Walking with Dinosaurs quotes

[about the sharks] One day these will be the most feared predators in the sea, but in these Jurassic waters, they themselves are prey.

These islands are regularly ravaged by violent tropical storms from the east, that are strong enough to tear up the shallow seabeds, smash corals, and kill thousands of marine animals.

The Jurassic is a golden period for giant marine reptiles. It will be another 90 million years before they disappear from the oceans, along with the extinction of the dinosaurs on land.

Marine reptiles were one of the glories of this ancient time, even though turtles are the only ones left today. But there was another major group of reptiles that shared the dinosaurs world: the flying pterosaurs. And as we shall see in the next episode, they were just as spectacular.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dawn, over a silent forest a few hundred miles from the South Pole. It is the end of months of total darkness, and as the sun's rays filter down through the trees, they reveal a cold, harsh world. Here there are polar dinosaurs, adapted to cope with extreme conditions. But even they struggle to stay alive.

It is the mid-Cretaceous period, and dinosaurs are now more widespread than ever, reaching every part of the globe. But one place is a special challenge: the South Pole. Here, a giant continent made up of South America, Australia and Antarctica is kept warm by ocean currents that are forced down from the equator to encircle it. Instead of ice caps, there are lush forests. But unlike the unchanging tropical climate elsewhere, Antarctica has seasons, from hot summers under midnight sun to cold winters of total darkness.

Leaellynasaura is a dinosaur that is adapted to this extreme climate. Throughout the winter they survive in the warm sheltered heart of the thick forest. But now in spring they emerge to feed on the fresh plant growth. They are just two meters long and their most distinctive feature is their large eyes, which help them find food in the dark winter.

[about the Koolasuchus] This bizarre looking creature is a relic from a time before dinosaurs. In most parts of the world, competition from crocodiles has driven these magnificent amphibians to extinction. But here the waters get too cold for crocodiles, and the world's last Koolasuchus survive, still patrolling the waterways, just as their ancestors did 150 million years before them.

The polar allosaur is a smaller descendant of the great carnivores of the Jurassic, 50 million years before. His type are rare in the Cretaceous, but they survive here at the South Pole.

The giant carnivore has killed the dominant female. It is a bitter blow. Winter is coming, and without a lead female there will be tension in the clan.

Life on the Poles is a remarkable evolutionary achievement for the dinosaurs. But eventually, a slight cooling in the world's climates will spell doom to these lush Antarctic forests. And without them, all these unique dinosaurs will also disappear.