- 5/26/2025
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00:00Over 66 million years ago, our world was ruled by a giant, a giant, a giant, a giant, a giant,
00:27was ruled by dinosaurs.
00:39The largest animals that have ever walked the earth.
00:43Today, dinosaur experts across the globe are uncovering the bones they left behind.
01:01Allowing us to imagine how these extraordinary creatures may have lived.
01:08So that we can tell their stories.
01:16And they can walk again.
01:37Utah, in the heart of the American West.
01:59Home to some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.
02:09And the forces that shaped the landscape also make it a paradise for dinosaur hunters.
02:40In a remote part of the desert, paleontologists Dr. Jim Kirkland and Dr. Josh Lively have made a remarkable discovery.
02:53So we've exposed quite a bit of bones, yeah?
02:55Yeah.
02:56The bones of one of the most heavily armored dinosaurs that ever lived.
03:10Oh, that's cool.
03:13A Gastonian.
03:15Yeah, he might have a leg then.
03:18Using their discoveries, we can imagine how this youngster lived and died.
03:26A hundred and thirty million years ago.
03:32In the early Cretaceous period, the land that will become Utah was warmer and wetter.
04:02And what is desert today is covered by conifer forests and rolling meadows of ferns.
04:33Plentiful food for groups of plant-eating Gastonia.
04:45Including youngster, George.
04:57Like all young Gastonia, he must stick close to his parents.
05:12Because danger is never far away.
05:29Utahraptor.
05:34A heavyweight cousin of Velociraptor, the size of a grizzly bear.
05:45And they hunt vulnerable young Gastonia.
05:55The ferns providing ideal cover for a surprise attack.
06:09Just yards away, George and his family are oblivious to the approaching danger.
06:40With the raptors within striking distance, the Gastonia get a lucky break.
06:52Like many modern herd animals, the adults form a defensive ring around their young.
07:14Weighing over a ton, covered in thick armor, a group of adult Gastonia is virtually invulnerable.
07:45With one of their group injured, the raptors cut their losses.
08:03But George can't rely on the safety of the herd for much longer.
08:12He's reached adolescence, when, like all young male Gastonia, it's thought he'll be pushed out of the group.
08:29George must now grow up without his family to protect him.
08:41We'll probably do Dakota and at least one other person too.
08:45At the dig, the team is starting to uncover evidence.
08:50Is there a bone there coming up from somewhere?
08:53Try to get your fingers under that if you can reach over.
08:56That might explain how young Gastonia, like George, survived to adulthood.
09:03You got one over there.
09:04There's a big guy here.
09:05Oh, OK.
09:06Looks like a limb bone might connect to some of this bone right here.
09:10And the clues are coming thick and fast.
09:14Beautiful. That's bone.
09:16Looks like the rib might go into this one.
09:21Everywhere they dig, bone after bone emerges from the ground.
09:29Found a couple of ribs right here going over top of a vertebra and then several pieces of armor.
09:36A ton of bones just in this small spot.
09:40It's too many to be from just one individual.
09:44A pretty thin rib-like section.
09:47So far, right in here, there's probably parts of two animals.
09:53And intriguingly, all the Gastonia found across the site appear to be of a similar age.
10:02From looking at skeletal remains, we're looking at half-grown individuals, sub-adults to full adults.
10:11Kind of analogous to teenagers, right?
10:13Yeah.
10:15All these teenagers found together suggests something unexpected.
10:22MUSIC
10:44Since leaving his family group, George has been living on his own.
10:51GROWLING
10:55Keeping deep in the forest, where it's easier to hide from predators.
11:02GROWLING
11:05MUSIC
11:16But it's not long before he comes face to face with another young male.
11:24GROWLING
11:32And it looks like he means business.
11:38GROWLING
12:06Gastonia's skulls and necks are specially adapted to act like shock absorbers.
12:12GROWLING
12:19But this isn't a fight.
12:21GROWLING
12:29This is how Gastonia make friends.
12:34GROWLING
12:39Of all the armoured dinosaurs, they're one of the only known social species.
12:48GROWLING
12:52George has just joined a group.
12:55GROWLING
13:02It's a huge step forward, dramatically increasing his chances of making it to adulthood.
13:10GROWLING
13:17This gang of teenage boys will stay together until they're tough enough to fend for themselves.
13:26GROWLING
13:32Because until their armour is fully developed, they're vulnerable.
13:39GROWLING
13:47Just working our way around these elements, trying to get around this big femur here.
13:53At the dig, amongst the Gastonia bones...
13:56Hey Josh, check this out, what is that?
13:59The team makes an unexpected discovery.
14:02Oh wow, that's really neat.
14:06It's definitely not Gastonia.
14:13Hey Jim.
14:15Yeah.
14:17Heather found something interesting and I'm wondering if you could tell me whether or not it is what I think it is.
14:24Nice curve.
14:27Yeah, that's a small theropod metacarpal and bone.
14:33Could be a juvenile Utahraptor.
14:41Utahraptor bones found alongside the young Gastonia.
14:46Alright, I was right, it's a theropod metacarpal.
14:49Yeah, confirmed.
14:51Suggest that throughout the Gastonia's adolescence...
14:55Utahraptor was an ever-present threat.
15:07And Josh and Jim have evidence that shows just how deadly they could be.
15:15A cast of a Utahraptor toe claw.
15:19You know, you put the claw itself, this is the bone underlying it.
15:23Just to be conservative, we could say it comes out to about there in length.
15:2930 centimetres long.
15:31These killing claws were Utahraptor's primary weapon.
15:37This thing might be kicking through inch-thick hide.
15:40So fast you can barely see it.
15:42Wham, wham, wham, wham.
15:44This thing's just punching lots of holes, which would do a lot of damage.
15:48These claws are the perfect tool for puncturing the weak armour of young Gastonia.
15:55Maybe you have to think of it more as a can opener.
15:58Yeah, if it can flip it over, use that to slice open the belly.
16:03You know, these things are one of the most formidable predators that ever lived.
16:10Holding their toe claws off the ground to keep them razor-sharp,
16:21Utahraptor is a finely-tuned weapon.
16:27To keep them razor-sharp,
16:34Utahraptor is a finely-tuned killing machine.
16:48And this adult male
16:53and the group he leads
16:55have just entered the forest following the trail of George and the Gastonia gang.
17:15But hidden beneath the thick undergrowth
17:20finding them won't be easy.
17:33So the young raptors streak ahead to try and flush them out.
17:40While the adults follow behind ready to make the kill.
17:52With Utah raptors eyesight as sharp as modern birds of prey even the slightest
18:16movement could be fatal.
18:28So when they hear the raptors coming
18:34the Gastonia freeze.
18:46The juveniles have missed them but George must hold his nerve because the
19:12deadliest threat is still to come.
19:22The group leader.
19:42It's a close call.
20:12But every day George and the gang survive is a day closer to the safety of adulthood.
20:27And emerging from the ground clues that reveal even young Gastonia would have been no pushover.
20:46Well you should be getting close I think.
20:51Hey Josh. Look at my section. Tell me what you think.
20:57So there's so much here. Plenty of osteoderms and they're coming out pretty solid then.
21:08Yeah osteoderms are the bones that made up the Gastonia's armor.
21:15That's a real nice one. Oh yeah. So you can kind of see on this one that kind of ridge right there that keel that would point up.
21:24Makes for a spiky dinosaur. It really does. Yeah.
21:29In life each osteoderm was covered by a thick scale.
21:35Now this is one of the nicest ones we've had so far. This would have been on the back of the animal.
21:41Which would have created an armored plate.
21:46But you see the hollow base that these have. They're for blood vessels bringing nutrients up into this bone to grow that big scale that was on top.
21:56There's a lot of armor on these animals.
22:03It's a discovery that reveals the Gastonia's armor was nearly fully formed.
22:25But the team has evidence Utahraptor was one step ahead.
22:34Revealed by an astonishing fossil found near the site and taken to the lab for analysis.
22:44It's a gold mine. It really is.
22:49Entombed in this nine ton block of sandstone the team has discovered the remains of an entire group of Utahraptors.
23:01And over here we've got the big string of articulated vertebra.
23:06Yeah and then that's just beautiful.
23:09And hidden amongst the hundreds of perfectly preserved teeth and claws and bones.
23:15Yeah that's the great thing about this block we'll have so much material.
23:19Curator Don DeBloom has found something that could be Utahraptor's deadliest weapon.
23:27We've got this beautiful little top of a skull.
23:31And then we flipped it over.
23:35Right here is the impression of the brain.
23:39For a dinosaur this young Utahraptor brain is very large.
23:45Certainly remarkable given the size.
23:48That would be a very intelligent animal.
23:51It would have been the most intelligent animal of its time.
23:55Certainly Utahraptor would have been capable of some pretty complex behaviors.
24:12Spring has turned to summer.
24:26And as the dry season sets in, George and the Gastonia gang leave the forest to find water.
24:45They're still unruly teenagers.
24:49But now in near-adult bodies.
25:06And at the edge of the waterhole, clay-rich soil provides the gang with essential minerals.
25:19Vital for strengthening their armor.
25:30And now the Gastonia are tougher.
25:33They're no longer an easy kill.
25:41So the raptors change tactics.
25:48A group leader attracts their attention.
25:57And uses his brightly colored wing feathers...
26:05...to create...
26:08...a diversion.
26:19Like a fox in a henhouse.
26:22The kill triggers the leader's predatory instinct.
26:49Trapped at the water's edge.
26:53It looks like George's luck has run out.
26:58But at the dig, Josh and the team have made a discovery.
27:07They've come to retrieve a fossil that may shed light on events that happened here.
27:12And to find out what happened to the raptors.
27:16The team is on their way.
27:19They've come to retrieve a fossil that may shed light on events that happened here.
27:24So Don, I was originally thinking it was down this drainage.
27:27But looking at it now, I actually think it's further over that way.
27:30Yeah, I think you're right.
27:32But collecting it from the steep cliff face...
27:35Damn, this is going to be tough.
27:38...won't be easy.
27:43It might be farther that way.
27:46It might be farther that way.
27:50It might be farther that way.
27:57Oh, there it is.
28:00Yeah, that's totally it.
28:03So Don, I think if you want to bring the backboard over here...
28:07...and then we can go ahead and start strapping it down.
28:10With your legs.
28:13Do it.
28:15This is a fossilized foot cast.
28:19All right, you got it, Marcelo?
28:21Got it.
28:27It formed when a dinosaur footprint filled with silt and dust...
28:32...that over millions of years was compressed into solid rock.
28:37Like that? OK.
28:39Just like that.
28:41It's not super fragile.
28:45Creating a cast of the foot that made it.
28:53One, two, three.
28:55It definitely gets easier up here.
29:00But which dinosaur does it belong to?
29:05Wow.
29:07That's really cool.
29:09We've got three big, wide toes on this footprint.
29:12That eliminates a couple of dinosaurs right off the bat.
29:15Yeah.
29:17If it was Gastonia, it'd have four toes.
29:21And it's unlikely to be a predator, because there are no claws.
29:26Most likely a plant eater.
29:28Yeah, I think a good candidate for a plant eater...
29:31Most likely a plant eater.
29:33Yeah, I think a good candidate could be some sort of bipedal...
29:36...plant-eating dinosaur, kind of like Planicoxa.
29:39Right, we're at the right level for those guys. They're close.
29:42Absolutely.
29:45Planicoxa were beaked, stocky dinosaurs that lived in herds.
29:50You can imagine them traveling together and moving long distances.
29:54For sure.
29:55Maybe Gastonia was year-round and these dinosaurs were more seasonal.
30:02All right.
30:04You guide us, Steph.
30:07Finding Planicoxa footprints here is an important discovery.
30:15Because it suggests they migrated through this landscape.
30:32Planicoxa
30:47As the group leader closes in on George...
30:54...a herd of Planicoxa pass close by.
31:02And without any armor, they're a much easier kill.
31:20Handing George...
31:26...a very lucky escape.
31:32Planicoxa
31:40But as the dry season intensifies, the Planicoxa herds will move on.
31:50So, as George and the Gastonia gang return to the forest...
31:55...they know it won't be long until the raptors are hunting them down.
32:01Once more.
32:15But coming out of the ground...
32:17All right, let's see how long this is.
32:19...further evidence that Gastonia buried here...
32:22We're looking at about 31 and a half centimeters long.
32:26...were more than capable of defending themselves.
32:29The proximal width where it attaches to the tail...
32:32...looks like about 17 and a half centimeters wide.
32:36Yeah.
32:37So, yeah, this is one of these specialized spikes along the tail.
32:42It's, like, sticking out.
32:44Yeah, yeah, so it'll be sticking out from the sides of the tail.
32:48You can imagine this with a big scale over top of it, a big piece of keratin.
32:53So this would have come to a very sharp point.
32:56And these, we think, were used as a weapon.
33:03These blade-like spikes were positioned along the entire length of the Gastonia's tails.
33:11And Jim and Don have uncovered something...
33:14...that shows just how these weapons were used.
33:18And then as I was trying to work on that, I hit something over here.
33:23So this is a femur, the upper leg bone.
33:27And that's a pretty sizable femur.
33:29And then as I dug around, I see we have a complete tibia, lower leg bone.
33:33Yeah, you can see how small it is.
33:36We have a complete tibia, lower leg bone.
33:38Yeah.
33:39You can see how short the lower leg is relative to the upper leg.
33:44About half the length.
33:46Right.
33:47Which is, you know, the exact opposite than what you see in a running animal.
33:53Gastonia had a top speed of around five miles per hour.
34:00Because their hind legs weren't built for running.
34:05They were adapted for a very different purpose.
34:10Certainly these things are not just simple bones.
34:12They have huge muscle attachment points.
34:15So they've developed powerful legs for serious, strong maneuverability.
34:20Stocky guys just standing their ground.
34:22You just see these things just holding on the ground...
34:25...and swinging their tail with those big blades.
34:29Like the one over there they already pulled out.
34:32Yeah, that big boy.
34:33Slashing across and probably reach head high easily.
34:38And literally slap a Utahraptor right in the face.
34:46Gastonia's powerful hind legs and spiked tails...
34:54...mean George and the gang are now formidable adversaries.
35:04But with the dry season now at its height...
35:07...and the Planicox are gone...
35:12...the raptors are starving.
35:23Desperate for food, they must take any opportunity.
35:34To make a kill.
35:48But now nearly fully grown...
35:50...the Gastonia gang will stand and fight.
36:04And this time...
36:06...they've got the weapons to defend themselves.
36:26The Gastonia now have the upper hand.
36:30But driven by hunger...
36:32...the raptors have no choice...
36:35...but to attack.
37:00With the group leader fatally wounded...
37:07...the remaining raptors back down.
37:20But George's moment of victory...
37:23...is not over yet.
37:29His moment of triumph will be short-lived.
37:40The hot summer months bring a new danger.
37:51Something revealed by a completely different type of evidence.
37:57Found alongside the Gastonia bones.
38:07Paleobotanist Dr Carol Houghton...
38:11...is an expert in ancient pollen.
38:15She has a special interest in pollen.
38:22Okay, Carol, do you have any...?
38:24Hey Jim, take a look.
38:25There's some interesting grains right in the center.
38:29So, if you see those little round grains...
38:32...that look like flat tires...
38:35...that's pollen from an extinct conifer.
38:39And there's another grain...
38:46...that's a member of the cypress family...
38:50...that was well adapted to dry conditions.
38:57All the pollen Carol has identified...
39:00...belongs to trees that lived in a parched, arid environment.
39:10130 million years ago...
39:12...the forest that covered the dig site...
39:15...was a tinderbox.
39:20You can see all through the field...
39:23...black pieces.
39:25Yeah, little shards.
39:27Twiggy looking things, except they're pretty small for twigs.
39:30Right.
39:31In all probability, they represent charcoal.
39:35It's unlikely to be anything else...
39:37...and I see that in all my pollen samples.
39:43There's only one thing...
39:45...that could have produced so much charcoal.
39:59The long, dry summer months...
40:02...have created a time bomb.
40:07As wildfire rages through the parched forest...
40:16...it threatens the Gastonia...
40:19...and the surviving raptors.
40:36But George is slow to react to the danger.
41:07With a top speed around 20 miles per hour...
41:11...the raptors soon reach a clearing in the forest.
41:25But they're trapped...
41:27...between the flames...
41:29...and a treacherous marsh.
41:36And George and the Gastonia gang...
41:39...aren't far behind.
41:51The flames driving the two mortal enemies together.
41:59For one...
42:01...final battle...
42:04...for one...
42:06...final...
42:08...showdown.
42:24But back at the lab...
42:28...the sandstone block filled with raptor bones...
42:33...has one last secret to reveal.
42:39I see the teeth on that.
42:42Amazing thing is that all these delicate little teeth...
42:45...are all still in place in their sockets.
42:47It's really remarkable to have it so well preserved.
42:51Such high levels of preservation...
42:54...and certainly this, you know, still has the teeth included...
42:58...tell the team the bones have not been disturbed.
43:03The block captures the very moment...
43:07...the raptors died.
43:09And it's interesting that all the best preserved bones...
43:12...all seem to be in this sand.
43:15Yeah, I suggest that sand is part of why they died...
43:19...why they're so well preserved.
43:23Although the sand is solid today...
43:26...Jim believes that when the raptors died...
43:29...it was liquid.
43:32You know, what killed them is what buried them...
43:35...given the geology of the setting.
43:38Most likely, we're looking at a mass mortality...
43:41...tied to quicksand.
44:01Panicked, the raptors run into trouble.
44:31With the raptors out of the way...
44:59...George has the chance to escape.
45:02But they're struggling.
45:31The very things that protected them from the raptors...
45:36...heavy armour...
45:38...and short, stocky legs...
45:49...mean George and the gang...
45:51...are too slow...
45:53...to escape the fire.
46:09One by one...
46:13...the smoke takes its toll.
46:29Buried where they fell...
46:35...the landscape is transformed around them.
46:46Layer upon layer of rock builds up...
46:51...as the eons pass...
46:54...and the continents silently drift...
46:57...across the face of the earth...
47:05...until George and the gang...
47:07...are finally found...
47:11...130 million years later.
47:31Next time...
47:33T-Rex's lethal, faster cousin...
47:42...a young hunter...
47:44...fighting for her place...
47:46...in the most ferocious pack on earth.
48:16Subs by www.zeoranger.co.uk
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