It is the beginning of a period in Earth's history known as the Cretaceous. And the movement of the continents is not only breaking up the giant northern and southern landmasses, but it continues to push up sea levels. This has opened new seaways and coastlines.
“Giant of the Skies” · Season 1, Episode 4
In this episode: Narrator (4)
Next to the Ornithocheirus, the birds look no bigger than insects. However, their tiny feathered wings are more resistant to damage than the skin membrane of the pterosaur, especially among the branches and twigs of dense forests. In the far future, the pterosaurs will surrender the skies to the birds.
Our Ornithocheirus has yet to mate. Worse still, his fruitless exertions under the blazing sun have taken a heavy toll. Heat stress and lack of food have all but killed him. The king of the skies has lost his majesty.
[Later, the old male lies dead on the shore]
His life has run full circle. In his time he travelled the globe, but death finds him here, in the very same place where he first mated, some 40 years ago. On the beach around him are others who lost out in this struggle to reproduce.
[A young Ornithocheirus feeds on the old male's carcass]
But nature is seldom wasteful. They have become food for the next generation.
The pterosaurs continued to rule the skies for millions of years, while on land, the dinosaurs spread to every part of the globe. In the next episode, we will see how they even conquered the most extraordinary environment of all: the dark forests of the South Pole.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Walking with Dinosaurs pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.