Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World (2010)

[bunniefuu]

EXCITED VOlCES SPEAK DUTCH

It was in one of the galleries

of St Peter's Mount,

at about 500 paces

from the main entry

and at 90 feet below the surface,

that the quarrymen exposed

part of the skull

of a large animal

embedded in the stone.

They suspended their work to tell

of their discovery to Dr Hoffmann,

who had for some years been

collecting fossils from the quarries.

Dr Hoffman, observing

the specimen to be the most important

that had yet been discovered,

took every precaution

to preserve it in one piece.

After having succeeded in removing

a large block of stone

surrounding it,

and reducing the mass

to a proper condition,

it was transported

to his home in triumph.

25 years later,

after the occupation of Maastricht

by the French Revolutionary Army...

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

You are here at last.

Please, gentlemen, take it.

..the famous fossil shows up

one cold winter night

at the National Museum

of Natural History in Paris.

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

Be careful, it's priceless.

This strange thing

they called at the time

"the unknown animal of Maastricht"

started to raise interest

among the scientific community.

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

It's here!

Let's go, let's go!

Little bit more.

Put it on the table.

Be careful!

Gentlemen, open this chest.

Yes let's open it.

Be very, very careful!

Gentlemen, all together now.

(SPLlNTERlNG WOOD)

What they discovered that night

looked unlike

any known living creature.

Some thought it was a crocodile.

Others believed it to be a whale.

Neither the shape of its teeth

nor the size of the jaws

helped them to determine

its true identity.

It's too big for a crocodile.

A whale would be more appropriate.

Back then, that is 40 years before

the discovery of the first dinosaur,

nobody had ever thought that

thousands of species could have lived

and disappeared in a distant past.

(RAISED VOlCES)

But everything was about to change.

SEA REX:

JOURNEY TO A PREHISTORIC WORLD

(WOMAN) I'm sure

marine dinosaurs still exist!

My apologies for intruding

upon your thoughts, mademoiselle,

but, strictly speaking,

only reptiles that walked on dry land

are called "dinosaurs".

If they lived under the water,

they are called marine reptiles.

And they all disappeared

a very, very long time ago.

- What happened?

- You'll see, Julie.

(PREHlSTORIC BIRD CALL)

65 million years ago

reptiles ruled the world.

On land.

In the air.

And reptiles were kings

in all the seas as well.

But then came a great cataclysm

from outer space.

An asteroid 1 2 miles in diameter

struck the Earth.

This asteroid's massive impact

unleashed the power

of more than 1 00 atomic bombs.

The sky went dark, and the Earth's

climate changed drastically.

70 per cent of all life

on the planet perished.

And, with the end of the dinosaurs,

it was also the end of the reign

of the reptile in the sea world.

And... when did you say that happened?

65 million years ago.

So... then humans came

right after that?

Humans will come... a little later.

How much later?

65 million years.

You're kidding.

Modern humans, like you and I, only

appeared barely 200,000 years ago.

In comparison to the age of

the Earth, that's a blink of the eye.

200,000 years?

An instant, in geological time.

Somewhat difficult to comprehend,

is it not?

(SURPRISED LAUGH)

Comparing thousands and millions

and even billions of years.

Don't you agree?

Um...

Then follow me, Julie.

And when you want to stop time,

say "stop".

- Stop?

- All right, then. Forward to the past!

Now, let's start slowly,

from the beginning.

Earth forms

four and a half billion years ago.

Then life appears but remains

microscopic for three billion years.

In this time spiral,

only the last turn interests us

that leads to our time.

Let's consider this

as a 1 2-hour clock.

540 million years ago, at 2 o'clock,

the Primary Era begins.

Life grows and evolves

in every environment.

At 7.30 the Secondary Era,

or the Mesozoic, begins.

It is the age of reptiles.

Including the famous dinosaurs?

Yes, as well as

flying and marine reptiles.

The next and last era, the Cenozoic,

is the age of mammals.

On this clock, h*m* sapiens,

our miniscule species,

appears just eight seconds before 1 2.

The Mesozoic takes place between

the two major ecological crises

that led to the extinction

of many species on Earth.

The largest at 7.30,

and the last, right there, at 1 0.50.

That one caused the extinction of the

dinosaurs and large marine reptiles.

(JULIE) But how did it start?

Well, first,

you'll need a microscope.

Life on Earth starts in the water,

as bacteria,

3.5 billion years ago.

Slowly, this micro-life evolves.

Then, 650 million years ago,

life becomes visible to the naked

eye, soft-bodied organisms.

The following 400 million years

bring with them an expl*si*n of life.

New morphological forms appear,

reaching considerable sizes.

And, finally,

amphibians follow fish with feet

to conquer terra firma.

300 million years ago,

the first reptiles appear on land.

And in the sky, the wingspan of

some insects reaches over three feet.

By the end of the Paleozoic, the land

and the seas are bursting with life.

It is the golden age

for biodiversity.

But this period ends

with gigantic cataclysms,

which exterminate

up to 95% of the species,

the largest extinction of all time.

95% of the species?

But that's enormous!

Nothing much must have remained

after that!

You're right, my dear.

And most of the world's

great predators have disappeared.

But life persists.

And in the seas

many fish and molluscs remain.

What about the marine reptiles?

Their reign begins now.

Three different groups, one after

the other, will rule the world's oceans.

First the lchthyosaurs,

that use their tails to swim.

- Like a fish?

- Much like a fish.

And then the Plesiosaurs,

that use their four paddle-like limbs

to fly through the water.

And next, the Mosasaurs,

that use an undulating movement

similar to... to a snake.

And these animals ruled the seas

for 1 80 million years,

throughout all three

Mesozoic periods,

Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.

From the early

Triassic period onwards,

Ichthyosaurs are

the kings of the seas.

During this time, above the water,

all the continents on Earth

are joined together

in a single mass of land,

a supercontinent called Pangea.

Off to the Pangean coast!

- Switzerland?

- Yes.

At this time,

most of Europe is under water,

a shallow and warm sea.

In the middle Triassic, it's hot

and dry on land with little to eat.

In the sea, life flourishes again.

Several reptile species have returned

to the marine environment,

thriving on

the plentiful food supply.

(ROARlNG)

The Tanystropheus

hold a world record.

In proportion to their bodies, they

have the longest necks ever recorded.

With its flat teeth, this Placodont

mostly eats seashells and molluscs.

- Aren't those turtles?

- Not at all.

But they, too,

have developed a tough armour

to keep them relatively safe from

the great predators of the Triassic,

like... the Nothosaur.

Over 1 3 feet long.

Very dangerous,

and an excellent swimmer.

But it has no chance of catching up

with a Mixosaurus.

- (JULlE) lt looks like a dolphin.

- Except it's a reptile.

Like marine mammals today, it, too,

must come to the surface to breathe.

It belongs to the large group

of lchthyosaurs,

which will rule the seas

for some 1 50 million years!

(JULIE) That one doesn't seem

quite big enough to rule anything.

There are also

some very large Ichthyosaurs,

some measuring up to 75 feet long

and weighing 50 tons!

Like the Shonisaurus,

the biggest of them all.

Wow!

Like all lchthyosaurs,

it lives in groups

and mainly eats

molluscs and small fish.

(JULIE) They look like

dolphins and whales!

That's right. They're even born

in a similar manner.

What do you mean?

Well, let's hear from an expert,

the palaeontologist Ryosuke Motani.

He has just finished studying

some very fine specimens

from a famous fossil site in Germany.

Many Ichthyosaur fossils

have been found at Holzmaden

with their bones intact

and even with the imprint

of their skin on the rock,

which helped us to know

the position of their fins.

Some Ichthyosaur fossils

are so well preserved

that we can actually see foetuses

inside the mother's bodies,

and some even being born.

Unable to get out of the water

to lay their eggs like other reptiles,

Ichthyosaurs gave birth in the water.

The babies came out tail first,

like dolphins today.

Another one of the lchthyosaur's

characteristics are its huge eyes,

protected by doughnut-shaped bones

able to withstand

extreme water pressure.

A Jurassic lchthyosaur,

the Ophthalmosaurus,

stands out in the animal kingdom

as having the largest eyes

in proportion to its body.

With these enormous eyes,

it could make out its prey

in the darkness of great depths.

Strangely enough,

the Ichthyosaurs became extinct

in the middle of the Cretaceous,

despite their amazing adaptation

to sea life.

(JULIE) But how can we know so much

about species that became extinct

90 million years ago?

Perhaps because of the large number

and the quality of fossils left.

And, of course, thanks to

those who discovered them.

Here we are in London, in

one of the most beautiful galleries

devoted to Mesozoic marine reptiles.

Nathalie Bardet is currently

the French expert on these animals.

A long time before dinosaurs

were discovered,

the remains of marine reptiles

had been known to fossil collectors.

Mary Anning.

In the early 1 9th century,

she was a child

when she started to collect fossils

around her home

along the Dorset coast

in southern England.

During her lifetime,

with an amazingly sharp eye,

she found some of the most famous

fossils, Ichthyosaur and Plesiosaur,

exhibited here at the Natural History

Museum of London.

One of the most complete

Plesiosaur skeletons ever found

was Rhomaleosaurus.

This Early Jurassic predator

was a powerful swimmer.

(HlSSING)

During the Jurassic period,

a new group of marine reptiles

takes over, the Plesiosaurs.

At the beginning of

the Early Jurassic,

Pangea has started to break up

and drift apart into different pieces.

It is still hot, but the climate

is becoming much more humid.

Such conditions are perfectly suited

to the development of life

all over the world.

Now this sure seems more pleasant

than the Triassic did.

The Jurassic is considered

the golden age of dinosaurs, isn't it?

In fact, it's the golden age

of life in general,

and even much more so

for the reptiles,

be they earth,

flying or marine reptiles.

With their four strong paddles,

Plesiosaurs soon become

the new kings of the seas.

The first dinosaur to be named

is Megalosaurus,

which means "great lizard" in Latin.

A well-deserved name

for a 30-foot-long carnivore

with a huge appetite.

Molluscs like ammonites and belemnites

experience an unprecedented growth

and are on the menu

of most marine predators.

By the Late Jurassic,

some animals reach record sizes,

like the Brachiosaurus,

over 1 00 feet long

and can weigh

more than six elephants.

Godzilla. That is the nickname given

to this large marine crocodile

discovered in the Andes.

With large, bony plates on its back,

the Stegosaurus,

a three-ton plant-eater,

is a contemporary

of the very first birds.

At the end of the Jurassic period,

as the continents continue to drift,

new oceans appear and new

Plesiosaur species rule the deep.

The Liopleurodon is most likely

one of the largest ocean predators

of the Mesozoic,

measuring 49 feet or more.

That big?

Here. This is one of its teeth.

It's for you.

Thank you!

You see, the Liopleurodon had

no reason to fear any creature,

save perhaps another Liopleurodon.

Here is a pair of Liopleurodon.

The male is attempting

to court the female.

Look at her - 50 feet of sheer muscle,

four deadly paddle-like limbs,

and jaws about ten feet long

that hold teeth

even bigger than the one l gave you.

During this process,

the male makes himself

extremely vulnerable to the female.

(JULIE) lt seems to have worked.

Now that she's chosen him

as her partner,

the pair needs to head to the safer

coastal waters to reproduce.

Like sharks, the male Liopleurodon

holds on to the female while mating.

Their young will be born

in a few months.

(JULIE) What happened?

It seems that upon separating

she has accidentally injured his eye.

The pain has made him

lose consciousness for a while.

In the end, though,

the Liopleurodon remains

a superpredator that lives alone.

At the end of the Jurassic Era,

its territory spanned

from Europe to South America.

Here we are with Zulma Gasparini,

who discovered the marine crocodile

nicknamed "Godzilla" in the Andes.

People believed for a long time

that the world had always

been the same as it is now.

And it was only in 1 91 5 that Alfred

Wegener, a young German scientist,

put forward a revolutionary theory

he called the "continental drift".

Among the solid arguments that

Wegener used to support his theory,

a tiny marine reptile

that lived 250 million years ago,

the Mesosaurus, was to become

unexpectedly important.

Indeed we have found on both sides

of the Atlantic Ocean

identical fossils of this animal.

But considering the small size

of the Mesosaurus,

like the one we have here

in this virtual aquarium,

it is obvious they were

much too small to cross an ocean

as vast as the Atlantic on their own.

The conclusion is inescapable:

if they did not cross the ocean,

then the very continents

that contained their fossils

must have separated.

(SCREECHlNG)

The Jurassic was the age

of giant animals.

The Leedsichthys

is approximately 1 00 feet long,

probably the largest fish

of all time.

What are these

long-necked Plesiosaurs called?

Those are Elasmosaurs.

They're gulping down gastroliths,

stones they swallow

in order to help their digestion.

- What do they actually eat?

- Molluscs and a lot of fish,

judging from their long, sharp teeth.

I believe

that's the male Liopleurodon

that was wounded some time back.

(JULIE) Oh, yes.

With one eye missing, it's not easy.

From the deep bite marks

on Elasmosaur bones

made by larger relatives,

it would appear that

other Liopleurodon were luckier.

30 million years later, Kronosaurus

took Liopleurodons' place

at the top of the marine food chain.

Kronosaurus remains

were first discovered

in Australia during the 1 930s.

A 1 3-foot-long skull

with 1 0-foot jaws,

armed with dagger-like teeth.

To tell us more about Plesiosaurs,

here's Dr Benjamin Kear,

an Australian expert

on these animals.

Marine reptiles' remains have been

found on every continent,

particularly those of Plesiosaurs.

Up to 46 feet in length, they were

magnificent ocean-dwelling reptiles

that flew gracefully through the water

with four massive paddles.

The order Plesiosauria

was large and varied.

It has been broadly divided

into two superfamilies,

based on

their overall body structure.

Some of them, thanks to their large

heads and powerful, short necks,

were the superpredators

of their time, like Kronosaurus.

Others were the complete opposite,

with tiny heads

at the end of extra-long necks,

such as Elasmosaurus.

Plesiosaurs lasted as long

as the dinosaurs,

until the end of the Cretaceous,

65 million years ago.

The Late Cretaceous is the very last

period of the Mesozoic Era,

and it is the age of Mosasaurs.

The land masses of the Earth

have nearly reached

their present positions.

The interior seas

of the Americas retreat

but Europe is still partly covered

by shallow waters.

(JULIE) And what about the climate?

Very comparable to the climate

of today, but warmer.

A beautiful day for a dip in the

Cretaceous ocean, don't you think?

As has been the case

for millions of years,

molluscs are still a favorite meal

for most predators.

So, the Plesiosaurs are still around

in the Cretaceous?

Indeed, there are some.

But they are no longer at the top

of the ocean's food chain,

a place now disputed by the two

greatest predators of this era.

In this corner, the largest fish

of the Cretaceous,

a 23-foot-long shark.

And in this corner, the most powerful

marine reptile, the Prognathodon,

a 40-foot Mosasaur.

(JULIE) lt looks just like

a great white of today!

Indeed, just larger.

(JULIE) But the shark is never going

to measure up to that!

We can't be too sure. You see, it has

a distinct edge over its opponent.

The shark doesn't need to come up

to the surface to breathe, so...

Oh, well.

(JULIE) l told you

the Mosasaur was going to win.

This time, yes.

But it wasn't always the case.

We've even found shark teeth

embedded in Mosasaur bones.

So the sharks did get their teeth

into them from time to time.

By the way, wasn't it a Mosasaur

that was found in a mine

back in the 1 8th century?

Here we are, very close to the mine

where the famous "unknown animal

of Maastricht" was found around 1 770.

Like all palaeontologists, Olivier

Rieppel knows this story very well.

In 1 795, when the fossilised Mosasaur

of Maastricht arrived in Paris,

Georges Cuvier was a young,

26-year-old anatomist,

who had just started working there

at the Museum of Natural History.

This skull was the first great fossil

ever to be thoroughly studied

by scientists,

who found it quite difficult

to classify this creature.

But it was Georges Cuvier

who would provide the solution

based on comparative anatomy.

The reptile from the Meuse River,

the Mosasaur,

was a giant sea lizard,

a close relative

of the monitor lizards.

But this species became completely

extinct before the dawn of time.

And so the Mosasaur helped

to support Cuvier's hypothesis

that several universal cataclysms

occurred on Earth

in the distant past.

And thanks in part

to this large animal,

Georges Cuvier is recognised today

as the father of palaeontology.

At the end of the Cretaceous,

the interior seaway running

through the middle of North America

had not yet completely disappeared.

So, there are sharks on the

other side of the Atlantic as well?

In addition to marine reptiles,

they are found in all the oceans.

Contrary to dinosaurs, marine animals

don't have any borders.

These are young, 1 3-foot-long sharks.

After hours of laying her eggs on

the beach, this turtle is exhausted.

(JULIE) Easy prey for starving sharks.

Ah, but they are not alone.

(JULIE) A Mosasaur.

This large predator truly is

the marine equivalent

of the famous T. rex.

The Mosasaur will become

the last ruler of the ancient seas.

(GEORGES CUVIER)

This is one of its teeth. It's for you.

"Without fossils,

no one would have ever dreamed

"that there were successive epochs

in the formation of the earth."