Walking with Monsters

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Walking with Monsters
The cover of Walking with Monsters
Genre Documentary
Developed by Andrew Wilks
Narrated by Kenneth Branagh
Theme music composer Ben Bartlett
Country of origin UK
Language(s) English
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Tim Haines
Producer(s) Chloe Leland
Running time 2 hr (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel Discovery Channel
Original airing November 5, 2005
Chronology
Related shows Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts
External links
Official website

Walking with Monsters (also distributed as Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters or Walking with Monsters: Life before Dinosaurs) is a three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles. It is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and by Avery Brooks in the American version. Using state-of-the-art visual effects, this prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs shows for example how a two-ton predatory fish came on land to hunt. The series draws on the knowledge of over 600 scientists and shows nearly 300 million years of Paleozoic history, from the Cambrian Period (530 million years ago) to the Early Triassic Period (248 million years ago). It was written and directed by Tim Haines.

As with some of the other BBC specials, it was renamed in North America, where its title was Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters. It has also aired as a two-hour special on the Canadian and American Discovery Channel.

At the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006 it won the Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More).

Contents

[edit] Episode One

The first episode begins with an illustration of the giant impact hypothesis: approximately 4.4 billion years ago when the Earth was formed, it is conjectured that a planet-like object referred to as Theia collided into the early Earth, dynamically reshaping the Earth and forming the moon. The episode then jumps ahead to the Cambrian Explosion, showing the first diversification of life in the sea. Strange predators called Anomalocaris feed on Trilobites, fight with each other, whereupon the wounded loser is attacked and nibbled on by a school of Haikouichthys.

The Haikouichthys are said to evolve into Cephalaspis, an armored jawless fish which is said to have the first good sense of touch. One Cephalaspis is chased by a Brontoscorpio — a giant scorpion — but due to her electric touch sensing ability, she dodges the attack and the Brontoscorpio gets eaten by a Pterygotus, a 3 m long eurypterid hiding in the sea floor. Cameroceras also live in these waters. The film also shows a school of Cephalaspis swimming from the ocean to rivers where they spawn. A group of Brontoscorpio crawl on land and also arrive at the Cephalaspis's spawning pool. The Brontoscorpio feast, but there's too many Cephalaspis for them to eat at once. One Brontoscorpio moults and misses the feast.

Hyneria attacking the shark Stethacanthus, as depicted in Walking With Monsters.
Hyneria attacking the shark Stethacanthus, as depicted in Walking With Monsters.

Then the show moves on to the Devonian, when Cephalaspis has evolved into Hynerpeton (though it must first pass through the lobe-finned fish stage), amphibian-like tetrapods. Though they can go on land, Hynerpeton have to keep wet, and must return to the water, where sharks like Stethacanthus and a two ton killer fish, Hyneria, can hunt them down. Later a Stethacanthus is eaten by a Hyneria. One male Hynerpeton finds a mate, but just after spawning, he and his mate are ambushed by a Hyneria. They escape to land, but the narrator explains Hyneria has strong fins that can propel herself out of the water. The episode ends with the male Hynerpeton gets eaten by the Hyneria, which has crawled onto land. And right at the end the narrator says that amphibians leave the waters and their eggs change. They have a hard shell which protects the young inside. The First Reptiles Evolved. The spider is about to attack them.

530 Million Years Ago — Cambrian — the Chengjiang biota, China:
418 Million Years Ago — Silurian — South Wales, UK:
Filming Location: Devil's Postpile National Monument, California, USA
360 Million Years Ago — Devonian — Pennsylvania, USA:

[edit] Episode Two

The second episode shows the swampy coal forests of the Carboniferous. It explains that because of a much higher oxygen content in the atmosphere, giant land arthropods evolved, such as a Mesothelae (a member of the primitive spider suborder), Meganeura, a dragonfly and Arthropleura,a huge millipede relative. A Mesothelae hunts down a Petrolacosaurus, the descendant of Hynerpeton from the first episode. she comes back from her hunting expedition only to find her burrow has flooded. Not only that, the Petrolacosaurus she caught is stolen by a Meganeura. On the Mesothelae's search for a new burrow, she was chased by an Arthropleura, which is later killed in a fight with a Proterogyrinus, a huge, seven-foot amphibian. The Mesothelae finally chases a Petrolacosaurus out of its own burrow and moves in. Thunder, rain and a forest fire pours in, devastating the life around. At last, only some animals survive...including Petrolacosaurus, who finds the dead body of the Mesothelae (the animal was hit by lightning) and begins to feed upon the spider's carcass.

Mesothelae chasing a small reptile, Petrolacosaurus eating a fly
Mesothelae chasing a small reptile, Petrolacosaurus eating a fly
Edaphosaurus confronting a smaller Seymouria.
Edaphosaurus confronting a smaller Seymouria.

The episode then moves on to the early Permian, where the swamp-loving trees of the Carboniferous have been replaced with more advanced conifers that are better adapted to survive in a changing climate. Petrolacosaurus has evolved into Edaphosaurus, a pelycosaur (this is impossible, as Petrolacosaurus was a diapsid reptile, related to modern lizards, snakes, crocodiles, and birds, whereas Edaphosaurus was a synapsid reptile, related to modern mammals). They live in herds and have outgrown their arthropod contemporaries in size so they are no longer a threat to them. A female Dimetrodon, another pelycosaur, hunts down a baby Edaphosaurus after dispersing a herd of them. She is getting ready to lay eggs. She abandons her kill when the scent of blood attracts male Dimetrodon. She forms a nest on a hill and while she lays her eggs, she is watched by a Seymouria. Some time after laying her eggs, another female Dimetrodon tries to take over her nest. They fight for an entire day, and the original female manages to win. But she is weakened and has her right eye bitten out. The Seymouria takes the chance to steal some eggs in the mother's weakened state. Luckily, a male Dimetrodon eats the Seymouria and the eggs are unharmed. But when the eggs hatch, the mother-young bond is severed. This episode ends with the female Dimetrodon joining other adult Dimetrodon to cannibalize some of the young Dimetrodon while they race to the trees and hide in dung to escape. At the end the narrator says that the reptiles evolve to tighten their grip on land, evolving into "new reptiles."

Filming Location: Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Florida, USA, and some painted or computer-generated backgrounds. A model of a fallen rotted-out Lepidodendron or Sigillaria trunk is sometimes used as a prop.
300 Million Years Ago — Carboniferous — Kansas, USA (in a coal forest):
Filming Location: Inyo National Forest, California, USA
280 Million Years Ago — Early Permian — Bromacker Quarry, Thuringia, Germany:

[edit] Episode Three

Gorgonops as seen in Walking with Monsters
Gorgonops as seen in Walking with Monsters

The third episode is set in the Late Permian, on the supercontinent Pangaea, which was covered by a vast and inhospitable desert. In this arid climate, early therapsids, which are described as more "mammal-like" than reptile, are shown fighting to survive. The programme starts with an old Scutosaurus, an ancestor of turtles, being killed by a female Gorgonops. She then joins other members of her kind at a small waterhole but scares them off at first. Other inhabitants include Diictodon, a small burrowing dicynodont (a type of mammal like "reptile"). In the pool itself is a large amphibian Rhinesuchus, which is caught by the female Gorgonops in desperation, as she latches onto his jaw but escapes and returns to the waterhole after being wounded by the strength of the Gorgonops. A herd of Scutosaurus arrive and eventually drink the waterhole dry. The female Gorgonops tries to nab some Diictodon but is unsuccessful. She returns to the waterhole and un-earth a baby Rhinesuchus wrapped in a "cocoon" which it utilized to live through the drought. Because it is in a torpid state, it is helpless and is eaten by the Gorgonops. The Gorgonops is eventually killed by a sandstorm which is a foreshadowing of the oncoming Permian-Triassic extinction event. The scene ends with a description of the evolution of the tuber-eating Diictodon into the later and much larger Lystrosaurus.

Scutosaurus, as seen in BBC's Walking with Monsters
Scutosaurus, as seen in BBC's Walking with Monsters

Lystrosaurus live in the early Triassic. The world's number of Lystrosaurus is high, and the animals must migrate constantly to find plants to eat. As the Lystrosaurus herd cross a ravine, several Euchambersia attack. The program claims they may have powerful poison in its bite, helping to eventually kill the bitten Lystrosaurus. As the Lystrosaurus cross a lake, they are attacked and eaten by several starving Proterosuchus, crocodile-like reptiles. Meanwhile, dragonflies are the prey of choice of a small reptile called Euparkeria that can run and hop on its hind legs due to evolved hip structure. Euparkeria will, according to the film, evolve into dinosaurs, which will dominate the Earth, leaving the mammals trapped under the shadows of dinosaurs for the next many million years.

Euparkeria as depicted in Walking With Monsters.
Euparkeria as depicted in Walking With Monsters.
250 Million Years Ago — Late Permian — Siberia, Pangaea:
Filming Locations: La Palma, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands
248 Million Years ago — Early Triassic — Antarctica, Pangaea:
Filming Locations: La Palma, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands

[edit] Artistic Touches

As in the entire Walking with line of films, the animals sometimes interact with the camera:

  • A Brontoscorpio stings the camera and breaks it.
  • Another Brontoscorpio bumps the camera with its claw as it crawls onto land.
  • A Hynerpeton knocks the camera while he is swimming, so does a Hyneria.
  • A Hynerpeton breathes on the camera.
  • A Hyneria splatters water on the camera while diving back into the water.
  • A Mesothelae crawls on the camera, and so does an Arthropleura.
  • A Mesothelae kicks dirt on the camera when she crawls over it.
  • A Dimetrodon shakes intestines to avoid eating the feces inside, and most of the feces and blood splats onto the camera.
  • A Dimetrodon digs up some dirt, and it lands on the camera.
  • A baby Dimetrodon splatters some dung on the camera when it jumps in a pile of it.
  • A Gorgonops sniffs the camera.
  • A Gorgonops splatters water on the camera when it jumps in some water.
  • A Diictodon looks curiously at the camera.
  • A Proterosuchus knocks the camera while it is swimming.
  • A Lystrosaurus bumps and sniffs the camera.

[edit] Body Part Close-Ups

Occasionally, the camera gets a close-up of certain body parts of animals. Here are the list of body part close-ups:

[edit] Palaeontological inaccuracies

See more info on Walking with...#Palaeontological inaccuracies

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Because the series takes an artistic license with regards to its views on evolution, there are a number of inaccuracies especially related to ancestor-descendant relationships. According to the cladistics viewpoint which is favored by modern evolutionary biologists, one can never scientifically claim that a particular fossil form must be directly ancestral to another life form (fossil or not), at most it can be claimed what fossil forms are likely basal to what other life forms.[2][3] Not only does the series repeatedly suggest this anyway, many of the claimed 'direct ancestors' are not even considered basal:

  • Cephalaspis was not the ancestor of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) or tetrapods. Gnathostomes (in the form of placoderms and acanthodians) appear in the fossil record before Cephalaspis, probably originated from, or are closely related to, thelodonts, instead. Furthermore, even though Cephalaspis was found only during the early Devonian, it is shown being pursued by the Late Silurian Brontoscorpio.
  • Diictodon, Gorgonops and Rhinesuchus are only known from South Africa, yet in episode 3 they are portrayed living with Scutosaurus, which lived only in Siberia.However, the Gorgonops is intended to be a generic gorgonopsid.
  • In the series, Petrolacosaurus is incorrectly identified as an ancestral synaspid, when in fact, it was an early diapsid and could therefore not have been the ancestor of any synapsids (e.g. Edaphosaurus). The most basal synapsid, Archaeothyris, would have been a more suitable candidate.
  • The makers of Walking with Monsters originally intended to portray Megarachne. During production, Megarachne was reidentified as a freshwater eurypterid, and as such, the giant spider was renamed "Mesothelae," which is actually a suborder of spider.

[edit] Criticism

See more info on Walking with... Inaccuracies

Some viewers criticize Walking with Monsters to be an overly dramatic presentation of speculation as fact. [1] (see editorial review)

In the "Trilogy of Life" documentary, included on the Walking With Monsters DVD, the producers of the "Walking With" trilogy state that their intention was not to write a scientific thesis but to bring prehistoric animals to life. The documentary also states that science is littered with mistakes (some scientists might even say that science only progresses by making mistakes) and that while scientists can make guesses as to how these prehistoric creatures might have looked or behaved while they were alive, there is no guarantee that these guesses are correct and in this case, we have no way of knowing for sure.

[edit] Evolution According to the Program

Haikouichthys → Cephalaspis → Hynerpeton → Petrolacosaurus [4] → pelycosaurs (Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, etc} → therapsids (Gorgonops, Diictodon) → Lystrosaurus

Euparkeria → dinosaurs (Allosaurus, etc)

Brontoscorpio → Mordern scorpion

Meganuera → Dragonfly

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Originally identified as Megarachne, which was thought to be a giant spider, and was depicted as such; but in the story renamed as Mesothelae (which is a suborder of spiders, not a genus or species) when the fossil Megarachne was reexamined and found to be a eurypterid.
  2. ^ Phylogenetics and Cladistics
  3. ^ Review of In Search of Deep Time by Henry Gee
  4. ^ The Hynerpeton does not evolve into a Petrolacosaurus in the adult stage, but with an egg. The Hynerpeton egg did not have a shell, and it evolves into Petrolacosaurus by evolving a shell and the Carboniferous part of the program starts with a Petrolacosaurus hatching from its egg.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

v • d • e
Impossible Pictures Productions
Walking with Dinosaurs • The Ballad of Big Al • Walking with Beasts • The Lost World • Chased by Dinosaurs • Sea Monsters •
The Legend of the Tamworth Two • Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets • T. rex - 100 Years in Pictures • The Story of One • Walking with Monsters •
Pickles: The Dog who Won the World Cup • Perfect Disaster • Ocean Odyssey • Prehistoric Park • Primeval
v • d • e
Walking with...
TV series
Walking with Dinosaurs · Walking with Beasts · Walking with Monsters
TV specials
Spin-offs
Other