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00:00We're living through the golden age of dinosaur discoveries.
00:12All over the world, a whole new generation of dinosaurs has been revealed.
00:18From the biggest giants, and the deadliest killers, to the weird and wonderful.
00:25From the Arctic to Africa, from South America to Asia.
00:45In just the last few years, we have uncovered the most extraordinary fossils, exquisitely preserved and tantalizingly intact.
00:55Combined with the latest imaging technology, we have been able to probe deeper and reveal more than ever before.
01:06It gives us our first truly global view of these incredible animals.
01:12In this program, we're exploring the lost world of Africa.
01:18For almost a hundred years, this was a forgotten land.
01:22Now, new discoveries have revealed some of the most spectacular dinosaurs ever found.
01:28Two giant killers, both bigger than T-Rex, both living in the same place.
01:35One of these killers, more than any, has captured the imagination.
01:42A bizarre killer that we've only just managed to reconstruct in the last few years.
01:43One of these killers, more than any, has captured the imagination.
01:49A bizarre killer that we've only just managed to reconstruct in the last few years.
01:59The story begins in Egypt in 1912, when fragments of a giant dinosaur were discovered.
02:09A predator with two-meter long spines rising over its back.
02:12It was unlike anything seen before.
02:16It was only in 2005, when a complete upper jaw was found, that we could accurately reconstruct this bizarre creature.
02:23With a skull almost two meters long.
02:25The story begins in Egypt in 1912, when fragments of a giant dinosaur were discovered.
02:28A predator with two-meter long spines rising over its back.
02:31It was unlike anything seen before.
02:34It was only in 2005, when a complete upper jaw was found, that we could accurately reconstruct this bizarre creature.
02:41With a skull almost two meters long, this dinosaur was a colossal 17 meters from nose to tail.
02:51Four meters longer than T-Rex.
02:58The reign of the dinosaurs began almost 250 million years ago.
03:04But this killer didn't appear until a time known as the Mid-Cretaceous.
03:0995 million years ago, its home in North Africa was a desert surrounding a vast system of rivers and swamps.
03:24The swamps are refuges for many large dinosaurs, like the duck-billed Oranosaurus.
03:30They are also the hunting grounds for a killer.
03:47Opening the
04:08At seven meters and three tons, Oranosaurs are big.
04:11but easily within the scope of a large predator.
04:41If you have to leave a threat, you will fall.
04:49Be careful...
04:53If it happens, you will be left...
04:58... arada...
05:02... from the stratum.
05:05Spinosaurus, at 17 meters, the biggest killer ever to walk the Earth, an 11-tongue colossus.
05:35However, for the time being, these uranosaurs are off this killer's menu.
06:05Spinosaurus is part of a family of dinosaurs that are relatively newly discovered.
06:14Recent finds have shown that this strange group lived from South America through Europe
06:19to Asia.
06:21But the last and biggest of all came from North Africa, Spinosaurus itself.
06:30In 2010, analysis of their bones and teeth revealed something surprising.
06:37Chemical traces found in the fossils suggested that Spinosaurus lived more like a crocodile
06:42than other land-based dinosaurs.
06:46It showed that these dinosaurs spent a large part of their lives in water.
06:49Spinosaurus is a predator, but one that hunts in water.
07:13It's Ichthyophagus, a fish-eater.
07:22This is Oncopristis.
07:28An eight-meter-long giant sawfish, similar to those alive today.
07:34The saw-like rostrum is lined with lethal barbs and is in itself up to two and a half meters
07:39in length.
07:43It's thought they migrated into freshwater rivers to breed, where the young may be safer, but
07:49the adults are exposed to new threats.
08:00With their breeding season at its height, these rivers are filled with Oncopristis.
08:05It's the perfect hunting opportunity for Spinosaurus.
08:30Spinosaurus' conical teeth evolved to grip prey rather than tear off flesh.
08:48For that, it needs powerful arms and claws.
08:55With prey plentiful, Spinosaurus can afford to be wasteful, a fact which other dinosaurs take
09:16full advantage of.
09:20Rugops, an eight-meter carnivore.
09:23Anywhere else it might dominate.
09:28But here, it is dwarfed by Spinosaurus.
09:32Spinosaurus is unique, with long, narrow jaws and nostrils set high on its head.
09:48Its teeth were straight and conical.
09:51They gave us a clue as to how it killed.
09:56More evidence came in 2008, when Spinosaurus' skull was put through a CT scanner.
10:03It revealed a curious pattern of holes and sinuses in the snout that looked just like those of crocodiles.
10:10It's thought these contained pressure sensors.
10:15Sensors that, like a crocodile, can detect prey, making it perfectly adapted to hunting in water.
10:22This discovery gives us our best evidence of exactly how it hunted.
10:34Able to hold its snout in the water because of its high nostrils, it can strike without even seeing its prey.
10:41He says a little bit.
10:43Instead Somebody bothers you, they helpedie us support this stuff.
10:46Oh!
10:48My goodness!
10:50oscar
10:51If anybody hears the sight, it is little as you, he doesn't have to play away or may not not Stefan.
10:54I am tutta the aventure then,trendwoken.
10:57The ever-attendant Rugops has a weak jaw and skull.
11:16It's no killer.
11:19It is a natural-born scavenger,
11:23living off the scraps of this highly efficient predator.
11:27We can assume so much about the diet of Spinosaurus
11:38because its fossilized teeth are commonly found
11:40with the remains of the giant sawfish.
11:43And more recent discoveries appear to provide even more direct evidence.
11:50In 2005, a Spinosaur fossil was found
11:53with a sawfish vertebrae stuck in a tooth socket.
11:57And another discovered in 2008
12:00had a fragment of a sawfish barb apparently embedded in its jaw.
12:05They suggested a clear predator-prey relationship.
12:13Spinosaurus is the region's biggest killer
12:15because it can exploit an environment so successfully.
12:18A dinosaur at home in water.
12:22For a time, it lived with little threat from other dinosaurs.
12:26And the species evolved into a 17-meter giant.
12:30But Spinosaurus wasn't the only giant predator which thrived here.
12:41Carcharodontosaurus, a land-based killer.
12:50A meat-eater, a carnosaur.
12:55A cousin of Allosaurus, but four times bigger.
13:00With serrated teeth 16 centimeters long,
13:05Carcharodontosaurus was a giant killer.
13:09Up to 13 meters long and weighing around 7 tons,
13:14like Spinosaurus, it too was bigger than T-Rex.
13:18Big predators need big hunting ranges.
13:23Carcharodontosaurus may have needed
13:25up to 500 square kilometers each.
13:29Making competition for the best hunting grounds intense.
13:41These young male Carcharodontosaurus
13:44both want supremacy over this territory.
13:48Dominating the land is the key to survival for these killers.
13:53And that can mean a fight to the death.
14:18And that can mean a fight to the death.
14:22But you know what somebody might want to do?
14:23They just fall into that.
14:25As if they don't mean a fight to be killed,
14:26So you know what they want to do?
14:27These people eventually don't want to die.
14:29You know what they want to do with the death.
14:29They just want to be killed through this direction.
14:31They just want to blame them for the death.
14:32And that's what they want to do with these killers.
14:34They just want to come.
14:37The end of the day
15:07of the same species is dramatic.
15:10Forensic examination of fossils has uncovered injuries
15:13on the skull bones of many large carnivores.
15:16Tooth puncture marks and gouges are remarkably common.
15:20Such violent head and face biting is thought likely to be territorial.
15:29With so much to gain, fights over prime hunting territory would be commonplace.
15:37For this victorious Carcharodontosaurus,
15:42the prize is the hunting rights to these iranosaurs.
15:47Not an easy prey to catch even for the fastest of predators.
15:55But we think that Carcharodontosaurus has a hidden advantage.
15:59In 2008, detailed bone analysis suggested these dinosaurs employed a system of air sacs.
16:08Air sacs are used in breathing.
16:11They ensure that oxygen-rich air flows continually through the lungs when breathing in and out.
16:18It's a very efficient system, similar to that of birds.
16:22It implied that dinosaurs like Carcharodontosaurus were highly active hunters.
16:29And they needed to be.
16:31It's reckoned that a dinosaur of this size would need to eat a minimum of 60 kilos of meat every day simply to survive.
16:38Big hunters rely on ambushing their prey.
16:50Closing as much distance between it and its chosen victim.
17:00But Rnsn, they decided to watch a snitch that is alive asальным.
17:02Those beneficiaries are taken as step for the müsste.
17:03No concerns of Carcharodontosaurus are bethed,
17:09but it's physically that is alive.
17:11맞ely like a bullet there,
17:12they are covering the full size of a 아니에요 and asbestos.
17:15But I believe it's very difficult on these two sides and the two sides are mostly cut it.
17:21With more recent ones, they know how they areways to the complex Pennsylvania and at ilk network.
17:27Let's go.
17:58This Carcharodontosaurus doesn't waste energy chasing the injured animal.
18:07Its initial attack has critically wounded the Urannosaurus.
18:12And now it simply needs to follow and wait.
18:27Carcharodontosaurus were deadly killers.
18:29Carcharodontosaurus were deadly killers.
18:30But not in the way you might expect.
18:32Its skull was relatively weak.
18:53Carcharodontosaurus were deadly killers.
18:56But not in the way you might expect.
18:59Its skull was relatively weak.
19:02And computer analysis has shown that they're unlikely to be strong enough to hold onto struggling prey.
19:09Their teeth were thin like knives.
19:13Too weak to bite easily through bone.
19:16But they were sharp with deadly serrations.
19:20Just like a shark's.
19:22The very name Carcharodontosaurus means shark toothed lizard.
19:29We think that it used its skull and teeth to slash deep into the flesh of its prey.
19:35causing massive injury and blood loss.
19:48Delivered at speed, such an attack could kill without the need for an intense struggle.
19:54It's an efficient killing method.
19:58And one that's perfectly suited to this environment.
20:01But success can look very different when a season changes.
20:07For a time, Cretaceous North Africa had two deadly killers.
20:12By exploiting different environments, they didn't compete and could coexist.
20:18Dominating their chosen habitats.
20:21Spinosaurus was a specialist.
20:24But this came with risks.
20:26Small environmental changes can make it vulnerable.
20:36And this area is prone to seasonal droughts.
20:51With the rivers drying, Spinosaurus' usual food supply has disappeared.
21:06Other animals retreat to a few remaining pools.
21:10Some, the Spinosaurus would do well to be wary of.
21:21The smaller crocs aren't the problem.
21:27Sarcosuchus, a giant 12-metre crocodile.
21:30Reptiles like these can survive droughts by effectively hibernating during times of hardship.
21:45Spinosaurus can't.
21:59As an active hunter, its metabolism demands a regular supply of food.
22:04Although it is a specialist, it isn't confined to the rivers.
22:09In tough times, it too can hunt on land.
22:14Sarcosuchus!
22:16Sc지�umon!
22:17Sarcosuchus!
22:26Sarcosuchus!
22:32Sarcosuchus!
22:34Sarcosuchus!
22:37Spinosaur fossils from other parts of the world have given us more details about their
22:59diets in 2004 a dramatic fossil was recovered from Brazil part of the neck of a pterosaur
23:10embedded within one of the vertebrae was a tooth it was the unmistakable shape of a spinosaur tooth
23:22the stomach contents of another spinosaur baryonyx from England was found to contain some bones of a
23:32juvenile iguanodon a plant-eating dinosaur in spite of their specialization clearly
23:39spinosaurs weren't exclusively fish eaters but hunting and catching prey isn't easy
23:48particularly when they're already alert
24:18hunting on land Spinosaurus is also forced into direct competition with any large
24:25predators living in the same environment and here that can only mean one animal
24:36so
24:39and I'm sorry
24:43to the cameras
24:50on stardalt
24:57on
25:07Contests over carcasses are common.
25:12But outcomes of such fights are far from guaranteed.
25:16Risk of injury for big animals is acute.
25:22Modern Komodo dragons are often killed in fights over carcasses.
25:26More than three meters longer, Spinosaurus has signs and power on its side.
25:45But Carcharodontosaurus has the more lethal bite.
25:56This time, the Spinosaurus triumphed.
26:07But the balance of power between these two deadly killers is a precarious one.
26:12In 2008, a Spinosaurus vertebrae was recovered.
26:29Part of the tall neural spine of the bone was broken off.
26:34It appeared to have been bitten in half.
26:37It's been suggested that the bite was inflicted by Carcharodontosaurus.
26:48Spinosaurus was the last and the largest of the fish-eating dinosaurs.
26:54But ultimately, these specialists were doomed.
26:57Something way beyond their control caused their downfall.
27:0294 million years ago, the climate changed.
27:08Global sea levels began to rise.
27:11The swamps and rivers that Spinosaurus thrived in gradually were lost.
27:18With their loss, Spinosaurus' specialism became a vulnerability.
27:25And the biggest predator ever known to have walked the Earth disappeared.
27:29Still to come here on BBC HD tonight, a slightly more modern era next, in the age of the Regency.
27:43I did not realize that the story was in the age of the Regency.
27:49Did you not see that the B الش tank was hidden in the age of the Regency?
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