Discover the New Dawn after the Dinosaur Era

Walking with Beasts is a 2001 six-part television documentary produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Like its predecessor, "Walking with Dinosaurs", it recreates life in the Cenozoic by using a combination of both computer-generated imagery and animatronics. Also like its predecessor, it was re-edited and re-narrated as a second "season" of Prehistoric Planet for the Discovery Kids lineup. Some of the concepts it illustrates are the evolution of whales, the evolution of the horses, and the evolution of humans.

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Episode 1 : "New Dawn"

Film location: Java
49 Million Years Ago

The first episode depicts the warm tropical world of the early Eocene which was 16 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In this world, birds, including the six foot carnivorous Gastornis rule the world, while mammals are still very small. The setting is near the Messel Pit in Germany.

Due to volcanic activity, sudden bulk escapes of carbon dioxide trapped underneath lakes are a hazard. The episode centers around a Leptictidium family foraging for food. The Leptictidium is a small leaping shrew-like mammal.

While the family is foraging, a female Gastornis successfully hunts down a Propalaeotherium and defends her territory from another Gastornis. Unfortunately, while the Gastornis is out hunting, a horde of large ants (known as Formicium) ambush its egg,just starting to hatch.
When the night arrives, we see a band of lemur-like Godinotia, socializing in the dark. The episode also shows the Ambulocetus, or the "walking whale", lying in ambush for its prey, both on land and underneath the water.

Although it looks like a mammalian crocodile, the episode explains that from the Ambulocetus, all the whales would eventually evolved. It tries to attack the Leptictidium and Propalaeotherium, but fails. It finally manages to catch a small carnivore in the dark of the night.

The episode ends with an earth tremor unleashing trapped carbon dioxide out from underneath the lake, suffocating most of the surrounding life.

Narrator
Kenneth Branagh

Production Crew
Director:

Nigel Paterson

Writers:

Kate Bartlett
Jasper James
Michael Olmert

Producers:

Tim Haines
Jasper James
Nigel Paterson

Film Editors:

Greg Smith
Andrew Wilks

Watch The BBC’s "Walking with Beasts" now for free online at WOWtv! Click HERE for more information.

*Only available for online viewers in Singapore
© 2001 BBC Worldwide.
Sources: Wikipedia.com, IMDb.com

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