Original subtitles

The most fearsome predator of the Jurassic

is watching his prey

Peering through the water,

the carnivore fixes on his unwary victim,

waiting for the perfect moment to strike

Under these azure waters lies the future continent of Europe,

but now, in the late Jurassic period,

all that exists here are a few scattered islands

The break-up of the old continents

has pushed up the ocean floor and raised sea levels,

flooding the lowlands and creating vast shallow seas

Here, dinosaurs do NOT rule

Instead, giant marine reptiles have evolved,

perfectly adapted to life in these beautiful waters

All of them are air-breathers, like this eight-tonne Cryptoclidus

On the land, they are cumbersome hulks,

but in water, they are transformed

All sea reptiles once lived on land,

but 75 million years ago,

their ancestors took to the water

and their legs became flippers

They share this shallow sea

with other strange Jurassic creatures, like the ammonites,

that snare small prey with their tentacles

These rich, sunlit waters

are on the northern edge of the ancient Tethys Ocean -

the sea that separates the Earth's two continents,

one in the north and one in the south

Once a year, they are the stage

for a remarkable natural drama

It starts with a single pregnant Ophthalmosaurus,

followed by hundreds more of her kind

All are gathering here from deeper water to give birth

These are the oldest of marine reptiles

and most completely adapted to aquatic life,

with streamlined fish-like bodies

Most other marine reptiles,

like Cryptoclidus, use all four flippers

to chase the blizzards of fish through the water

Flapping like underwater wings, the flippers can be used separately

to give them huge manoeuvrability,

or together, for sudden bursts of speed

This unique method of locomotion

is destined to disappear from the ocean

at the end of the age of the dinosaurs

The animals on the small islands above

also depend on the sea's bounty for their survival

Among the jagged rocks live a colony of flying reptiles

These sea pterosaurs are called Rhamphorhynchus

They have evolved a way of catching fish

without getting their wings wet

Their beaks skim through the water,

grabbing anything in their path

The teeth of these flying reptiles may look bizarre,

but they are ideal for snatching slippery fish from the water

However, swallowing their catch is a different matter

(Harsh squawking)

(Low growling)

The Ophthalmosaurus are starting to give birth

Most sea reptiles lay eggs on land, but not Ophthalmosaurus

They give birth to live young

This frees them from the need to crawl out of the water,

and has allowed them to evolve their fish-like shapes

A female has two to five pups,

but since they are air-breathers,

the young must be born tail first,

or they would drown before they escaped from the mother

The newborn pups have just a few seconds

to reach the surface and take their first breath

As soon as they are born, the pups are vulnerable

These waters are full of predators

Even adult Ophthalmosaurus will eat the offspring of others

to increase the chance of survival for their own pups

The only real safety is amongst the crags of coral

Birth is a dangerous time for the mothers, too

This female is trying desperately

to expel her unborn offspring

Fighting for air, she stays near the surface

Her struggles are a lure to sharks

These predators have acute hearing,

and the sound of splashing betrays an animal in distress

As perfectly evolved killing machines,

sharks patrolled the oceans

long before marine reptiles appeared

After 20 minutes, her exertions are exhausting her

She is having to breathe more frequently

The sharks start to move in closer

Suddenly, something lurking in the gloom scatters the sharks

Liopleurodon - at 150 tonnes,

it is the largest and most powerful carnivore

ever to live on the planet

This male measures a colossal 25 metres,

and is big even for his kind

His size means he is probably over 100 years old

He, too, detected the mother's distress from a distance

Liopleurodon has a directional sense of smell-

two chambers in his nose

work in the same way as a pair of ears -

pinpointing the source of a smell-

a sophisticated tracking device,

steering the largest carnivorous jaws ever known

Each one of Liopleurodon's four flippers is over three metres long,

giving him enough power

to guide his huge bulk effortlessly through the water

By now, the coral reefs around the islands

are full of baby Ophthalmosaurus

This intricate network of caves is their refuge,

a safe haven from which they can start to learn about their world

Baby Ophthalmosaurus have prominent teeth,

allowing them to cope with the tough prey

they find among the coral

But this little male has yet to learn

that ammonite shells are too tough for him

Above the sea, food is less plentiful

A lonely dinosaur has been forced to swim between the islands

in search of a meal

With huge marine predators in the water,

this is a dangerous journey

Large dinosaurs are rare here,

and at five metres from nose to tail,

Eustreptospondylus is the biggest

They are primarily scavengers,

combing the beaches for dead animals,

but on such small islands,

they are always under pressure to find more carrion

But another scavenger has got here first

This Eustreptospondylus

is picking the last rotten strips of flesh off a dead turtle

But even these decaying remains

are enough to trigger a confrontation

(Growling)

Neither will risk an injury

and in the end, it is the loudest roar that wins

(Fierce roar)

The only food supply here that is not from the sea is the insects

Bark beetles infest the trees here

They represent a tantalising feast of protein

just under the surface

This tempts a young Rhamphorhynchus to probe for insect larvae,

but this is not really a job his beak is evolved to cope with

Now two weeks old,

the young Ophthalmosaurus are growing fast on a seafood diet,

but they are still at risk

especially from shark attack

A head of coral provides a temporary refuge for this pup

His pursuer has a deadly advantage -

he does not have to return to the surface to breathe

and has only to wait until the pup needs air

But the little reptile has one thing on his side

speed

Safe until he needs to breathe again

Having a lungful of air

presents marine reptiles with a buoyancy problem

Cryptoclidus has found one solution

He is not searching for food in the sand

He is after pebbles and grit

Sieving off the fine grains,

he retains the larger stones in his stomach for ballast,

which weighs him down and counteracts the air in his lungs

The land represents safety for the Cryptoclidus -

they have come up onto the rock ledges to rest,

and also to be out of reach of Liopleurodon

Darkness does not bring peace in the restless sea

Billions of microscopic creatures

rise up from the depths as the light fails,

and shoals of fish surge into life to pursue them

Ophthalmosaurus adults are masters of hunting at night

Most have left for deeper waters,

but a few remain to take advantage of the plenty here

With their enormous light-sensitive eyes,

they pick out squid in the gloom

Their long toothless snouts are streamlined weapons,

making it easy for them to snap up fast-moving prey

With the approaching full moon,

strange-looking visitors

gather on the shoreline in their thousands

These are horseshoe crabs - ancient creatures

who originated 150 million years before the Jurassic

On a high tide, the females struggle up the beach

and each lay as many as 18,000 eggs,

which the males compete to fertilise

This strategy has served them well

since before the dinosaurs appeared,

and will do so for at least another 150 million years to come

Early morning, and the horseshoe crabs cause a feeding frenzy

Every year, the Rhamphorhynchus come to this beach

to gather up the eggs,

while the last few crabs struggle back into the water

The nutritious eggs are an easy meal for these reptiles

But nature seldom offers anything free of risk

(Low growling)

(Squawking)

A month later

Tiny horseshoe crabs start to work their way out of the eggs

The high tide that brought the females up the beach

now sweeps their offspring back into the sea

For the pups, their secure life around the reef

is coming to an end

In a few weeks, they'll be big enough

for life in the open oceans

The first signs are when, like adults,

they show the skills to hunt fish in open waters

This is not without risk

The sharks are still a danger

One day, these will be the most feared predators in the sea,

but in these Jurassic waters,

they themselves are prey

The Liopleurodon is an expert at ambush

He takes one giant gulp of air,

then descends to hide in the depths

There, he can hold his breath for over an hour

And Liopleurodon is a shark-eater

Unexpectedly, a female Liopleurodon arrives on the scene

This, the bull will not tolerate

Liopleurodon are fiercely territorial

and confrontations almost always end in violence

The female is forced to leave the area

Her flipper has been badly ripped

by the male's tusk-like teeth,

attracting sharks that follow her trail of blood

It is four months since the pups were born

and they're ready to leave,

but they are facing one of the greatest hazards

of this cruel sea

These islands are regularly ravaged

by violent tropical storms that are strong enough

to tear up the shallow sea beds, smash corals

and kill thousands of marine animals

The storm has had its victims

It was not just these delicate-boned Rhamphorhynchus

that were broken in the 100-mph winds

the old Liopleurodon, disorientated in the murky waters,

has ended up stranded on an island beach

As the beachcombers start to gather, they are wary

While the giant is still alive,

his enormous jaws are lethal

But they can afford to bide their time

The carnivore's own 150-tonne body

is slowly suffocating him

The Liopleurodon's life has now ebbed away

The mightiest carnivore the world has ever seen

is no more than a banquet

for a group of lucky scavengers

The Jurassic is a golden period for giant marine reptiles

It will be another 90 million years

before they vanish from the oceans,

along with the extinction of the dinosaurs on land

Most of the Ophthalmosaurus pups have survived the storm

and now face life in the open sea

One day, the females will return, and when they do,

they will be carrying the next generation

Marine reptiles were one of the glories of this ancient time -

even though turtles are the only ones left today

Another group of reptiles shared the dinosaurs' world - the pterosaurs

As we shall see in the next episode, they were just as spectacular

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