Original subtitles

Imagine you could travel back in time - to a time long before man

Back across 65 million years

You would see huge changes in the vegetation and the climate

Even the surface of the Earth itself would move

as mountain ranges are pushed up by colliding continents

You've reached a period in Earth's history known as the Cretaceous

It is a very different world

The Himalayas do not yet exist and the Atlantic is only half as wide

There is no grass, only conifer forests and fern prairies

This is a world ruled by dinosaurs

(Fierce roar)

Giant reptiles like Tyrannosaurus, a five-tonne predator,

stalk the land

In Walking With Dinosaurs,

we will show you how these magnificent creatures live -

how they eat, fight and reproduce

You will witness how the forces of nature

conspire to drive these animals to extinction

But this series will also take you back much further

To the Jurassic period - when life on Earth

was at its most spectacular

(Low grumbling roar)

The creatures here bathe in a warm tropical climate -

there are no icecaps at the poles

Flowers and broad-leaved trees are yet to evolve

In the air and on the land, the world is dominated by reptiles,

and by far the most common are the dinosaurs

But they are not the only giants

Huge pterosaurs rule the skies and, below them,

massive marine reptiles harvest the rich oceans

However, first, this series will go back even further,

to discover where dinosaurs came from

This is our own Earth during the Triassic period

There are no separate continents,

just one landmass called Pangaea

It is a harsh place dominated by deserts

The Triassic has already seen

many different varieties of ancient reptiles come and go

But now, out of this dry wilderness,

has appeared something revolutionary

A family of reptiles destined to shape the course of life on Earth

for the next 160 million years

These are the first dinosaurs

and this is where our story begins

First light across the western hills

of Earth's only continent, Pangaea

This world has been ruled

by one group of giant reptiles for over 50 million years

But these ancient creatures have had their day

All over these lush fern prairies,

an evolutionary battle has broken out among the newer types of reptile

for supremacy of this strange world

On these Triassic proving grounds, dinosaurs are still rare,

but they are beginning to show signs of their future success

(Small growl)

It is the end of the wet season and the local river is full

But it will not remain this lush,

and ahead lies nine months with no rain

One type of reptile has evolved to thrive in drought

Dinosaurs like this Coelophysis can survive on very little water

She is also light-boned, fast, and she is beautifully adapted

for killing

Dinosaurs appeared around 10 million years before,

as small predators

What makes them unique is special hips and ankles

that allow them to stand perfectly balanced on two legs

With lightning-fast reactions, they are built to survive

(Loud roar)

(Trumpeting calls)

A chorus of calls signals the arrival of a huge herd of Placerias

They are making their way down from the ferns for their morning drink

These impressive one-tonne beasts are not related to dinosaurs

They are a much more ancient type of reptile

Once there were many different kinds of these powerful creatures,

but now the Placerias are the only ones of their kind that remain

They are an endangered species

Despite their fearsome appearance, they are actually gentle herbivores

Their tusks are used for digging up roots

(Angry growling)

But on two angry males, these tusks can make lethal weapons

For the swift Coelophysis, Placerias are prey

This young female targets the old and weak

in the slow-moving herd

(Growling and trumpeting)

One day, the descendants of dinosaurs like Coelophysis

will take over this world,

but it is their speed and agility

that gives them the edge in the mid-Triassic

Further downriver is one of the Triassic's most bizarre animals

The cynodont is a missing link between reptiles and mammals

As he runs, his backbone moves

from side to side like a reptile's,

but he has hair and lives down a burrow, like a mammal

Deep inside, his mate sleeps on a bed of lichen

The bond between cynodonts is very strong -

they pair for life

Like all land reptiles, they lay eggs,

but after hatching, the young are utterly dependent on their parents

and for the first three months,

feed from milk glands on the mother

This form of reproduction has evolved

to protect their young from the daylight predators outside

By day, even the father sticks close to the safety of the burrow

and carries out domestic chores

He only hunts at night

In the not too distant future,

small furry mammals will evolve from reptiles like these

In the heat of the dry season,

the Placerias herd spreads out over the scrubland to feed

(Low growling)

Suddenly the warm breeze changes

and there is the scent of fear in the air

(Vicious growling)

Postosuchus, a merciless ambush predator -

the largest carnivore on Earth

(Roars)

The terrified Placerias flee, but they are desperately slow

and one of them is mortally wounded

Their tormentor is a distant cousin of the dinosaurs,

but unlike them, she is too front-heavy to run on two legs

Yet the Postosuchus is easily fast enough to keep pace with the herd

Eventually, a combination of shock and blood loss

defeats the wounded Placerias

The carnivore's bite has done its job

The Placerias is now too weak to fight

and the Postosuchus has an easy meal

As the weeks of the dry season pass,

only the vegetation around the river remains lush

and this attracts exotic hunters like this Peteinosaurus

She is a flying reptile who has evolved extra-long fingers

to support her delicate wing membranes

(Rattling call)

The river's resident flying predators are dragonflies

Insects like these evolved long before the first reptiles

Over 100 million years ago,

some took to the air and became aerial killers

But in the Triassic era, these hunters have become the hunted

A jaw full of needle-sharp teeth

makes short work of the insect

Peteinosaurus have evolved strong, lightweight bones for flight,

and like the dinosaurs, they are fast and deadly

Reptiles are becoming the new masters of the air

In temperatures of over 40 degrees centigrade,

the Placerias need lots of water

and spend more time at the river

But the herd is nervous

They know this is a good place for an ambush

The Postosuchus is not hunting

She has recently eaten her fill

and also needs to come down to the river to drink

Six metres long, heavily built with an armoured back,

she needs a huge amount of food

and, therefore, has to defend a very large territory

The only creature on the planet she fears is another Postosuchus

(Loud, rasping roar)

It is the middle of the dry season, months since any rain

Across the scrubland, smaller rivers are drying out

In one, a Peteinosaurus risks a cooling bath

He constantly checks for danger

The cynodonts lie secure and cool

through the hottest part of the day

But no animal here is truly safe

The female Coelophysis has picked up the scent of their bedding

Soon she is exploring the entrance

and she is not alone

(Puppy-like growling)

Clearly these dinosaurs have not met cynodonts before

Nearby, the Placerias search for moist roots

beneath the drying ferns

The Postosuchus once again needs food

But her last attack left her with a tusk wound on her thigh -

a severe handicap for such a heavily-built creature

The Placerias herd spots her before she can set an ambush

and they mount an aggressive defence

(Angry roaring)

She will get no food here, and in such a competitive world,

her wound may yet prove fatal

Evening, and in the burrow,

the cynodonts prepare for a night of hunting

The young are more developed now

and starting to move about the nest,

but they are stillvulnerable

It'll be two months

before they can do without their parents' protection

The adult male checks the coast is clear

An inquisitive youngster follows him to the end of the burrow

(Squealing)

(Cynodont barks)

Too late, the male responds to his squealing pup

Again, he drives the dinosaurs away,

but this time, they don't go far

Nearby, a thirsty male Postosuchus

has invaded the wounded female's territory

But this withered Triassic landscape

cannot support two giant predators in one dry valley

The female is too weak to fight

After dominating her territory for a decade,

she is driven from her home

The male uses precious water to mark his new territory

Meanwhile, the Coelophysis are starting to dig the cynodonts out

Their situation is becoming desperate

as the dinosaurs will soon expose the nest

As the sun sets, the pair have only one choice

It means shattering their unique parental bond -

they eat their own young

This denies the dinosaurs their food

and gives the cynodonts the chance of escape

Under the moonlight, they seize the moment and abandon the hole

In the morning, the Coelophysis are back

They can smell the cynodonts, and it will take them time

to realise their work is in vain

The dry season continues

After the cynodont hole,

the female Coelophysis has found something in the parched river bed

It is a lungfish, and the dinosaur's serrated teeth

will make short work of its protective cocoon

But she is not left alone to eat it for long

Coelophysis numbers are increasing,

and this leads to confrontations

(Vicious squealing)

The pressure of numbers also brings other changes in behaviour

Under the merciless sun,

a flock of Coelophysis has united for a kill

The wounded female Postosuchus has lost the use of her back legs

However, her mighty jaws could still tear a dinosaur apart

The great carnivore's strength fails

All the Postosuchus's heavy armour and muscle

are no more than food for the agile little dinosaurs

Their long snouts and nibbling teeth

can reach under her thick scales

They eat her from the inside out

The rains are late,

and now the real test for survival begins

As vast areas turn into red desert,

the Placerias are driven to migrate in search of water

But in this extreme drought,

dinosaurs have a crucial advantage over other reptiles

When they excrete, they waste very little water

Nowhere is this advantage more obvious than by the shrunken river

Coelophysis are gathering in huge numbers,

and in years of hardship like this,

it is the dinosaurs that win through

There is little room for other reptiles, and without prey,

the dinosaurs swiftly turn on each other

Cannibalism is common

The Triassic is pushing life to its limits

Night reveals dinosaurs are not the only animals

that have managed to cling on

The cynodonts have survived their brush with death

and dug another burrow hidden in some dried ferns

Once again, the male is hunting in the darkness

(Growling, animal squeals)

He has caught the only common prey -

a baby Coelophysis

(Thunder rumbles)

After nine months of drought,

at last the rains have arrived

Soon, the thirsty scrublands are soaking

In her burrow, the female cynodont has laid a fresh clutch of eggs

One day in the future, this strategy of investing in their young

will pay off for their mammalian descendants

But as mammals evolve over the next 160 million years,

they'll only survive as a few small species,

clinging on at the edge of a world dominated by dinosaurs

Outside, that future is already arriving

The female Coelophysis has survived the drought,

along with many of her kind

But they have also been joined by another type of dinosaur

(Low, rumbling call)

A huge herd of Plateosaurus

has been drawn to the swollen river

It is hard to believe that these beasts are related to Coelophysis,

but these are plant-eating dinosaurs

Their size is the key to their success,

and at four tonnes, they are simply too big to be threatened

This is the shape of things to come -

the age of the dinosaurs has dawned

20 million years later,

extinction wiped out thousands of species of reptile,

but the dinosaurs went from strength to strength

Carnivores grew to enormous sizes, but their prey got even bigger

In the next programme,

we meet the giants of the Jurassic

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