Deadly Dinosaurs Deadly Pole to Pole

My name's Steve Backshall...

'..and this is Deadly Pole To Pole!'

Oh!

From the top of the world to the bottom.

Whoa!

Deadly places...

deadly adventures...

and deadly animals.

And you're coming with me every step of the way!

On Deadly, we've shown you the biggest,

fastest and strongest in the animal kingdom.

Whoa!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

But there's a group of beasts

that would give our modern-day marvels a real run for their money.

And to meet them, we've come for a night at the museum,

The Natural History Museum in London.

I'm talking about the terrible lizards...

the dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs and their oceangoing relatives, the marine reptiles,

were some of the most deadly beasts to have ever lived.

From the humongous herbivores

to the cunning carnivores,

I'll be seeing how our modern marvels

could give us a clue how they behaved.

He looks like a dinosaur.

Keep rolling, keep rolling!

I'll even be getting pretty close to an ultimate killer.

Get ready. We're about to take Deadly to a whole new era.

The Deadly crew and I have filmed

the very largest animals walking our planet today.

But how would they shape up

to prehistoric megamonsters like this diplodocus?

The herbivores may have existed on a salad diet

but they were longer than anything to walk the earth today

and they weighed a whopping 12 tonnes.

That's more than a bus!

And this was important

because it wasn't just hunger that made them pile on the pounds.

Their excess weight also gave them protection from predators.

When crafty carnivores tried to push them around...

..they'd push back.

Because in the world of the dinosaurs,

size really did matter.

But just how big could the biggest dinosaurs get?

Believe it or not, the beast we're about to meet

could make even this diplodocus seem puny.

More than six times heavier than diplodocus...

..as long as two articulated lorries...

..this is Argentinosaurus,

the biggest dinosaur ever discovered.

Incredibly, when they first hatched,

they only weighed about the same as a small dog.

IT BELLOWS

But after 40 years of growth,

they could end up being nearly 15,000 times bigger.

At their peak, they could put on 40 kilos a day,

simply from gulping massive amounts of food.

The very largest Argentinosaurus were in fact so massive

that the remains of smaller dinosaurs

have been found drowned in their footprints.

This dinosaur took size to another level.

You'd certainly want to give it a wide berth.

But how does it shape up to the biggest beasts of our time?

The African elephant is the largest land animal in our world.

But even it is still a tenth the size of Argentinosaurus.

Luckily for the elephant,

it's the bulkiest brawler on today's block.

And so it can still employ

exactly the same techniques as Argentinosaurus

to protect itself from predators.

Even their smaller cousins, the Asian elephants, can be feisty

as I found out in India.

-THE ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

-Go, go, go!

Keep rolling, keep rolling!

Go, go, go, go!

A charge from an elephant is scary enough

but can you imagine what it would be like

from an animal a whopping ten times bigger,

like Argentinosaurus?

Nothing walking the earth today comes anywhere close

to the super heavyweights of the dino world.

So the true giants of the dino world were plant-eaters.

But there were plenty of vicious predators out there

trying to make them into a meal.

Not surprising then that so many turned into deadly defenders

with weapons to match.

These bony plates could be flushed full of colour to terrify attackers.

And how about this armour-plated, spiky battering ram,

wielding off predators with its club-like tail?

And there's a weapon used by

one of the best deadly defenders around today

that was originally used by a bulky prehistoric brawler.

We were lucky enough

to get a glimpse of it in the wilds of Nepal.

And there they are.

-They're still over there, look.

-Yeah.

Stop, stop, stop.

Ah, yes, that is extraordinary.

The rhino.

More specifically, here, the Asian one-horned.

Just standing there in the mist, he looks like a dinosaur.

Rhinos are found in Asia and Africa

and come in different shapes and sizes.

But they all share horns as a defensive weapon,

as well as a bad temper.

They're both eyeing us up quite cautiously.

-RHINO SNORTS

-Oh!

That little snort and turn towards us

was, I think, a bit of a threat.

And that's not good news

when you're in rhino charging distance.

If you think this looks intimidating,

there was a dino defender

that could give our modern, horned champion a run for its money.

If one horn's good,

then how about three?

This is Triceratops,

which literally means three-horned face.

But not only did he have more horns than a modern rhino,

he also had twice as much bulk...

..allowing Triceratops to battle both predators and rivals.

A true deadly defender

and a weapon-packing wonder.

IT BELLOWS

To avoid these heavy-duty defences,

many of the most frightening predatory dinosaurs

became smaller, sleek, lithe - which allowed them to become fast.

This meant that like many modern carnivores,

they were probably using stealth, speed and ambush

to catch their prey.

One of the stealthiest and deadliest was Allosaurus.

A sleek, fearsome super hunter.

He might not have had weight or weapons on his side

but what he probably did have was a sneaky speciality...

..ambush.

He's hoping to turn this plant-eater into lunch.

And these desert plains are the perfect place

for a surprise attack.

You can still see predators using this kind of trick today.

When it comes to modern hunting champions,

the leopard has got to be at the top of the tree,

using expert stealth and cunning to stalk its prey.

It uses cryptic colouration and a light-footed approach

to get within pouncing distance.

Rewind 150 million years and this Allosaurus is also closing in.

Like the zebra,

dino herbivores would probably have had alert senses,

making them alive to possible danger.

And that's just as well

because if Allosaurus could get within striking range undetected,

he could spring his lethal trap...

..explosive ambush!

He may have had the acceleration of an Olympic sprinter.

An Allosaurus could probably hit speeds of more than 25mph.

That's about the same as our leopard.

But its prey would have been able to run, too.

But not quite fast enough.

Allosaurus may be a sneaky surprise specialist

but his prey here wasn't much of a challenge.

So just how did dino predators take on giant prey?

Well, we can perhaps find a clue from some of today's top predators.

ROARING

Here, a pride of lions is hunting at night,

amongst a herd of elephants.

Alone, they wouldn't stand much chance against their massive prey.

But together, they can take down the largest animal to walk our planet.

Head back 95 million years

and these terrifying Mapusaurus

are on the hunt for the biggest animal to walk their world...

..our old friend Argentinosaurus.

Fossil evidence shows us Mapusaurus could have worked in teams,

just like the lions.

As with the big cats, they harry their prey,

hunting for a weaker individual.

And when they've found one,

they take it in turns to have a quick bite.

Using lion-like teamwork

to turn this massive plant-eater into a tasty takeaway.

Stealth, speed and cunning are all essential attributes

but they're not much use unless you can find your prey.

So prehistoric creatures, just like their modern counterparts,

had to have super senses.

Meet Spinosaurus.

At a stunning 17m in length and nine tonnes in weight,

Spinosaurus was a truly formidable predator.

IT ROARS

Standing at the river's edge,

Spinosaurus is biding its time.

It's on the hunt for one of these...

..a giant 8m long sawfish.

And to catch one,

it's going to employ a special fish-sensing secret weapon.

It lies in its snout.

This has loads of small holes,

which contain special centres.

They help them feel minute changes of pressure

caused by other creatures disturbing the water nearby.

It's a nifty trick I experienced first-hand,

when I met the Yacare caiman in Brazil.

I'm going to move into the water really, really carefully.

Just like Spinosaurus,

modern crocodilians have the exact same pressure sensors

in their snouts.

Now, let's try and see if we can get him

right in front of my lens.

If something like our fishy lure disturbs the surface of the water,

it attracts their attention.

Oh, it's such a creepy site!

Yes, go on, take it!

And with their target identified,

it's time for a snappy smash and grab.

And Spinosaurus probably wouldn't have been any different.

It even had the same long, cone-shaped pointy teeth

as our modern champion.

Perfect for gripping and killing wet, wriggling pray.

The big difference being

this predator was massive compared to the caiman

and it could have weighed 1,000 times more.

On top of that, it could also walk upright,

allowing it to not just fish for snacks

but hold its own on the land.

So Spinosaurus might have shared a super sense with our caiman

but he was head and shoulders above our present-day predator.

To get a sense of what a dino bite must have been like,

you really only have to look at the size of their jaws and their teeth.

But we've had a much better way of assessing modern animals

using a bite test gauge.

The Deadly crew and I have bite-tested many animals,

from Komodo dragons...

to hyenas...

Oh, lordy!

..and even sharks.

That's a good bite.

But our most impressive bite test gauge

was the saltwater crocodile.

Whoa!

It combines the same senses as our caiman

but with a vastly superior bite force.

I just got absolutely smashed!

Good Lord, the power of the animal is phenomenal!

If you thought that looked scary,

then imagine trying it

on this monster...

Longer than a stretch limo,

its jaws alone were as long as I am tall.

It really was the king of the crocodiles...

..a cold-blooded killer,

bigger than any croc alive today.

We can only estimate its bite force.

But it would have to be bigger

than anything we've ever featured on Deadly.

SNARLING

It may have been big enough to make even supermassive Spinosaurus wary.

One thing's for certain,

if I tried to use the bite test gauge on this monster,

it would rip it to shreds.

Given a choice,

I'd face the saltwater croc over this bad boy any day!

As with many modern animals,

ancient predators were not confined to the land.

Prehistoric seas were alive with life,

including the dinosaurs' oceangoing relatives,

the marine reptiles.

They lived at the same time as the dinos

and were just as deadly.

One of the most impressive was Opthalmosaurus.

These high-powered hunters were built for speed

and probably had amazing agility.

Opthalmosaurus was an ichthyosaur,

gliding through the ancient oceans like sleek, fish-seeking torpedoes.

This is Opthalmosaurus.

It has this incredible enlarged, lengthened rostrum or beak,

which would have been lined with conical teeth,

probably about the same size as my thumb.

The other thing that stands out are these enormous eyes.

You can fairly safely say that vision

was very, very important to this animal.

Excellent eyesight may have helped Opthalmosaurus

track down prey in the inky depths...

..as well as catching a meal in the shallows.

If this body design seems familiar, here's why.

These speedsters were probably pretty similar

to a modern underwater champion,

the dolphin.

And to get an idea of how good they were at zooming after prey,

dolphin hunting tactics might give us a clue.

Australia is a dolphin watcher's paradise.

Literally five minutes out of the dock

and already a whole bunch of bottlenose dolphins

have popped up right alongside the boat.

Look at this!

There's about six or seven animals and they are so close.

These ones are right up at the bow.

Their streamlined bodies and their powerful tails

mean they're incredibly fast.

They can easily outstrip a boat like this

and they can jump 16 feet out of the water.

That's as high as our soundman's boom pole.

Just like modern-day dolphins,

ichthyosaurs could have used their agility to their advantage,

possibly hunting by forming bait balls,

working as a team to speedily spin their prey

into a swirling fish dish.

There's only one way to appreciate the dolphin's skills

and that's to swim with them.

OK. Wish me luck, guys!

'It's time for a splash.'

'Without these motorised sleds,

'there's no way we'd be able

'to keep up with these streamlined animals.

'Dolphins and ichthyosaurs look uncannily alike.

'With a bit of imagination, I could be nose to beak with Opthalmosaurus.

'And if he was anything like as agile as these bottlenose dolphins,

'he would certainly have been deadly.'

So that's the land and the sea covered.

What about the air?

The modern world is full of some amazing aerial assassins.

Believe it or not,

they're all descended from the dinosaurs.

You probably think that all the dinos died out.

But scientists reckon a small group survived

and evolved into the birds we know today.

Their feathers, claws, beaks and even their skeletons

have a lot in common with the features of many dinosaurs.

But why did they take to the air in the first place?

Well, one little dino might give us a clue.

This is Microraptor.

It was covered with bird-like feathers

and spent most of its time in the trees.

Its claws evolved to help it grip trunks and branches,

while its flesh-ripping teeth show it was probably a predator.

Prehistoric lizards would certainly have been on its menu.

And they might not have been the easiest things to catch.

This dinosaur couldn't exactly fly

but it could certainly glide.

And what made Microraptors so good at gliding

is that it didn't just have two wings, but four...

..helping it chase down prey and swoop in for the kill.

But there have been millions of years between now and then.

So how has flight evolved?

Well, there's a common British bird

that shows us just how far it's come.

Unlike Microraptor,

most modern birds are capable of more than just gliding.

They can use powered flight as well.

One of the most ingenious flyers has to be

our beautiful common kestrel.

There is perhaps no more efficient, no more sophisticated hunter

than this wonderful bird of prey.

A kestrel's flying skills are in a different league

to the controlled falling of the early gliding dinos.

Kestrels are the world's master at hovering.

To demonstrate the control the kestrel has in flight,

we're going to show you one in action.

Let's see if we can get him to hover.

Yes! Look at that!

The kestrel's evolved the ability

to beat its wings with minute precision,

to turn itself into a sophisticated aerial attacker.

OK. Now are going to see...?

Yes! Wow!

Now, that was a classic falcon strike.

Thank you, Lloyd.

I mean, he's just so beautiful.

The kestrel is unquestionably

the master of hovering.

And perfecting flight is just the start

of our modern marvels' mastery of the air.

In leaving the ground, our aerial attackers

have taken the dinosaurs' stealth, speed and cunning to the skies.

From silent owls capable of stealthy flight

to speedy peregrines faster than any animal on earth.

And the clever bald eagle, capable of a cunning attack.

They really are a soaring success.

But there's another bone-crunching brute

that no deadly dino show could be without

and I'm about to meet him.

On Deadly, we've featured many of the planet's most exciting

and most powerful predators.

But nothing that's alive today could match the king of the dinosaurs,

the T Rex.

The mighty T Rex lived around 65 million years ago

in what is now North America.

It's probably the most famous dino of all time.

And there's a very good reason for this.

T Rex was devastatingly deadly.

When I'm assessing a deadly animal,

I look at all of its capabilities in turn.

And if you do that with a T Rex,

the results are incredibly impressive.

First of all is its vision.

Both of the eyes look forward,

which is the way with all modern predators, including human beings.

It means that they have binocular vision,

which means they had depth perception.

So their eyesight is certainly much better

than a lot of people think.

Then there's their sense of smell.

The nasal cavities are very big,

the part of the brain that processes scent is enormous,

so they could certainly smell their prey.

And then there's that bite!

They have a massive, bony skull and huge teeth.

There's no doubt that if I was to get anywhere near this

with my bite test gauge, it would destroy it.

But I don't think I'd live to tell the tale.

And when put to use, all those deadly qualities

meant T Rex had no trouble finishing off humble herbivores.

Even the ones packing weapons.

And if it could make mincemeat

of heavily armoured beasts like Triceratops,

it certainly wouldn't have any trouble

taking on any of our modern deadly contenders.

So the dinosaurs and their relatives

could probably outgun our modern-day marvels

in plenty of different categories.

They were certainly plenty big...

..they were excellent at being powerful...

..and they had formidable weapons.

But even with these awesome abilities,

the dinosaurs were doomed.

Despite their deadliness,

nothing could save them from a catastrophic event

that changed life on Earth for ever.

65 million years ago,

a giant asteroid slammed into the Gulf of Mexico.

In the disaster that followed,

our giant dinos disappeared.

But perhaps that's no bad thing

because in their place,

our modern marvels had a chance to evolve,

giving us the wonderful world we know today.

Join me next time for more Deadly Pole To Pole.