Mega Episode: The Rise and Fall of Prehistoric Titans | SLICE EARTH

Описание: Today, insects are no longer giant except in our nightmares... But 320 million years ago, dragonflies measuring up to a meter, or centipedes the size of a human, dominated the land and air. Over the course of time, these fascinating giants became smaller and smaller, before disappearing altogether.

But who was responsible for their extinction? Scientists long believed that the decrease in oxygen after the Carboniferous period explained their disappearance. Insects are devoid of lungs and bloodstream and rely on microscopic holes on their bodies to oxygenate: the current composition of the air would suffocate their organs and paralyze their limbs. But this theory was put into question in 2009 when large fossils of Meganeuras that survived the oxygen depletion were discovered in the South of France… In 2012 others animals were suspected as being the source of the giant insects’ downfall. An American study points to prehistoric birds who were fierce predators and could have exercised pressure on insects and contributed to reducing their size… At the same time, a small Pterosaur was discovered in Germany, proving that these flying reptiles could also be aerial acrobats specialized in insect hunting. By combining state of the art scientific experiment, reconstitutions using CGI and interviews with paleontologists, stones will speak and explain why giant insects became extinct.

Documentary: A New Prehistory - Episode 1: Giant Insects - 00:00:04
Director: Emma Baus & Bertrand Loyer
Production: Saint Thomas Productions (2015)


How did birds evolve? How did feathers and flight appear? After a century of silence, these questions were raised again at the beginning of the 21st century when numerous species of beautifully preserved feathered dinosaur fossils were discovered in Liaoning, China.

By mixing images of fossils at the dig sites, ultra-realistic computer graphic reconstructions and interviews with paleontologists, The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons offers the viewer the opportunity to plunge into a modern scientific adventure. During this paleontological investigation, each new fossil helps to complete the puzzle of the transition from dinosaurs to birds and raises fresh questions. How did flight evolve in dinosaurs? Did they run along the ground to take off? Or did they glide from trees to land on their prey? Numerous parallel debates raged in the paleontological community until the discovery of Anchiornis huxleyi in 2009 – the missing link between dinosaurs and birds. More recently, in 2014, a completely new herbivorous dinosaur was dug up in Siberia showing that the presence of feathers went even further back in the dinosaur family tree. In fact, it’s possible that dinosaurs were feathered from the start of their appearance on Earth!

Documentary: A New Prehistory - Episode 2: The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons - 00:49:15
Director: Emma Baus & Bertrand Loyer
Production: Saint Thomas Productions (2015)


For a long time, paleontologists believed that mammals had won the battle of evolution by default, expanding unheeded after the demise of the dinosaurs. But discoveries in China at the beginning of the 21st century prove that our ancestors prepared their weapons long before that. But exactly when did mammals first appear? For the last decade, the debate has raged between geneticists and paleontologists.

Until the end of the 20th century, ancient mammals were known only through fragments of teeth but Jurassic deposits in Liaoning, China finally delivered remarkably well-preserved complete fossils: Eomaia scansoria (2002), the ancestor of placental mammals, Repenomamus giganticus (2005) the size of a dog and Volaticotherium antiquus (2006), a kind of flying squirrel. By using innovative technology such as 3D scanners scientists are able to trace the origins of their evolutionary advantages: lactation, hair, teeth and hearing. But despite these discoveries, the scientific community continued to argue over the family tree of our Mesozoic ancestors. For ten years, the debate raged between two opposing teams in the pages of the scientific publication, Nature. To understand our origins one crucial question remained unanswered: when did the now-dominant placental mammals separate from marsupials? Then in 2011, Juramaia sinensis meaning “Jurassic Mother from China” was discovered. This fossil pushed our family tree back another 35 million years, proving that our ancestors were around almost 160 million years ago…

Documentary: A New Prehistory - Episode 3: The Dawn of Mammals - 01:39:45
Director: Emma Baus & Bertrand Loyer
Production: Saint Thomas Productions (2015)

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