Walking with Dinosaurs - Episode 5: Spirits of the Ice Forest

Description

Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television mini-series that was produced by the BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the UK in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Branagh's voice replaced with that of Avery Brooks. It is the first entry of the Walking with... series and used computer-generated imagery and animatronics to recreate the life of the Mesozoic, showing dinosaurs in a way that previously had only been seen in feature films. The programme's aim was to simulate the style of a nature documentary and therefore does not include "talking head" interviews. The series used paleontologists such as Peter Dodson, Peter Larson and James Farlow as advisors (their influence in the filming process can be seen in the documentary The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs).

The Guinness Book of World Records reported that the series was the most expensive documentary series per minute ever made.

Episode Five: "Spirits of the Ice Forest"

106, 000, 000 BC - Middle Cretaceous - Antarctica

This episode focuses upon a clan of Leaellynasaura as they struggle to survive in the south polar region over the course of a year. The small ornithopods are seen building nests, rearing their young, avoiding predators and defending their territory against a rival clan. During the long polar winter, they use their large eyes to forage in perpetual darkness. Other animals include migratory herds of Muttaburrasaurus, the giant amphibian Koolasuchus and predatory polar allosaurs one of which dispatches the matriarch of the Leaellynasaura colony.

    * Koolasuchus
    * Leallynasaura
    * Australovenator
    * Muttaburrasaurus
    * Steropodon, live-acted with a South American Coati
    * Unidentified Pterosaurs
    * Tuatara
    * Weta
    * Biting midge

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