- 5/26/2025
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00:00Over 66 million years ago, our world was a bruise.
00:30By dinosaurs.
00:39The largest animals that have ever walked the earth.
00:50Today, dinosaur experts across the globe are uncovering the bones they left behind.
01:00Allowing us to imagine how these extraordinary creatures may have lived.
01:10So that we can tell their stories.
01:17And they can walk again.
01:30DINOSAURS
01:51Eastern Montana.
01:54A vast, untamed wilderness.
02:03With extraordinary stories to tell.
02:15This is dinosaur country.
02:24Here, a team from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is excavating an iconic species.
02:34A triceratops.
02:37Oh, sweet.
02:40But this is no ancient giant.
02:43But it's really small. Very young individual.
02:48Got a nice baby drake.
02:51A phenomenal find.
02:54The team calls her Clover.
03:01Studying her bones, we can begin to imagine her world.
03:10And tell her story.
03:13For the first time.
03:21Cretaceous
03:40At the end of the Cretaceous, North America is a vast expanse of green.
03:51Where Montana is today, there is a lush landscape of sprawling subtropical forests.
03:59Criss-crossed by waterways.
04:05This is Laramidia.
04:10Home to prehistoric giants.
04:13And the occasional not-so-giant.
04:23Meet Clover, the triceratops.
04:33Barely half a meter tall, she's the size of a large dog.
04:38Barely half a meter tall, she's the size of a large dog.
05:08Despite her size, Clover roams the jungle alone.
05:22These strange white objects mean one thing.
05:29Playtime.
05:39But curiosity can be a dangerous thing.
05:46When you're living in a land of monsters.
06:09Clover is rare.
06:15The vast majority of Triceratops fossils discovered are from adults.
06:23Clover's remains are a chance to uncover the story of a youngster.
06:32A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for team leader Eric Lund.
06:39Check out these teeth.
06:41Oh, wow.
06:42Clover's tiny jawbone has been painstakingly reconstructed by fossil restorer Nicky Simon.
06:48Isn't she gorgeous?
06:50She is gorgeous. It's beautiful.
06:53Don't often find upper jaws this complete, let alone with all the teeth in them.
07:00No wear on them.
07:02The teeth's edges, for slicing through plant material, are still razor sharp.
07:08Check them out.
07:09Sure.
07:12Oh, yeah.
07:16These have barely been used.
07:20They almost look carnivorous.
07:23The teeth are a clue to Clover's young age.
07:27Look at how small this upper arm bone is.
07:30Yeah? Let's see.
07:32By measuring Clover's arm bone...
07:34Well over a foot.
07:3634 centimetres.
07:38...they can more accurately estimate how old she was.
07:41She must have only been about three years old.
07:44Which means she was just a baby.
07:54A baby, buried all alone.
08:01Seems to be by herself, haven't found any adult bones in this quarry.
08:05Without the herd, without a mother.
08:08Very vulnerable.
08:14We'll never know why Clover was alone.
08:20What we do know is that in the late Cretaceous...
08:24...young, solitary dinosaurs don't last long.
08:55An Inferno Dracon.
08:59A giant pterosaur common at the end of the Cretaceous.
09:04With a five metre wingspan, it tries to intimidate Clover.
09:13And then, there's the razor sharp beak.
09:19But Clover is nimble.
09:39And this mother, just wants her egg back.
09:49This time, the little Triceratops was lucky.
09:58But danger lurks everywhere.
10:06And it gets much...
10:09...much worse.
10:18Much bigger.
10:37A mile from Clover's dig site...
10:40...more fossilised remains are emerging.
10:49We've got a bone over here that's very thin, very slender.
10:53Very long.
10:55This looks like one of the processes off of the tail vertebrae...
11:00...and helps lock the tail into a much more rigid structure.
11:05These thin bones may once have formed part of a thick muscular tail...
11:10...six metres long.
11:13But this was no Triceratops.
11:18This is sort of a meat-eating dinosaur feature.
11:26Paleontologist Ellis Mulready holds the final clue.
11:32It's a little bit beat up.
11:37It's a really thick tooth designed for crushing bones.
11:41And it's got those kind of drawn together serrations.
11:44You can still feel them.
11:46I would love to meet the creature that had this tooth, but it would be a bit scary.
11:50Yeah.
11:58It's a tooth that can only belong to one animal.
12:15Standing four metres tall...
12:19...and weighing in at eight tonnes...
12:29...Tyrannosaurus rex.
12:45With one and a half metre long jaws...
12:49...the Earth's most infamous predator could swallow clover whole.
12:59Fortunately, the hunter's focus is elsewhere.
13:06Padded feet act like shock absorbers...
13:10...keeping its approach quiet.
13:35For T-Rex, a light snack.
13:49For clover, a terrifying first encounter.
13:58And it won't be her last.
14:05Up to 20,000 T-Rex roam Laramidea.
14:12To survive, clover needs protection.
14:17And fast.
14:22Ready?
14:24Ready.
14:26In the search for more clues...
14:28...Eric and evolutionary ecologist John Canipe...
14:31...are heading deeper into the wilderness.
14:37You asked me about snakes earlier.
14:39Oh yeah.
14:40There was just a baby rattler in the bottom there.
14:45They want to understand who was sharing the forest with clover.
14:50Alright, I'm ready when you are.
15:01It's obvious from the evidence on the ground...
15:04There's a bit of bone here coming out.
15:06...that clover's world was teeming with other dinosaurs.
15:10Some bigger pieces, pretty busted up.
15:13That one's got a bit more surface.
15:17One familiar species is turning up more than any other.
15:22Most of them belong to Triceratops.
15:26Triceratops once dominated this area.
15:31They've been sitting on the surface a really long time.
15:35They're pretty weathered.
15:39Triceratops
15:55One fossil shows why Triceratops was so successful.
16:02It's like a big brow horn.
16:10Oh man, it's a bit busted up.
16:13You can still see where all the blood vessels would be, even on the horn.
16:17Yeah.
16:18In life, this horn would have been over a metre long.
16:22And behind it, a protective bony shield almost two metres wide.
16:28Here was a creature seemingly custom built for fighting off large predators.
16:34Got these big horns on the front of your face, wave them around.
16:37Maybe make a T-Rex think twice before attacking you.
16:51Triceratops' formidable defences made it one of the most successful dinosaur species of its day.
17:00Meaning an adult Triceratops would be the perfect protector for Clover.
17:06Triceratops
17:25This old bull will do nicely.
17:36Clover
18:07But there's a problem.
18:14Who needs a troublesome youngster following you around?
18:19Clover
18:35As another day ends, Clover is still alone.
18:43And darkness is setting in.
18:50Eric thinks Clover may have had good reason to fear the night time most of all.
19:05Back at base camp, he uses a scan of a T-Rex skull to print a 3D model of the killer's brain cavity.
19:19T-Rex
19:29This is the endocast of a T-Rex.
19:35For an animal that has a head a metre and a half long, not a real big brain, a dinosaur's not doing calculus.
19:42But it was enough to do what the animal needed to do. It was very successful.
19:46Right, it just needs to process the information. It's got a lot of sensory input.
19:53Though small compared to a human's, this brain is fine-tuned for hunting.
20:00We've got these really big olfactory bulbs in the front.
20:03That's for smell.
20:04That's for smell, yep.
20:06T-Rex probably had one of the most sensitive noses of any dinosaur.
20:11It's probably picking up on minuscule parts per million.
20:15And it wasn't just the killer's sense of smell that was supercharged.
20:20Here in the middle would be the part of the brain that controls vision.
20:24T-Rex does. Really big eyes, just like an owl, that take in a lot of light.
20:31These incredible senses likely made T-Rex a lethal nocturnal hunter.
20:41As darkness descends, it's time to begin the hunt.
21:12Locking on to a tell-tale scent.
21:24It seems that supper is nearby.
21:30Whilst most creatures have sought safe places to sleep,
21:35Clover is awake.
21:37She must bulk up by a tonne each year to reach full size,
21:42so feeds often through the night.
21:48In the darkness, she sees little.
21:55But T-Rex sees her.
21:58Perfectly.
22:07T-Rex!
22:37T-Rex!
22:39T-Rex!
23:05Saved by her size.
23:09T-Rex!
23:33Luck seems to be on Clover's side.
23:39T-Rex!
23:42T-Rex!
23:44She survived a close encounter with T-Rex.
23:47T-Rex!
23:50And from the sound of things,
23:55a new ally may be close at hand.
24:09In the search for more giants,
24:12the team is putting to the test the very latest fossil hunting techniques.
24:18A 66-million-year-old treasure hunt,
24:22using 21st-century technology.
24:27If we fly out towards those badlands, that would be a great spot.
24:31The gyro's stabilised.
24:33Eric's teamed up with paleontologists Thomas Kay...
24:37Going for arm.
24:39...and Dr Michael Pittman.
24:41Ready to launch.
24:50Their prototype laser drone,
24:53the T-Rex,
24:55has been used for a long time.
24:58Their prototype laser drone scans the ground with UV light,
25:05searching for the telltale glow of minerals within ancient fossils.
25:13To create a treasure map of prehistoric remains.
25:19You see here, we've got some specks,
25:22maybe the size of a tennis ball.
25:24Interesting, but, you know, we want the big stuff.
25:27It's early days for the technology,
25:30and it has limitations.
25:34But one spot on the ground...
25:36Bang! Look at that.
25:38...is glowing brightly.
25:40So that must be a really big piece.
25:42Yeah, that's big.
25:44As dawn breaks,
25:47Eric and Nicky head into the badlands to see this enormous fossil.
25:57Look how big it is.
26:01It's the lower leg bone of a truly colossal dinosaur.
26:06It's the largest dinosaur in the world.
26:09It's the lower leg bone of a truly colossal dinosaur.
26:15Seems to have been sitting out on the surface for quite some time.
26:20This is a big bone.
26:22This animal would have been, you know, maybe around six, seven metres long.
26:29But this is no Triceratops.
26:32It's not a T-Rex either.
26:39Echoing through towering trees.
26:51The calls of perhaps the strangest dinosaurs who roam here.
27:09Edmontosaurs.
27:17Herd animals known as the cows of the Cretaceous.
27:26Weighing over six tonnes,
27:29these social creatures tolerate clothing.
27:33As a fellow plant eater, she's no threat to them.
27:47The herd could give Clover the protection she needs.
28:03And it's not just safety they offer.
28:07A playmate.
28:33Woo!
28:58In amongst these giants
29:03Woo!
29:06Clover can begin to feel safe.
29:15But danger is never far away.
29:20MUSIC
29:3066 million years ago,
29:33T-Rex ruled over these lands.
29:38The apex predator for over two million years.
29:42As it rolls over, just get your hands under it.
29:45The team wants to discover how this fearsome hunter took down its prey.
29:53Inside this protective plaster coat is the predator's leg bone.
29:58Eric thinks there might be more underneath.
30:01One, two, three.
30:05Protruding from the rock.
30:07That's a bone.
30:09One of the giant's vertebrae.
30:12Beautiful preservation.
30:13It was a big, big animal.
30:16It allows Eric to estimate more accurately T-Rex's full size.
30:22On the order of 30 feet, maybe more, 10 metres, something like that.
30:30They wrap their discoveries in a protective plaster jacket.
30:39It's just a tiny fraction of T-Rex's size.
30:43Like a skeleton.
30:45But it's enormous.
30:49This jacket's probably about 150 kilograms.
30:52200, 300 pounds.
30:56They're just so huge.
30:59Alive, adult T-Rex weighed over eight tonnes.
31:04But this enormous weight may actually have been a hindrance.
31:08Certainly not a 40-mile-an-hour jeep-chasing animal of Jurassic Park.
31:13Their physiology just wouldn't allow them to run that fast.
31:17Probably speed-walker.
31:19T-Rex probably couldn't run for fear of breaking its own legs.
31:25With a top speed of just 15 or 20 miles an hour.
31:31Not exactly slow, but a fast human could out-sprint one.
31:35I think he could.
31:37I think I'm going to take a sharp turn and he's going to have a hard time following me.
31:42Link, we've only just got to be faster than him.
31:47Maybe I'm a little overconfident.
31:59So adult T-Rex weren't sprinting after their prey.
32:03This killer relied on another tactic.
32:09The element of surprise.
32:13As Clover and the Edmontosaurs sleep soundly,
32:20T-Rex approaches slowly from downwind.
32:25But it's not easy being a T-Rex.
32:35But we're going to have to get through this.
32:45Oh no!
32:48Oh no!
32:51Oh no!
32:54stealthy when you're the size of a bus.
33:02The Edmontosaurs form a defensive line rearing up on their hind legs to appear as big as
33:31possible but holding your nerve isn't easy and it only takes one of the herd to panic.
34:31Not for her new friend.
34:41With the adult Edmontosaurs on the move,
34:43Clover is alone once more.
34:51Survival was a game of chance in the late Cretaceous and the odds were stacked against
35:14young dinosaurs like Clover.
35:17The team has tracked down a remarkable fossil with a chilling tale to tell.
35:29It may look like a nondescript lump of rock but its shape and texture tell the experts
35:35this is a coprolite, fossilised faeces.
35:42Eric works with fossil restorer Aubrey Knowles to examine this prehistoric poo.
35:58Most coprolites can't be attributed to any specific species but bone fragments within
36:05the dino dung reveal this was the waste product of a meat eater.
36:12And then there's the matter of size.
36:15So we're at 15.7 centimetres across or 6.2 inches.
36:23That's a wide cloaca.
36:24That is a very wide bum hole.
36:28The only large-bodied carnivorous dinosaur that could have possibly dropped this would
36:34be a T-Rex.
36:35So, very, very cool.
36:40It's an astonishing fossil.
36:43The excrement of the most notorious predator in history.
36:47It's interesting how many bones there are preserved in the dropping.
36:53By examining coprolites, it's even possible to identify the killer's victims.
37:01T-Rex faeces have been found to contain bones that are small and smooth.
37:07That speaks to a more juvenile or young prey.
37:11The bones of babies.
37:13Baby dinosaurs would be very vulnerable.
37:17Bite-sized.
37:18Energy is precious.
37:19You go after easy prey.
37:24Needing a quarter of a tonne of meat a week to sustain their enormous bulk, baby dinosaurs
37:31like Clova were a common meal for T-Rex.
37:37Nothing is off the menu.
37:48Naive, defenceless, and small enough to swallow whole, Clova would make an excellent snack.
38:18With nowhere to hide, it's a good time to hunt.
38:48Or, to hide.
38:49To bump into an old acquaintance.
39:18Few creatures can challenge T-Rex, but a full-grown Triceratops might be the only animal
39:27that doesn't need to turn and run.
39:39Who wins in a fight, Triceratops or T-Rex?
39:47The two giants were locked in an evolutionary arms race, adapted to battle each other.
39:56But Eric thinks Triceratops may have had a surprising trump card.
40:04This fossilised fragment was once part of the huge frill extending from the back of
40:09the skull, but it wasn't solid bone.
40:17All these vascular channels on the surface, all these pits and grooves that are in it
40:23go all over the surface of the frill.
40:27This surface was covered in a lot of blood vessels.
40:32The blood flow suggests to Eric a Triceratops frill was more than just a shield.
40:40The idea is they could change the colour pattern of their frill, flash these different
40:46colours.
40:48Pushing all this blood up into its frill, this would be a great way to send a message.
40:52That would have been really intimidating.
41:04The giants are evenly matched.
41:21Each weighs over 8 tonnes.
41:27Each with fearsome weaponry.
41:33But Triceratops plays his trump card.
41:43Flushing blood into his frill creates huge colourful eye spots.
41:51They make Triceratops seem even bigger.
42:17The T-Rex isn't Apex Predator for nothing.
42:47But for T-Rex, there's still an easier meal close by.
43:17Most young dinosaurs never made it to adulthood.
43:46But Clover was no exception.
43:55But as the dig season draws to a close, her exact cause of death is still unknown.
44:03You know, we're not sure how baby Clover died.
44:08In digging her bones up, we haven't found any evidence of predation.
44:14There doesn't seem to be any injuries, no bite marks, things like that.
44:20Up to this point, it remains a mystery.
44:25Got it?
44:26All right.
44:34But we do know one thing.
44:39If Clover had died as a meal for T-Rex, there probably wouldn't be any remains at all.
45:02For Clover, it seems as if time has run out.
45:09But she still has one advantage, her size.
45:21With T-Rex distracted, a moment of surprise.
45:43Clover has survived her encounter with history's most infamous killer.
46:13For now, she's safe.
46:43And, while this old bull may not seek the company of a youngster, Clover's not giving
47:05up just yet.
47:31Coming soon, on Walking With Dinosaurs, we take the plunge in the most dangerous river
47:47in Earth's history.
47:53Join the smallest member of the biggest herd on an epic journey.
48:03Get up close with the deadliest pack of predators.
48:12Follow an island giant looking for love.
48:18And meet the band of brothers on the run from a ferocious and cunning adversary.
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