And with oxygen levels 60% higher
than they are today,
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some grew to be giants.
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Arthropleura, the largest millipede
to ever walk the Earth.
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At over two and a half meters long
and a half meter wide,
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he has no natural enemies…
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[peaceful music playing]
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…so can focus all his energy
on finding a mate.
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But for Arthropleura,
the pursuit of the perfect partner is
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not straightforward.
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-[soft thud]
-[music stops]
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For he's virtually blind…
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[music resumes]
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…and his world extends
only as far as he can sense.
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The fern forest is vast,
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and a female could be anywhere.
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00:10:23,085 --> 00:10:26,380
But his search isn't as hopeless
as it might seem.
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Females ready to mate
leave scent trails for males to follow.
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A lifeline in the darkness.
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[whooshing]
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[pensive music playing]
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And yet, sensing where she once was
is not the same
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as sensing where she is.
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[whimsical music playing]
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[peaceful music playing]
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Finally, his chance to charm can begin.
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[chirping]
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By rubbing together parts of his shell,
he creates his own unique love song.
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-[music stops]
-[chirping continues]
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[peaceful music continues]
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[soft chirping]
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[music swells]
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Mating on land can be an awkward affair.
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Success requires the perfect alignment.
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So it's important at this critical stage
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not to put a foot wrong.
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[music intensifies]
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[music ends]
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[birds tweeting]
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345 million years later,
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and in today's forests,
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the arthropod art of seduction
has come a long way.
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Especially for some of the less armored
members of the group.
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[brooding music playing]
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Unlike the ancient Arthropleura,
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male jumping spiders have superb vision
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and are no larger than a grain of rice.
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[music becomes playful]
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But what they lack in stature…
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they make up for in style.
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Each species has
its own signature dance move
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to attract female attention.
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The peacock.
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The side shuffle.
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The disco dancer.
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And the feather shake.
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While the males evolved colorful costumes
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and intricate dance moves…
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females developed impeccable taste.
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His side shuffle has caught her attention.
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But has he got the moves
she's looking for?
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Only the very best will do.
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[lively jazz music playing]
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Waving her abdomen
signals she's not impressed.
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[dramatic music playing]
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00:15:31,936 --> 00:15:33,520
[music fades]
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He needs to be careful,
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for fussy females
sometimes eat their suitors.
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[tense music playing]
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Still…
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[lively jazz music resumes]
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…it's worth one more try.
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[music slows, fades]
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Clearly, he's not getting the message.
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[tense music playing]
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He may be unlucky in love,
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but his arthropod dynasty
has had better luck.
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They now make up over 80%
of all animal species.
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The secret to arthropod success
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lies in their simple segmented body plan…
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[sinister music playing]
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…which has evolved
in countless different directions.
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[music intensifies]
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Some have ears in their legs.
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Others, eyes on stalks.
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And armor plating for battle.
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Variation after variation,
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arthropods are evolution run wild.
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Including the greatest runner of them all,
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the tiger beetle.
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Its design has been fine-tuned
over millions of years.
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The latest model is built for speed.
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For its size, it is
one of the fastest sprinters on Earth.
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If scaled up to human proportions,
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it would run
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at over 1,000 kilometers per hour.
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But there is one drawback
to life in the fast lane.
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His brain can't keep up.
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He must frequently stop
to get his bearings
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while hunting down his next victim.
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[tense music playing]
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But his frantic search for food
can lead him into dangerous territory…
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because sometimes the hunter
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can also be
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the hunted.
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[ominous music playing]
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Fast and furious
is not this trapdoor spider's style.
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She prefers to wait
for prey to come to her.
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[suspenseful music playing]
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[music intensifies]
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[dramatic music playing]
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[music fades]
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In the battle of the arthropods,
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flight would often make the difference
between life and death.
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[intriguing music playing]
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[buzzing]
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More than 300 million years ago,
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one group of arthropods
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were the first creatures
to take to the skies.
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[music intensifies]
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00:21:17,614 --> 00:21:19,533
And the evolution of wings
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would eventually launch them
to global success.
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The insects.
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00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,962
[rousing music playing]
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00:21:36,049 --> 00:21:39,511
Today, for every human on the planet,
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there are more than a billion insects.
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They are the most abundant
group of animals on Earth.
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[music fades]
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[creatures chirping, insect buzzing]
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00:22:07,789 --> 00:22:10,208
Despite their current success,
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the ultimate flying insects first appeared
back in the ancient swamps.
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00:22:18,675 --> 00:22:20,302
Dragonflies.
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00:22:24,473 --> 00:22:28,310
Their flight is as close to perfect
as it gets.
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00:22:31,646 --> 00:22:33,523
Four flexible wings,
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independently controlled,
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give them unparalleled mobility.
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00:22:41,573 --> 00:22:45,243
They can fly in any direction,
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00:22:47,162 --> 00:22:49,289
pull off the tightest turns…
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00:22:49,373 --> 00:22:51,917
[intriguing music playing]
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00:22:52,834 --> 00:22:56,380
and accelerate faster than a fighter jet.
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A winning design
that has remained almost the same
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for hundreds of millions of years.
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00:23:08,433 --> 00:23:10,435
[music fades]
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00:23:12,604 --> 00:23:16,858
And yet, living in the same
prehistoric swamps,
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another group of animals
were undergoing their own radical change.
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00:23:26,827 --> 00:23:28,245
Beneath the surface,
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vertebrates had continued to evolve…
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00:23:35,585 --> 00:23:39,589
and a new type of fish was thriving,
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00:23:40,674 --> 00:23:42,717
the lobe-finned fish.
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00:23:52,811 --> 00:23:57,065
Some grew to be monstrous predators.
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00:23:58,984 --> 00:24:00,986
[tense music playing]
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00:24:06,450 --> 00:24:09,578
In this fish-eat-fish world,
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it pays to be big.
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00:24:16,293 --> 00:24:18,295
[music intensifies]
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00:24:18,378 --> 00:24:20,130
[music ends]
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00:24:21,423 --> 00:24:25,385
For the smaller ones,
there's refuge in the shallows…
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00:24:29,473 --> 00:24:34,519
where their unique lobed fins
are a distinct advantage.
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00:24:37,105 --> 00:24:40,692
Muscular and highly versatile,
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00:24:41,693 --> 00:24:44,362
they are different to those of other fish.
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00:24:48,074 --> 00:24:50,327
Not only do they help them swim…
246
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:57,167
but they're strong enough
to support their body weight…
247
00:25:00,795 --> 00:25:06,218
and help them crawl out of the water.
248
00:25:11,014 --> 00:25:16,061
But these fish also have
another game-changing adaptation…
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the ability…
250
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-[wheezes]
-…to breathe air.
251
00:25:25,278 --> 00:25:29,282
Not through gills
but through primitive lungs.
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00:25:33,078 --> 00:25:36,998
Together, these evolutionary advances
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00:25:37,082 --> 00:25:42,254
allowed vertebrates to leave the water
and explore the land.
254
00:25:46,299 --> 00:25:50,303
The race was on
to colonize this new world.
255
00:25:58,478 --> 00:26:01,147
But it was already too late
256
00:26:02,649 --> 00:26:04,901
for these lobe-finned fish.
257
00:26:08,780 --> 00:26:11,741
Others had made this transition
before them.
258
00:26:14,411 --> 00:26:15,453
[grunting]
259
00:26:18,248 --> 00:26:20,250
[dramatic music playing]
260
00:26:27,924 --> 00:26:30,927
Like the three-meter-long Anthracosaurus…
261
00:26:31,970 --> 00:26:33,972
[low growling]
262
00:26:34,639 --> 00:26:37,309
…that had already found its feet.
263
00:26:37,392 --> 00:26:38,560
[grunts]
264
00:26:47,986 --> 00:26:52,490
The evolution from fin to limb
took millions of years.
265
00:26:52,574 --> 00:26:54,576
[stirring music playing]
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00:26:57,954 --> 00:27:01,249
But once completed, life on land
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00:27:02,375 --> 00:27:04,628
would never be the same again.
268
00:27:18,141 --> 00:27:20,143
The age of amphibians
269
00:27:21,519 --> 00:27:22,646
had begun.
270
00:27:31,363 --> 00:27:34,115
[ethereal music playing]
271
00:27:40,914 --> 00:27:47,253
Today, there are more
than 8,000 species of amphibian.
272
00:27:50,548 --> 00:27:53,968
A peculiar but diverse group…
273
00:27:54,052 --> 00:27:56,096
[long croak]
274
00:27:57,681 --> 00:27:58,932
…of newts,
275
00:27:59,683 --> 00:28:00,850
frogs,
276
00:28:01,518 --> 00:28:02,852
salamanders,
277
00:28:03,770 --> 00:28:04,854
and toads.
278
00:28:05,855 --> 00:28:07,065
[music intensifies]
279
00:28:07,148 --> 00:28:10,110
Not quite the giants they once were,
280
00:28:11,027 --> 00:28:13,530
but still successful hunters…
281
00:28:13,613 --> 00:28:15,615
[music fades]
282
00:28:16,533 --> 00:28:19,869
…with their own killer style.
283
00:28:19,953 --> 00:28:21,955
[birds tweeting]
284
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,340
Hundreds of millions of years
after Anthracosaurus,
285
00:28:33,466 --> 00:28:37,971
swamplands remain a stronghold
for amphibians.
286
00:28:38,054 --> 00:28:40,056
[tranquil music playing]
287
00:28:42,142 --> 00:28:45,395
Here in Europe's Danube delta,
288
00:28:45,478 --> 00:28:48,898
marsh frogs live in their thousands
289
00:28:49,691 --> 00:28:53,111
and have become expert insect hunters…
290
00:28:55,697 --> 00:28:57,824
with a particular taste
291
00:28:59,284 --> 00:29:00,910
for dragonflies.
292
00:29:04,664 --> 00:29:06,750
[tense music playing]
293
00:29:07,834 --> 00:29:09,961
Thanks to their wraparound vision,
294
00:29:12,464 --> 00:29:15,049
catching one isn't easy.
295
00:29:16,426 --> 00:29:22,557
But marsh frogs have evolved
some quirky adaptations of their own.
296
00:29:32,692 --> 00:29:35,737
Webbed feet help them get airborne.
297
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:49,042
And a projectile tongue
gives them extraordinary reach.
298
00:29:57,050 --> 00:30:01,054
Even so, dragonflies in flight
299
00:30:01,137 --> 00:30:05,099
can be just too hard to catch.
300
00:30:10,104 --> 00:30:14,567
Waiting for the aerial acrobats to land
might make things easier.
301
00:30:53,565 --> 00:30:55,567
Time to take a different approach.
302
00:31:00,947 --> 00:31:05,159
A female laying eggs in the water.
303
00:31:10,790 --> 00:31:12,500
Half-submerged,
304
00:31:13,543 --> 00:31:16,170
she should be an easier target.
305
00:31:25,013 --> 00:31:26,764
[dramatic music playing]
306
00:31:44,991 --> 00:31:49,537
The dragonflies are just too fast.
307
00:31:53,416 --> 00:31:55,418
[suspenseful music playing]
308
00:32:02,050 --> 00:32:05,219
And they can barrel-roll.
309
00:32:26,616 --> 00:32:27,867
Missed again.
310
00:32:30,578 --> 00:32:35,208
But frogs are nothing if not persistent.
311
00:32:35,291 --> 00:32:37,293
[suspenseful music playing]
312
00:32:42,757 --> 00:32:44,342
[music ends]
313
00:32:50,014 --> 00:32:52,308
Despite the low hit rate,
314
00:32:52,392 --> 00:32:58,523
amphibians have survived
for over 350 million years.
315
00:33:03,027 --> 00:33:08,282
And yet, they never conquered
every environment the planet had to offer…
316
00:33:10,618 --> 00:33:15,832
because there's something
all amphibians need to raise their young.
317
00:33:19,127 --> 00:33:20,128
Water.
318
00:33:23,548 --> 00:33:27,218
This is the strawberry dart frog
of Costa Rica.
319
00:33:27,301 --> 00:33:29,012
[croaking]
320
00:33:33,099 --> 00:33:35,977
Her tadpoles are in mortal danger.
321
00:33:38,563 --> 00:33:41,858
Their tiny puddle, almost dry.
322
00:33:54,454 --> 00:33:56,039
[croaking]
323
00:33:57,457 --> 00:33:59,459
Their only means of escape
324
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,046
is on their mother's back.
325
00:34:06,382 --> 00:34:09,635
The hard part is finding water.
326
00:34:14,182 --> 00:34:15,016
Luckily…
327
00:34:15,099 --> 00:34:17,101
[croaking]
328
00:34:18,936 --> 00:34:21,647
…she knows exactly where to go.
329
00:34:23,274 --> 00:34:25,860
[croaking]
330
00:34:28,321 --> 00:34:29,864
Twenty meters above her,
331
00:34:31,407 --> 00:34:33,868
a bromeliad collects rainwater.
332
00:34:37,288 --> 00:34:40,708
The perfect pool for her precious tadpole.
333
00:34:43,252 --> 00:34:46,297
But first, she must get there…
334
00:34:48,758 --> 00:34:51,886
one hop at a time.
335
00:34:55,264 --> 00:34:57,266
[invigorating music playing]
336
00:35:02,021 --> 00:35:05,108
Barely the size of a human thumbnail,
337
00:35:05,775 --> 00:35:09,112
this is her own personal Everest.
338
00:35:11,405 --> 00:35:13,282
[ethereal vocalizing]
339
00:35:28,381 --> 00:35:30,383
[croaking]
340
00:35:33,136 --> 00:35:35,138
[music fades]
341
00:35:36,097 --> 00:35:38,015
Safe at last.
342
00:35:39,308 --> 00:35:41,561
[croaking]
343
00:35:48,025 --> 00:35:52,321
No matter what great heights amphibians
reached in their conquest of land…
344
00:35:55,449 --> 00:35:58,369
they never escaped their tie to water…
345
00:36:00,413 --> 00:36:05,293
a tie that would be their undoing
when conditions on Earth…
346
00:36:07,336 --> 00:36:09,005
radically changed.
347
00:36:12,550 --> 00:36:14,802
[ominous music playing]
348
00:36:21,726 --> 00:36:24,604
During the period known
as the Carboniferous,
349
00:36:25,396 --> 00:36:28,691
Earth's great land masses merged,
350
00:36:28,774 --> 00:36:32,653
and the supercontinent of Pangaea
was born.
351
00:36:35,448 --> 00:36:37,116
As the land dried,
352
00:36:37,950 --> 00:36:40,536
the vast swamps began to disappear.
353
00:36:43,039 --> 00:36:47,293
Lacking water, most amphibians struggled.
354
00:36:48,961 --> 00:36:50,963
[music fades]
355
00:36:52,381 --> 00:36:53,674
But not all.
356
00:36:55,259 --> 00:37:00,681
One evolved a revolutionary adaptation
that enabled it to thrive.
357
00:37:06,479 --> 00:37:10,149
Its egg developed a protective shell
358
00:37:10,233 --> 00:37:15,154
that held the embryo
in its own private pool of fluid.
359
00:37:18,950 --> 00:37:24,705
Inside, the young could develop safely
without drying out.
360
00:37:25,706 --> 00:37:27,708
[serene music playing]
361
00:37:38,177 --> 00:37:43,015
The tie to water was finally broken
by the evolution
362
00:37:44,308 --> 00:37:46,560
of this amniotic egg.
363
00:37:52,817 --> 00:37:55,152
Known as the amniotes,
364
00:37:55,236 --> 00:37:58,656
these creatures
could colonize the drier land
365
00:37:58,739 --> 00:38:01,284
in a way that amphibians could not.
366
00:38:02,451 --> 00:38:04,453
[music intensifies]
367
00:38:06,664 --> 00:38:10,668
And from this one common ancestor,
368
00:38:10,751 --> 00:38:14,505
all mammals, reptiles, birds,
369
00:38:14,588 --> 00:38:18,092
and dinosaurs would descend.
370
00:38:18,175 --> 00:38:20,052
[sinister music playing]
371
00:38:52,209 --> 00:38:54,211
[music fades]
372
00:38:57,298 --> 00:39:01,552
Sixty million years after the evolution
of the amniotic egg,
373
00:39:03,137 --> 00:39:06,140
amniotes have spread across Pangaea…
374
00:39:06,849 --> 00:39:09,352
[majestic music playing]
375
00:39:10,895 --> 00:39:16,817
…producing two new dynasties
and the start of an endless rivalry.
376
00:39:22,823 --> 00:39:28,496
These sleeping armored beasts
are a primitive type of reptile.
377
00:39:35,127 --> 00:39:40,257
Scutosaurus,
among the largest animals on land.
378
00:39:46,972 --> 00:39:48,265
[distant bellowing]
379
00:39:52,311 --> 00:39:53,729
[grunting]
380
00:39:59,610 --> 00:40:01,237
Weighing over a ton,
381
00:40:02,988 --> 00:40:06,367
they are the first giant plant-eaters
to roam the planet.
382
00:40:12,331 --> 00:40:16,669
Amniotic eggs allowed them to flourish
in the drier conditions
383
00:40:17,211 --> 00:40:20,005
and go where others could not.
384
00:40:20,714 --> 00:40:22,716
[low growling]
385
00:40:24,593 --> 00:40:27,471
But Pangaea didn't just belong to them.
386
00:40:33,144 --> 00:40:35,896
Another new bloodline had emerged.
387
00:40:36,897 --> 00:40:39,817
The ancestors of the mammals.
388
00:40:42,611 --> 00:40:44,071
[mewls]
389
00:40:47,867 --> 00:40:51,162
While a Lystrosaurus
is no match for a Scutosaur…
390
00:40:51,245 --> 00:40:53,581
-[growling]
-[mewls]
391
00:40:53,664 --> 00:40:56,542
…he has cousins here who are.
392
00:40:57,877 --> 00:41:00,045
[ominous music playing]
393
00:41:16,312 --> 00:41:18,314
[snarling]
394
00:41:20,774 --> 00:41:22,234
A gorgonopsid.
395
00:41:25,905 --> 00:41:29,325
A more impressive forerunner
to the mammals.
396
00:41:33,037 --> 00:41:37,666
At over three meters long and 300 kilos,
397
00:41:38,834 --> 00:41:42,087
she rivals any big cat alive today.
398
00:41:42,713 --> 00:41:44,715
[grunting]
399
00:41:48,594 --> 00:41:50,804
With her powerful sense of smell,
400
00:41:51,889 --> 00:41:54,016
tracking her prey is easy.
401
00:41:56,852 --> 00:41:58,896
Getting past their heavy armor
402
00:42:00,147 --> 00:42:02,149
will be her greatest challenge.
403
00:42:02,233 --> 00:42:05,069
[grunting, wailing]
404
00:42:08,447 --> 00:42:10,282
But she has a secret weapon.
405
00:42:10,366 --> 00:42:12,076
[snarling]
406
00:42:13,452 --> 00:42:15,079
Saber-like teeth.
407
00:42:22,586 --> 00:42:24,046
Even so,
408
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,299
she'll need stealth to get close.
409
00:42:27,383 --> 00:42:28,509
[grunting]
410
00:42:39,186 --> 00:42:41,939
-[grunting]
-[wind whistling]
411
00:42:48,654 --> 00:42:50,656
[grunting]
412
00:43:01,083 --> 00:43:03,586
[tense music playing]
413
00:43:06,839 --> 00:43:08,757
She must choose her moment…
414
00:43:13,220 --> 00:43:14,555
and her target
415
00:43:16,390 --> 00:43:17,349
carefully.
416
00:43:17,433 --> 00:43:18,976
[grunting]
417
00:43:25,774 --> 00:43:26,817
Slowly
418
00:43:28,402 --> 00:43:29,820
and silently…
419
00:43:33,198 --> 00:43:34,325
does it.
420
00:43:34,408 --> 00:43:36,243
[tense music continues]
421
00:43:54,803 --> 00:43:56,138
[growling]
422
00:43:56,221 --> 00:43:58,390
-[grunting]
-[growls]
423
00:44:01,769 --> 00:44:04,104
-[growls]
-[wailing]
424
00:44:06,106 --> 00:44:07,107
[roars]
425
00:44:13,864 --> 00:44:16,116
[roars, snarling]
426
00:44:21,789 --> 00:44:23,123
[roars]
427
00:44:26,251 --> 00:44:28,087
-[roaring]
-[grunting]
428
00:44:31,882 --> 00:44:33,884
[dramatic music playing]
429
00:44:35,135 --> 00:44:37,137
-[music fades]
-[wailing]
430
00:44:50,442 --> 00:44:53,237
The rivalry between mammals and reptiles
431
00:44:54,154 --> 00:44:58,867
has been a feature of life on Earth
for hundreds of millions of years.
432
00:45:02,204 --> 00:45:05,457
But their early rise was not to last,
433
00:45:06,291 --> 00:45:09,920
because in the far north of Pangaea,
434
00:45:10,671 --> 00:45:13,465
something catastrophic was happening.
435
00:45:14,717 --> 00:45:16,719
[rumbling]
436
00:45:18,178 --> 00:45:20,597
Lying dormant for years on end,
437
00:45:21,223 --> 00:45:25,227
the colossal forces at work
beneath Earth's surface
438
00:45:26,145 --> 00:45:28,021
are easily forgotten.
439
00:45:33,402 --> 00:45:35,612
But the molten underworld
440
00:45:36,905 --> 00:45:39,199
is always stirring,
441
00:45:40,576 --> 00:45:42,911
always probing for weakness.
442
00:45:44,705 --> 00:45:46,707
[ominous ambient music playing]
443
00:45:48,500 --> 00:45:50,502
[wind whistling]
444
00:45:52,838 --> 00:45:54,840
Beneath Pangaea's crust,
445
00:45:56,133 --> 00:45:58,510
a plume of superheated magma
446
00:45:59,094 --> 00:46:01,472
was working its way to the surface.
447
00:46:08,687 --> 00:46:11,607
Once these Permian eruptions started…
448
00:46:14,526 --> 00:46:16,570
there was no stopping them.
449
00:46:18,238 --> 00:46:20,491
[dramatic music playing]
450
00:46:44,056 --> 00:46:48,435
What made them unique
was their monumental scale.
451
00:46:51,605 --> 00:46:53,607
[dramatic music continues]
452
00:46:58,654 --> 00:47:00,823
They were among the largest,
453
00:47:01,865 --> 00:47:07,037
most violent eruptions
that life has ever witnessed.
454
00:47:17,965 --> 00:47:22,052
And they raged for 100,000 years.
455
00:47:24,096 --> 00:47:27,474
The devastation was unprecedented.
456
00:47:30,310 --> 00:47:33,313
An area half the size
of the United States
457
00:47:34,064 --> 00:47:36,108
lost to lava.
458
00:47:37,067 --> 00:47:39,069
[poignant music playing]
459
00:47:59,006 --> 00:48:01,174
Millions of square kilometers,
460
00:48:01,925 --> 00:48:03,927
once so full of life,
461
00:48:04,511 --> 00:48:07,931
obliterated by the Earth itself.
462
00:48:13,437 --> 00:48:15,439
[music fades]
463
00:48:17,858 --> 00:48:21,486
And that was just the beginning.
464
00:48:25,282 --> 00:48:30,662
The eruptions released something
far more dangerous than lava.
465
00:48:33,916 --> 00:48:38,879
A toxic concoction of noxious gases.
466
00:48:38,962 --> 00:48:40,964
[hissing]
467
00:48:41,048 --> 00:48:43,050
[dramatic music playing]
468
00:48:50,182 --> 00:48:52,893
When these gases combined with water…
469
00:49:00,150 --> 00:49:03,946
a potent cocktail of acid rain
poured down.
470
00:49:13,872 --> 00:49:16,458
Water, the giver of life,
471
00:49:17,417 --> 00:49:20,170
was now its destroyer.
472
00:49:26,885 --> 00:49:29,972
The toxic rain poisoned the ground…
473
00:49:32,099 --> 00:49:33,725
killing off the plants.
474
00:49:41,817 --> 00:49:44,987
Without their roots
to bind the soil together…
475
00:49:49,157 --> 00:49:52,995
entire ecosystems were washed away.
476
00:49:57,457 --> 00:49:59,459
[dramatic music playing]
477
00:49:59,543 --> 00:50:01,545
[rumbling]
478
00:50:01,628 --> 00:50:04,047
[music fades]
479
00:50:12,973 --> 00:50:19,021
And yet, there was something
even more destructive in the air.
480
00:50:22,232 --> 00:50:23,650
A silent killer.
481
00:50:26,820 --> 00:50:29,364
Carbon dioxide.
482
00:50:32,701 --> 00:50:37,247
The volcanoes released six times more CO2
483
00:50:37,873 --> 00:50:40,417
than is in our atmosphere today…
484
00:50:43,462 --> 00:50:46,923
triggering ten degrees of global warming…
485
00:50:47,549 --> 00:50:49,259
[rumbling]
486
00:50:50,802 --> 00:50:53,388
…and all the climate devastation
487
00:50:54,890 --> 00:50:56,391
that comes with it.
488
00:51:01,521 --> 00:51:03,523
[ominous music playing]
489
00:51:03,607 --> 00:51:05,817
[thunder rumbles]
490
00:51:09,696 --> 00:51:15,368
Hothouse Earth raged
as the forces of nature ran wild.
491
00:51:19,081 --> 00:51:21,416
[music intensifies]
492
00:51:40,811 --> 00:51:43,980
There was nowhere to hide from the chaos.
493
00:51:45,732 --> 00:51:49,528
And the oceans were worst affected.
494
00:51:51,988 --> 00:51:54,241
As they warmed and acidified,
495
00:51:55,117 --> 00:51:57,119
oxygen levels plummeted…
496
00:51:59,704 --> 00:52:03,792
turning the seas,
where life first took hold,
497
00:52:06,044 --> 00:52:08,213
into a desolate graveyard.
498
00:52:11,383 --> 00:52:14,010
This was the planet's third,
499
00:52:14,678 --> 00:52:18,223
and most devastating, mass extinction.
500
00:52:18,306 --> 00:52:20,183
[melancholy music playing]
501
00:52:20,267 --> 00:52:23,562
Ninety percent of all species
502
00:52:24,479 --> 00:52:26,857
lost forever.
503
00:52:33,029 --> 00:52:37,742
Entire branches torn off
the evolutionary tree.
504
00:52:46,293 --> 00:52:47,752
But in the loss of many,
505
00:52:48,753 --> 00:52:50,422
endured the few.
506
00:52:51,339 --> 00:52:52,799
[rustling]
507
00:52:56,511 --> 00:52:58,889
[breathing heavily]
508
00:52:58,972 --> 00:53:02,184
All that remained of a bygone age.
509
00:53:07,397 --> 00:53:13,069
Never had their survival
been so important.
510
00:53:17,532 --> 00:53:20,493
The future of all life
511
00:53:21,578 --> 00:53:24,539
now hung by a thread.
512
00:53:24,623 --> 00:53:27,000
[ethereal music playing]
513
00:53:32,589 --> 00:53:34,549
[music continues]
36361
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