BBC Planet Dinosaur 5 of 6 New Giants 2011 Part 2

these giants are so massive they've turned the sand beneath their feet into quicksand creating death traps with every step it's a danger that was graphically revealed in 2010 when an astonishing set of footprints were unearthed footprints that contained a deadly secret after months of painstaking examination some of the fossil footprints were found to contain bones of other animals one exposed the bodies of two mammals ten small dinosaurs two crocodiles and a turtle in total 18 animals were buried within a single step but becoming this big is not easy it requires some serious eating Argentinosaurus weighed around 75 tons a 6-ton African elephant has to eat for 18 hours a day to keep going Argentinosaurus weighs more than 10 times as much so how do they get enough food they turn themselves into the most efficient eating machines the world has ever known everything about food is designed to get the most food in and the most calories out with the least effort their long necks give them access to more food without moving but the way they eat is the crucial bit these giants don't waste time chewing they rip and gulp down leaves hope which are digested by bacteria in its massive gut not truly means it doesn't need a big heavy head with big teeth and muscular jaws which also means its neck can grow so long able to reach food no other animal can reach being so big means you're off the menu for most predators here there's a killer in a completely different league over 10 metres long and weighing around 4 tonnes this is mapusaurus a newly discovered killer on the block on its own even it is not a match for a fully grown Argentinosaurus but this giant killer is not alone for years it was thought that an adult Argentinosaurus would be too big for any predator to tackle but in 2006 a new discovery suddenly made even the biggest dinosaurs a lot more vulnerable as they dug into the Argentinian dirt they didn't just find one predator buried here the skeletons of at least seven mapusaurus of different ages and sizes were found together it suggested that this was a group a Giant Killer that appears to hunt in gangs and more than capable of taking on the very biggest dinosaurs not even a fully grown Argentinosaurus is safe from this group the best defense is there she is summons Matros horas is teeth a perfectly designed like blades to slice off chunks of flesh with praise so large a single bite isn't always faking it appears mapusaurus could just snack feeding from its victim without actually killing it the victim surviving to provide more food at a later date but even in a group these giant killers are never far away from danger attacking an animal more than ten times your weight carries grave risks even with the threat of predators hunting in gangs the phenomenal size of these giants will usually keep them safe but a giant needs to grow it's the younger smaller animals that are in greatest danger from giant predators like sarcosuchus and here in Africa there is nowhere to hide things are about to get even worse for the young Parrilla Titan around the river of giants there is another killer Carcharodontosaurus a predator always looks for the easiest kill the injured or young the parallel titan is all three in such a deadly game of tug-of-war there can only be one winner but the kill is still not certain Carcharodontosaurus can tackle this youngster but a herd of 45 ton adults is another matter injured but alive this youngster has a lucky escape encounters like this have left tantalizing clues behind amongst the bones of a peril a Titan we have found a Carcharodontosaurus tooth suggesting a predator-prey relationship they complete a global picture a pattern that is repeated across the world in Asia we find my minkasaurus and sin Raptor in North America did produce an Allosaurus and now Africa for every giant plant eater we find a giant predator living side by side and it's in South America where we have the biggest of all Argentinosaurus and mapusaurus two giants whose fates appear to be inextricably linked this Argentinosaurus wounded by a gang of Mapple souls has to come to its wounds out on the plane other keen-eyed predators are quick to spot a stricken and it's a prize worth waiting for and attracts carnivores from miles around mapusaurus are not only hunters like virtually every count of all today scavenged prey plays a huge part in their diet you we know enough about the biology of giant sauropods to estimate of this 70 ton animal 11 times as bone three and a half tonnes blood four tonnes is hide and skin 15 tonnes fat and 39 tons is meat enough to feed a whole ecosystem four days mapusaurus was reliant on the giant sauropods in life and death when the Argentinosaurus disappeared from south america 93 million years ago so did the giant predator mapusaurus it was the same story in Africa when parody Titan vanished Carcharodontosaurus followed it appears that these extinctions were linked and this story is repeated time and again when the giant sauropods died out the giant predators lost their main food supply and they too were doomed another picture on the past next on BBC one artist Tracy Emmons doing the digging into her family tree or it's spooky dramas your thing the fades are coming to BBC three now it's inevitable

Channel: 2011smeghead

Views: 971,619

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Id: 7mjqxLve8j8

Length: 14min 30sec (870 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 27 2011