Great Survivors like Bradycneme and Magyarosaurus

In this episode we explore the dinosaur’s extraordinary ability to survive and witness how they have transformed over millions of years into some of the most alien-looking animals the world has ever seen. These Great Survivors included: Bradycneme, Magyarosaurus and Hatzegopteryx.

Great Survivors of Planet Dinosaur

This astonishing capacity to evolve into ever more diverse and bizarre forms meant that it helped them. Not only spread throughout the world, but also dominate life upon it.

Dinosaurs lived on Earth for more than 160 million years. Most famously, throughout the Jurassic Period, but it was the later Cretaceous Period that the biggest, baddest and most bizarre, great survivors of the dinosaurs lived.

By the end of the Cretaceous, dinosaurs were flourishing in every continent. Even dinosaurs that had been around for over 100 million years, like the giant plant-eating Sauropods, were still thriving.

Magyarosaurus

Back then, Europe was a series of large islands. On one of them, Hateg Island, a giant dinosaur showed a most surprising adjustment to island life.

Magyarosaurus

Cut off from everywhere else, Hateg Island had its own unique collection of animals. Bradycneme is one of the predators here. Magyarosaurus, a plant-eater, is the potential prey and its the youngest that are at the greatest risk from predators.

Hateg is an island where much is not as it appears and the great survivors flourished.

Bradycneme

This is a world turned upside down. They may look like giants, but Magyaroaurus, from Hateg Island, stood no taller than a pony. Weighing around 1 ton, they are a fraction of the aize of their mainland relatives and weigh at least 70 times less than their cousin Argentinosaurus.

Bradycneme

On the island of Hateg, there simply wasn’t enough food to support a plant-eating giant. So, over many tens of thousands of years they adapted creating a world where many of the dinosaurs were pocket-sized versions of their mainland relatives.

But, some animals are still huge.

The largest flying vertebrate ever known is a pterosaur with a 10m wingspan. Its as tall as a giraffe, standing over five and a half metres. Discovered in 2002, its skull alone is 3m long. This is Hatzegopteryx. A giant we assumed hunted from the skies.

Hatzegopteryx

That was until the discovery of a series of fossil footprints, in South Korea, unlike any found before. The footprints were those of a giant pterosaur and they showed that these creatures did not just fly.

Hatzegopteryx

But, could comfortable walk on all fours. It seems these monsters actually hunt on the ground. Able to hunt with impunity, Hatzegopteryx are the top predators, able to fly from island to island, this is their kingdom.

Hateg Island is just one example of the strange paths evolution can take. But, all over the world, bizarre shaped dinosaurs continually evolved throughout their long reign.

Therizinosaurs

Perhaps the strangest of all dinosaurs is one particularly weird group – Therizinosaurs. And the best example of these peculiar animals was announced in 2009. A skeleton revealed the secrets of this strange creature that lived in New Mexico 92 million years ago.

Nothronychus

The swamps we are shown are home to zinu-tyrannus, a mid-sized tyrannosaur, and they’re also home to this weird creature – Nothronychus.

Its actually a close relative of the tyrannosaur, but with one major difference. Nothronychus has given up eating meat. Here, the tyrannosaur is the top predator.

Therizinosaur had been a mystery for decades known only from tantalising fragments. That all changed with the discovery of Nothronychus. It gave us our clearest look at this strange group of dinosaurs.

Therizinosaur walked upright on short stocky legs. It had wide hips and a long neck. Its teeth showed that these weren’t the teeth of a killer. Far from its ferocious tyrannosaur cousins, this pot-bellied dinosaur had evolved into a strict vegetarian. But, armed with viciously long claws on its forearms, it was by no means defenceless.

By becoming a plant-eater Nothronychus has easy access to food. And because it walks on two legs, it can use its claws to pull down branches to reach leaves.

Nothronychus thrives here because it doesn’t compete with tyrannosaurs for food. But, just because you’re not competing for food does not mean you’re not seen as food.

These are dangerous places to be bottom of the food chain. Tyrannosaurs are predators that will eat anything, even one of their own, whether they’ve killed it or not.

And a discovery found in Montana of a number of meat-eating dinosaurs appeared to show that being such an unfussy eater could have dramatic consequences. It seems scavenging can hold hidden dangers.

Nothronychus

This Tyrannosaur wasn’t killed by Nothronychus. There’s a more deadly killer at work here. All the bones of the predators were found alongside the edge of an ancient, stagnant lake. And all of them died at the same time.

Tyrannosaur remains

Today, we see similar mass killings amongst birds.

And the killer is a fast-acting, naturally occurring, deadly disease; botulism. Botulism is caused by a bacteria that can thrive in rotting carcasses.

We think that the dinosaurs too might have been been victims of this lethal and invisible killer. Once a carcass is poisoned it is quickly passed on to any animal that eats it, with lethal results. But, plant-eaters like Nothronychus are usually safe from such deadly killers.

By completely changing its diet Nothronychus shows the extraordinary adaptability of the great survivors known as the therapod dinosaurs. These two-legged dinosaurs were the most diverse of all the dinosaur groups.

For predators like Mapusaurus and Majungasaurus to the bizarre Therizinosaurus the extraordinary tree-living Microraptor to the weird Gigantoraptor they evolved into an incredible range of shapes and sizes.

The tyrannosaurs were the most successful of the therapod dinosaurs and once tyrannosaurs dominated in an area many other meat-eating dinosaurs simply disappeared. But, those great survivors that had changed their diets flourished.

Gigantoraptor and Oviraptorids

Mongolia, 85 million years ago. One group of dinosaurs are thriving here, despite the fact that they live in the shadow of a deadly tyrannosaur. These are Oviraptorids, omnivores that eat animals and plants and so don’t compete directly for food with the biggest of killers.

The benefits are clear because some of there creatures become huge, like the 8m Gigantoraptor.

But, this group have another trick to help them survive, the way they nest.

In Mongolia in 1994, a nest of very large dinosaur eggs was discovered. An array of more than 20 eggs in pairs around the edge of a shallow pit.

And, what was most fascinating, was the fact that these eggs were massive.

These eggs were almost certainly those of Gigantoraptor. A preserved embryo had confirmed the identification.

Oviraptorids

In 2005, archaeologists found one particular fossil. This revealed two eggs contained within the body cavity. The eggs had been ready for laying.

Even more amazing were a number of other finds that revealed the nesting behaviour of these dinosaurs.

Brooding Dinosaurs

Three dinosaurs were discovered all sitting on top of nests of eggs. The dinosaurs were sitting in the centres of the nests with their long arms spread out. This was to protect the pairs of eggs arranged around them. These dinosaurs were brooding!

Looking after their eggs increases the chance of them hatching. And, having large eggs means the hatchling is more developed making it less vulnerable to predators. But, it takes longer to hatch – up to 80 days for Gigantoraptor. A time when both eggs and the brooding parent are permanently at risk.

Unwilling to leave the nest, in the presence of a tyrannosaur. The adult protects its offspring, first by hiding, then if that fails be going on the offensive. Protecting the nest means that Gigantoraptor young are more likely to survive. It now seems clear that the instinct to nurture. And care for a nest of eggs had its origins with the dinosaurs. Its a behaviour that was so successful its still widespread today with birds.

Planetary Cataclysm Great Survivors

But, the fossils show something else. These animals all died sitting on their nests. It seems that threats don’t always come from predators, sometimes the real danger comes from the most unlikely place. These dinosaurs were all buried alive after a massive sandstorm.

Planet Dinosaur was an incredibly diverse and varied place, with these creatures able to colonise every continent on Earth. Continually evolving and changing, their dominance of life on Earth was absolute. Yet, they were doomed!

Approaching Armageddon

An asteroid smashing into the planet would be the downfall of the dinosaurs.

Travelling 20 times faster than a speeding bullet, 15 kilometres across, it slammed into the Gulf of Mexico. The impact released more energy than a billion atomic bombs.

The initial impact triggered wildfires, massive earthquakes and tsunamis. But, the debris blasted high into the atmosphere was the most devastating consequence. This shrouded the planet in darkness that lasted for monrh.

The impact resulted in the collapse of the whole food chain and, the extinction didn’t just affect the dinosaurs. The cataclysm would affect all life on Earth. The Great Survivors time had come.