[thunder rumbling]
[intriguing music playing]
[Morgan Freeman] Since life first emerged on planet Earth,
it has never stopped evolving...
driven by an ever-changing world...
and by intense competition.
But there was one remarkable era
when evolution went into overdrive...
giving us many of the animals we still have today...
and the iconic giants
that once ruled over them.
[bleating, snorting]
This is the story of the age of dinosaurs.
[music intensifies]
[music ends]
[rousing music playing]
[snarling]
[trilling]
[screeching]
[rousing music continues]
[growling]
[wind howling]
[rumbling]
[rousing music intensifies]
[music fades]
[ominous music playing]
It's the dawn of the Jurassic period.
Pangaea, the supercontinent that witnessed the age of reptiles,
is slowly tearing itself apart.
Shifting tectonic plates...
force rivers of magma to the surface...
beginning the total transformation of the planet.
Over millions of years,
a molten fissure slices the giant landmass in two.
Water fills the rift between the newly formed continents.
As they grow further and further apart,
brand-new environments are created...
causing the extinction of many...
but turbocharging evolution for the survivors...
and one group of animals in particular.
[insects chirping]
Deep in the towering forests of Jurassic North America...
[animals bellowing]
...the biggest animals to ever walk the Earth are on the rise.
[low growling]
Dinosaurs.
[snorting]
[gentle music playing]
In the breakup of Pangaea,
they've found themselves in a world of plenty.
[roaring]
[snorting]
Some, like Diplodocus, have grown to become 25 meters long.
[calling]
But even at their size,
they can never let down their guard...
[branches snapping]
[thunder crackling]
[grunting]
...for they aren't the only giants of the Jurassic.
[snorting]
[thunder crackling]
[tense ambient music playing]
[growls softly]
[ominous music playing]
Allosaurus.
[snarling]
Nearly nine meters long...
it's one of the largest predators on land
in these early days of the dinosaurs' reign.
[grunting]
It probes for opportunity.
[Allosaurus hisses]
[Diplodocus grunting]
[snarling]
But it's not the adults it's after.
[snarling]
This Allosaurus is looking for much easier prey.
A baby Diplodocus.
[mewling]
Hatched from an egg no bigger than a grapefruit,
she's too small to live among the herd where she might be trampled.
Instead, she must fend for herself.
- [soft thud] - [rustling]
[snorting]
The Allosaurus will make quick work of the baby...
if it can find her.
[snorting, snarling]
The youngster's best hope...
is to stay as still as possible.
[ominous music intensifies]
The Allosaurus has keen senses...
[snarling, snorting]
...but the storm is masking any clues to the baby's location.
[snarling]
[sniffs]
[growling]
[grunting]
A very close call...
and not just for one young Diplodocus.
[thunder rumbling]
[calling softly]
[gentle music playing]
To boost their chances of survival,
these youngsters must eat as much as they can
as fast as possible...
[uplifting music playing]
...so they can grow into giant-sized adults.
But just as these huge dinosaurs were devouring the plants around them,
the plants themselves were changing...
[music ends]
...in ways that would revolutionize life on Earth.
[birds squawking]
Once upon a time, plants relied solely on wind or water to spread their pollen...
but in the age of dinosaurs,
an innovation in plant reproduction arose...
that is still very much with us today.
[elegant music playing]
The flower.
At 40 centimeters across,
this one belongs to a giant water lily in South America's Amazon rainforest...
and its sole purpose is to attract an animal to pollinate it.
As evening approaches, the flower produces a powerful pineapple-like scent...
irresistible to this beetle.
[music fades]
[ethereal music playing]
Much like his ancient ancestors,
the bewitched beetle can't help but be enticed inside.
He squeezes through the outer petals,
into the heart of the flower,
where paradise awaits.
Inside, it's a balmy ten degrees warmer than the surrounding night air.
Here, it happily feasts on the flower's succulent flesh.
But the beetle also offers something in return.
Pollen picked up from another giant water lily.
As it feeds, the pollen rubs off onto the flower's reproductive parts.
When dawn arrives,
the flower closes...
enveloping the beetle in its velvety petals...
and covering it in its own sticky pollen.
At dusk, the flower opens once more.
[elegant music playing]
Having served its purpose in helping the plant to reproduce,
it changes color and loses its alluring scent...
[music continues]
allowing the beetle, now covered in this flower's pollen,
to fly off
and unwittingly pollinate another giant water lily.
[birds tweeting]
But the relationship between flowers and their beetle pollinators
was just the beginning.
Other insects in the dinosaur era soon got in on the action...
taking pollen from flower to flower...
in return for their sweet liquid nectar.
[ethereal music playing]
By 130 million years ago...
flowers were becoming more vivid,
vibrant,
and varied,
as they competed to attract the very best pollinators.
As they spread...
[buzzing]
...the land turned from an endless green...
to a kaleidoscope of different colors.
Today, there are ten times more flowering plants
than all other plant species combined.
- [music ends] - [insects chirping]
However, as the world blossomed,
other creatures began to exploit
the relationship between flower and insect...
- [ominous music playing] - [buzzing]
...spawning a surge
in the variety of predator and prey.
Spiders had been around for over 100 million years...
but now started spinning their silk into complex webs...
taking advantage of this new wave of life.
[serene music playing]
By the middle of the dinosaurs' reign...
there was such an explosion in biodiversity...
fueled by the arrival of flowering plants...
that, for the very first time in Earth's history,
there were more species on land than in the oceans.
[serene music continues]
[music fades]
[whooshing]
But it wasn't just the smaller creatures that were changing
in new and radical ways.
This is Deinonychus.
[croaking]
Despite its endearing appearance,
it's a dinosaur.
[chattering]
A baby dinosaur.
"Deinonychus" translates as "terrible claw."
But that's not his only strength.
[distant call]
He's also got keen vision
and excellent hearing.
[distant call]
[squawking]
But his most eye-catching adaptation is his feathers.
[croaks]
Simple feather-like structures first appeared back in the Triassic.
Not for flight but for warmth.
[snores]
[juvenile croaks]
Being able to stay warm
means this branch of dinosaurs, the theropods,
can be active day and night...
giving them more time to raise their young as part of a family.
[nearby squawk]
- [squawks] - [nearby squawk]
[squawks]
Living in a group has other advantages too,
especially when it's time to find food.
[squawking]
[energetic music playing]
[squawking]
For Deinonychus is a pack hunter.
[hissing]
[squawks]
And a clever one at that.
Their prey, Arkansaurus, is also a dinosaur...
but it leads a very different, mainly plant-eating life.
[snarling]
What they both share, however...
[trilling]
...is speed.
[dramatic music playing]
[squawking]
[trilling]
Catching up with their prey is one thing.
[squawking]
- Bringing it down... - [trilling]
...another.
Working together,
they take turns to tire it out.
[trilling]
[dramatic music intensifies]
- [squawking] - [trilling]
[trilling]
- [squawking] - [music fades]
Their terrible claws bring a swift end to the exhausted Arkansaurus.
[crunching]
[snorting]
As dinosaurs diversified,
many became increasingly social.
But even they couldn't compare
with the greatest social animals of their age,
animals that were evolving just beneath their feet.
[birds tweeting]
Today, in West Africa,
we can still find the descendants of those early supersocializers.
Termites.
One immense family of siblings
five million strong...
all working tirelessly for the colony
and their mother, the queen.
Social insects like termites
first appeared in the age of dinosaurs...
recycling the new vegetation...
while also being the prime food source
of their enemies.
A scout has followed their scent.
[ominous music playing]
Armed with the news of her discovery,
she races back to her nest.
She's a member of another ancient group of social insects...
the ants.
Competition between these rival species
has been raging for millions of years...
in a remarkable evolutionary arms race.
Back at her nest, the scout summons an army of her own.
These are predatory Megaponera ants.
Like a well-drilled Roman legion...
a thousand soldiers march to war.
When close to the termite workers,
the scout gives a signal...
and the column starts to fan out,
becoming a wave poised to break.
Now, at full force,
the scout gives one final order.
Charge.
[tense music playing]
The termites are not defenseless.
They've evolved a separate caste of armed soldiers who protect the workers.
Catching an ant, they quickly dismember it.
But these ants have their own specialist weapons.
They thrust their venomous stings at their ancient rivals' only weak spot.
Right between the jaws.
The casualties in this age-old battle rapidly mount up.
But the marauding ants overwhelm the termites.
The victors gather up the vanquished
and carry them back to the nest
to feed the rest of the colony.
Underground, the ants display the pinnacle of their evolutionary achievements
as they tend to their injured comrades.
Many have lost limbs.
But the workers lick the wounds of the injured,
using antibiotics carried in their saliva to help them heal.
Without this, most would die.
But thanks to the treatment,
they're able to march back out to war within 24 hours,
even with missing limbs.
This is the only example of animals, other than humans,
using medicine to save another's life.
By working together,
social animals like ants and termites flourished under the dinosaurs.
But the ground beneath all their feet was still on the move,
causing seismic change.
[rumbling]
Ninety million years ago,
and Earth's shifting tectonic plates continued to reshape the planet.
[poignant music playing]
As the fragments of Pangaea spread out...
upwellings of magma began to lift the seafloor...
raising global sea levels.
This flooded the land...
[rumbling]
[music intensifies]
[music softens]
...creating numerous shallow seas...
and multiple island continents,
each with their own climate and character.
Isolated on their respective landmasses, dinosaurs thrived like never before.
Alongside the long-necked giant sauropods and the feathered theropods...
[grunting]
...another group of dinosaurs were also finding success.
The ornithischians.
[grunting]
Just like Diplodocus, they were mostly herbivores...
[snorting, munching]
...but they had evolved jaws that could chew.
[grunting]
Combined with the surge in plant life,
this saw ornithischians, like Maiasaura,
form some of the largest herds the Earth had ever seen.
[majestic music playing]
Across the world, dinosaurs now dominated every land habitat
the changing planet had to offer.
[grunting]
- But at the same time... - [creature squeaking]
...our own dynasty, the first true mammals,
were also making the most of the new abundance.
[squeaking]
In the shadows of the giants,
these small creatures were limited to a life in the margins.
[squeaking]
But they, too, were becoming increasingly sophisticated, social,
and able to take care of their young.
[birds tweeting]
Today, in the forests of Southwest Australia,
it's possible to get a glimpse
of what life may have been like for some of those ancient mammals.
[whimsical music playing]
This is a numbat,
an endangered marsupial
thought to number only 3,000 in the wild.
Like some of her prehistoric ancestors,
she, too, survives on a diet of tasty termites.
Using her long, sticky tongue,
she scoops them up with relish.
And the more, the merrier...
for back at the den...
a handful of pups await her return.
[calm music playing]
Crucial to the success of mammals
was the evolution of parental care.
Giving birth to live young
and nourishing them on their mother's milk
until they reach independence.
But for these nervous little youngsters...
that might take a while.
Most early mammals didn't have armor or size to protect them...
yet just like in today's forests...
danger was never far away.
[music becomes tense]
The discarded skin of their ancient adversary.
- The snake. - [hissing]
Snakes evolved around the same time as the first true mammals.
They lost the arms and legs of their reptilian ancestors
and developed a streamlined body...
making them perfectly adapted to hunting in burrows
and silently pursuing their prey through the undergrowth.
But young mammals aren't entirely helpless.
They have their mothers to look after them.
She spots the danger...
[tense music continues]
[chirping]
...and raises the alarm.
[chirping]
But the snake is headed straight for her youngster.
[music intensifies]
[tense music ends]
[serene music playing]
Thanks to parental care,
in this instance, the mammals win out.
[dramatic music playing]
But reptiles have patience.
They've been playing this game since the dawn of the dinosaurs.
And as mammals prospered, so too did the snakes that fed on them.
[dramatic music continues]
Today, there are more than 3,000 species of snake.
With their sinuous bodies...
packed with muscle...
they've evolved to exploit almost every habitat on Earth.
Even the oceans.
Like many reptiles,
their skin can offer perfect camouflage.
[dramatic music continues]
[rattling]
[hissing]
When paired with venom,
the effect can be deadly.
But mammals have acquired some extraordinary defenses...
having been locked in an arms race with snakes
for more than a hundred million years.
The sidewinder snake.
It will wait for hours at a time for signs of passing heat.
Heat that comes from small warm-blooded mammals.
[tense music playing]
But kangaroo rats are not your average rodent.
They've developed a unique skill
befitting of their name.
The cold-blooded sidewinder bides its time.
It can go weeks without eating...
just waiting to strike.
- [hissing] - [dramatic music playing]
Split-second reactions...
versus incredible patience.
[dramatic music intensifies]
These are the extremes that can evolve
in the eternal game of life
and death.
[music ends]
After 150 million years of dinosaur rule,
the continents had shifted almost to where they are today.
[rousing music playing]
Along the way, they had created so many new environments
that the dinosaurs had become more successful than ever before.
[animals calling]
Beneath their feet lived all the major animal groups
that we recognize now.
Dynasties from throughout the ages.
Survivors from another era.
Along with those that had more recently come to the fore.
But all of them forced to the margins
by the dominance of the dinosaurs
and the one iconic animal that ruled over them all.
[flies buzzing]
[echoing thud]
[majestic music playing]
Thirteen meters long,
weighing nine tons...
[roaring]
[grunting]
...it's no wonder that the most famous predator
in the history of life on our planet
is Tyrannosaurus rex.
[grunting]
But he's not alone.
[growling]
[snarling]
Another T. rex.
[roaring]
The two size each other up.
[growls]
[roaring]
Tyrannosaurs will often fight for territory...
and are not above cannibalism.
[tense music playing]
[snarling]
But there's something else on this male's mind...
[low growling]
...for he has found a female.
[soft growling]
And that means showing off his best moves to win her over.
[roaring]
But misjudge the approach,
and this date could be over in seconds.
[soft growling]
[serene music playing]
[both growl softly]
His mesmerizing movement
and deep romping calls
seem to be eliciting the right response.
[uplifting music playing]
And she mirrors his courtship dance.
But the ultimate sign of trust is exposing his neck.
[soft growling]
Rising together, they cement their bond.
[both growl softly]
For 150 million years,
dinosaurs ruled the planet.
Who knows what new heights they might have reached
if their reign had continued.
But in the story of life...
[whooshing]
...nothing lasts forever.
[explosive blast]
[rousing music playing]