Clash of the Dinosaurs

Clash of the Dinosaurs
Genre	Documentary
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer(s)	Richard Dale, Bill Howard
Producer(s)	Tim Goodchild
Broadcast
Original channel	Discovery Communications
Original airing	December 13, 2009 (2009-12-13)

Clash of the Dinosaurs is a four-part television mini-series produced by Dangerous LTD for Discovery Channel. The show premiered on December 13, 2009 with a double-episode.

Featured genera

• Ankylosaurus
• Deinonychus
• Parasaurolophus
• Quetzalcoatlus (not actually a dinosaur, but a pterosaur)
• Sauroposeidon
• Triceratops
• Tyrannosaurus

Episodes

Extreme Survivors

In this, the first episode, the survival of the dinosaurs throughout the Mesozoic is discussed.

Perfect Predators

This episode tells how predators such as Tyrannosaurus, Deinonychus and Quetzalcoatlus caught their prey.

The Defenders

The defenses used by Sauroposeidon, Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurus and Triceratops against predators are featured here.

Generations

In this final episode, the dinosaurs' reproduction habits and evolution into birds is discussed.

Trivia

• The Dinosaurs In Clash Of The Dinosaurs Is The Same In The The Last Day Of The Dinosaurs.It's Form are also copy in the another dinosaur Show The Last Day Of The Dinosaurs.

Errors

• Tyrannosaurus is said to be a slow and lumbering animal that could only run 15 miles per hour, but recent studies suggest that it could outrun most of its potential prey, running at 20-25 miles per hour.
• The show depicted the juvenile Tyrannosaurus as a miniature version of the adult. However, a recent study by paleontologist Jack Horner suggests that juvenile Tyrannosaurus had elongated snouts and grew deeper skulls as they aged. Also, juvenile (and possibly adult) tyrannosaurs may have actually been feathered.
• Just two Deinonychus are shown taking on Sauroposeidon, a dinosaur much bigger than themselves. Two Deinonychus would have never done such a thing, and even if they did, the Sauroposeidon would have "pulped them", as Mathew Wedel puts it.^[1]
• Tyrannosaurus is shown attacking a Triceratops by biting its horns. This may seem like a stupid or foolish thing to do, but it is a behavior supported by fossils--a Triceratops skull with a broken horn has Tyrannosaurus tooth marks in the stub of the horn. But on the episode "The Defenders" tyrannosaurus was showed only targeting the horns of triceratops which is highly unlikely what a t-rex would do.
• Tyrannosaurus was not the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever live. There were noticeably larger ones, like Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, whose estimated sizes are only based on few and incomplete specimens (the largest T. rex (43 ft. long) is based on "Sue," a 90% complete specimen). It was, however, the largest carnivore in its local environment.
• In life, Triceratops had three claws on the front foot, while, in the progam, it was portrayed with four.
• The program states that Tyrannosaurus bones have been found in Asia. However, most regard the Asian Tyrannosaurus-like Tarbosaurus to be a separate species.
• Quetzalcoatlus is portrayed as scaly, while it was actually covered in hairlike pycnofibres.
• In the show's "dinosaur quiz" segment, Sauroposeidon is misspelled Sauroposeiden.
• Parasaurolophus is repeatedly mispronounced as "Parasauropholus".
• There is no evidence of Parasaurolophus using ultrasound as defense, and it is unlikely that this was acoustically possible.^[1]
• There is no evidence that Quetzalcoatlus used ultraviolet vision.
• One recent study reveals that Tyrannosaurus did not have cranial kinesis.
• Triceratops was a lot more social than in the program. It really lived in groups of females, males, teenagers, and babies in groups of hundreds, not in groups of three or six.
• Deinonychus was showed using it's hook claw to slash down on the hind of animals but since the claw was hook and was built for gripping, it is more likely use to help it hold on to animals not slash.
• When Tyrannosaurus attacks the Ankylosaurus It appeared it was trying to grab Ankylosaurus's side but this would be unlikely since it would also grab the armor and break it's teeth.
• Sauroposeidon was said it's only defense was it's massive size, it is true massive size is their best defense but they can also use their tail for a defense and roll on it's side when a raptor is on their back.
• The program sometimes seems to give the impression that all dinosaurs featured lived at the same time. While they are all from the Cretaceous, Deinonychus and Sauroposeidon lived about 110 million years ago, Parasaurolophus lived roughly 73 million years ago, and Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and Quetzalcoatlus lived 65 million years ago.
• In the last episode, it is shown that how birds evolved from dinosaurs, but in fact, Triassic bird footprint fossils have been unearthed which proves that birds did not evolve from dinosaurs in the Mid Jurassic or Cretacous, but were present in the Triassic.

Quote-mining controversy

After the series aired, paleontologist Mathew Wedel (who was interviewed for the series) strongly criticized the program, as he had been quote-mined. He was talking about the glycogen body of sauropods, mentioning the invalid theory that it served as a second brain and that its purpose is still uncertain. However, in the actual program, most of what he said had been removed, making it look like he supported the theory that it served as a second brain.^[1] After writing an angry letter to the show's creators, the scene was removed from future broadcasts and the DVD and Blu-ray releases.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Wedel, Mathew (15 December 2009). "Lies, damned lies, and Clash of the Dinosaurs". Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week. http://svpow.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/lies-damned-lies-and-clash-of-the-dinosaurs/. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 

External links

• Clash of the Dinosaurs at the Internet Movie Database
• Clash of the Dinosaurs at TV.com