| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_cast.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | !!New Dawn |
| 5 | [[folder:''Leptictidium'']] |
| 6 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evi_leptictidium_large.jpg]] |
| 7 | A rabbit-sized insectivore, and the ([[DecoyProtagonist claimed]]) protagonist of the first episode. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | * BigEater: It must eat constantly due to its high metabolism, being a mammal and not a reptile. |
| 10 | * BookEnds: The ''Leptictidium'' family survives and is back to patrolling the jungle floor for food, like when it was introduced. |
| 11 | * DecoyProtagonist: While introduced as the protagonist of the episode and used to personify the main theme of mammals diversifying but still remaining small, the ''Leptictidium'' stays mostly on the side while the plot gravitates to larger, more striking animals like ''Gastornis'' and ''Ambulocetus''. |
| 12 | * FragileSpeedster: Both smaller and weaker than other forest animals, but quick as a whip. |
| 13 | * TheMentor: The mother to her four young. She teaches to them how to survive in the forest. |
| 14 | * MixAndMatchCritters: A rabbit-sized kangaroo crossed with an elephant shrew. It also has bizarrely human-like hands. However, in real life, it might have been able to run like a theropod dinosaur rather than hop. |
| 15 | * TheNoseKnows: The family instinctively knows by smell that the ''Ambulocetus'' in front of them is dead at the end of the story. ''Leptictidium'' are portrayed with a very sensitive mobile "proboscis". |
| 16 | * PaletteSwap: The presumed Cretaceous ancestor appears darker, the ones in the episode appear with warmer colors, both have cryptic lines typical of jungle mammals. The Cretaceous specimen has the same color scheme of the ones shown after the dinosaurs. |
| 17 | * RiddleForTheAges: As explained in the making-off, and despite having whole skeletons, scientists still don't know if it really hopped like a kangaroo or run on two feet, like a theropod dinosaur. |
| 18 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: It is like a cross between a shrew and a tiny kangaroo. |
| 19 | * SleptThroughTheApocalypse: The family is deep in their den when the volcanic gas releases, but were lucky enough to be upwind of the lake. They wake up to find all their neighbors dead. |
| 20 | * WhosLaughingNow: After surviving the catastrophe, the youngsters inspect the carcass of the ''Ambulocetus''. |
| 21 | [[/folder]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:''Gastornis'']] |
| 24 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gastornis_running.jpg]] |
| 25 | A giant, flightless killer-bird, slightly taller than a human. It is both the largest animal, and the main antagonist of the episode. |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | * AllForNothing: The mother ''Gastornis'' spends months watching over a single egg, but it gets eaten by giant predatory ants right as it's hatching when she's out hunting. |
| 28 | * AnimalsNotToScale: It's described as weighing half a ton, but in reality was probably less than 500 pounds, never mind 500 ''kilograms''. |
| 29 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: It reproductive behaviour (lays one egg and only mother cares for it) is rather strange when comparing it to modern predatory birds, large ground birds, and large waterfowl (the closest living relatives of ''Gastornis''), which are virtually always either monogamous or primarily cared for by males and have multiple eggs. The fact it also keeps it unprotected for long periods is also unusual considering how much effort is being exerted for just one egg, but it's necessary for the ants to devour the chick without the mother noticing. |
| 30 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: At the time, there was a debate about whether ''Gastornis'' was truly predatory or actually an herbivore which used its beak to crack open nuts and grind tough vegetation. The program chose the former option, probably because it's cooler, [[ScienceMarchesOn but since then]] the latter option is now the one widely considered to be correct. |
| 31 | * BigBad: The main predator of the episode. |
| 32 | * BulletTime: Used while it charges a herd of ''Propalaeotherium''. |
| 33 | * TheDreaded: Most mammals are terrified of it. |
| 34 | * FeatheredFiend: As an avian macropredator, this is to be expected. |
| 35 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Even those who believed ''Gastornis'' was a predator at the time thought that it was an ambush predator rather than a sprinter as portrayed in the episode. And there were many decent-sized carnivore mammals and reptiles in the area at the time, so the narrator's claim that dinosaur-like birds are keeping the niche for themselves is pure shilling. |
| 36 | * MamaBear: Fiercely protective of her (only) egg. |
| 37 | * MonsterIsAMommy: It nurtures an egg. |
| 38 | * NoisyNature: The female mother ''Gastornis'' fights against a rival to defend her egg, and both birds are very noisy during the combat. In general, the ''Gastornis''es screech frequently throughout the story, even the newborn. |
| 39 | * RedRightHand: The featherless, red face seems to be there just to make it scarier. Carnivore birds with naked faces feed on animals larger than themselves (e.g. vultures), while all the potential prey in this episode is small. |
| 40 | * RuleOfCool: It was debated for a long time if ''Gastornis'' was vegetarian or carnivorous, and it turned out to be a herbivore. The show makes it the undisputed top predator. The narrator says it weighed "half a ton"; actually was not more massive than a modern ostrich (150 kgs). |
| 41 | * RuleOfDrama: We don't know how many eggs were in a ''Gastornis'' nest. But it is more dramatic if it is only one, and ants eat it when it hatches. |
| 42 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: The egg gets eaten by a swarm of ants right as it hatches. |
| 43 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: To the Mesozoic dinosaurs. Justified since it is a theropod dinosaur. |
| 44 | * VillainousBSOD: Her chick's unexpected death by [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant ants]] makes it shriek. Since it doesn't appear afterwards, it may have actually left because of it. |
| 45 | * UncertainDoom: We don't see what happens to it when the deadly volcanic gas is unleashed. |
| 46 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It doesn't appear again after its chick is killed and we are not told of its fate after the gas explosion in the lake. The book implies that it died, but other sources claim that it was unaffected because it had left the forest after the death of its offspring. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:''Ambulocetus'']] |
| 50 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_ambulocetus.jpg]] |
| 51 | A transitional, early species of whale with a secondary story-arc in the episode. |
| 52 | ---- |
| 53 | * ButtMonkey: The poor whale has horrible luck through the episode, failing twice to catch prey and then, when things were looking better for him after it catches a small mammal during the night, he's killed by the poisonous gasses from the nearby lake after a violent earthquake releases them. |
| 54 | * DistantFinale: The final shot of the ''Ambulocetus'' corpse morphs into the later, more advanced whale ''[[NonIndicativeName Basilosaurus]]'' while the narrator says that whales have a long history ahead. |
| 55 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: An aquatic ambush predator like a crocodile, even though it shares a habitat with actual crocodiles. |
| 56 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: Gets its own story arc. |
| 57 | * {{Irony}}: Killed by the gas release while the ''Leptictidium'' survives, yet the lineage of the former is destined to flourish while the other is to become extinct. |
| 58 | * MisplacedWildlife: Lampshaded. The narrator states that it reached the lake after swimming upstream from the ocean. It still beggars belief, as early whales like this are only known from India and Pakistan, at the time an island in the middle of the Tethys Sea, while the episode is set in Germany's Messel Shales, which would be around '''5,206 kilometres''' to travel. The oldest record of a basal cetacean from Europe is a partial lumbar vertebra attributed to a protocetid (a slightly more derived group of ancient cetaceans) found in Bartonian strata in (coincidently enough) Germany (about 40 mya), at which point these animals were starting to spread across the globe, including the Americas. |
| 59 | * MixAndMatchCritters: It is the size of a sea lion, looks and behaves like a crocodile, but it is hairy and swims up and down like an otter. The hands and feet look intermediate between a seal and waterfowl. The only obvious whale feature is the teeth. |
| 60 | * NeverSmileAtACrocodile: For all intents and purposes, it acts like one. |
| 61 | * RuleOfCool: |
| 62 | ** Shown ambushing land animals rather than catching fish (which were probably its main diet instead, as in its ecological equivalent the Nile crocodile), although since otters, pinnipeds, and some modern predatory cetaceans have been known to occasionally hunt land animals, it's not necessarily implausible. |
| 63 | ** The fact it's present in the episode at all. ''Ambulocetus'' is not a native of the German Messel Pit, and its fossils are only known from Pakistan, thousands of miles away, but a semi-aquatic whale is a much cooler predator to focus on than a plain old crocodile. During the upper Ypresian-lower Lutetian (around the time "New Dawn" is set), ancient cetaceans were still largely restricted to the Indian subcontinent, but not long after, in the upper Lutetian-lower Bartonian (circa 43-40 mya), they were far more widespread, including finds from the United States and even Peru. |
| 64 | * WhosLaughingNow: The ''Leptictidium'' family inspects its corpse, the morning after the volcanic gas release. However, the narrator notes the DramaticIrony, as ''Leptictidium'''s lineage would later died out, leaving no descendants, while ''Ambulocetus'' would evolve into an incredibly successful lineage of mammals. |
| 65 | [[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:''Propalaeotherium'']] |
| 68 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_propalaeotherium.jpg]] |
| 69 | A small basal horse, and the main herbivorous animal of the episode. |
| 70 | ---- |
| 71 | * AlcoholInducedIdiocy: They spend the day consuming over-ripened grapes, which causes they to get drunk. Although it's only a tiny amount of alcohol, it's enough to cause them to stumble about and get less alert to their surrounds. For one individual, it proves to be a fatal mistake. |
| 72 | * ButtMonkey: Hunted by all large predators in the episode, and a victim of geological phenomena to boot. The first time we see one it is almost hit by a small meteorite. |
| 73 | * FragileSpeedster: Its only defense is running away and hoping the predator goes for a different member of the herd. |
| 74 | * IntoxicationEnsues: While foraging on the forest floor, the herd consumes ripe grapes -- way too ripe, in some cases. This makes some lower their guard and even have trouble standing, becoming easy prey for the ''Gastornis''. |
| 75 | * MixAndMatchCritters: A horse the size of a cat, as stated by Branagh. It has four small hooves per hand, eats leaves instead of grass, and has cryptic coloration like other small forest dwellers. |
| 76 | * MonsterMunch: Shown being hunted unsuccessfully by ''Ambulocetus'' and successfully by ''Gastornis''. |
| 77 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Cat-sized horse sounds cute. But ''Propalaeotherium'' was not even a horse ancestor, but still a strict relative of the horse family (the Equids). |
| 78 | [[/folder]] |
| 79 | |
| 80 | [[folder:''Godinotia'']] |
| 81 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_godinotia.jpg]] |
| 82 | A small primate, appearing near the end of the episode. |
| 83 | ---- |
| 84 | * {{Anticlimax}}: [[DoubleEntendre In more meanings than one]]. They stay most of the episode sleeping on the trees, but are killed almost as soon as they wake up. |
| 85 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: They resemble simians, with hairless faces, but were more closely related to the lemurs, and so should have pointier, hairy, dog-like faces. |
| 86 | * InformedSpecies: It's designed to resemble a simian, but ''Godinotia'' is an adapid, which are part of the more basal strepsirrhines (or wet-nosed primates), whose living representatives are lemurs, bushbabies, and lorises, so it stands to reason that adapids would have resembled lemurs, not monkeys. Even the novelization calls ''Godinotia'' "lemur-like". |
| 87 | * NeverTrustATrailer: The accompanying media shows them awake during the day, when they should be asleep. |
| 88 | * OutWithABang: Two of them are killed by gasses while mating. |
| 89 | * ReallyGetsAround: They spend the entire night mating. |
| 90 | * {{Sleepyhead}}: Subverted because they are nocturnal. But since the episode takes place over a day, they spend most of the run time sleeping or trying to. Then, as soon as night falls and they become active, the gas release happens. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:''Titanomyrma'']] |
| 94 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_ant.jpg]] |
| 95 | Giant carnivorous ants appearing [[OneSceneWonder briefly but memorably]], when they kill the ''Gastornis'' chick. |
| 96 | ---- |
| 97 | * AllThereInTheManual: Only called "giant ants" in the episode, because the species was not yet described at the time of the program's original airing. |
| 98 | * AntAssault: Behaviourally similar to modern army ants, but much bigger, resulting in a giant living carpet of death devouring everything in its path. |
| 99 | * BigCreepyCrawlies: This is the largest ant in the fossil record. |
| 100 | * EatsBabies: Eats the chick that was only minutes old at the time of its death. |
| 101 | * GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Not thoroughly, but they do turn up very suddenly. |
| 102 | * NightmareFuelStationAttendant: They swarm around a baby bird and strip it to the bone in seconds, and just show up right the heck out of nowhere. |
| 103 | * OutsideContextProblem: They appear out of nowhere, put everyone at risk, and deliver [[TheWorfEffect a blow]] to the ''Gastornis'' that could not be replicated by anyone else. |
| 104 | * RogerRabbitEffect: Some shots have them being live-acted by real ants. |
| 105 | * RuleOfCool: Their deadly swarming behaviour. Somewhat justified since ants are social insects, and even your average ants will swarm if they find a big source of food. Although, it's not even known for sure if the genus was predatory. |
| 106 | * StrippedToTheBone: The narrator says they do this to any animal they catch in their path, and, sure enough, they do this to the unfortunate ''Gastornis'' chick unable to defend itself, leaving it only a bloodied skeleton. |
| 107 | * TheSwarm: How else would they kill things thousands of times their size? |
| 108 | * ZergRush: Being ants, this is their default attack strategy. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Miacid]] |
| 112 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_miacid.png]] |
| 113 | A small nocturnal carnivore, member of the group ancestral to both dogs and cats. |
| 114 | ---- |
| 115 | * AllAnimalsAreDogs: Physically, rather than behaviorally. Miacids looked more like tree weasels than terrestrial creatures and were certainly not ''that'' pup-like. |
| 116 | * AllThereInTheManual: Only identified in derived media and never at genus level. |
| 117 | * AnachronismStew: Even without considering that the model is recycled from the bear-dog, the setting is just too early for carnivorans to have adapted to life on the ground, so the miacid shouldn't have "running legs". A mesonychid or an early creodont would have fit the role better. |
| 118 | * MonsterMunch: It shows up to be eaten by the ''Ambulocetus''. |
| 119 | * NoNameGiven: Not even in the manual, since it's not even supposed to be a specific species. |
| 120 | * PaletteSwap: Uses the same model as the bear-dog in "Land of Giants", but since bear-dogs had not evolved yet and wouldn't reach Europe for another 12 million years, it's not identified by name. |
| 121 | * RedShirt: Killed as soon as it appears so the ''Ambulocetus'' doesn't come across as all bark and no bite. |
| 122 | * WhatMeasureIsANonCute: With some CarnivoreConfusion sprinkled in. They wouldn't give ''Ambulocetus'' a taste of [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter ridiculously cute critters]] like ''Leptictidium'', ''Propalaeotherium'' and ''Godinotia'', but crushing and drowning a meateater was okay (although it may be because the audience already sympathizes with the ridiculously cute critters seen earlier; had this one been given more screen time, it may not have gotten the proverbial axe). |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:''Eurotamandua'']] |
| 126 | An anteater-like animal live-acted by a modern tree anteater (''Tamandua''), but actually a pangolin ancestor. |
| 127 | ---- |
| 128 | * FreezeFrameBonus: Appears in only one shot, when the setting is introduced. |
| 129 | * RogerRabbitEffect: Live-acted by a modern tamandua, although it was actually a relative of pangolins rather than anteaters (although it was thought to be an anteater at the time, and a scaleless pangolin would resemble an anteater). |
| 130 | [[/folder]] |
| 131 | |
| 132 | !!Whale Killer |
| 133 | [[folder:''Basilosaurus'']] |
| 134 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_basilosaurus.jpg]] |
| 135 | A large predatory whale, and the main protagonist of the episode. |
| 136 | ---- |
| 137 | * AlwaysABiggerFish: Bigger fish to ''Physogaleus'', ''Moeritherium'' -- who are confident in the water because they are too big for sharks and crocodiles -- and ''Dorudon''. She also dwarfs the ''Andrewsarchus'', which [[ScienceMarchesOn at the time the episode came in]] was believed to be a distant land dwelling relative and one of the largest carnivorous land mammals of all time. |
| 138 | * ApeShallNeverKillApe: Zigzagged. The ''Basilosaurus'' never attack each other, but the main female slaughters a pod of the closely related ''Dorudon'' in the final act. |
| 139 | * BloodIsSquickerInWater: The main female is shown trailing clouds of blood every time she makes a kill. |
| 140 | * CensorSteam: Subverted. Many bubbles are released while the ''Basilosaurus'' have sex, but you can see enough of it. |
| 141 | * CowTools: They have well developed hind legs, but they are too small and inconveniently placed to sustain them on land. Scientists theorize that they were used to help the animals position themselves while mating. |
| 142 | * DistantFinale: Serves as one for the previous episode, which ends with the image transitioning from ''Ambulocetus'' to ''Basilosaurus''. |
| 143 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: She gives birth to a healthy calf in the end. Subverted in that the species is explicitly stated to go extinct soon afterwards. |
| 144 | * EatsBabies: She slaughters the youngest generation of ''Dorudon''. |
| 145 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: It's shown hunting sharks and ignoring smaller fish in its first appearance. |
| 146 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Except for its solitary nature, its behavior is based entirely on modern killer whales. |
| 147 | * GagPenis: The male has a comically large one that is fully visible after it detatches from the female. Also modern whales have often big penis (because it's easier to use when you have no mobile limbs to help position yourself). |
| 148 | * GeniusBruiser: It has the intelligence expected of a cetacean, and it is a top predator. |
| 149 | * {{Irony}}: Most fossils of this marine species have been found in the Sahara Desert, in areas that are now among the driest on Earth. |
| 150 | * LightningBruiser: A fast swimmer, relying mostly on speed to hunt. |
| 151 | * MisplacedWildlife: Invoked by the narrator when he claims that the ''Basilosaurus'' would normally not look for food in the mangrove swamps, and that she's there because she's getting desperate. |
| 152 | * MonsterIsAMommy: The female is even more aggressive than usual because she's pregnant and desperate to keep herself and her unborn calf alive during a mass extinction. The pregnancy is used to garner the audience's sympathy for the creature. |
| 153 | * MonsterWhale: It's depicted as a fearsome predator, hunting smaller whales, sharks and land creatures that wander into the ocean. |
| 154 | * PrehistoricMonster: She's portrayed in a similar manner to ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'''s ''Liopleurodon''. Unlike the ''Liopleurodon'', however, she is the protagonist of the episode in which she appears. |
| 155 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: She would come across as a villain if the episode starred any other animal, but, since she's the protagonist, we cheer because she succeeded in having her baby. |
| 156 | * RuleOfCool: |
| 157 | ** It was only 20 tons in RealLife, one-third its weight in the show. This was because it was very thin (more like an anaconda than a whale). |
| 158 | ** It's shown as the undisputed apex predator of the oceans in the episode, easily trouncing the sharks it coexists with. However, ''Basilosaurus'' actually did coexist with very large sharks (such as the ten-metre long ''Otodus auriculatus'', a direct ancestor of megalodon), but perhaps the episode only showed the much smaller ''Physogaleus'' to make ''Basilosaurus'' look even bigger and more fearsome compared to everything else. |
| 159 | * SeaMonster: A giant predatory whale big enough to devour nearly anything else it encounters in the water. Though it was an animal and not a monster like the legendary sea-serpent. |
| 160 | * SomethingElseAlsoRises: The tail emerging from the water can be considered a metaphor for the sexual climax. |
| 161 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Its head shape and teeth are still loosely similar to ''Ambulocetus'', smoothing the transition between them despite ''Basilosaurus'' having grown to modern filter whales size already (it was, in fact, the largest mammal of all time until such whales evolved 21 million years later together with sperm-whales like ''Lyviatan''). |
| 162 | * SuperPersistentPredator: She chases a ''Moeritherium'' to a sandbank and circles around for hours, waiting for the tide to increase. She only fails because she attacks too early and the ''Moeritherium'' can swim to safety. |
| 163 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: As stated by the narrator, the ''Basilosaurus'' is covering the niches left vacant by the giant sea reptiles of the Mesozoic, and it even resembles the last of them (mosasaurs). |
| 164 | * VillainProtagonist: In the end, she does cause the most damage in the episode. |
| 165 | * TheWorfEffect: Her EstablishingCharacterMoment has her playing with the former top predators of the ocean as if they were rag dolls. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:''Andrewsarchus'']] |
| 169 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_andrewsarchus.jpg]] |
| 170 | A horse-sized terrestrial scavenger, appearing in a separate plotline of the episode. |
| 171 | ---- |
| 172 | * AnachronismStew: The one specimen we have (a skull) hails from the Irdin Manha Formation, which is Mid Eocene in age (circa 45-40 mya), not Late Eocene. Even more broadly speaking, the true mesonychids' glory days were over by the Priabonian (38-34 mya), while ''Hyaenodon'' and entelodonts (like the ones seen in the next episode) were already taking over as the new top predators of Asia at the time, though a few surviving mesonychids like the tiger-sized ''Mongolestes'' (the best possible replacement for the role) were still around, making the statement that they are a ''dying breed" at least correct. |
| 173 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: Despite looking like a wolf, it is actually an ungulate and has hooves instead of claws. This is downplayed because it actually descends from the primitive stock of omnivore ungulates, like pigs, rather than having evolved from a strict vegetarian. |
| 174 | * CanisMajor: It looks like a giant dog, but with a coloration that resembles more certain felids or viverrids (genets, civets). |
| 175 | * EatsBabies: Although they're just scavenging, they still make quite the effort to consume the ''Embolotherium''[='=]s deceased calf. |
| 176 | * InformedSpecies: It now falls into this thanks to ScienceMarchesOn. Though its true appearance remains unclear (since no postcranial fossils are known), it would (based on phylogenetic bracketing) more likely have resembled an entelodont or a larger version of primitive cetaceans such as ''Pakicetus'', while here, it's depicted as a super-sized mesonychid. |
| 177 | * HeinousHyena: It looks vaguely canine-like but has a felid-like spotted coat and is shown as a scavenger with bone-crushing jaws, essentially making it look like a super-sized hyena with hooves and a disproportionally large head. Spotted hyenas have also been known to occasionally prey on rhinos (especially calves), which is mirrored in the scene where the ''Andrewsarchus'' antagonize the brontotheres. |
| 178 | * MisplacedWildlife: ''Andrewsarchus'' is known from a single skull find in Mongolia, but moved to the Pakistani coast (the birthplace of whales) to tie it better with the ''Basilosaurus'' plot. |
| 179 | * MixAndMatchCritters: A large wolf-like carnivore, but it has hooves like an ungulate. |
| 180 | * RuleOfCool: In real life, it's only known from one skull found in Mongolia in the early 20th century. All we know is that it was big and had a big head. Its inclusion in the episode as all counts as this; it didn't live anywhere near the coast or even at the exact time the episode is set, but it was the biggest mammalian land predator known at the time so they just had to show it. |
| 181 | * ScavengersAreScum: Despite their size, they can appear hardly heroic or scary for some viewers, and this is because they are scavengers, apparently. The mother brontothere has little trouble keeping them away from her dead calf. |
| 182 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Even if by complete coincidence, it also has a long, broadly triangular head, with a short neck, and large, pointy teeth -- just like primitive whales ''Ambulocetus'' and ''Basilosaurus''. Almost any piece on whale evolution by the BBC uses this model of ''Andrewsarchus'' in the spot reserved for land animals prior to ''Ambulocetus''. |
| 183 | * TwoLinesNoWaiting: The ''Andrewsarchus'' plot is completely removed from the ''Basilosaurus'' plot. The only relation between the two is that they are coincidental, both suffer the climate changes of the Eocene-Oligocene transition, and at one point an ''Andrewsarchus'' smells a ''Basilosaurus'' vertebra that the high tide brought to the beach. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
| 185 | |
| 186 | [[folder:''Embolotherium'']] |
| 187 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_embolotherium.jpg]] |
| 188 | A rhino-like herbivore the size of an Asian elephant, appearing along the ''Andrewsarchus'' in its separate plotline. |
| 189 | ---- |
| 190 | * AllForNothing: A mother wastes away defending her calf from ''Andrewsarchus'' in the aftermath of a brutal drought, unaware that it is stillborn. |
| 191 | * AllThereInTheManual: Only identified as "brontotheres" in the narration, the name of the larger group they belong to. Though its large size, distinct ram, and living in Asia at the end of the Eocene make it obvious that it's ''Embolotherium''. |
| 192 | * BizarreSexualDimorphism: Instead of horns, the females have expanded bones that look like double-headed clubs. In the males, these are flattened and further expanded, mirroring a shield. |
| 193 | * CowTools: The structures, actually part of the nasal bones, are too brittle to be of actual use fighting. If anything, it's the ''female'' structures that are more resistant unlike what you would expect from an ungulate. While they are still used for display and dominance in the show, in real life this isn't as sure, they may have supported fleshy nasal sacs, and some artists have even restored ''Embolotherium'' with their nostrils at the top of them. |
| 194 | * DeathOfAChild: It's mentioned that the unusually harsh drought has resulted in many of them being struggling to produce young this year, shown with one mother protecting a stillborn calf from scavengers, unable to understand it's already dead. |
| 195 | * DireBeast: Resemble rhinoceros, which they are distantly related to, but are twice as big and [[DumbMuscle less than half as smart]]. |
| 196 | * DumbMuscle: Big, tough and not too bright. In one scene, a mother continues to protect her dead calf simply because she's not aware that it's already dead. The narrator addresses it directly: |
| 197 | -->'''Creator/KennethBranagh''': They are twice as big as modern rhinos; their brain is just one third of their size. They are not the brightest of beasts. |
| 198 | * HeroicSecondWind: After a whole day, the mother gives up the defense of her calf, only to mistake the effects of two ''Andrewsarchus'' battling for the carcass for her calf moving. Convinced that it's still alive, the mother goes full RhinoRampage on the ''Andrewsarchus'' and makes them flee. |
| 199 | * MamaBear: A tragic version, because the effort of the mother, while commendable, is also pointless. |
| 200 | * MightyGlacier: It's large and strong, but not smart or fast. |
| 201 | * MisplacedWildlife: Like ''Andrewsarchus'', ''Embolotherium'' was found in Mongolia, not Pakistan. |
| 202 | * MoodDissonance: The narrator says the herd is living its hardest challenge yet (in reference to the drought) while a brontothere scratches its butt on a palm. |
| 203 | * RhinoRampage: Done by the mother to protect her calf, even though it's not an actual rhino. The males also play "pretend rhino" in their fight for dominance, but do not make as much contact because of the fragility of their facial ornaments. |
| 204 | * RuleOfCool: It's actually not that clear if embolotheres had any noticeable sexual dimorphism, unlike other brontotheres with conventional horns. There is at least one proposal that the bony growths of embolotheres were resonance chambers for communication, like the cranial structures of some hadrosaurs. |
| 205 | * ShaggyDogStory: One brontothere mother is persistently protecting her newborn from predators, totally unaware that it's stillborn and she's wasting her time. |
| 206 | [[/folder]] |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[folder:''Moeritherium'']] |
| 209 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_moeritherium.jpg]] |
| 210 | A semiaquatic basal relative of elephants, appearing as potential prey for the ''Basilosaurus''. |
| 211 | ---- |
| 212 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: The narrator claims that adults are too big to be bothered by the local predators. Never mind that at just 200 kg, a ''Moeritherium'' would be fair game for a decent-sized shark or crocodile, or that it coexisted with a huge madtsoiid snake ''Gigantophis''. |
| 213 | * DivingSave: When the ''Basilosaurus'' ends stranded in the beach, the chosen ''Moeritherium'' dives rapidly in the water and then swim in an elephant-manner in shallower waters the whale can't reach. Producers used modern elephants as a model for the moerithere's swimming style. |
| 214 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: The ''Basilosaurus'' chases this one to a sandbar and circles around it, waiting for the tide to rise. The ''Moeritherium'' watches helplessly until the ''Basilosaurus'' miscalculates and attacks too early, enabling the ''Moeritherium'' to swim to safety. |
| 215 | * GentleGiant: Big and bulky, but with a docile disposition. In RealLife ''Moeritherium'' was not a giant: not bigger than a tapir and shorter than an adult human. Unlike deinotheres and mammoths, it doesn't trumpet but bellows. |
| 216 | * HonorableElephant: Despite not looking much like one, they are early proboscideans, and like their descendants, they are happy to be left alone. |
| 217 | * HuggyHuggyHippos: Their appearance and demeanor definitely evoke this, despite being related to elephants. At their smaller size, they more closely match the pygmy hippo, which is less aggressive than its larger cousin. |
| 218 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Branagh notes its resemblance to a mix between an elephant, a pig and a hippo. It is naked-skinned, but other paleoartistic works show it hairy, sometimes even without the trunk. |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder:''Apidium'']] |
| 222 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_apidium.jpg]] |
| 223 | A small, early monkey, appearing in a small, plot-irrelevant role in the African mangroves. |
| 224 | ---- |
| 225 | * AnachronismStew: Retroactively; they've since been found to have lived in the Early Oligocene rather than the Late Eocene. |
| 226 | * ButtMonkey: A rather literal example, given that they are the victim of all kinds of unpleasantries. ''Apidium'' is so much a ButtMonkey that it is brutally killed onscreen by the ''other'' ButtMonkey, ''Physogaleus''. |
| 227 | * HazardousWater: They are completely unprepared to survive in the water despite living in a mangrove. As a result, they move only through the canopy, jumping from one tree to other if necessary, or walk on land during the low tide. If they stay too close to the water for too long, there is a guarantee something will jump and eat them. |
| 228 | * NonIndicativeName: They are named after the Apis bull of Myth/EgyptianMythology because the first known fossil was first believed to belong to a small ungulate. |
| 229 | * LeParkour: Has little problems crossing the channels due to its jumping ability. |
| 230 | * SloMo: Used while an ''Apidium'' jumps from one tree on the side of the channel to another. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:''Dorudon'']] |
| 234 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_dorudon.png]] |
| 235 | A smaller whale preyed on by the ''Basilosaurus''. |
| 236 | ---- |
| 237 | * ApeShallNeverKillApe: Pays hard for this trope's aversion, since being a close relative of ''Basilosaurus'' doesn't spare it from the carnage. |
| 238 | * DeathOfAChild: Several infant ''Dorudon'' are hunted and eaten by the ''Basilosaurus'', although the actual killing and devouring [[GoryDiscretionShot is left to the viewers' imaginations]]. |
| 239 | * ForcedToWatch: The ''Basilosaurus'' comes day after day to their refuge to eat their calves and they can do nothing about it. |
| 240 | * MamaBear: Though their efforts are futile, as the ''Basilosaurus'' manages to eat their babies. |
| 241 | * MonsterMunch: They turn up just to get eaten. |
| 242 | [[/folder]] |
| 243 | |
| 244 | [[folder:''Physogaleus'']] |
| 245 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwbbook_physogaleus.jpg]] |
| 246 | A small shark that only plays a minor role in the episode, mainly for scenery and [[TheWorfEffect to establish the power of the episode's true protagonist]]. |
| 247 | ---- |
| 248 | * AllThereInTheManual: Only referred to as "shark" in the episode. |
| 249 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Sharks were top predator in the 25 million years between the extinction of the mosasaurs and the evolution of its SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, the basilosaurid whales. |
| 250 | * BloodIsSquickerInWater: A bright red trail is left when one hunts an ''Apidium'' sitting on a branch near the water. Makes for an early scene when it was ''Physogaleus'''s blood, following a ''Basilosaurus'' attack. |
| 251 | * ButtMonkey: Zigzagged. Though it's shown [[TheWorfEffect worfed]] by a ''Basilosaurus'' at the beginning of the episode and said to avoid the ''Moeritherium'', they're still portrayed as a dangerous predator to smaller animals, as one of the ''Apidium'' from the mangroves finds the hard way. |
| 252 | * JumpScare: Used when it eats a monkey. |
| 253 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: The sharks are portrayed as fearsome, competent predators in the episode, but next to the huge ''Basilosaurus'' they look way less impressive. |
| 254 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: The model is very similar to "Cruel Sea"'s ''Hybodus'' (minus ''Hybodus'''s dorsal fin spikes and horns), and its role is the same: to be laughable next to the episode's PrehistoricMonster[=/=]SeaMonster that is protagonist/antagonist. |
| 255 | * ThreateningShark: Zigzagged. Although they're no match for the ''Basilosaurus'', they're still competent predators on their own right, with one shark in the mangroves managing to predate an ''Apidium'' in the blink of an eye. |
| 256 | * ThrowTheDogABone: It nails an ''Apidium'' in one scene, and it ''is'' awesome. |
| 257 | * WhatMeasureIsANonCute: A goofy elephant ancestor? We side with it for once and wish for it to escape the ''Basilosaurus''' trap. A slaughter of primitive whale calves? Harsh, but that's Nature, and the ''Basilosaurus'' is desperate. ''Basilosaurus'' playing catch with two live sharks? How funny! |
| 258 | * TheWorfEffect: Eaten by the ''Basilosaurus'' in its [[EstablishingCharacterMoment very first scene]] after the narration says that sharks remained the rulers of the oceans for nearly 25 million years after the extinction of the giant marine reptiles of the Mesozoic. Also shown to avoid ''Moeritherium'', due to them being too large to hunt. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
| 260 | |
| 261 | !!Land Of Giants |
| 262 | [[folder:Indricothere]] |
| 263 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_indricothere.jpg]] |
| 264 | A prehistoric rhino-relative, though taller than a giraffe. It is the largest land creature to walk the Earth since the extinction of the dinosaurs and one of the largest land mammals of all time, if not the largest. The episode follows a calf and his mother as he grows up. |
| 265 | ---- |
| 266 | * AbusiveParents: The mother indricothere pushes her calf away rudely several times, including once when she could not lactate because she was dehydrated, and another when she was mating with her new suitor. When calves turn three years old, all maternal instinct vanishes and she drives them away to fend for themselves, because she needs to care for a new calf soon. |
| 267 | * AllThereInTheManual: The actual genus is ''Paraceratherium''. However this is seldom used even in accompanying material. The name "indricothere" (from the genus's subfamily ''Indricotheriinae'' and in turn, ''Indricotherium'', a synonym of ''Paraceratherium'') is preferred. |
| 268 | * AnachronismStew: The portrayal is based on the colossal ''Paraceratherium transouralicum'' (up to 5 meters tall and 15 tons), but this species comes from the Early Oligocene, not the Late Oligocene. The later species, like P. ''bugtiense'' and P. ''linxiaense'', were still huge but closer in size to an African elephant, or at most a Columbian mammoth. |
| 269 | * CameraAbuse: The very last shot of the episode involves the protagonist calf charging at, and seemingly knocking down the camera from a tripod. No small feat considering it is made of CGI. |
| 270 | * ComingOfAgeStory: The episode follows a male indricothere from birth until it is larger than any other animal, baring other indricotheres. This is stressed in the Spanish dub, which changes the name of the episode from "Land of Giants" to "Little Giant". |
| 271 | * CompeteForTheMaidensHand: Two male indricotheres fight for the right to mate with the protagonist's mother. |
| 272 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Excluding the elephant-long pregnancy and the giraffe-style neck fighting, their behavior is a near copy of the two African rhinos. |
| 273 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The mother drives the protagonist's older brother away when the former is only a few days old. The narrator says that the new calf doesn't know that he is watching his own future: when he turns three himself, his mother (now with another young calf) chases him out. |
| 274 | * GiantEqualsInvincible: Being by far the largest animal in its ecosystem, an adult indricothere is completely immune to predation, and even an adolescent can chase off any other animal. |
| 275 | * GuessWhoImMarrying: Obviously, animals don't marry, but the scene where the indricotheres mate has shades of this. The MamaBear is suddenly very permissive with the winner of the duel, letting it drive her son away and (what almost looks like) slapping him for interfering while they are having sex. |
| 276 | * ImprobableInfantSurvival: In a scene inspired from white rhinos, the mother indricothere drives away the protagonist when she is near the end of her pregnancy. The protagonist is three years old, far from its adult size still, and likely sexually immature[[note]]White rhinos are driven away at three but don't become mature until around seven; the males start mating even later, around ten, when they get strong enough to defeat older bulls[[/note]]. In his first time away, he is injured in a leg (the narrator speculates by an older male indricothere) and tries to return to his mother, who chases him away again. The protagonist then heads into the bush, limping, while the narrator talks of his unlikely odds to survive... only to show up again, completely healthy, in a final scene set months later. |
| 277 | * LongestPregnancyEver: Two years, like an elephant. |
| 278 | * MamaBear: The mother successfully defends her child against ''Hyaenodon'' several times and the entelodonts. |
| 279 | * MightyGlacier: Slow moving, but extremely strong. |
| 280 | * MixAndMatchCritters: A rhino-relative with the height more than a giraffe, no horns, and some elephant-like aspects. |
| 281 | * NighInvulnerable: After a certain age, they are far too big to be killed by anything. |
| 282 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: The mother can be picked apart from others because it has an ear deformity and carries it permanently lower than the other. |
| 283 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Obviously the calf doesn't like when his mother mates again, kicks him out and has another calf. But staying with her would have been worse for both and their species. |
| 284 | * ReplacementGoldfish: The mother kicks her calf out when she has a new one. The species themselves are essentially nature's replacement goldfish for sauropods. |
| 285 | * RhinoRampage: Though they do not resemble modern rhinos, the mother slips into this behaviour every now and then. |
| 286 | * RuleOfCool: It was known even at the time that the correct name was ''Paraceratherium'', but "indricothere" sounded better. Another classic name of the animal is "Baluchitherium" from Baluchistan, a region between Iran and Pakistan. |
| 287 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: |
| 288 | ** The ComingOfAge story is loosely similar to the ''Diplodocus'' in ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs''' "Time of the Titans", though we don't see the indricothere grow to adult size or become sexually mature (instead, we see the mother mating again and having a new calf). |
| 289 | ** The indricothere's birth mirrors the birth of the brontothere calf in the previous episode. Both happen during a drought in Asia and their mothers are forced to fight off two gigantic, canine-like predators who would love to take the child for breakfast. The obvious difference is that the indricothere is not stillborn. |
| 290 | ** At the species level, the indricotheres are the mammals' first attempt to exploit the sauropod niche. Although still nowhere near their size, their proportions don't look much different from middle-sized sauropods like ''Camarasaurus''. |
| 291 | * WhosLaughingNow: The episode ends with the indricothere calf bullying an [[BarbaricBully entelodont]] out of his path. |
| 292 | * YouCantGoHomeAgain: The mother expels the protagonist from her side when she is about to have a new baby. |
| 293 | [[/folder]] |
| 294 | |
| 295 | [[folder:''Hyaenodon'']] |
| 296 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hyaenodoninfobox.jpg]] |
| 297 | A large carnivore and the main active predator of the episode. |
| 298 | ---- |
| 299 | * AnimalsNotToScale: The size of a big tiger at its largest, and more commonly wolf-sized in real life (depending on the species). The size of a ''rhino'' in the series. |
| 300 | * BigBad: The main antagonist of the episode. |
| 301 | * BulletTime: Used when a ''Hyaenodon'' slips on the mud while chasing a young entelodont under the rain. |
| 302 | * ButtMonkey: They never succeed at anything in this episode. |
| 303 | * CoolVersusAwesome: Their confrontation with the entelodonts. So awesome, it was chosen as the cover for the DVD release of ''Walking With Beasts''. It makes it look like as if it was the main point of the episode, and the indricotheres where just {{Supporting Protagonist}}s. |
| 304 | * CurbStompBattle: The hunt for the chalicothere, bordering on OneHitKill, as the ''Hyaenodon'' bites into its throat before it has time to use its WolverineClaws. |
| 305 | * HeinousHyena: Although it's not a true hyena -- in fact, it's not even a true carnivoran -- its name and looks are both meant to evoke this trope, with its brown pelt, stripes, large bat-like ears, and dark muzzle bringing to mind the brown and striped hyena specifically. They're also aggressive carnivores, significant threats to the episode's herbivores and important antagonists in the young indricothere's story. Furthermore, the opening scene where two ''Hyaenodon'' try to snatch the newly born indricothere calf from its mother is a direct homage to spotted hyenas frequently stalking mother giraffes in labor and trying to nab their calf. |
| 306 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: While ''Hyaenodon gigas'' was a large and formidable apex predator in its day, it was only the size of a tiger, not the rhino-sized hellhound that can easily curb-stomp a giant chalicothere. |
| 307 | * MeaningfulName: Hyaenodon means "Hyena tooth" though it isn't related to Hyenas. |
| 308 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Is it a dog? A hyena? A tiger? No! It's a member of the main lineage of mammalian predators that came before true carnivores replaced them, the creodonts. |
| 309 | * RuleOfCool: The narration says that they are as big as a rhinoceros but no known hyeanodont even approached the size of the smallest rhino (the Sumatran rhino, which can still reach a whopping 800 kg). And although fossils of large ''Hyaenodon'' (like the tiger-sized H. ''gigas'') have been found in Asia, they are even more fragmentary than ''Andrewsarchus'', being only known from teeth, jaw fragments and occasional postcrania fragments (like a large claw found at Hsanda Gol), so any reconstructions of them are based on more complete but more modestly sized species from North America and Europe, like the wolf-sized ''Hyaenodon horridus''. |
| 310 | ** They also sport large canines that stick out from their mouths, but in life, they would have been covered by lips. |
| 311 | * SmarterThanTheyLook: Or not. Its last minute decision to mark its territory on a Chalicotere it had just attacked did little to keep a group of Enteledonts away from the Chalicotere's corpse. |
| 312 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Having taken over the large carnivore guild from ''Andrewsarchus'', it is now two ''Hyaenodon'' who pester a giant perissodactyl mother for a chance to eat her baby. However, unlike the ''Andrewsarchus'', the ''Hyaenodon'' is also capable of jumping, chasing and hunting large ungulates by itself. |
| 313 | * WhosLaughingNow: One is shown chasing a lone young entelodont in the middle of the rain. It's not clear if it's the same ''Hyaenodon'' who was chased away by a group of entelodonts earlier. But then [[ButtMonkey it slips on the mud.]] |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Entelodont]] |
| 317 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_entelodont.jpg]] |
| 318 | A big, vaguely pig-like omnivore with an aggressive temper. |
| 319 | ---- |
| 320 | * AbusivePrecursors: They are stated to be this to modern day pigs. Justified, since [[ShownTheirWork Entelodonts were thought actually ancestors of modern day pigs in real life.]] |
| 321 | * AlwaysABiggerFish: A young entelodont is chased by a ''Hyaenodon'', but it seems that the two are equals, given a group of entelodonts were seen driving a ''Hyaenodon'' away earlier. |
| 322 | * AngryAngryHippos: Though referred to as pig relatives and having some suid-like traits, their huge size, gray skin, vicious tempers, and penchant for settling disputes via painful jaw-wrestling also bring to mind hippos. Late research would go on to confirm that hippos (not pigs) are one of the entelodonts' closest living relatives. |
| 323 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: They never stopped being omnivores, but growing to gigantic sizes allowed them to feast on other large ungulates. |
| 324 | * BarbaricBully: A realistic example, as at the end of the day it's just an animal with no morality. The episode depicts the entelodont as a large, oportunistic animal with an intimidating appearance who harass others to get resources more easily and is even referred by the narration as "the bully from the plains". |
| 325 | * BeautyEqualsGoodness: The narrator in the previous episode concludes referring to this episode "It's the world of the Big, the Bad, and the Ugly". The "big" is the indricothere, the "bad" the hyaenodont, and the "ugly" the entelodont. |
| 326 | * CoolVersusAwesome: Entelodonts vs. ''Hyaenodon'' is excellent: like a boar against a wolf. |
| 327 | * DarkIsEvil: They are blackish and they are portrayed often as [[JerkAss jerks]]. |
| 328 | * TheDreaded: Their aggressive behavior and huge size makes practically all animals from the zone to fear and avoid them. Even the gigantic indricothere bails after seeing a fight of two individuals, not wanting to get involved in the confrontation. |
| 329 | * DumbMuscle: The narrator says "they are two metres tall, aggressive, and built like tanks... but with a brain no bigger than an orange". Similarly to the brontotheres of the second episode. |
| 330 | * EnemyMine: Entelodonts in the documentary are portrayed as highly aggressive animals that don't tolerate even themselves (as the narration puts it, they're "their own worst enemy"). However, there are occassions where they temporarily form small gangs in order to bully other carnivores from their prey, as one ''Hyaenodon'' learns the hard way. |
| 331 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: In their first scene, a male individual comes to a watering hole where he intimidates a mother bear-dog and her two cubs from the shore they were drinking water from. Then, a second male entelodont approaches the first with the intention of competing for the right to mate, which ends with the two of them engaging in a vicious battle that ends with the loser getting his face full of cuts from the teeth of his rival. This quickly establishes the entelodont as a violent, nasty bully of an animal it's better not to mess with. |
| 332 | * FullBoarAction: This was where the term "killer pig" came from. |
| 333 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The ''Hyaenodon'' is the main antagonist of the episode, but the entelodonts are powerful enough to drive it away. |
| 334 | * HistoricalUglinessUpdate: As a consequence of shrinkwrapping. Their heads look like someone just draped skin over the bare skull, making them look like hideous gargoyle-like monstrosities. In reality, [[https://www.forgottenbloodlines.com/daeodon an entelodont likely had a lot more flesh on their face]], [[https://252mya.com/cdn/shop/products/1000px_archaeotherium_julio-lacerda.jpg?v=1615507786 with even conservative takes making them look far more like ordinary animals]]. |
| 335 | * InformedSpecies: According to the tie-in book (''The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life''), they are ''Entelodon'', but their larger size, living in Central Asia at the end of the Oligocene and reduced cheek flanges are more consistent with ''Paraentelodon''. |
| 336 | * {{Jerkass}}: One of the better examples in animal fiction. They seem to relish in bullying everyone, including members of their own species. |
| 337 | * LightningBruiser: Despite its size, it is shown to be fast and nimble in the confrontation with the ''Hyaenodon''. Modern wild boars also are such. But unlike them, it's improbabile they had the typical piglike tubular nose. |
| 338 | * MessyPig: When eat the chalicothere carcass, complete with JabbaTableManners. |
| 339 | * MixAndMatchCritters: They look like hairless bison with the elongated head of a hippo, but with a lifestyle akin to grizzly bears and hyenas. They also jaw-wrestle like hippos. |
| 340 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: We are shown why most animals don't prefer to get in a fight with them when two entelodonts fight each other for territory. One ends with its face literally bitten bloody. |
| 341 | * NoisyNature: Spends a majority of its screen time roaring with a wide open mouth. |
| 342 | * NoNameGiven: Only ever referred as "entelodonts" rather than a genus in particular. The best match size, time and location-wise is ''Paraentelodon'', who also had smaller cheek flanges, unlike earlier genera like ''Entelodon'', but similar to the show's model. |
| 343 | * RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The upper half of their face is red, in contrast to their black coat elsewhere. And they are portrayed as the bullies of the ecosystem. |
| 344 | * RedIsViolent: Their forehead is depicted with a vibrant light red color that enhances their hyper aggressive nature and makes them look more imposing. |
| 345 | * RuleOfCool: They appear to be even larger than the largest known entelodont, ''Daeodon'' (which in addition was North American rather than Asian). |
| 346 | * ScavengersAreScum: How they're presented initially. But one then is seen starving near a waterhole near a chalicothere, in a knelt pose, like what modern warthogs do when grazing or drinking. |
| 347 | * WhosLaughingNow: A ''Hyaenodon'' chases after a younger entelodont during the rains, and the grown indricothere calf bullies a grown one out of his path at the end of the episode. |
| 348 | * ZergRush: A group gang up on a ''Hyaenodon'', forcing it to abandon a fresh kill to them. |
| 349 | [[/folder]] |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[folder:Chalicothere]] |
| 352 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_chalicothere.jpg]] |
| 353 | The main prey item of the episode, a bizarre-looking relative of horses and rhinos. |
| 354 | ---- |
| 355 | * AnachronismStew: ''Chalicotherium'', the creature these guys are based on, didn't appear until well after the time period that their episode is set in (being known from the Mid Miocene to Early Pliocene), and by all accounts, only much smaller, more basal knuckle-walkers could have existed 25-23 mya. A similar-sized relative called ''Borissiakia'' did live in Central Asia during the Late Oligocene, although it was part of a subgroup that did not knuckle-walk. |
| 356 | * CurbStompBattle: At the receiving end on this. A ''Hyaenodon'' kills a chalicothere with a bite to the throat before it has time to react. |
| 357 | * CompositeCharacter: It's overall based on the giant ''Chalicotherium goldfussi'' (the type species), but it is only known from the Late Miocene (nearly 15 million years after the setting of the episode). Its presence at the end of the Oligocene is inspired by "''Chalicotherium''" ''pilgrimi'' and "''Chalicotherium''" ''wetzleri'' (who are known from the lowermost Miocene), but they were much smaller and their classification as knuckle-walking chalicotheriines (let alone species of ''Chalicotherium'') is questionable at best, due to their fragmentary nature. |
| 358 | * DemotedToExtra: In the novelization, it only shows up for one scene to be [[MonsterMunch killed]] by a pair of ''Hyaenodon''. |
| 359 | * FedToPigs: The entelodonts take over one's carcass soon after it is killed. |
| 360 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Walks like a gorilla, lives like a panda and has similar facial markings, has anteater claws on the front legs and hooves on the hind legs and the head of a horse. Is actually related to equines, as well as tapirs and rhinos. |
| 361 | * NoNameGiven: Only called "chalicothere", as it is not mean to be any particular one. |
| 362 | * RuleOfCool: Because the genus of reference, ''Chalicotherium'' is not known from the place the episode is set in until later, the show crew handwaved their chalicothere as a close relative of ''Chalicotherium'' that is yet to be discovered. There ''are'' chalicotheres that are known from the region, but they didn't knuckle-walk. |
| 363 | * WolverineClaws: Though their main victims are trees. A chalicothere doesn't even use them when attacked by a ''Hyaenodon'' (it tries though). |
| 364 | [[/folder]] |
| 365 | |
| 366 | [[folder:Bear-dog]] |
| 367 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_bear_dog.jpg]] |
| 368 | A small, dog-like carnivore living on the banks of the river. |
| 369 | ---- |
| 370 | * AllAnimalsAreDogs: Not much of a bear outside of its name. When confronted with the baby indricothere, the mother bear-dog even emit sounds like an angry dog. |
| 371 | * AllThereInTheManual: Referred to as "bear-dog" in the episode, identified specifically as a member of Amphicyonidae (and more specifically as based on ''Cynodictis'') on [[http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/factfiles/factfiles/amphicyonid.htm the show's website]]. |
| 372 | * AnimalsNotToScale: If it’s indeed ''Cynodictis'', then it’s much larger than the real animal. Compared to the entelodonts and baby indricothere, it seems to be the size of a wolf, while ''Cynodictis'' was no larger than and liklely the ecological equivalent of a fox. Larger sized bear-dogs wouldn’t show until the following Miocene epoch. |
| 373 | * AnachronismStew: The episode's setting is based on Mongolia's Hsanda Gol formation (33-31 million years old) but it is moved to the end of the Oligocene 25 million years ago (the end of the Oligocene was [[ScienceMarchesOn later moved further]], to 23 million years ago). Hsanda Gol has ''Cynodictis'', but this genus and all other small, dog-like bear-dogs had become extinct in Eurasia by the time of the episode, leaving larger panther-like species like ''Amphicyon'' and ''Ysengrinia'' in their wake (smaller species continued to exist in North America). |
| 374 | * ButtMonkey: Shown being scared off by an entelodont, and later one is shown having had its den caved in by a flood and her cubs drowned. |
| 375 | * DeathByAdaptation: In the novelization, both the mother and her pups get killed by the collapsing den. |
| 376 | * DeathByIrony: Born in a desert, cubs die in a flood. |
| 377 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: Its presence is entirely incidental. |
| 378 | * MamaBear: A mother charges face front against an indricothere to keep it away from her pups. While the indricothere is a baby, it's already several times the size of the mother bear-dog. |
| 379 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Subverted. The mix and match is only in the name. |
| 380 | * NoNameGiven: Only ever called bear-dog, since it is not supposed to be a particular species. |
| 381 | * OutlivingOnesOffspring: All the pups die when the den collapses during the rainy season, leaving the mother alone. |
| 382 | [[/folder]] |
| 383 | |
| 384 | [[folder: Nimravid]] |
| 385 | An early cat-like feliform and one of the smaller predators of Hsanda Gol along with the bear-dog. Appears only in the novelization of "Land of Giants". |
| 386 | ---- |
| 387 | * AlternateContinuity: Appears in the novelization and the moment where it scares off the indricothere calf on its first day out of the canyon was given to the bear-dog in the episode. |
| 388 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: It's only around the size of a leopard and a hunter of small game but its distant relatives (the true cats) would eventually become apex predators, as shown with ''Dinofelis'' and ''Smilodon''. [[note]] Though other Oligocene nimvravids like ''Hoplophoneus'', ''Eofelis'' and ''Quercylurus'' already got reasonably large outside of Asia. [[/note]] |
| 389 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: Together with the bear-dog, it represents the humble origins of carnivorans, who back in the Oligocene played second fiddle to hyaenodonts and entelodonts, but would later become the apex predators on Earth. |
| 390 | * NoNameGiven: It's only called a "nimravid". It might be meant to be a species of ''Nimravus'', as fossils attributed to it have been found at Hsanda Gol. |
| 391 | * WackyWaysideTribe: It's shown stalking some early rabbits before bumping into the indricothere calf and scaring it off (the latter moment being given to the bear-dog in the episode), and later, it and the bear-dogs try to scavenge a dead chalicothere brought down by two ''Hyaenodon''. Beyond that, it doesn't do much else. |
| 392 | [[/folder]] |
| 393 | |
| 394 | [[folder: Hyracodont]] |
| 395 | A pony-sized ancient rhino closely related to the giant indricothere. Appears only in the novelization of "Land of Giants". |
| 396 | ---- |
| 397 | * AlternateContinuity: Appears only in the novelization, where the opening scene shows an elderly ''Hyaenodon'' feeding on one of these and chasing away some bear-dogs trying to scavenge it. |
| 398 | * BigGuyLittleGuy: The little guy to the indricothere (''Paraceratherium''), being described as close relatives but differing greatly in size (though ''Paraceratherium'' is no longer classed as a hyracodontid). |
| 399 | * NoNameGiven: It's only called a "hyracodont". Given the location, it might be ''Ardynia'' or '' Prohyracodon''. |
| 400 | * WackyWaysideTribe: It shows up several times as a common small herbivore in the Hsanda Gol environment but only as part of the scenery or the occasional MonsterMunch. |
| 401 | [[/folder]] |
| 402 | |
| 403 | !!Next Of Kin |
| 404 | [[folder:''Australopithecus'']] |
| 405 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_australopithecus.jpg]] |
| 406 | A bipedal ape living in the African savanna and the protagonist of this episode. |
| 407 | ---- |
| 408 | * AmbiguouslyRelated: Downplayed in the case of Grey and Hercules. While Blue is doubtlessly Grey's son, it is unclear if Hercules is Grey's younger brother or an adult son. They are most likely related, it is just never stated how. |
| 409 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: Though chimpanzees are no stranger to eating meat, the ''Australopithecus'' have started to scavenge the carcasses of large savanna ungulates, heralding the evolution of hominids into large game hunters. |
| 410 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The group rises to save Blue from a ''Dinofelis'', after a whole episode treating him like an outcast. |
| 411 | * BadBoss: Grey is also quite the ass to his females and to Hercules, until the latter kicks his ass and takes over the group. However, he is also the only one that cares about Blue before the ending. |
| 412 | * BizarreSexualDimorphism: Compared to modern humans, the ''Australopithecus'' males are noticeably taller, hairier and more muscular than the females. |
| 413 | * BoisterousWeakling: The ''Australopithecus'' manage to scare some large animals (e.g. ''Ancylotherium'') because their upright stance makes them appear larger than they are. Most ''Australopithecus'' internal conflicts are also ended without actual violence. |
| 414 | * {{Bowdlerize}}: The PrimalScene was [[{{Pixellation}} pixellated]] in the American release and cut out altogether in the Australian. |
| 415 | * ButtMonkey: |
| 416 | ** Blue, as a literal example. His mother dies of malaria, and he is nearly left behind when a rival ''Australopithecus'' gang takes the group's territory by force. Even the other australopithecine children don't want to play with him. |
| 417 | ** The group as a whole. It is driven out of their territory by rival ''Australopithecus'', chased off by ''Deinotherium'' (twice) just ForTheLulz, and hunted by ''Dinofelis''. Eventually, the group [[TheDogBitesBack finds the strength]] to fight back at the last one. |
| 418 | * CameraAbuse: One of the stones used as weapons against the feline breaks a camera glass during the final battle by accident. |
| 419 | * CantGetAwayWithNuthin: Every time Blue tries to socialize, something happens and ruins it. Every time the troop tries to settle down and live their lives, some animal comes and ruins it... [[EarnYourHappyEnding until the end]]. |
| 420 | * ChekhovsGun: Hercules keeps in his hand the branch used to dig for tubers earlier while chasing off the vultures, and it becomes an effective weapon when he fights Grey over the carcass later. |
| 421 | * ChekhovsSkill: Hercules uses the skills used to drive an ''Ancylotherium'' away to chase away vultures later. |
| 422 | * CombatPragmatist: Hercules. He rises his arms to increase his perceived height further and turns his digging stick into a club to defeat Grey. |
| 423 | * CoolOldGuy: Grey, being the oldest and the leader. |
| 424 | * DaChief: Grey enforces the group's rules strictly while Hercules keeps testing their limits. This is not surprising, given that the rules are largely a defense of the boss's reproductive and feeding privileges. It eventually leads to the final fight between Grey and Hercules and Grey's downfall. |
| 425 | * TheDogBitesBack: To the ''Dinofelis'', eventually. Also, Hercules to Grey at the dead zebra. |
| 426 | * EarnYourHappyEnding[=/=]ThrowTheDogABone: After all their hardships, the group drives off a scary predator and Blue is fully accepted by his peers. |
| 427 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: The behaviors that don't look immediately human are grafted from chimpanzees. The chest-punching, however, is from gorillas. |
| 428 | * FrazettaMan: Zigzagged. The animators found that their own models only worked if ''Australopithecus'' walked entirely upright, instead of with the hunched back and legs of a 'missing link' stereotype. On the other hand, ''Australopithecus'' proportions are so human-like that it can be described as a human with a chimpanzee's head. |
| 429 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: Mankind's origins were humble and far from the top of the food chain. Some might see the scenes where the australopithecines get [[AscendedToCarnivorism a taste of meat]] and drive a ''Dinofelis'' away later as a StartOfDarkness... |
| 430 | * GroundPunch: Done by ''Australopithecus'' during interspecies conflicts. Of course, it has no effect besides intimidation. |
| 431 | * HandicappedBadass: Grey is [[MeaningfulName grey-haired]] and blind in one eye, yet remains leader of the group for the better part of the episode. He's probably been on top for years, and the narration implies that he could have driven off the invading group if his own had not been recently depleted by malaria. He is also beaten by Hercules because the latter uses a digging stick as a weapon; Grey prevails in an earlier fight with their bare hands only. |
| 432 | * ImprobableInfantSurvival: Babble's child is separated from the group and finds itself at the receiving end of a charging ''Deinotherium''. Miraculously, the ''Deinotherium'' walks around it and completely forgets about it later, allowing it to rejoin the group. |
| 433 | * KlingonPromotion: Hercules fights Grey to become the top male in the group, and replaces him when he concedes defeat. |
| 434 | * KnowWhenToFoldThem: ''Australopithecus'' have reduced aggression compared to other primates and tend to stop a fight before physical contact. The most damage is suffered by Grey in the zebra carcass fight, but he gives up after several stick hits. |
| 435 | * MamaBear: Babble, after finding out her baby was accidentally left behind and is at the mercy of the ''Deinotherium'', instantly goes back to rescue him. It doesn't work, but still... |
| 436 | * MeaningfulName: Grey has grey hair. Blue is sad. |
| 437 | * NonIndicativeName: Hercules isn't the strongest member of the group, Grey is. Black Eye (the female killed by the ''Dinofelis'') completely lacks one and they all have the same eye color, and Babble (the female that tries to save her son from the ''Deinotherium'') may yell a lot but doesn't speak many languages. |
| 438 | * NoSocialSkills: At the beginning of the episode, Blue has no idea how to form bonds with other ''Australopithecus'' that aren't his dead mother. Given how political ''Australopithecus'' are, this contributes to his isolation. |
| 439 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: Grey is easily told apart from Hercules because he has grey hair and a blind eye. Blue is told apart from the other kids because he is slightly older and taller. |
| 440 | * PetTheDog: Grey, a small-time tyrant otherwise, is also the only member of the group who pays any attention to Blue before the ending. Of course, since Grey was the dominant male and thus had the right to mate with the females it is extremely likely that he is Blue's father. |
| 441 | * PrimalChestPound: Done by some males when the two ''Australopithecus'' troops have a territorial dispute, and also when the ''Australopithecus'' turn the tables on the ''Dinofelis''. |
| 442 | * RichesToRags: Implied. Blue's mother was the dominant female before she died of malaria. Without her to vouch for him, Blue is relegated to the bottom of the group. |
| 443 | * RuleOfCool: The scene where one ''Australopithecus'' walks on his knuckles and waddles, only to stand up when the narrator reveals that this species walks on two feet. |
| 444 | * TheUsurper: Another ''Australopithecus'' group takes advantage of Grey's group's weakness and drives them out of their territory. That said, since Grey's group was weakened by malaria, which develops in still waters, it is likely that the usurper group will get also weakened from it. |
| 445 | * WhosLaughingNow: After losing one of their members to ''Dinofelis'', they make it run away the second time it tries to attack them, by throwing rocks at it. |
| 446 | * YouCantGoHomeAgain: The group is expelled from their territory by a rival ''Australopithecus'' troop and must find a new home. |
| 447 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Grey is thirty years old; Blue is three. |
| 448 | [[/folder]] |
| 449 | |
| 450 | [[folder:''Dinofelis'']] |
| 451 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_dinofelis.jpg]] |
| 452 | A lion-sized saber-toothed cat, and the main antagonist of the episode. |
| 453 | ---- |
| 454 | * BigBad: The main predator of the episode and the ''Australopithecus''. |
| 455 | * BulletTime: The frame slows when it runs towards the ''Australopithecus'' group. |
| 456 | * CatsAreMean: Averted. It's presented as just a predator trying to feed itself, although still a constant danger to the ''Australopithecus'' clan. |
| 457 | * CrapSaccharineWorld: The ''Dinofelis'' den is in the perfect place for an ''Australopithecus'' troop -- there is shade, clean water, numerous and varied food to sustain them for all seasons (fruit, roots, eggs, meat), no dangerous herbivores like ''Deinotherium'' and no other carnivores. The problem, and likely reason there are no other ''Australopithecus'' there already, is that there is a ''[[ToServeMan Dinofelis]]'' living there. |
| 458 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Its appearance and behavior is very similar to a modern African leopard (which was also far more likely to be the main predator for early Hominids). Later research via carbon dating has yielded that ''Dinofelis'' preferred to hunt grazing animals instead, the hominid-killer role now speculated to have been fellow Sabre-Toothed Cat ''Megantereon'' (ironic in this case, given that it was the ancestor of ''Smilodon'', which is given the more sympathetic role in the following episode). |
| 459 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Dinofelis'' means "terrible cat" or "terrifying cat". |
| 460 | * PantheraAwesome: Undeniable, being powerful big cats. |
| 461 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Appears as a villain because it hunts ''Australopithecus''; in the next episode, another sabertooth cat, ''Smilodon'' gets a protagonist role and more sympathy. |
| 462 | * RuleOfCool: The idea that ''Dinofelis'' was a specialized primate killer is merely conjectural- evidence suggests that leopards filled that role instead, but a sabretooth cat is a lot cooler than an ordinary leopard. There is also no evidence that ''Dinofelis'' perched its prey on trees, or even that ''Dinofelis'' climbed trees at all. The reason leopards do this today is to prevent larger carnivores like lions from stealing their kills; ''Dinofelis'' coexisted with lions and a larger sabertooth, ''Homotherium'', but was itself larger and heavier than a leopard. |
| 463 | * ToServeMan: It is the main predator of ''Australopithecus''. |
| 464 | * WhosLaughingNow: At the receiving end of this, once the ''Australopithecus'' gain the courage to fight back. |
| 465 | [[/folder]] |
| 466 | |
| 467 | [[folder:''Deinotherium'']] |
| 468 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwbbook_deinotherium.jpg]] |
| 469 | A distant relative of elephants, though taller, lankier and specialized in browsing treetops like a giraffe. |
| 470 | ---- |
| 471 | * AxCrazy: A musth-stricken young male encountered by the australopithecines is one of the only creatures that can be described as this in the series. |
| 472 | * BarbaricBully: You'd think a vegetarian invulnerable to predators may not waste so much energy picking on animals that could never be a threat to it, but you'd be wrong. |
| 473 | * CompositeCharacter: It living in Africa alongside ''Australopithecus'' would suggest that it's ''Deinotherium bozasi'', the last of its kind, but its huge size is more comparable to the European ''Deinotherium giganteum'', while D. ''bozasi'' was the same size as an African elephant. |
| 474 | * CruelElephant: They are not the least honorable, being "sadistic" bullies more than anything. The {{irony}} is that everything they do is actually based on modern elephant behaviour. |
| 475 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Of the African elephant, but with any HonorableElephant traits removed. |
| 476 | * GiantEqualsInvincible: Their massive size means that there is nothing the australopithecines can do against it besides run. Even the calves are too large to tackle. |
| 477 | * InvincibleVillain: They are secondary antagonists to the australopithecines who bully them via their greater size. Since the australopithecines' forms of fighting are limited to their hands and objects they can get their hands on, there is nothing they can do to stop a ''Deinotherium''. |
| 478 | * {{Jerkass}}: Even the non-musth striken youngsters and females seem to love bullying the ''Australopithecus'' for no reason. |
| 479 | * MisplacedWildlife: The ''Deinotherium'' portrayed are described "as tall as giraffes": but in Africa the deinotheres never reached such size. Some of the Asian ones did it, but lived earlier. |
| 480 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ''Deinotherium'' literally means "terrible beast" or "terrifying beast". |
| 481 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: It is more instinctive compared to the mammoths of the last episode, yet the behaviour of both is closely patterned after modern elephants. The ''Deinotherium'' is an antagonist to the ''Australopithecus'', so it displays dangerous elephant behaviour, while the mammoth is a protagonist, so it displays more peaceful elephant behaviour and the more questionable one is downplayed by it happening to larger animals that can actually take it. |
| 482 | * RhinoRampage: It is an elephant relative, but its behaviour fits. |
| 483 | * RuleOfCool: Obviously, there is no way to know if musth happened in non-elephantid proboscideans. ''Deinotherium'' was very distantly-related with mammoths or modern pachyderms (it was closer to the small ''Moeritherium''). Probably its trunk was longer than how is depicted in the show. |
| 484 | * WackyWaysideTribe: Acts as a one-time challenge in the ''Australopithecus'' migration from [[YouCantGoHomeAgain their lost territory]] to the CrapSaccharineWorld that is the ''Dinofelis'' hunting grounds. |
| 485 | * WouldHurtAChild: In its frenzy, the ''Deinotherium'' may attack anything. |
| 486 | [[/folder]] |
| 487 | |
| 488 | [[folder:''Ancylotherium'']] |
| 489 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_ancylotherium.jpg]] |
| 490 | A late surviving chalicothere. It lacks the anteater-like claws of previous ones and serves a small role in the episode. |
| 491 | ---- |
| 492 | * GentleGiant: The two chalicothere types of the series appear such, but we don't know if in reality they were so harmless. |
| 493 | * InformedSpecies: Due to being a PaletteSwap of the ''Chalicotherium'' with modified front feet, but ''Ancylotherium'' was part of the schizotheriine chalicotheres and as such, had very different proportions compared to chalicotheriines. Its front limbs weren't as disproportionally long compared to its hindlimbs, its snout and neck were longer, and it even had a slightly domed head. |
| 494 | * MonsterMunch: In the novelization, it's stated to be a prey item for the ''Dinofelis''. The ''Australopithecus'' group later stumbles upon a dead ''Ancylotherium'' killed by a ''Dinofelis'' and scavenge it (instead of a zebra). |
| 495 | * LastOfItsKind: One of the last chalicothere species in existence, described in the episode as "the last". However, a few later surviving species of chalicothere have since been identified that survived until the Early Pleistocene in Asia. |
| 496 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: It is immediately recognizable as a relative of the chalicothere in "Land of Giants", despite missing the WolverineClaws, and was probably modified from the same model. It was slightly smaller than the earlier relative, being no taller than a modern adult human. Both chalicotheres emit sounds like a hippopotamus. |
| 497 | [[/folder]] |
| 498 | |
| 499 | !!Sabre Tooth |
| 500 | [[folder:''Smilodon'']] |
| 501 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smilodon_couple_big.png]] |
| 502 | The last and largest of the saber-toothed cats, and the main protagonist of the episode. |
| 503 | ---- |
| 504 | * AdaptationalIntelligence: In the episode, one of the brothers dies by foolishly confronting a giant ''Megatherium'' head-on. In the novelization, both brothers are more cautious and try to intimidate it with bluff charges, but one of them stumbles, and the ground sloth lunges at the fallen cat [[BloodierAndGorier and mauls him to death]] (rather than killing him with one blow). |
| 505 | * AnachronismStew: Fairly minor, but ''Smilodon populator'' evolved over 200,000 years after the time this episode was set in. Several other species depicted are also anachronistic, although not their genera[[note]]barring the phorusrhacid, which is altogether out of place for the time period[[/note]]. |
| 506 | * AmazonBrigade: The females hunt and raise their cubs together. |
| 507 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: |
| 508 | ** Their behavior, which was bluntly copied from extant African lions. Most notably, the females are seen chasing down ''Macrauchenia'', being able to do sharp turns while running. ''Smilodon'' was an ambush predator that could only run in very short bursts of speed; its short tail would have made it very unbalanced in a high speed chase. |
| 509 | ** ''Smilodon'' males and females were similar in size and built, making the lion harem-style pack even more unlikely (a ''wolf''-like social life has been proposed based on remains from Rancho La Brea, but it is controversial still). |
| 510 | ** Attributing ''Smilodon populator'''s extinction to climate change wiping out its prey is at least ''odd''. South America was stable for the last million years (to the point this episode is the only in the series to be filmed in the claimed location) and ''S. populator'' survived through the whole cycle of ice ages before going extinct when humans colonized South America. This episode could just as well been set after the mammoth one; they likely only set it before to make the terror birds less of an anachronism and for the powerful last shot in "Mammoth Journey" to be the end of the series. |
| 511 | * BabiesEverAfter: Half-Tooth has a new litter in the last scene of the episode, to replace the one that was slaughtered by the brothers. |
| 512 | * BadassCrew: The pride/pack is the most efficient killing machine in the plain of its era. However it's later zig-zagged due to the fact it doesn't do much to defend their young from the brothers and quickly runs away without giving a fight when their leader is killed by a ''Megatherium''. |
| 513 | * BigBadDuumvirate: The brothers who usurp Half-Tooth are the main antagonists. Unlike most examples from the show, they're not predators of the protagonist; the "hero" is another ''Smilodon''. |
| 514 | * BizarreSexualDimorphism: Not as much as other examples, but males are noticeably larger and have short lion-like manes. |
| 515 | * BookEnds: The episode ends with Half-Tooth having another litter, and taking care of the kids while the females hunt ''Macrauchenia''. |
| 516 | * CatsAreMean: The brothers are the primary antagonists of the episode. |
| 517 | * DecapitationPresentation: One of Half-Tooth's cubs is decapitated by the brothers. The other is never seen, but it's dead too. |
| 518 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Half-Tooth gets one after fighting the two brothers, and has [[BabiesEverAfter new cubs]] to replace the ones that were killed. |
| 519 | * EatsBabies: Zigzagged. Half-tooth eats a ''Macrauchenia'' baby, that was killed by a ''Phorusrhacos'', but Half-Tooth was already stalking before the bird appeared. |
| 520 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: The behavior is copied from African lions, ignoring contrary evidence if necessary. |
| 521 | * ForgottenFallenFriend: The females will defend their cubs while they are alive, but submit to the brothers as soon as they are killed. They are also not loyal to Half-Tooth or the brothers. If the pack's male changes, so be it. |
| 522 | * GreenEyedMonster: How the brothers are portrayed in their introduction. |
| 523 | * HandicappedBadass: Half-tooth may have a broken saber, but that barely slows him down. |
| 524 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Not only did they plagiarize lions, the narrator actually hails ''Smilodon'' as "the most powerful big cat of all time". Yet there were lions (''Panthera spealea'') and faux-lions (''P. atrox'') that were more likely to be social than ''Smilodon''. That said sabretooths did outnumber large ''Panthera'' members across the New World by a wide margin, so it did seem they were still apex predators, just ones with rivals. |
| 525 | * InformedAttribute: Half-Tooth is supposedly larger and stronger than most ''Smilodon'' males, but this is hard to notice. |
| 526 | * ItsPersonal: You can almost hear Half-Tooth say this when he finds his dead cub... or [[DecapitationPresentation what remains]] of it. |
| 527 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Half-tooth is quick to realize that he can't beat both of the brothers, and reluctantly withdraws. The brothers won't do it, which leads to their deaths. |
| 528 | * MamaBear: The females fiercely protect their cubs from the brothers after they ousted Half-Tooth. Their efforts, however, were futile. |
| 529 | * MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Defied by the males tendency to kill all cubs after taking over a pride. However, it is possible there are already pregnant females when a takeover happens. |
| 530 | * MegaNeko: It's the largest species of sabertooth cat known to science. |
| 531 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: Half-Tooth has a broken saber, making him easier to tell apart from the brothers. |
| 532 | * PantheraAwesome: Big cats with big teeth. What are you expecting? There is a reason it is one of the most memorable creatures of the show. |
| 533 | * PapaWolf: In the beginning of the episode, Half-Tooth chases away a pair of terror birds attempting to eat one of his babies. |
| 534 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: The "villain" brothers are just doing what Half-Tooth did years ago (and eventually does again, when they are reduced to one). |
| 535 | * RuleOfCool: |
| 536 | ** Besides all the ArtisticLicensePaleontology, there is the scene where the pride's younger females decide to test their hunting abilities on a NighInvulnerable ''Doedicurus'', rather than choosing a viable and less dangerous target. |
| 537 | ** The choice to use the less popular ''Smilodon populator'' over the much more well-known ''Smilodon fatalis'' probably boils down to the fact that ''S. populator'' was the biggest ''Smilodon'' species. |
| 538 | * SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: The "Walking with Beasts" logo is crossed by claw marks. At the end of the intro, a male ''Smilodon'' claws it and roars to the camera. |
| 539 | * SeriesMascot: In the same way ''Tyrannosaurus'' was one for ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs''. |
| 540 | * ShaggyDogStory: For the brothers: both die in the end after their short, violent reign and do not pass their genes down, unless [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe those cubs]] Half-Tooth nurtures at the end aren't his. |
| 541 | * SparedByTheAdaptation: The second brother in the book, who simply runs away after his brother is dead. In the show, he is mortally injured by Half Tooth and devoured by the terror birds. |
| 542 | * SiblingsInCrime: The two brothers that drive Half-tooth from his pride. |
| 543 | * TooDumbToLive: One of the brothers dies by foolishly confronting a ''Megatherium'' head-on. Averted in the novelization, where he's more cautious around the giant but accidentally stumbles, causing the sloth to lunge at him with surprising speed and kill him. |
| 544 | * TheUsurper: The brothers to Half-Tooth, ''Smilodon'' to ''Phorusrhacos''. |
| 545 | * TheWorfEffect: Half Tooth is driven away by the brothers. Later turned around when a ''Megatherium'' kills one of them. |
| 546 | * WouldHurtAChild: The brothers kill Half-Tooth's cubs to make the females mate with them and have their children. |
| 547 | * YouCantGoHomeAgain: After being defeated by the brothers, Half-Tooth abandons his former territory in the plains and heads for the closed forest outside. However, the death of one of the brothers allows him to return. |
| 548 | [[/folder]] |
| 549 | |
| 550 | [[folder:''Phorusrhacos'']] |
| 551 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_phorusrhacos.jpg]] |
| 552 | A large, flightless "terror bird". The former apex predator of South America, now dethroned by ''Smilodon''. |
| 553 | ---- |
| 554 | * AnachronismStew: ''Phorusrhacos'' became extinct 13 million years ago, although this was because there was a hypothesis at the time that lumped other large terror birds into the genus, such as the much later ''Titanis'', as noted in supplementary material (though ''Titanis'' itself turned out to have died out 2 million years ago). |
| 555 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: |
| 556 | ** In addition, terror birds would have had no trouble coexisting as a predator with sabretooths, as they were much faster and hunted faster prey. In fact, they were the only South American carnivore along with opossums to migrate northward successfully during the Great American Interchange. This is mentioned by the narrator, despite the constant theme of terror birds being outcompeted by cats. |
| 557 | ** While one large terror bird (''Titanis'') did briefly co-exist with sabre-toothed cats, it only coexisted with the earliest and smallest ''Smilodon'' species, ''S. gracilis'', which lived two million years ago, not one million years, and in North America, not South America. |
| 558 | * CirclingVultures: The wounded brother is pursued by phorusrhacids after he is usurped. Guess how it ends for him... |
| 559 | * CompositeCharacter: Its name and existence in South America come from the Miocene-aged ''Phorusrhacos longissimus'' but most other aspects, such as it living in the Pleistocene alongside ''Smilodon'' and (outdated) wing claws are based on the North American ''Titanis walleri''. Notably, supplementary material shows that the producers treated ''Titanis'' as a synonym of the earlier-named ''Phorusrhacos''. Furthermore, a line from the narrator about how this terror bird has "cousins" in Texas and Florida implies they are meant to be a different species from "''Phorusrhacos walleri''" (and they obviously aren't P. ''longissimus'', who vanished 14 million years earlier). |
| 560 | * EatsBabies: Introduced chasing a ''Smilodon'' cub; one later hunts a young ''Macrauchenia'', but it is stolen by the ''Smilodon'' Half-Tooth. |
| 561 | * FeatheredFiend: While ''Gastornis'' was arguably vegetarian, the phorusrhacids were arguably strict carnivores. |
| 562 | * HistoricalDowngrade: One of the most severely underrated predators of the entire series, being depicted as a cowardly scavenger instead of the lightning-fast apex predator capable of competing with any mammalian carnivore it really was. Then again, the show does state they've become more opportunistic, and if they can get to meat the ''smilodons'' can't, they're not going to be picky. |
| 563 | * LightningBruiser: It appears out of nowhere to kill a young ''Macrauchenia''. |
| 564 | * RichesToRags: They are portrayed as having lost their spot at the top of the food chain with the arrival of ''Smilodon''. |
| 565 | * RuleOfCool: Introduced as "3 meters tall" but looks more like 2 and a half in both show and reality. ''Phorusrhacos'' was also the tallest terror bird known at the time the show was made, until surpassed by ''Kelenken'' in 2007. It was also not a contemporary of ''S. populator''. |
| 566 | * ScavengersAreScum: Presented as scavengers, making them less sympathetic than the equally carnivorous ''Smilodon''. This despite the fact it was not a scavenger and was just as good a predator as its rival in-universe. They are seen killing a juvenile ''Macrauchenia'' at least once, though. |
| 567 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: To ''Gastornis'', which is why they are subjected to TheWorfEffect. Ironically, since ''Gastornis'' has been confirmed as a vegetarian, terror birds have been left as one of the few known flightless hunting birds. |
| 568 | * TheWorfEffect: Most of their screentime involves them being chased off by ''Smilodon''. |
| 569 | [[/folder]] |
| 570 | |
| 571 | [[folder:''Macrauchenia'']] |
| 572 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwbbook_macrauchenia.jpg]] |
| 573 | The standard prey animal of the episode. A camel-like, mixed grazer-browser belonging to a group of ungulates unique to South America. |
| 574 | ---- |
| 575 | * AnimalsNotToScale: It's depicted as only slightly larger than the ''Smilodon'', [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia#/media/File:Macrauchenia_wiki.png when the real animal was much bigger, weighing a ton]]. |
| 576 | * ButtMonkey: Serves the episode simply as prey for ''Smilodon'' and terror birds (and possibly the ''Megatherium''). |
| 577 | * DontGoInTheWoods: A mother ''Macrauchenia'' and her calf (foal?) get separated from the herd and walk right into a stalking sabertooth ''and'' a stalking terror bird. |
| 578 | * FantasticFaunaCounterpart: Its coloration is similar to an impala's, complementing the ''Smilodon'''s lion. |
| 579 | * LastOfHisKind: The last of the Litopterns, South American ungulates that evolved in isolation since the Paleocene. |
| 580 | * MonsterMunch: They are weird, they are preyed on, and that's about it. |
| 581 | * MixAndMatchCreatures: A llama-like animal with a tapir-like head ([[ScienceMarchesOn although it's generally thought nowadays]] it didn't actually have a trunk). Ironically, while both existed in South America in this time and still do today, they are not related to South American native ''Macrauchenia'', but are recent immigrants from North America instead. Their feet are rhinoceros-like, which never colonized South America. |
| 582 | [[/folder]] |
| 583 | |
| 584 | [[folder:''Megatherium'']] |
| 585 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_megatherium.jpg]] |
| 586 | An elephant-sized ground sloth. It is the largest animal in the episode and in the South American continent. |
| 587 | ---- |
| 588 | * AscendedToCarnivorism: They spend most of their day munching on tree leaves, but in one scene one decides that it'd rather have what the ''Smilodon'' are having. The exact thing, that is. |
| 589 | * AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: A sloth the size of an elephant, that eats both plants... and meat. And it takes no shits from anyone. |
| 590 | * BlackBeadEyes: In contrast to every other mammal in the series. If anything, they remind the most of ''Physogaleus'', a shark. It contributes to making it unsettling despite also looking like a giant teddy bear. |
| 591 | * BigEater: Seen constantly feeding, probably due to how large it is and how poor most of its diet is. |
| 592 | * BulletProofVest: How the ''Megatherium's'' chest bones are described by the show. |
| 593 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Think a giant sloth does not sound intimidating? Wait till you see it kill a ''[[MegaNeko Smilodon]]'' with [[OneHitKill one strike]]! |
| 594 | * CurbStompBattle: He kills a ''Smilodon'' with a DopeSlap. |
| 595 | * TheDreaded: Despite its non-threatening appearance, even the ''Smilodon'' do not dare to mess with it. And for good reason, it kills one of the brothers with a single swipe from its claws. |
| 596 | * GiantEqualsInvincible: It's a giant that none of the predators in the episode want to mess with. One of the ''Smilodon'' brothers does, and the ''Megatherium'' kills him with a casual slap that makes the rest run away without second thoughts. |
| 597 | * HistoricalBadassUpgrade: The killing of the ''Smilodon'' is based on a controversial theory that has been called "fanciful" by critics. ''Megatherium'' teeth were typical of a herbivore. |
| 598 | * TheJuggernaut: Large as an elephant, with giant claws and chainmail-like bony armor under their skin. When the ''Megatherium'' wants to take food from carnivores, nothing gets in their way. One of the ''Smilodon'' brothers wasn't in that detail and tried to stand his ground against the megatherium, and it kills him with a casual slap. |
| 599 | * KillerRabbit: Does not look formidable at all, but is a capable killer. |
| 600 | * MightyGlacier: As a super strong sloth, this is to be expected. Not just their huge size, but it's noted that it possesses bony growths under its skin that render it virtually indestructible. |
| 601 | * NoisyNature: Constantly makes bellowing noises. |
| 602 | * OneHitKill: Kills one of the brothers this way with its huge claws. |
| 603 | * RuleOfCool: There is no evidence of scavenging behavior, kleptoparasitism, or any carnivorism at all. |
| 604 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: A random ''Megatherium'' kills one of the ''Smilodon'' brothers before they reproduce or Half-Tooth gets too weak or old, allowing him to make an unlikely comeback. |
| 605 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: The more we know about therizinosaurs, the more it looks like ground sloths were deliberately imitating them. |
| 606 | * WolverineClaws: Like modern sloths, but enlarged accordingly. |
| 607 | [[/folder]] |
| 608 | |
| 609 | [[folder:''Doedicurus'']] |
| 610 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_doedicurus.jpg]] |
| 611 | A car-sized armadillo relative armed with a flail-like tail. |
| 612 | ---- |
| 613 | * AdaptationalExpansion: The novelization gives it two more scenes, as we see a mother and her young digging for food, and later we see another mother defending her offspring against two terror birds, who try to drag it away but the adult ''Doedicurus'' wards them off. |
| 614 | * BewareMyStingerTail: The tail even has longer spikes than most examples... but it is entirely organic. Oh, and it's like a spiked club, to boot. |
| 615 | * BookEnds: The same path, shot from the same POV, that is used by a defeated male ''Doedicurus'' after a fight, is later walked down by a female ''Doedicurus'' and what are probably his rival's children. |
| 616 | * CompeteForTheMaidensHand: Two ''Doedicurus'' use their flails to fight for the right to mate with a female while she watches. |
| 617 | * EpicFlail: Should be obvious by now. |
| 618 | * MightyGlacier: They are invulnerable to predators, so they don't bother running. |
| 619 | * MixAndMatchCritters: Someone stuck a mammalian head and legs in an ankylosaur, and gave it a stegosaur thagomizer for good measure. |
| 620 | * NighInvulnerable: In an aversion of ArmourIsUseless, the cats can do absolutely nothing to it. |
| 621 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: To ankylosaurs. |
| 622 | [[/folder]] |
| 623 | |
| 624 | [[folder:''Hippidion'']] |
| 625 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwbbook_hippidiformhorse.jpg]] |
| 626 | A small South American horse that appears only in the novelization of "Sabretooth". Like ''Smilodon'', it descends from recent North American colonizers. |
| 627 | ---- |
| 628 | * AlternateContinuity: The novelization (''Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari'') shows a terror bird killing a ''Hippidion'' foal and getting its kill stolen by Half-Tooth, a role that went to of a young ''Macrauchenia'' in the episode proper, and also fights over it with a second terror bird. The accompanying image of two ''Phorusrhacos'' struggling for the foal's carcass implies that a ''Hippidion'' model was worked on at some point before being cut. |
| 629 | * DeletedRole: It is likely ''Hippidion'' would be introduced as the narrator talks about the Great American Biotic Interchange right before returning to ''Smilodon'', but was cut, likely due to budget cuts. |
| 630 | * InformedSpecies: |
| 631 | ** The foal appears to have three toes, but ''Hippidion'' only had one. This is either because the foal's model was modified from ''Propalaeotherium'' and left unfinished, or a confusion born from the fact that, [[ScienceMarchesOn at the time]], ''Hippidion'' was believed to be a descendant of the three-toed ''Pliohippus'' despite being one-toed (DNA later showed a closer relationship between ''Hippidion'' and ''Equus'' than expected, despite also confirming them as separate genera). |
| 632 | ** Inexplicably, ''The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life'' claims that it is a ''Smilodon'' cub, even though it is clearly not. |
| 633 | * MonsterMunch: Only there to be eaten by ''Smilodon'' and ''Phorusrhacos'', which made subsuming its role into ''[[ButtMonkey Macrauchenia]]'' very easy. The narration in the novelization also suggests that it's one of the main prey items for ''Smilodon'' along with ''Macrauchenia''. |
| 634 | * NoNameGiven: Only ever called "horse" or "hippidiform horse". All other genera of once-called "hippidiform" horses [[ScienceMarchesOn have since been synonymized]] into ''Hippidion'', rendering this its only possible identity. |
| 635 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: There is a small horse-like animal who does nothing but get distracted, run for its life, and get killed by a giant flightless bird. ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Propalaeotherium]]''? No, ''Hippidion''. |
| 636 | [[/folder]] |
| 637 | |
| 638 | !!Mammoth Journey |
| 639 | [[folder:Woolly Mammoth]] |
| 640 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_mammoth.jpg]] |
| 641 | Oh, come on, [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs you know this one!]] The main protagonist of the episode. |
| 642 | ---- |
| 643 | * AllThereInTheManual: The mammoth species is the most famous one, ''Mammuthus primigenius''. ''Mammuthus africanavus'', the african ancestor of the other mammoths, is referenced. |
| 644 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: They used to be NighInvulnerable to predators... until [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters hominids]] came along. |
| 645 | * AmazonBrigade: The herd consists entirely of females and their subadult children. |
| 646 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: In their yearly migrations, the matriarch-led group leaves behind a female that fell through thin ice, and then another female delayed by her calf. Both are likely the matriarch's own daughters or sisters. However, when the second female and calf finally reach the group, the matriarch and the other females are eager to display their affection as a way to reinforce their ties with them as members of the same herd - showing mammoths are actually among the most social and loyal mammal species that have ever existed. |
| 647 | * TheBabyOfTheBunch: The youngest of the herd is a six-month old male calf. Then is joined in the Alps by a little female. |
| 648 | * BadassAdorable: Its species appears basically as a big fluffy elephant. Indeed mammoths were close elephant relatives. |
| 649 | * BirthDeathJuxtaposition: A mammoth (possibly) becomes pregnant and another gives birth (not the same one, due to how long elephantine pregnancies are) in the same episode three adults are killed. |
| 650 | * CameraAbuse: A young mammoth spraying mud over a camera. Also modern elephants spray mud over their bodies with their trunks to cool themselves like what is seen in the mammoths' alpine habitat. |
| 651 | * DisneyVillainDeath: Two are forced by neanderthals to fall off a cliff. One survives... [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou briefly and severely injured]]. |
| 652 | * DistantFinale: The end flashes to a British Museum 30,000 years later, where a life model of a mammoth and a Paleolithic mammoth statuette are exhibited. |
| 653 | * FateWorseThanDeath: One is forced to watch her herd give up on her and continue their march while she's trapped in ice and surrounded by hungry, opportunistic predators. Another is driven off a cliff by neanderthals... and ''survives'' to see them approach with spears while she can't do anything about it. |
| 654 | * GiantEqualsInvincible: Once they reach adult size they are out of the menu for most animals... except TechnoWizard hominids. |
| 655 | * HonorableElephant: More than the ''Deinotherium'' at least. When a male engages in the same "step out of my way" behavior, the negative effect is avoided because it is directed at larger animals that can take it, like bison (maybe the extinct ''Bison priscus''), or animals who weren't very sympathetic to begin with, like [[ToServeMan man-eating]] cave lions (''Panthera spelaea''). |
| 656 | * KillItWithFire: Indirectly. Like all animals, they are terrified of fire. The neanderthals use torches to drive a couple over a cliff, which is what actually kills them ([[NotTheFallThatKillsYou or not]]). |
| 657 | * MamaBear: |
| 658 | ** The mammoth left behind with her calf is very defensive of her, protecting it from lions and risking her own safety by losing the herd for its sake. |
| 659 | ** Given how elephant herds work (and we know mammoth herds worked), the matriarch is likely the mother or CoolBigSis of all the other females. Indeed, she's succeeded by her sister after her death. |
| 660 | * MammothsMeanIceAge: It is the Ice Age episode, alright, and it stars mammoths. It takes place at the beginning of the last glacial maximum. |
| 661 | * MightyGlacier: Big, strong but not super fast. Opposite to the giant deer and the woolly rhinoceros (both LightningBruiser). |
| 662 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: The old mammoth bull is far larger than the females (and even other males) and has tusks so long, they almost draw circles over themselves. While there is some RuleOfCool, it is justified because proboscideans continue growing while they are alive unlike most mammals. |
| 663 | * NotTheFallThatKillsYou: One of the mammoths survives falling off a cliff, although with devastating injuries. |
| 664 | * {{Precursors}}: Newly arrived cro-magnons seem fascinated with mammoths. They build huts with their bones, imitate their "mosquito-proof mascara", carve mammoth figurines in bone, and use their trails to migrate south. All while trying not to disturb them. |
| 665 | * ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Their behavior is entirely elephant-like, like ''Deinotherium''. But while ''Deinotherium'' was a villain, the mammoths come near TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth in their protagonic episode. |
| 666 | * TheQuest: Every winter, the lead herd walks from the North Sea (which is dry in this time) to a hidden valley in the Swiss Alps. Along the way, they meet other mammoths and challenges. |
| 667 | * TheShangriLa: The mammoths wintering valley. |
| 668 | * {{Xenofiction}}: The story is told from the POV of the mammoths, even though two hominid species are present. |
| 669 | * YouAreInCommandNow: The matriarch is killed by neanderthals, lending the leadership of the group to her sister, who successfully takes the group back to their summer pastures. |
| 670 | [[/folder]] |
| 671 | |
| 672 | [[folder:''Megaloceros'']] |
| 673 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwbbook_megaloceros.jpg]] |
| 674 | One of the largest deer to ever live, with the largest set of antlers ever (even when accounting for proportion). |
| 675 | ---- |
| 676 | * AwesomeButImpractical: The antlers prevent them from taking refuge in wooden areas. This gets a large male killed by humans. |
| 677 | * BloodFromEveryOrifice: After not one, but two expertely tossed spears makes one of them slowly bleed out from one in its neck and another in the side of its stomach and faint from blood loss, letting one last loud bellowing cry. |
| 678 | * CompeteForTheMaidensHand: Two males fight for the right to reproduce, but they get crashed by humans just after they are finished. |
| 679 | * FailedASpotCheck: The males are supposed to have been surprised because they were too busy fighting. However, in the earlier summer scene it seemed like the ''Megaloceros'' didn't care much about the humans getting near them. |
| 680 | * FreezeFrameBonus: During the rutting scene, while the two males are fighting over the trio of nearby females in the background, the females aren't observing the fighting males and are [[FiveSecondForeshadowing instead watching something else in the distance]] (and off-camera). When the males break off from the fighting, the females are long gone, having escaped the trap set by the Cro-Magnons long before the humans were close enough to spring it. Though one of the males isn't so lucky... |
| 681 | * TheMarvelousDeer: With antlers that massive, it's hard not to see them this way. But these antlers are shaped incorrectly, flatter than were in real life. |
| 682 | * MightyRoar: The stags repeatedly utter them while fighting, which are actually the famous roar of the red deer. |
| 683 | * OhCrap: After both of the males realize they've fallen into a trap, they have this reaction and their first instinct upon being scared by the sudden arrival of the cro-magnons is to run. |
| 684 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The less fatigued male jumps over one of the attackers and saves its life. The other cannot, and is killed. |
| 685 | * ShownTheirWork: The hair coloration is based on contemporary cave paintings. |
| 686 | [[/folder]] |
| 687 | |
| 688 | [[folder:Woolly Rhinoceros]] |
| 689 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_wooly_rhino.jpg]] |
| 690 | The rhinocerotine woolly of the Ice Ages. Appears in a minor role. |
| 691 | ---- |
| 692 | * AllThereInTheManual: The species name, ''Coelodonta antiquitatis''. |
| 693 | * BlindMistake: It has extremely poor sight, but its fine sense of smell makes up for it. |
| 694 | * CompeteForTheMaidensHand: Two males duel for the right to reproduce in the mammoth's refuge at the Alps. |
| 695 | * DisproportionateRetribution: One charges at a neanderthal who was picking firewood -- and also tried to not be noticed by the rhino, no less -- right after smelling him. On the other hand, given [[HeroKiller what neanderthals can do to mammoths]], it's actually wise of the rhino to not take any chances. |
| 696 | * DumbMuscle: Zigzagged. It's shown to attack a Neanderthal minding his own business without provocation, but the males also solve territorial disputes peacefully. [[note]]Rhinos have the undeserved fame to be stupid brutes. In zoos and in the wild, they have shown to be smarter than once thought, and careful with their young[[/note]] |
| 697 | * HairTriggerTemper: When a Neanderthal accidentally gets too close to one, it attacks him the moment it catches his scent, despite not having done anything to anger it. |
| 698 | * HiddenDepths: Indeed, though we are led to believe they are violent and prone to RhinoRampage, in the show when they duel for females they do it peacefully. |
| 699 | * MixAndMatchCritters: It resembles essentially a big white rhinoceros walking in a mammoth skin, but its closest modern relative is the dwarf Sumatran Rhino, also with some hairs in its body. |
| 700 | * MundaneUtility: The flattened horn is just as good to shovel snow and dirt, as it is for combat. |
| 701 | * RhinoRampage: Goes full into this the moment it detects a neanderthal nearby. |
| 702 | * ShownTheirWork: The darker abdominal hair is based on cave paintings. |
| 703 | [[/folder]] |
| 704 | |
| 705 | [[folder:Cave Lion]] |
| 706 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_cave_lion.jpg]] |
| 707 | A northern Eurasian species of the genus ''Panthera'', adapted to a snowy environment. |
| 708 | ---- |
| 709 | * AdvertisedExtra: Despite promotional material showing it confronting the mother mammoth and her calf, and having its own entry in the tie-in book, its actual screentime is very limited and inconsequential. |
| 710 | * AllThereInTheManual: Called ''Panthera spelaea'' or ''Panthera leo spealea''. It's still controversial if it was a species on its own or a subspecies of the modern lion. |
| 711 | * AnimalsNotToScale: Both the novelization and 2005 tie-in book say that it stood 5 feet at the shoulder, a foot taller than it would actually get. Though the two lions who are seen eating a human corpse appear to be accurately sized. |
| 712 | * ArtisticLicensePaleontology: They reused the ''Dinofelis'' model for the lion, recoloring it white and giving it a small mane and long tail. This results in an anatomically inaccurate cave lion with typical sabertooth features like protruding fangs, large shoulders and arms, and a forward arched back. |
| 713 | * CatsAreMean: A pair eats a human at one point. Another stalks a baby mammoth. |
| 714 | * EatsBabies: Tries to, at least. |
| 715 | * InformedSpecies: As it shares the [[PaletteSwap same model]] as the ''Smilodon'' and ''Dinofelis'', it looks more like a machairodont rather than a lion (which are pantherines), with its saber-teeth, small, pointy ears and overly muscular front limbs being the most glarings issues, and the white pelt doesn't help. Cave lions looked nigh-identical to African lions other than lacking manes and having thicker fur. The promotional images even keep the ''Smilodon'''s short tail. |
| 716 | * MisplacedWildlife: Invoked, then justified by the narrator. A lion may look out of place in 21st century Europe, but it is common in the Paleolithic. |
| 717 | * PaletteSwap: The ''Dinofelis'' model, just with a light grey coat and long tail (promotional images even lack the latter). |
| 718 | * PantheraAwesome: Subverted. It's a big cat, but it doesn't do anything awesome or memorable, given its [[OutOfFocus limited screentime]]. |
| 719 | * ToServeMan: They eat a human at one point. |
| 720 | * ShownTheirWork: Unlike African lions, they have very short, almost non-noticeable manes and appear either solitary or in pairs. This is consistent with cave paintings and the known behavior of non-tropical lion populations (Cape, Atlas, Asian), which are all extinct today or critically endangered. |
| 721 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: Its part is brief and inconsequential compared to other cats like ''Smilodon'' and ''Dinofelis''. |
| 722 | [[/folder]] |
| 723 | |
| 724 | [[folder:Cave Hyena]] |
| 725 | An Eurasian subspecies of a modern African predator, the spotted hyena. |
| 726 | ---- |
| 727 | * DeletedRole: Extremely likely, though unconfirmed still. As the camera pans out from the ''Megaloceros'' kill, the narrator counts hyenas as a threat to the hunters along with wolves (who appear in the prologue) and lions (who have a couple of scenes immediately after). Later, hyena laughs can be heard [[ImpendingDoomPOV closing in]] on both the scavenging lions and the neanderthals butchering the mammoths while the narrator talks about the neanderthals' incoming extinction. It's basically a long setup for a hyena-neanderthal clash over the mammoth kills that also serves as a counterpart to the earlier (and presumably faster, safer, and more efficient) processing of the ''Megaloceros'' by cro-magnons, but the hyenas never appear on the screen. Evidence of hyena-lion and hyena-neanderthal conflict is also much more common in the European fossil record than of conflict between hyenas and modern humans. |
| 728 | * TheGhost: Can be said to appear as a namedrop and a [[TheVoice disembodied voice]]. The novelization also mentions it but never shows it. The closest we get is hearing a horse neighing in pain as its being mauled by a clan of hyenas in the distance. |
| 729 | * HeinousHyena: Only mentioned in passing as an antagonist to hominids. |
| 730 | * MisplacedWildlife: An even greater [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] than the cave lion, as gene flow between African and Eurasian spotted hyenas was never cut unlike between cave lions and modern Afro-Asian lions. |
| 731 | [[/folder]] |
| 732 | |
| 733 | [[folder:Neanderthal]] |
| 734 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_neanderthal.jpg]] |
| 735 | One of two hominid species living in Europe in this time, appearing in a small role. |
| 736 | ---- |
| 737 | * AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Averted. There are two human species, only one of them is neanderthal. And they aren't shown in caves, although they take refuge there in the winter. |
| 738 | * AllThereInTheManual: The species name, ''Homo neanderthalensis''. |
| 739 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: They used to be the dominant intelligent life of Europe, now they are being replaced by the Cro-Magnons. |
| 740 | * ApocalypseHow: To the point of being an EndangeredSpecies at the time of the episode. The causes continue to be [[EpilepticTrees very debated]]. |
| 741 | * ArrowsOnFire: Spears, actually, but the book has an image where a mammoth is being hunted by Neanderthals, and one of the spears embedded in its body is ''set on fire''. One of the Neanderthals looks ready to throw or thrust another flaming spear at the mammoth. |
| 742 | * DontLookBack: This is exactly what gets one of them knocked aside by the Woolly Rhino after they are more preoccupied with looking back to see if the Woolly Rhino is still charging after them than they are running. |
| 743 | * DyingRace: The narrator notes that at this point, Neanderthals are an endangered species and their population has drastically declined as a result of climate change. Only 2000 years later, they'll be completely extinct. |
| 744 | * GenderIsNoObject: Both neanderthal men and women take part in the mammoth hunt, and in equal conditions. This is in contrast with the cro-magnons, where we only see men hunting. |
| 745 | * GeniusBruiser: Though not as intelligent as the cro-magnon, they use tactics and technology to slaughter the mammoths and have culture and language. |
| 746 | * GlamourFailure: Not a potent glamor as it consisted only in staying still and trusting the woolly rhino's poor eyesight to not notice him, but it was ruined anyway, due to the rhino's sense of smell. |
| 747 | * HeroKiller: They are the only creature to kill a mammoth in the episode. They do it twice, and one of them is the herd's matriarch, no less. |
| 748 | * HiddenDepths: More intelligent than they seem to be; unlike cro-magnon they actually hunt the mammoths, making use of the landscape and fire. |
| 749 | * HumanSubspecies: Subverted. They were considered a subspecies once, but have been confirmed as a separate species (although one close enough for limited interbreeding). |
| 750 | * HumansAreAverage: They're portrayed as no more significant than any other predator, and the narrator's matter-of-fact reveal of their fate -- dying out within two thousand years -- is in the same tone used for every other species on the show that will become extinct. |
| 751 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: They use heavy spears (of sharpened wood rather than pointed) to deliver the killing blow up close -- but interestingly, they don't have throwing spears. |
| 752 | * TheJuggernaut: They aren't NighInvulnerable, but they can survive encounters that would kill a modern human. |
| 753 | * KillItWithFire: They use this to hunt mammoths, coupled with DisneyVillainDeath. |
| 754 | * MadeOfIron: And how. They could take a direct charge from a woolly rhino and leave with only a few broken ribs. They were thicker and hardier than our species of ''homo'', and were found with injuries consistent with rodeo clowns. |
| 755 | * MedievalStasis: Compared to cro-magnons, they are slow to adopt new technologies and adapt to changes, which is leading them to extinction. |
| 756 | * OhCrap: The neanderthal who spots the woolly rhino freezes instantly, and is visibly aware [[ThisIsGonnaSuck things can go south very quickly]]. And does. |
| 757 | * PeltsOfTheBarbarian: In contrast to the cro-magnons, they wear less elaborate clothing, with hairs sticking out, and don't have the sewing needle. |
| 758 | * RubberForeheadAliens: Because of their proximity to humans, the show used human actors wearing face prothesis and makeup to recreate them, rather than CGI. They should have bigger arm muscles, though. |
| 759 | * StealthBasedMission: Picking firewood becomes one when a neanderthal realizes that he's unwittingly walked onto a woolly rhinoceros's path. |
| 760 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 761 | ** Downplayed in the case of the Neanderthal that was charged at by the wooly rhino. He still sustains injuries in the form of broken bones, but that he survived and walked away from the encounter is still a testament to how tough Neanderthals were. We see him hunting with his tribe just months later. |
| 762 | ** They're also the only species in the series shown to weaponize fire, using it to drive a pair of mammoths off a cliff to their deaths. |
| 763 | [[/folder]] |
| 764 | |
| 765 | [[folder:Cro-Magnon]] |
| 766 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwb_cro_magnon.jpg]] |
| 767 | Our very own hunter-gatherer ancestors, only a few thousands of years after they arrived in Europe. |
| 768 | ---- |
| 769 | * AllCavemenWereNeanderthals: Averted. They're not neanderthals, and they are as [[ShownTheirWork removed]] from a media caveman stereotype as they could be. For one, they don't live in caves, and on first glance you could mistake them for modern [[MountainMan mountain]] [[LuddWasRight luddites]]. |
| 770 | * AmbiguousSituation: The one human who gets eaten by the two cave lions is called a "straggler" but it's not made clear if he was caught by the lions or just found dead. Subverted in the novelization, where it's explicitly said that the straggler was killed by the lion. |
| 771 | * DatedHistory: They're relatively light-skinned, but most humans would have been much darker since they hadn't had much to diverge from African ancestors, and it wasn't until the advent of agriculture in the Neolithic they lightened up. |
| 772 | * HiddenDepths: They make art, too! |
| 773 | * HumansAdvanceSwiftly: The cro-magnons' main strength is their inventive and quickly advancing technology, as this allows them to colonize even areas they aren't suited to biologically without having to wait for slower, random evolutionary changes to appear. |
| 774 | * HumansAreAverage: Seems to be AnAesop of the entire series. One is killed by hungry felines offscreen and treated no sadder than if it was another animal. The last scene reminds the viewer that [[WeAreAsMayflies all species go extinct in the end]]. |
| 775 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Averted. They are shown as just another predator, and as far as the mammoths are concerned they are less threatening than the cave lions and neanderthals. |
| 776 | * HumansAreSpecial: Despite being treated as [[HumansAreAverage no different]] from all the other animals, humans are still noted by the narrator to be predators unlike any before in Earth's history, using not strength, but strategy. |
| 777 | * {{Leitmotif}}: Significantly, the first major scene involving our direct ancestors hunting includes distinct human voices and vocals, for the first time in the series (and in a ''Walking With...'' miniseries in general). |
| 778 | * MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: Men hunt, women (implicitly) gather. |
| 779 | * PeopleOfHairColor: In an example of ShownTheirWork, all the cro-magnons are dark haired (while the neanderthals include some fair-haired), dark eyed and look vaguely Mediterranean or Eurasian despite living in northwestern Europe. This is because blonde hair and other eye colors had not evolved in humans yet (red hair is unclear). |
| 780 | * RainOfArrows: Javelins, actually, since bows have not been invented yet. They are the only species to use them. |
| 781 | * TechnoWizard: They are the smartest and most technologically advanced species portrayed. Our own. |
| 782 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 783 | ** They specialize in small game, but when pressed during the winter they rise to take on a fully grown bull ''Megaloceros''. |
| 784 | ** They are also accomplished hunters and strategists, in contrast to the previous hominids in the series, the hapless ''Australopithecus''. |
| 785 | * TheUsurper: To the neanderthals. They came recently from Africa and are thriving, while the locally-evolved neanderthals are facing extinction. |
| 786 | [[/folder]] |
| 787 | |
| 788 | [[folder:Mosquitos]] |
| 789 | ---- |
| 790 | * MosquitoMiscreants: Mosquitos become a pest for mammoths and humans as soon as the temperature raises enough, forcing their victims to bathe on earth, mud, or failing that, to get out of place. |
| 791 | [[/folder]] |
| 792 |
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