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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4aee199d_b1c3_4f8f_ba61_c19cc37dc85e.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Before it was our planet, ''it was theirs.'']]

''Dinosaur Planet'' is a dinosaur-themed SpeculativeDocumentary MiniSeries that aired on the Creator/DiscoveryChannel in 2003. [[FollowTheLeader It followed in the footsteps]] of the famous and highly successful ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' from Creator/{{BBC}}, and Discovery's own ''WesternAnimation/WhenDinosaursRoamedAmerica'' (produced by much the same team).

Like the above shows, it used {{CGI}} to recreate long-extinct creatures, and placed them into [[RogerRabbitEffect real-life backgrounds]]. However, as opposed to its forerunners, all four of ''Dinosaur Planet'''s hour-long episodes took place in the Late Cretaceous, and each told the story of one or two main dinosaur characters:

* "White Tip's Journey": The tale of White Tip follows a female ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Velociraptor]]'' trying to survive in the Mongolian desert and find a new pack after having lost her old one.
* "Pod's Travels": A mega-tsunami results in Pod, a ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeDinosaurs Pyroraptor]]'' losing his entire pack and finding himself stranded on “Hateg Island” a strange island full of [[LittlePeople Dwarf dinosaurs]].
* "Alpha's Egg": We follow the life of Alpha, a young female ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeSauropods Saltasaurus]]'', and her carnivorous adversary, Dragonfly, a male ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Aucasaurus]]''.
* "Little Das' Hunt": A young and eager ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Daspletosaurus]]'' tries to aid his family hunt a pair of young [[{{UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursOrnithischianDinosaurs}} Maiasaura]] that became separated from their herd, but he constantly gets in the way, much to the annoyance of his sisters and mother. [[spoiler:Has a soul-crushing DownerEnding.]]

As the above descriptions may tell, [[NarrativeDrivenNatureDocumentary the stories seem much more fantasy-like]], as opposed to being strictly scientific reenactments of prehistoric life on Earth. The "humanizing" of the dinosaurs doesn't stop at giving them names. The {{Narrator}} gives us an insight into their thoughts and feelings, and a large number of plot elements seem to have been lifted straight out of an adventure novel. Does this make the documentary more engaging or rather laughably implausible? That's for the viewer to decide.

Not to be confused with the ''very'' similarly titled ''Series/PlanetDinosaur'', which is a Creator/{{BBC}} production, or [[VideoGame/DinosaurPlanetRare the cancelled Nintendo 64 game of the same name]] which later became ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures''.
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!!The show contains examples of the following tropes:
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: [[spoiler:"Little Das' Hunt" ends with the volcano erupting, releasing a massive pyroclastic flow that smothers the entire region in a blanket of burning-hot ash so immense that its path of destruction can be seen clearly from space. We're shown several shots of dinosaurs futilely attempting to flee from the cloud of death, but since it moves faster than the speed of sound, there's no escape.]]
* ALizardNamedLiz: A ''Daspletosaurus'' named "Little Das."
* TheAloner: Pod becomes this for a while after a mega-tsunami causes him to wash up on an island of dwarf dinosaurs, he does initially search for a pack of dwarf raptors that he encountered at the beach but after Pod runs into a single raptor he has yet to see them again (luckily he eventually does get accepted by a pack of dwarf ''Troodon'' and becomes the ruler of the island after he takes on the island's resident dwarf carnivores).
* AlwaysABiggerFish:
** Some ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ichthyornis]]'' find the unconscious Pod on shore and are then chased away by [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods dwarf dromaeosaurids]]. Then a few ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Allodaposuchus]]'' arrive and are about to take over the "carcass" when Pod wakes up and his intimidating size scares all the gathering predators away.
** Dragonfly and his mate come across a ''Saltasaurus'' carcass and start to dig in. Their meal is almost immediately interrupted when a pair of carcharodontosaurs, which are three times bigger, chase them away and steal the carcass.
* AnachronismStew: Many of the animals depicted didn't yet exist in the time in which their shorts are set.
** In "White Tip's Journey", most of the animals are lived closer to 75 million instead of 80 million years ago, but are otherwise correctly contemporary, with the exception of ''Prenocephale'', which is known only from the slightly later Nemegt Formation. The pachycephalosaur that did coexist with the other dinosaurs in the earlier Djadochta Formation is ''Goyocephale''.
** "Little Das' Hunt" depicts only dinosaurs from the Two Medicine Formation, but most of the animals actually lived around 77 million years ago rather than 75 million as depicted, while ''Einosaurus'' is known from slightly later; only ''Daspletosaurus'' is in the right time frame.[[note]]''Maiasasaura'' could be replaced with ''Prosaurolophus'', ''Einosaurus'' with ''Stellasaurus'' (possibly its direct ancestor), and ''Troodon'' with ''Saurornitholestes'' if it was made to be more chronologically accurate.[[/note]] ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is also misplaced chronologically, as it's only known from the late Maastrichtian (so it should've been coexisting with ''Tyrannosaurus'' and ''Edmontosaurus'' in the epilogue, not the earlier fauna), but there is a large, currently unnamed azhdarchid known from the formation.
** "Alpha's Egg" mixes a lot of species from slightly different epochs together. The episode is set 80 million years ago, but several animals are only known from formations slightly older (''Notosuchus'', ''Alvarezsaurus'', and the carcharodontosaurs) or slightly later (''Saltasaurus''), making the ''Aucasaurus'' the only major species in the right time period (although the carcharodontosaurs were likely based on the coeval megaraptoran ''Aerosteon'', which was originally announced as a carcharodontosaur before being described).[[note]]If it had been only fauna from the Anacleto Formation, ''Saltasaurus'' could've been replaced with ''Neuquensaurus'' (once considered a ''Saltasaurus'' species), ''Notosuchus'' could've become ''Gasparinisuchus'', and the carcharodontosaurs turned into megaraptorans.[[/note]]
** "Pod's Travels" is probably the worst offender in this category. The episode is set 80 million years ago, but nearly all the animals depicted are only known from early Maastrichtian deposits, around ten million years later. The exceptions are the unidentified elasmosaur, unidentified ichthyornithean, ''Tarascosaurus'', and the ''Allodaposuchus'', the former two only by technicality of no strict identification.
* AnimalsNotToScale:
** ''Pyroraptor'' is stated to be just over eight feet long, but in reality the species is estimated to be only about four feet long. A far cry from potential apex predator material, even on an island of dwarfs.
** ''Velociraptor'' is stated to weigh about a hundred pounds, which is about three times the estimated weight of the actual animal (''Velociraptor'' was about two metres long at most, half of that tail, and its body was only about turkey-sized, so how that was supposed to correspond to a one-hundred pound animal is unclear).
* AnyoneCanDie: The series doesn't shy away from the harsh and brutal reality of nature, frequently showing animals being killed by chance events, bad luck, the elements, or each other. "Little Das' Hunt" in particular ends with [[spoiler:the entire cast being wiped out by a volcanic eruption]], while "White Tip's Journey" ends with [[spoiler:the entire pack, save White Tip and her young, being smothered by a collapsing sand dune]], and "Alpha's Egg" concludes with [[spoiler:the entire ''Saltasaurus'' egg colony drowned in a flood and Dragonfly accidentally getting crushed to death trying to kill Alpha]].
* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:The volcanic eruption at the end of ''Little Das' Hunt'' earns itself a class 0.]]
* ApocalypseWow: [[spoiler:Said eruption at the end of ''Little Das' Hunt'' is pretty spectacular and horrifying.]]
* ArtEvolution: The CGI is a considerable upgrade from ''WesternAnimation/WhenDinosaursRoamedAmerica''.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology:
** Pod's sister is eaten by a giant elasmosaur. Elasmosaurs are thought to be specialized fish and cephalopod eaters and would be totally unsuited to hunting large land animals. Never mind that it sticks its neck out of the water to do so, which is thought to be impossible for elasmosaurs. If they wanted to be more plausible, a polycotylid, mosasaur, or just a shark would've been better.
** ''Allodaposuchus'' is depicted a wholesale PaletteSwap of ''Notosuchus'', but the two are not closely related. ''Allodaposuchus'' was much more closely related to modern crocodilians and fossils confirm it would have resembled something similar to an alligator rather than the long-legged, short-snouted creature depicted.
** ''Velociraptor'' is depicted as being an obligate pack-hunter that struggles to survive outside a group. However, while there has been some debate about whether dromaeosaurs might have hunted socially, there was never any evidence for ''Velociraptor'' doing so, never mind being an ''obligate'' pack-hunter (which is probably unlikely in a resource-scarce desert environment). In fact, there's actually evidence of ''Velociraptor'' viciously killing each other.
** The ''Quetzalcoatlus'' are depicted as scaly and with bony crests that the real pterosaur did not have.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Dragonfly as a baby and is constantly running off distracted.
--> Dragonfly's attention span is pathetic
** Little Das may also qualify.
* BigBad: Dragonfly of "Alpha's Egg", while also a VillainProtagonist, is more overly presented as antagonist to Alpha.
* BehindTheBlack: As ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Shuvuuia]]'' is chased by White Tip's pack, an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Oviraptor]]'' bursts from the left side of the screen and kills it.
* BittersweetEnding:
** Almost every episode has one. [[spoiler:White Tip ends up back where she started but with a group of youngsters that need to be taken care of, Alpha survives to adulthood and defeats Dragonfly but all her eggs drown in a flood, while Pod arguably has the happiest ending, he will live out his days ruling Hateg island as the apex predator and gets a new pack when he is accepted by a group of dwarf “Troodon”, but his former pack is still gone and he'll never see his old home again.]]
** Despite it being the saddest one, the ending to ''Little Das' Hunt'' can be considered this to an extent. [[spoiler:Though the ''Maiasaura'' and ''Daspletosaurus'', including Buck, Blaze, and Little Das, all died in the volcanic eruption, their stories will live on in their descendants: Edmontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex.]]
* BloodierAndGorier: Than many previous dino-docs. The animators must have been really proud of their blood effects.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: During the ''Oviraptor'' mating dance, the narrator says this about the older male: "I gotta give him credit for trying."
* BulletTime: In "Little Das' Hunt", the scene turns to slow-motion as the volcanic eruption [[spoiler:obliterates Little Das and his family]].
* ButtMonkey: The ''Troodon'' in "Little Das' Hunt". They're basically used as casualties to show how the volcanic activity is getting worse. First, one is killed by a sudden geyser explosion, another is flattened by a falling lava bomb, and then one is incinerated by the pyroclastic flow.
* CantGetAwayWithNothing: The very minute White Tip steps away from her nest [[spoiler:Broken Hand eats two of her eggs]].
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Little Das treats hunting more like a big game and has a hard time staying focused, which botches his family’s hunts twice in a row.
* ChekhovsGunman: ''Prenocephale'' first show up when White Tip is trying to survive as a loner and fails to kill one. [[spoiler:Later, Broken Hand is killed by some when he attacks them out of desperation after being evicted from the pack.]]
* ChekhovsVolcano:
** "Little Das' Hunt" begins with an establishing shot of two volcanos which loom over the landscape in numerous shots. Later on, the larger volcano subsumes the geological activity of the smaller one, growing into a mammoth magmatic monster that, sure enough, violently erupts.
** An erupting volcano also appears in "Pod's Travels", but since the setting is a heavily forested region, it only gets to loom menacingly for the short sequence where Pod and his sisters are on the beach. The volcano itself does not cause trouble, but it is a sign of the active geological activity of the region, such as the massive ocean quake that causes a tsunami that washes Pod out to sea and kicks off the plot.
* CreatorCameo: In the first paleontology segment during White Tip's Journey, producer John Copeland can be seen in the background on a computer.
* DeathByFallingOver:
** A ''Saltasaurus'' dies when it stumbles on a fallen log and trips, breaking its leg. The fall itself doesn't directly kill the animal, but it's impossible for such a heavy animal to get up again from an injury like that, and its cries of pain attract a pack of ''Aucasaurus'' that finish it off.
** The male ''Tarascosaurus'' stumbles on a tree root because of an earthquake and permanently cripples himself. We never find out his ultimate fate, but the narrator muses that his mate might reconsider him as food.
* DeathWorld: The Mongolian desert is full of angry predators as the narrator puts it, and Patagonia for the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeSauropods Saltasaurus]]''.
* DeathOfAChild: This being a nature documentary that went for shock factor. Specifically: some ''Oviraptor'' chicks are killed by ''Velociraptor'', [[spoiler:some of White Tip's eggs are eaten by Broken Hand]], [[spoiler:Little Das and presumably Buck and Blaze are killed by a volcanic eruption]], ''many'' baby ''Saltasaurus'' are killed by ''Notosuchus'', ''Alvarezsaurus'', and ''Aucasaurus'', and [[spoiler:Alpha's first clutch of eggs drowns]].
* DistantFinale: "Little Das' Hunt" ends with an epilogue set seven million years later (so around sixty-eight million years ago), with the descendants of ''Maiasaura'' and ''Daspletosaurus'', ''Edmontosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'', continuing the same predator-prey conflict.
* DesertIsland: In "Pod's Travels", Pod is left stranded on the isolated [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hateg_Island Hațeg Island]], cut off from the mainland by a vast stretch of sea and home to miniature dinosaurs.
* DoomedHurtGuy: Buck is badly bitten on his thigh by Little Das' mother early in the episode, and slowly succumbs to the injury as it becomes infected. Ultimately subverted in the end, because [[spoiler:his death by pyroclastic flow has nothing to do with his injury.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The whole cast of ''Little Das' Hunt'' dies, no matter how young or cute they are.]]
* DumbMuscle: ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Allodaposuchus]]'' is said to be this.
* EatsBabies: ''Velociraptor'', ''Notosuchus'', ''Alvarezsaurus'', and ''Aucasaurus'' as all seen going after either baby dinosaurs or eggs. The ''Daspletosaurus'' try to do this to the young Buck and Blaze.
* EverybodyDies: [[spoiler:"Little Das' Hunt"]] ends with every character being wiped out by a volcanic eruption.
* {{Expy}}: ''T. rex'' and ''Edmontosaurus'' to ''Daspletosaurus'' and ''Maiasaura'' respectively (as stated in the program), as well as animals that use the [[PaletteSwap same animation models]]: ''Alvarezsaurus'' to ''Shuvuuia'', ''Notosuchus'' to ''Allodaposuchus'', ''Saltasaurus'' to ''Magyarosaurus'', ''Aucasaurus'' to ''Tarascosaurus'', and the island-dwelling dwarf dinosaurs to their mainland counterparts.
%%* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Some, like what happens to [[spoiler:Dragonfly or the dwarf ''Tarascosaurus'']].
* FeatheredFiend:
** Many dinosaurs, including ''Velociraptor'', ''Oviraptor'', ''Pyroraptor'', ''Troodon'', ''Ichthyornis'', ''Alvarezsaurus'' and ''Elopteryx'' (called "''Troodon''" in the episode). The ''Velociraptor'' and ''Pyroraptor'' are portrayed as sympathetic characters, however, and the ''Elopteryx'' are also benevolent towards the main character in the episode they're shown in.
** Averted by ''Shuvuuia'', which only serves to get eaten by an ''Oviraptor''.
* GiantFlyer: The ''Quetzalcoatlus'' in "Little Das' Hunt", which as in RealLife was the size of of a small plane.
* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: What kicks off the plot of "Pod's Travels" is when a massive tsunami caused by an earthquake washes Pod out to sea. He and one of his sisters barely survive by clinging to a piece of driftwood, and his surviving sister is later killed and eaten by a plesiosaur while adrift.
%%* {{Gorn}}: Most of Pod's episode.
* HopeSpot: Searching for a new pack while marooned on a distant island, Pod calls out to try and find others of his kind. He hears a call back and thinks he's made contact, but the narrator points out he's just been tricked by his own echo. [[SubvertedTrope However]], this encourages him to keep calling, and it does eventually attract a curious pack of troodonts who are willing to make a pack with him.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Dragonfly accidentally causes his own demise when he bites on Alpha's injured leg. Alpha is felled by the attack and falls right on top of Dragonfly, crushing him to death.]]
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: The ''Tarascosaurus'' stand no chance against a pissed-off Pod. Also an interesting case, since the ''Tarascosaurus'' in question are dwarf specimens, not the great mainland predators Pod once feared.
* InterspeciesFriendship: "Pod's Travels" end with Pod being accepted into a pack of dwarf troodonts. The troodonts recognize that Pod's abnormal size makes him the top predator on the island, so they'll never need to worry about going hungry again, while Pod has his socialization needs fulfilled.
* KnowWhenToFoldThem: The ''Daspletosaurus'' finally ends their grueling hunt of Buck at the end of their program... [[spoiler: because they've finally regarded the volcanic apocalypse only miles away as a threat.]]
* LeeroyJenkins: Doesn't Little Das seem like one in "Little Das' Hunt" with how he rushes in and attacks even when he shouldn't?
* LemonyNarrator: The narrator distinguishes itself a bit from the earlier ''WesternAnimation/WhenDinosaursRoamedAmerica'' and the similar ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' by being a lot more informal, often calling out certain species of animal as stupid or their decisions as idiotic, sometimes BreakingTheFourthWall, and using a lot more slang.
* MamaBear: The father ''Aucasaurus'' has to flash his red throat to keep his mate from going MamaBear on his tail.
%%** White Tip also qualifies.
* MightyRoar: The ''Daspletosaurus'' and the carcharodontosaurs.
* MisplacedVegetation: Grass is shown growing in Europe and South America. It's only known to have grown in India back in the Cretaceous.
* MisplacedWildlife:
** Several times throughout the series but most prevalent in "Pod's Travels", with ''Ichthyornis'' and ''Troodon'' in Europe. Both species were native to North America. Though ''Ichthyornis'' was a seabird, it could have flown anywhere it wanted. Ichthyornithes are also known from Europe, with fossils uncovered from Belgium (later named ''Janavis'') and Russia, so their presence is plausible.
*** The European ''Troodon'' is actually ''Elopteryx'', they just called it ''Troodon''.
** In an interesting case, there's absolutely no sight or mention of ''Gorgosaurus'' in the ''Daspletosaurus'' episode, even though the two genera lived in the same area and time and ''Gorgosaurus'' was quite common.
** The ''Prenocephale'' are depicted inhabiting the arid desert dunes, but their fossils are only known from the ([[AnachronismStew chronologically later]]) Nemegt Formation, which represents heavily forested habitats that likely experienced yearly flooding.
** This is probably mostly due to budget limitations, but the epilogue of "Little Das' Hunt" shows ''Tyrannosaurus'' and ''Edmontosaurus'' inhabiting the same semi-arid prairies as the earlier Two Medicine Formation, when they should be inhabiting the much wetter swamp-like environment of the Hell Creek Formation.
* MonsterMunch: The screen-time of ''Shuvuuia'' consists entirely of it being chased by ''Velociraptor'' and subsequently eaten by ''Oviraptor''.
* MoodWhiplash: Is ''Little Das' Hunt'' supposed to be funny or tragic? We are constantly treated to Little Das' adorable, childish antics, and then... [[spoiler:he dies, along with the rest of the cast]].
* NarrativeDrivenNatureDocumentary: Very similar to the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' series, each episode focuses on one or two prehistoric animals as main characters trying to survive in their environment. However, this series goes the extra mile by even giving them names, personalities, and describing their thoughts.
* {{Narrator}}: The series is narrated by Creator/ChristianSlater.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: ''Allodaposuchus'' in "Pod's Travels" and ''Notosuchus'' in "Alpha's Egg" both play negative roles as hunters of the cute little dinosaurs we follow.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Little Das ends up chasing the ''Einiosaurus'' and ''Maiasaura'' herds far out of the lowlands basically for fun. The herds end up combining into one larger herd, which ends up making it even more difficult to get to Buck later on. His mother is not pleased.
* NoFlowInCGI: Rather noticeably in "Pod's Travels", Pod and his sister are soaked by the sea, but only the shots with the puppet shows noticeable wetness. Probably because it's rather tough to simulate realistic-looking wet, matted CG feathers.
* NoisyNature: There are scenes of dinosaurs roaring at each other that just won't end.
* NormalFishInATinyPond: Pod is normally an ordinary raptor, but he gets washed up on a smaller island, where he becomes the top predator...[[ScienceMarchesOn well, until the giant pterosaurs find him, at least]].
* OhCrap: Buck and Blaze when Little Das' mother shows up for the first time. ''[[DeerInTheHeadlights Especially Blaze]]''.
* OncePerEpisode: Rather similarly to the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' series, every episode features some sort of uncommon environmental catastrophe that ends up causing disaster for the dinosaur characters. A collapsing sand dune in "White Tip's Journey", a tsunami in "Pod's Travels", a once-in-a-century flood in "Alpha's Egg", and a volcanic eruption in "Little Das' Hunt".
* OneHitKill: Pod uses his sickle-claw effectively against a dwarf ''Tarascosaurus''. [[spoiler:Alpha, on the other hand, utilizes an involuntary final blow.]]
* PaletteSwap: Rather frequently used, such as the alvarezsaurs, sauropods, crocodilians, and troodontids.
* PredatorsAreMean: Zigzagged. Many main characters are carnivores themselves. ''Larger'' predators still often play antagonistic roles however.
* RaptorAttack: Due to ScienceMarchesOn. In particular, they don't have full wings and simplistic downy feathers rather than the complex ones birds have. They're also depicted as strict pack hunters that struggle to survive outside a group, but most current research suggests pack-hunting was opportunistic at best. ''Pyroraptor'' in particular is depicted as a wholesale ''Jurassic Park'' raptor with red or greenish fuzz pasted over it (mostly because the species is known only from fragmentary remains, so its appearance is speculative).
* ReplacementGoldfish: Pod's pack is wiped up by a tsunami (or at least, one is, the other is eaten by an elasmosaur while drifting out at sea), and after washing up on a remote island, he tries to establish a new pack. Unfortunately, the native pygmy raptors only see him as a threat, but the more intelligent troodonts recognize that associating with Pod would be beneficial as he is effectively the new apex predator thanks to his larger size.
* RogerRabbitEffect: CGI dinosaurs occasionally interact with the talking head, Scott Sampson.
* ScaredOfWhatsBehindYou: When Pod washes ashore on Hațeg Island, it's not long before various beachcombing scavengers try and feed on his unconscious body, thinking he's dead. A flock of ''Ichthyornis'' is scared off by a pack of pygmy dromaeosaurs, but then they're confronted by a group of ''Allodaposuchus'', which are not so easily warded away. The commotion finally awakens Pod, and that sends the crocodilians fleeing, but it takes a few more moments before the mini raptors realize it wasn't them that scared the ''Allodaposuchus'' away.
* ScavengersAreScum: The ''Icthyornis'' in "Pod's Travels" try to take a nibble from the dying dinosaur on a number of occasions. A rare case where it's played realistically, as the behavior it's shown engaging in isn't unheard of in modern seabirds.
* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: The ''Maiasaura'' herd and the ''Daspletosaurus'' pack haul ass once they see the [[spoiler:pyroclastic flow heading right for them]].
* SeaMonster: The plesiosaur from ''Pod's Travels'', which devours Pod's sister alive.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Little Das' Hunt story ends with the little tyrannosaur not only failing to secure a hunt, but with the entire region getting wiped out by a massive volcanic eruption, killing off the entire cast.]]
* ShownTheirWork:
** The episodes will occasionally cut away to a talking head that will explain some of the physical evidence used to depict the animals and/or environment as they're portrayed in the show.
** The large theropods, like the carcharodontosaurs and the adult ''Daspletosaurus'', are only shown with a maximum speed of a brisk amble, even when fleeing for their lives from a volcanic eruption. This was debated at the time, but it's generally agreed now multi-ton theropods would not have been able to run. Even more impressively, the adolescent ''Daspletosaurus'' are shown being able to run, unlike the adults.
** The almost ridiculous width of the titanosaurs is well-researched, as they were very bulky and barrel-shaped sauropods, something not often depicted. They're also accurately depicted with nostrils at the end of their snout, which was newly theorized at the time.
** It's mentioned that Pod instincts are familiar with terrestrial crocodilians, which probably references the fact ''Allodaposuchus'' is known from throughout Europe (in fact, the same species, ''Allodaposuchus precedens''), rather than just limited to Hațeg Island like the other species.
* SocialOrnithopod: The secondary plot of ''Little Das's Hunt'' is about a pair of ''Maiasaura'' siblings, Buck and Blaze, who stick together for safety and support, especially considering the former's leg injury caused by a Daspletosaurus pack and seeking to find their herd. Earlier on, there is also a flock of ''Orodromeous'' where one of them is separated by a Troodon pack to make the hunt easier... and still failed at it.
* StockFootage: Footage from ''When Dinosaurs Roamed America'' and ''Series/ValleyOfTheTRex'' is used during some of the paleontology segments, and clips of modern day volcanic eruptions are used in "Little Das' Hunt".
* TailSlap: Alpha does this in her final battle with the ''Aucasaurus'' pair.
* TruthInTelevision:
** The scene in White Tip's Journey where a dueling ''Protoceratops'' and ''Velociraptor'' get crushed under an avalanche of sand has been based on the fossil of the actual event.
** The volcanic eruption in Little Das' Hunt was based on the discovery of a petrified forest in the Two Medicine Formation that was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow.
** The flood at the end of Alpha's Egg was based on the fact that saltasaur nests with unhatched eggs were discovered buried under mud and silt which could have only been deposited by a flood.
** A possibly unintentional example, unmentioned in the show: Dragonfly the ''Aucasaurus'' dies by having his skull crushed by Alpha. Fast-forward 80 million years, and the first discovered specimen of ''Aucasaurus'' has a crushed skull.
* UseYourHead: ''Prenocephale'' does this, being a HeadButtingPachy.
* WholePlotReference: "Pod's Travels" is a wholesale reference to the first part of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', even in the title!
* ZergRush: This is shown to be how sauropod eggs and hatchlings survive. The babies are basically walking hamburgers because they have no real defences and the adults spare only the bare minimum amount of care towards them, but there are thousands upon thousands of them hatching and dispersing at the same same, ensuring a few will survive simply because they are so numerous that every predator in the region could stuff themselves with baby sauropods and there would still be some left over.
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