Walking with Beasts quotes

In the Oligocene, large parts of the world have become highly seasonal. Here in Mongolia, long dry seasons are broken by short, violent wet seasons. The climate has shaped not only the environment, but also the animals. It is survival of the meanest. And they don't come much meaner than this: a giant Enteldont, the bully of the plains. These are distant relatives of the pig. Two metres tall, aggressive and built like tanks, but with a brain no bigger than an orange.

A second male Entelodont arrives at the waterhole. During the mating season, these huge scavengers get very aggressive towards each other as they try to establish who is top hog. Entelodonts are their own worst enemy.

[about the Indricotheres] Not since the dinosaurs has nature got this big. Indricotheres are related to rhinos, but their size is in a different league. A fully grown male stands over 7 meters tall, and weighs in at 50 tons, that's equivalent to eight modern rhinos. No other land animal even comes close.

Hyaenodon jaws have a bone-shattering force of over 1,000 pounds per square inch. One bite breaks the Chalicothere's neck.

The dry season is transformed the landscape. It's as if the whole life-blood has drained out of the plains. This is what it means to be a seasonal world - it hasn’t rained for months, there is no greenery left to eat, and there is precious little to drink. Here in Mongolia, mammals have evolved to cope with even these kinds of conditions, but at this time of year they are put under the greatest stress.

[about the Indricothere calf] He is never again going to have the protection of his mother. The rest of his life, he will spend alone.

Some animals can show emotion. These unique creatures are reacting to the death of one of their group with what can only be described as grief.

This is the northern end of the Great African Rift Valley: a staggering landscape, created by fractures in the continent. This is the cradle of evolution for mankind!

[about Australopithecus] A type of ape has evolved that clearly shows the first signs of becoming more human. What makes them closer to us than other apes is not their brains, which are only one third of the size. It's not their skin, which is hairy. It's something they do that other apes just don't. Something that will one day lead them to be described as a missing link. These apes walk upright!

One reason that our origins begin here in Africa is that it's an ideal habitat for an upright ape. A patchwork of forest and savannah. Unlike many of the creatures here, the Australopithecus are comfortable in both the trees and the open spaces.

[about Deinotherium] These are the biggest animals in the Australopithecus world. They are as tall as giraffes, but weigh fourteen times as much. Even young Deinotherium are worth avoiding.

Dinofelis is a killer of Australopithecus. These cats don't have the speed to bring down fast-running herbivores, so specialize in slower prey that they can kill easily and eat quickly. Later members of the human family will rise up the food chain to become top predators. But in this era, our relatives are prey.

Meat is only a small part of the Australopithecus diet, but it will become more important in the future, for more human-like apes. An increase in meat eating will go hand in hand with an increase in brain size. Meat contains nutrients vital for big brains. Intelligent apes will develop special tools to get meat, until eventually they'll make weapons, and won't be scavengers, but predators.

Apes have a long road to travel yet. Outwardly they are almost human, but their brains are no bigger than a chimpanzee's. It will be at least another two million years before any ape has a decent conversation.

For 40 million years, the plains of South America have been ruled by an awesome group of predators. The aptly named "Terror Birds". But recently all this has changed. A new breed of killer has arrived, one fierce enough to terrorize the Terror Birds. Smilodon, the fabled sabre-tooth. The most powerful big cat of all time!