Chased by Dinosaurs

Chased By Dinosaurs
Format	Documentary
Starring	Nigel Marven
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original airing	2002
Chronology
Related shows	Other shows in the Walking with... series

Chased by Dinosaurs is a BBC program featuring Nigel Marven as a time-traveller who encounters dinosaurs in the wild. The two-part series, a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs, was broadcast over Christmas 2002 and featured Nigel and his "team of fellow explorers" encountering prehistoric life over a large range of time, and seeing creatures not featured in the original series. A three part sequel, Sea Monsters, was later broadcast in 2003 and the similar series Prehistoric Park was produced by ITV in 2006. The series title wasn't used on screen, as it is the title for the Region 1 DVD (which also includes Sea Monsters).

Episode One: "Land of Giants"

Nigel Marvin travels back in time with his film crew. He travels to a nearby lake, where the Argentinosaurus nest every year. There Nigel sees a juvenile Argentinosaurus, where he is attacked by a Sarcosuchus. Nigel then coaxes it out of the lake by splashing a stick in the water. The Sarcosuchus lies on the shore. Nigel attaches a video camera to his head and walks towards it, and demonstrates its biting power by pushing a stick into its mouth and having the Sarcosuchus bite down on it. Later Nigel climbs up the volcanic slopes to get a panoramic view of the area to see the Argentinosaurus herd. Instead he finds a herd of Macrogryphosaurus. His search leads him all the way to the coast, where he views a colony of Pteranodon on the cliffs hunting fish. Nigel doesn't return to the campsite until night, where he finds that a large predator has attacked his tent, and left all the provisions littered across the surrounding ground. He finds a single theropod dinosaur tooth jammed in a can of meat. The next morning Nigel has set up an alarm system outside the camp so that if something breaks the laser tripwire, a loud alarm will sound, alerting Nigel. Later he tracks down the predator, where, around midday, Nigel hears a commotion further ahead. He finds a wounded Macrogryphosaurus in a rocky gully. He walks further upstream to find a smaller dead individual with a Giganotosaurus eating it. Later Nigel is shown flying over the ash-fields in an ultralight. Soon he finds another Pteranodon flock. After breaking away he sees an Ornithocheirus, one of the largest animals ever to fly. Soon Nigel discovers the Argentinosaurus herd far below, so he lands the ultra light nearby his jeep. He then drives off towards the herd and locates it without any trouble. After appreciating their gargantuan size, Nigel drives into a natural 'funnel', caused by a break in some trees. He then sets up some weighing scales designed for lorries. After several fruitless attempts, an Argentinosaurus steps on the scales, showing that it weighs 92.3 tonnes, and Nigel explains that that's the same as 30 African elephants. The next morning Nigel is driving the jeep 20 miles away from the camp, and finds a Macrogryphosaurus that seems to be running away from him, but he realizes that it is actually escaping a Giganotosaurus that is chasing them both. Nigel narrowly escapes the predator only to meet up with the herd later in the morning to find an entire pack of Giganotosaurus mobbing the herd. By the afternoon the pack has singled out a youngster, and is inflicting wounds, waiting for her to bleed to death. The hunt continues for the rest of the day and into the night, when filming is no longer possible and Nigel must leave. The next morning, Nigel finds the herd at the nesting site beside the lake. While the females are laying their eggs Nigel comments on what a magical ending this is for his dinosaur safari. Suddenly a Sarcosuchus lunges at him out of the water. Nigel just escapes.

Time: 100 Million Years Ago

Period: Middle Cretaceous

Place: Argentina

Hazards: Giganotosaurus, Sarcosuchus

Filming location: Tenerife, Canary Islands

• Argentinosaurus
• Sarcosuchus
• Pteranodon
• Giganotosaurus
• Ornithocheirus
• Macrogryphosaurus (Identified as an Iguanodont)

Episode Two: "The Giant Claw"

Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island, Australia, served as the main filming location of Chased by Dinosaurs: The Giant Claw.

Nigel searches the early Mongolia deserts and forests for Therizinosaurus, who has massive and very long claws. Nigel's tent is immediately trampled by a Saurolophus, but he still goes off for his adventure. On his journey, Nigel dashes across a nesting ground of Protoceratops, and deflects them from attacking him by using a red flag. He enters a forest ruled by Velociraptor, and finds a pack of them bringing down a big male Protoceratops. In the night, Nigel catches a scorpion and explains that they have been on the planet long before the dinosaurs, and are still alive today. He also finds a group of Mononykus and discovers they have feathers. The next morning he finds that the Mononykus have eaten his scorpion, and heads out of the denser parts of the forest. There he finds the nesting site of a Therizinosaurus, along with the embryo of one, but also finds herbivore dung around the area. Nigel cannot understand why it is scattered around the nest of Therizinosaurus which he thinks must be a predator. He continues his journey, and a group of Mononykus run past him, but he finds out that they are actually running away from a Tarbosaurus that is nearby. He narrowly escapes the predator and decided to head to a freshwater lake to see if there are any sings of Therizinosaurus there. He finds an entire skeleton of one, and reassembles one of the arms. He speculates that Therizinosaurus used the claws for disemboweling prey, but he gets even more confused as he also finds herbivore teeth amongst the bones. Before Nigel can continue searching, he finds a pack of Velociraptors hunting him. He escapes them by driving them off with a fog horn, and hears some noises by the lake. There, he finds a Tarbosaurus coming down to drink, and while observing it, he finally finds a Therizinosaurus. The two creatures fight each other, with the Tarbosaurus backing down after getting wounded by the huge claws of the Therizinosaurus. After the Tarbosaurus leaves, Nigel is surprised as he finds a whole herd of Therizinosaurus browsing on the trees, which meant that Therizinosaurus is actually a plant-eater that uses its sickle-claws to drag leaves towards its mouth. Nigel attempts to touch one, and he does. He continues observing it using his camera, and at the end, the Therizinosaurus licks Nigel's camera, which makes him fall.

Time: 75 Million Years Ago

Period: Late Cretaceous

Place: Mongolia

Hazards: Tarbosaurus, Velociraptor

Filming location: Fraser Island, Australia

• Saurolophus
• Protoceratops
• Velociraptor
• Mononykus
• Azhdarcho (Identified on website)
• Tarbosaurus
• Therizinosaurus

DVD

The two specials weren't released until 2004 when they were released as part of the Big Dinosaur Box Set which also included the previously released Walking with Dinosaurs and The Ballad of Big Al. The DVD has not been released individually. A Region 1 was released later that year as a separate DVD and also included Sea Monsters. Sea Monsters is not available in the UK, despite being a British production. DVD Publisher 2Entertain has stated that there are no plans for a British release in the foreseeable future.

Paleontological Inaccuracies

The series is very accurate, but there are a few depictions that directly contradict fossil evidence including:

• Sarcosuchus and Pteranodon did not live in South America 100 million years ago. Sarcosuchus lived much earlier in North Africa, and Pteranodon lived later in North America.
• Giganotosaurus was not the largest land predator of all time, Carcharodontosaurus was roughly the same size and Spinosaurus was even bigger.
• Velociraptor and Protoceratops probably could not be found in tropical forests. In fact, no tropical forests are known to have existed in the Gobi Desert 75 million years ago.
• Velociraptor, like in most films and TV programs of the time, is depicted with scaly skin, when we now know they were covered in feathers. However, the program was aired in 2002 and this discovery was not made until 2007, so can be forgotten.
• Ornithocheirus was not the largest flying reptile. This record belongs to either Hatzegopterex or Quetzalcoatlus. It was however the largest flying reptile of its time.
• The theropods are shown with pronated hands. In reality, theropod hands should be facing each other like a person about to applaud.

See also

• Paleoworld
• Dinosaur Planet (TV series)
• When Dinosaurs Roamed America

Chased by Dinosaurs is part of a series of BBC documentaries that also include:

• Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)
• Walking with Beasts (2001), depicting life after the dinosaurs
• Walking with Cavemen (2003)
• Walking with Monsters (2005), depicting life before the dinosaurs

The following are Walking With... series specials:

• The Ballad of Big Al (2000)
• Sea Monsters (2003)
• Prehistoric Park (2006)

The following are similar programs, produced by the BBC:

• "Prehistoric America (film)" (2003)
• "Monsters We Met" (2004)

References

External links

• Chased by Dinosaurs at the Internet Movie Database