Walking with Beasts - Episode 1: New Dawn

Description

Walking with Beasts is a 2001 six-part television documentary produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. In North America it has been retitled Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, and the original Discovery Channel broadcast was narrated by Stockard Channing. Like its predecessor, Walking with Dinosaurs, it recreates life in the Cenozoic by using a combination of both computer-generated imagery and animatronics. However, the Miocene period is not included. Also like its predecessor, it was re-edited and re-narrated as a "second season" of Prehistoric Planet for the Discovery Kids lineup. Some of the concepts it illustrates are the evolution of whales, the evolution of horses, and the evolution of humans.

Episode 1: "New Dawn"

49 Million Years Ago - Early Eocene - Germany

The first episode depicts the warm tropical world of the early Eocene which was 16 million years after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Birds, including the giant carnivorous Gastornis, rule this world, while mammals are still very small. The setting is near the Messel pit in Germany. Due to volcanic activity, sudden bulk escapes of carbon dioxide trapped underneath lakes are a hazard. The episode centers around a Leptictidium family foraging for food. The Leptictidium is a small leaping shrew-like mammal. While the family is foraging, a female Gastornis successfully hunts down a Propalaeotherium and defends her territory from another Gastornis. Unfortunately, while the Gastornis is out hunting or abandoning the nest, a horde of Formicium (identified as giant carnivorous ants) ambush its egg, just starting to hatch. When the night arrives, we see a band of lemur-like Godinotia, socializing in the dark. The episode also shows the Ambulocetus, or the "walking whale", lying in ambush for its prey, both on land and underneath the water. Although it looks like a mammalian crocodile, the episode explains that from the Ambulocetus, all the whales would eventually evolve. It tries to attack the Leptictidium and Propalaeotherium, but fails. It finally manages to catch a small carnivore  in the dark of the night. The episode ends with an earth tremor unleashing trapped carbon dioxide out from underneath the lake, suffocating most of the surrounding life (but the Leptictidium featured are lucky this time).
    * Leptictidium
    * Gastornis
    * Ambulocetus
    * Propalaeotherium
    * Godinotia
    * Formicium

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