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Spinosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_2625.JPG

The largest of the spinosaurs, large riverine theropods specialized in fishing rather than hunting on land (though it is still capable of the latter), and the largest carnivorous dinosaur. It lived in North Africa 95 million years ago.


  • Attack Its Weak Point: Damaging its backsail is a good way to kill it.
  • Big Eater: Said to be able to "afford being wasteful" by the narrator. It doesn't bother to finish its captured fish during the wet season, because they are plentiful. However, this becomes a problem in the resource-scarce dry season.
  • Bigger Is Better: Zig-Zagged. Its large size makes it invulnerable to predation and gives it an edge on fights against other carnivores, but doesn't spare him from fighting, and ultimately becomes a fatal burden during the dry season.
  • Break the Badass: A borderline literal one; the poor thing gets its sail broken by Carcharodontosaurus and then slowly bleeds to death.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Its specialism is what ultimately leads to its species extinction, as well as the Spinosaurid dinosaurs as a whole.
    • Jack of All Stats: On the other hand, it is that very same specialization that allows Spinosaurus to fish in addition to hunting, scavenging and stealing carcasses on land. It may be worse at doing the jobs of Carcharodontosaurus, Rugops and Sarcosuchus, but it can do all three, unlike them.
  • The Dreaded: Most of the other dinosaurs in the region flee when they see it.
  • Last of His Kind: It is also the last known spinosaur. A swan song for its group.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Part alligator, part crane, part grizzly bear.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: Its jaws are very crocodile-like.
  • Prehistoric Monster: Biggest carnivore on Earth that can rip a 28-foot-long sawfish to pieces in seconds? Certainly qualifies.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: While it successfully fends off a Carcharodontosaurus, the sail injuries its opponent inflicted ultimately prove fatal.
  • Savage Spinosaurs: Downplayed since it is just an animal trying to survive in its world.
  • Sea Monster: A freshwater variant. It is shown swimming during one part of the episode.
  • Villain Protagonist: Or at least as close as you can get to a villain in an animal documentary, as it's the main predator of the episode.
  • Wolverine Claws: Not as big as therizhinosaur claws, but certainly impressive by theropod standards. They make for the Spinosaurus weak jaws and give it victory over the Carcharodontosaurus.

Carcharodontosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_2632.PNG

The second largest theropod in Spinosaurus's habitat. A more conventional carnivorous dinosaur that hunts inland.


  • All for Nothing: The more powerful bite of the Carcharodontosaurus manages to kill the Spinosaurus, but only after it makes the Carcharodontosaurus flee and the Spinosaurus eats the carcass they were fighting over.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: Not quite bigger, but it has a more lethal bite than its river-dwelling rival.
  • Always Someone Better: Zig-zagged. It is better at hunting on land than the Spinosaurus and has a more powerful bite, but the Spinosaurus is bigger, has devastating claws, and can also hunt on the marshaland.
  • Attack Its Weakpoint: One does it accidentally, when it bites the backsail of the Spinosaurus while fighting for a carcass. The injury kills the Spinosaurus, but only long after the Carcharodontosaurus has been driven away.
  • Don't Go in the Woods: Inverted. It prefers the open plain and tends to stay out of the riverine forest.
  • Feet-First Introduction: As is typical of giant dinosaurs. Just see "New Giants".
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Its victory over Spinosaurus is so delayed that it never learns it actually won.
  • Threatening Shark: In name, at least. The name translates to "Shark-toothed lizard".
  • The Worf Effect: Delivers this to the Spinosaurus, but not before getting badly injured.

Ouranosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dpouranosaurus.png

A sailback duckbill dinosaur and a common prey in Early Cretaceous North Africa.


  • Anachronism Stew: Not known from the same time as Spinosaurus, as it lived over 10 million years prior. The only evidence of an iguanodont from the domain of Spinosaurus is a single cloven-shaped footprint similar in size to Iguanodon. Suffice to say, we can't tell if its owner was similar to Ouranosaurus.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Its name means "brave monitor lizard". It is not a monitor lizard, and it is anything but brave in the show.
  • Not Worth Killing: During the wet season, one sees the Spinosaurus approaching and runs away. However, the Spinosaurus makes no effort to hunt it as it heads into the water to fish.
  • Red Shirt: The token prey animal of the bunch.
  • Rule of Cool: One nonsensically panics and runs away after seeing the Spinosaurus walking in the area, who is then revealed to not even be interested in hunting Ouranosaurus. This is made to establish the Spinosaurus as a large but peculiar predatory dinosaur. The following scene has the Ouranosaurus acting more realistically, wary of the Spinosaurus and watching it as it moves, but not wasting energy in fleeing unnecessarily.

Onchopristis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdonchopristis.png

An estuariane sawfish/sawshark relative depicted as the actual most common prey of Spinosaurus.


  • Always a Bigger Fish: Spinosaurus teaches it this the hard way.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Like both modern sawfish (rays) and sawsharks, Onchopristis's teeth protruded laterally from an elongated, flat muzzle similar to a chainsaw.
  • Rule of Cool: Onchopristis was the largest of all fish on Spinosaurus habitat. We don't know how commonly Spinosaurus preyed on it rather than on smaller fish. Nevertheless, Onchopristis is a very common fossil and Spinosaurus was more than capable of taking it. The show justifies this as Spinosaurus hunting during Onchopristis's migration to desovate upriver, when they would be most common and vulnerable.
  • Sea Monster: A giant sawfish.

Rugops

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdrugops.png

A medium-sized abellisaurid theropod, depicted as a scavenger.


  • Always Someone Better/Overshadowed by Awesome: According to the narration, it has what it takes to be a dominant carnivore. However, since it has Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus to contend with, it looks unimpressive by comparison, especially considering its scavenging habits.
  • Animals Not to Scale: Described as 8 meters long, when the actual animal was only 4.5 meters and even the highest past estimates put it at only 6 meters. Though there are fossils of a still unnamed abelisaurid from the domain of Spinosaurus that did grow this large.
  • Artistic License – Biology: Obligate scavengers are typically animals that can fly. Guess what Rugops wasn't able to do.note 
  • Scavengers Are Scum: Inverted. It is depicted as a scavenger, but this is actually done to make it more sympathetic, depicting it as an underdog who can only trail behind other dinosaurs for food.

Unnamed crocodile

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdcroc.jpg

A typical freshwater crocodile with a small scene in this episode and another in "New Giants."


  • Cat Scare: One jumps out of a pond as Spinosaurus walks by, looking ridiculous in comparison.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Zig-zagged. The Spinosaurus seems surprised at first, but only leaves because there is also a Sarcosuchus in the same pond.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: A true crocodile, unlike Spinosaurus.
  • No Name Given: Just called a crocodile in the show. Speculated to be Goniopholis by fans.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: It would be a feared crocodile in the modern day, but it looks puny next to Spinosaurus and Sarcosuchus.
  • Scylla and Charybdis: It has a Spinosaurus on land and an underwater Sarsosuchus behind, so it is understandable if it is a little moody.

Sarcosuchus

See "New Giants"

Unnamed pterosaur

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdpteroscavenger.png

An unnamed pterosaur, seen feeding on a sauropod carcass during the dry season.


  • Circling Vultures: More like "Circling Pterosaurs". We meet them while they're scavenging a carcass.
  • Failed a Spot Check: Despite its massive size, the Spinosaurus walks to and snatches one from behind whithout the pterosaur realizing.
  • No Name Given: Not named in the show. Fans speculate that it is Alanqa, an azhdarchoid from Morocco's Kem Kem beds, but Alanqa didn't have a head crest. It could match Apatorhamphus, a chaoyangopterid from the same formation, but that thing was described after the show debuted.
  • Palette Swap: The same body plan is used in other episodes for chaoyangopterid pterosaurs, but painted differently to indicate it is a different species.

    Feathered Dragons 

Epidexipteryx

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdepidexipteryx.png

A monkey-sized, tree-dwelling theropod that hunted bark beetle larvae in China 154 million years ago.


  • Asian Buck Teeth: It is the first Asian dinosaur we see in the series (from China, to be specific), and it just happens to have long upper front teeth that protrude over its lower jaw. It actually had only front teeth, while the rest of the jaws were toothless.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': One is robbed of its larva by another, then watches the thief dropping a second larva. When the first goes to the ground to get it, it is eaten by a Sinraptor.
  • Creepy Long Fingers: Perfect for probing insect larvae.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Basically, a bird version of the aye-aye.
  • Science Marches On: The discovery of close relative Yi qi with what appears to be membranous, bat-like wings raises the possibility that Epidexipteryx also had these, and was capable of gliding as a result.
  • Ugly Cute: Small creature with large, bright eyes... Creepy Long Fingers and buck teeth.

Sinraptor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsinraptor.png

A medium-sized theropod that hunts on the ground below Epidexipteryx.


  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Said to be a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. Actually a metrioacanthosaurid, and thus more related to Carcharodontosaurus or Allosaurus.
  • Big Bad: Of the Late Jurassic China segment, in spite of its small size.
  • Don't Go in the Woods: A vertical variant. Epidexipteryx is safe on the canopy because Sinraptor can't climb, but the moment it climbs down it is in mortal danger.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Despite its name and size being evocative of (pop culture) Velociraptor, it is more related to Allosaurus.
  • Superpersistent Predator: Presuming the Sinraptor that gets the Epidexipteryx at the end is the same, this creature just spent most of the day chasing and stalking it. Even after it took refuge inside a hollowed tree and climbed another.

Xianglong

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdxianglong.png

A tree lizard capable of extending its ribs to glide between trees, like modern flying lizards. It lived in China 120 million years ago.


Microraptor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdmicroraptor.jpg

A raven-sized dromaeosaurid dinosaur with four wings, adapted to climbing and gliding between trees like its prey, Xianglong.


  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Its wing feathers attach to the wrong finger and it has a head crest that the real animal lacked.
  • Badass Adorable: It may look cute and cuddly, but as its prey often discovers, it's still a predator.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: By transforming its hind legs in supporting wings, it can glide better than other non-avian dinosaurs. However, this results in it being barely able to walk on land, and its typical raptor retractile claws are so modified for climbing that they cannot be used for hunting or defense.
  • The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: While chasing a Xianglong through the trees, one becomes a target of an even larger glider, Sinornithosaurus.
  • Not Quite Flight: It can glide, but can't flap its wings. Still, since it has four wings it is a better glider than two-winged reptiles.
  • Science Marches On: After the show came out, the same technique used to determine the original color of Sinornithosaurus was used for Microraptor. To everyone's surprise, it was black and shiny.

Sinornithosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsinornithosaurus.jpg

A chicken-sized, yet vicious dromaeosaurid capable of hunting both on the trees and on the ground.


  • Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: It does not kill members of its other species in the show, however it is shown viciously chasing its barely smaller relative, Microraptor.
  • Big Bad: Of the Early Cretaceous China segment, despite its size being even smaller than Sinraptor's.
  • Death from Above: Also a glider like Microraptor, it seems to take special delight in jumping over its prey after a short "flight".
  • Feathered Fiend: Feathery creature with a venomous bite.
  • Jack of All Stats: It can glide almost as well as Microraptor, it can also run and fight on the ground, it can team up with others to bring down bigger prey, and if that wasn't enough - it is venomous.
  • Killer Rabbit: And yet it'd look well in a bird cage. Until it became angry or hungry, at least.
  • Not Quite Flight: Like its smaller counterpart, it's a skilled glider. However, it can also run on the ground.
  • Poisoned Weapons: Its bite is poisonous, allowing it to kill prey larger than itself with apparent little effort.
  • Prehistoric Monster: A vicious, bird of prey-like predator with a venomous bite.
  • Raptor Attack: It is depicted accurately, but it is obvious that the trope influence its absolutely villainous portrayal.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: It has this color scheme, and for once, it is based on actual fossil evidence.
  • Rule of Cool: The venomous bite was first suggested in a 2009 paper. However, a rebuttal to this study was published in 2010. Though the original authors defended their claim, most dinosaur researchers remain skeptical and the idea is not widely accepted. Despite this, the show chose to depict Sinornithosaurus as venomous presumably because it was cooler.
  • Superpersistent Predator: Ultimately subverted. While one takes a lot of time and effort to give up on Microraptor, it eventually does and sets its eyes on Jeholosaurus instead.
  • Villain Team-Up: While apparently solitary, three end up flocking, killing, and eating a mother Jeholosaurus together.

Jeholosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdjeholosaurus.png

A typical small ornithopod dinosaur, living on the forest underbush.


  • Bait-and-Switch: After chasing the Microraptor for most of the segment, the Sinornithosaurus gives up on the 11th hour and goes for a Jeholosaurus family. It seems to have its eyes on a distracted chick, but then teams up with other to kill its mother.
  • Heroic Sacrifice/Mama Bear: The mother puts herself between her young and the Sinornithosaurus, dying in the process.
  • Inferred Holocaust: The chicks depend on their mother for survival, so there are no guesses to what happened to them after she was killed.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The mother would have lived it she didn't care for her children.
  • Red Shirt: Like most ornithopods in dinosaur media, it shows up and is killed immediately. For once, the victim is given a more dignified sendoff, as a mother that dies trying to protect her children.
  • Victimized Bystander: They are walking through the forest, minding their business... and then the Sinornithosaurus attacks.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: The cuter Microraptor was chased longer but was allowed to escape. Jeholosaurus was not as lucky on either account.

Saurornithoides

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsaurornithoides.png

A typical troodontid theropod living on the fringes of the Mongolian desert, 85 million years ago.


Oviraptor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdoviraptor.jpg

The well-known oviraptorid theropod.


  • Eats Babies: Tries to eat Gigantoraptor's eggs. Succeeds in eating Saurornithoides'.
  • Feathered Fiend: Looks much like a bird and is used as an antagonist.
  • Handwave: Probably anticipating criticism because it is a well known factoid that the original Oviraptor fossil was misnamed, due to a nesting mother being misinterpreted as an egg thief, the show cuts immediately to show recent fossil evidence that Oviraptor actually ate troodontid eggs sometimes.

Gigantoraptor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdgigantoraptor.jpg

A... well, dinosaur-sized relative of Oviraptor, living in the same environment. At almost 4 meters tall, it is one of the largest feathered creatures of all time.


  • Acrophobic Bird: Referenced, although it is not actually a bird. It has feathers, but they are used for display during mating and not for flight. Even if they were flight feathers, Gigantoraptor would be far too large to lift itself.
  • Animals Not to Scale: A rare real life version. It is similar to Oviraptor in everything, except it is 35 times its size. Its discovery is compared to finding a cow-sized mouse.
  • Battle Couple: The parents take turns defending the nest, but when both of them get in on it you're better off running.
  • Death by Irony: The father's own parental instincts work against him when a sandstorm comes, burying him alive because he just couldn't bring himself to leave the eggs defenseless.
  • Feathered Fiend: To their prey and any predator looking to make a meal of their eggs.
  • Giant Mook: Comes across as this in its Establishing Character Moment, effortlessly killing a Saurornithoides that was chasing away an Oviraptor. However, the Gigantoraptor is seen later keeping Oviraptor away from its own eggs.
  • Improbable Weapon User: It flaps its wings to appear bigger and scare away predators. Not unusual for a chicken-sized animal, certainly weird for one that rivals Tyrannosaurus rex in size.
  • Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Mess with their eggs and they'll mess you up.
  • Rule of Cool: The death scene is based on fossils of the much smaller Oviraptor.
  • Ugly Cute: Their short, thick, only two teeth at the back of the mouth puts them into the territory. The exact use of these teeth is unclear.

    Last Killers 

Daspletosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dpdaspletosaurus.jpg

The first giant tyrannosaur and the apex predator in Alberta 75 million years ago.


  • Animal Jingoism: The show attributes the evolution of tyrannosaurs towards greater size and bite force to an arms race with ceratopsians.
  • Bigger Is Better: To hunt, to fight other carnivores for a carcass, or to scare them away.
  • Not Me This Time: Though Daspletosaurus cause plenty of damage to the Centrosaurus herd on their own, most deaths are caused by the adverse weather.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Daspletosaurus team up to bring down the larger and more difficult ceratopsians, but the cooperation disappears as soon as the prey is felled and they start fighting each other for the carcass.
  • Zerg Rush: Their preferred strategy when they can't get a large ceratopsian individually, by surprise.

Chasmosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dpchasmosaurus.jpg

A rhinoceros-sized ceratopsian hunted by Daspletosaurus.


  • Animal Jingoism: Referenced. Chasmosaurus essentially plays the part of Triceratops in most dinosaur media: as prey and enemy of a giant tyrannosaur. Though interestingly, it still doesn't get tangled in a prolonged fight with them. It drives away one Daspletosaurus with a charge, and turns tail as soon as it realizes it is surrounded.
  • Horn Attack: Like any large ceratopsian, its Signature Attack is this.
  • Oh, Crap!: When the Chasmosaurus realizes that there isn't just one Daspletosaurus in the area, or two... but an entire pack of them. And that they all are walking towards it...
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It immediately tries to run from the rushing Daspletosaurus...
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: ...but they hunt it successfully.

Troodon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdtroodon.jpg

An even more typical troodontid than Saurornithoides and the namer of the group. Two species appear: a southern one in Alberta, and a larger Arctic one in Alaska.


  • Eats Babies: Though the Alaskan species is larger and hunts in groups, it is still unable to hunt adult Edmontosaurus and goes after their young only.
  • Feathered Fiend: Although not very feathered.
  • Grim Up North: The Alaskan species is twice the size of the Albertan one and the top predator of its environment, due to tyrannosaurs not being present there.
  • Killer Rabbit: Not very dangerous looking, but it (literally) keeps the large Edmontosaurus awake at night.
  • Palette Swap: The Albertan and Alaskan species use the same model with different plumage, which is also used for other troodontids in the series (Saurornithoides, Bradycneme).
  • Raptor Attack: It fulfils the role of popular culture raptors in the show, although it is smaller, not as powerful, and (for once), is shown to be unsuccessful.
  • The Smart Guy: The popular meme about Troodon's brain size is referenced, but the narrator claims that it is not as noteworthy as its large eye size.
  • Zerg Rush: The only way they can overpower young Edmontosaurus, and it is still useless against the adults despite the large size of the Alaskan species.

Edmontosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdedmontosaurus.jpg

An elephant-sized duckbill dinosaur that nests in the Arctic. Despite its size, the youngsters are vulnerable to Troodon attacks.


  • Horn Attack: Even though the species is completely hornless, a mother makes this to defend her young, and even manages to kill or seriously maim a Troodon.
  • Mama Bear: Like its distant relative or ancestor Jeholosaurus, the mothers are very protective of their young, and they successfully fend off a Troodon attack in the segment even though the Troodon delayed it until night to stake conditions in their favor.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Despite being protected by the elders of the herd, the juvenile Edmontosaurus still dies later through the night after sustaining many injuries caused by the Troodon pack.
  • Social Ornithopod: The show goes to elaborate and explain why Edmontosaurus tend to travel in herds, which is to ensure the young's safety and because of their massive numbers, they travel together so that they could continue to nurture and sustain themselves in the long-run.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: In dinosaur media, duckbills often appear as the Red Shirt that gets killed easily by Tyrannosaurus rex and raptors. Here, they successfully defend themselves and each other against a Troodon attack.

Majungasaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdmajungasaurus.jpg

An abellisaurid dinosaur. Though small for large theropod standards, it is the apex predator of Madagascar 70 million years ago.


  • Berserk Button: The mother was ready to leave the male alone with the carcass until it tried to attack one of her chicks.
  • Bigger Is Better: The female uses her size to bully the Rahonavis out of a carcass without a fight, and the male then uses its own larger size to bully out the female. However, this is subverted when the female attacks the male by surprise and kills it.
  • His Own Worst Enemy: At the start of the segment, the narration says that Majungasaurus was thought to be the apex predator of its environment until fossil bite marks were found in Majungasaurus bones. Marks that were later found to belong to another Majungasaurus.
  • Mama Bear: The main one is a mother who kills a large male to protect her young.
  • Monstrous Cannibalism: Subverted. A mother Majungasaurus kills and eats a large male Majungasaurus partly because he was a threat to her young and partly because the family was starving due to the drought.
  • Thirsty Desert: During the Late Cretaceous, western Madagascar is already a desert, but it is subjected to even worse droughts than today. The segment takes place during one of these.
  • Ugly Cute: The chicks for sure. The adults also fall into this or Nightmare Retardant, due to their short face, large forward facing eyes, shark-like mouth and teeth, and comically short arms and head horn.

Rahonavis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdrahonavis.jpg

A small, opportunistic bird-like theropod from Madagascar.


  • Acrophobic Bird: Debate continues about whether Rahonavis was a bird-like dinosaur or an actual bird, and whether it was capable of flight, with some even making the astonishing claim that the answer is yes to both (and as a result, flight either appeared twice on the near-bird lineage, or once and was abandoned in non-birds). The show avoids the topic altogether and has Rahonavis never attempting to fly.
  • Circling Vultures: The Majungasaurus mother follows a flock to a sauropod carcass.
  • Noisy Nature: While running downhill, they produce rattlesnake noises even though they have no way or reason to.
  • Prop Recycling: They use the same model as Sinornithosaurus, colors and all.

Centrosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdcentrosaurus.png

A migratory ceratopsian that makes vast herds in North America.


  • Morton's Fork: The herd gets caught between hungry Daspletosaurus and a flooded plain that is inhabited by giant crocodiles, just as a terrible storm is starting to gather.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Many are killed by predators, and countless more by the elements.
  • We Have Reserves: While they stay in the group for safety, they will make no attempt to help one of their members in trouble.

Deinosuchus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pddeinosuchus.png

The (very) large crocodile likely seen hunting a Centrosaurus after the herd goes in the water.


  • The Cameo/Freeze-Frame Bonus: It is just seen once from behind and could be easiy confused with a passing tree trunk (an actual one floats pass the herd just before this scene).
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: Oh, yes, never do.
  • No Name Given: The species is never named (or even referenced) by the narrator, but Deinosuchus is the only possible candidate that fits geographic range and size.
  • Not Me This Time: While it takes advantage of the passing Centrosaurus, most die to the storm.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: By the storm, and by the Daspletosaurus. Just think how much shadow they can cast, if the narrator feels no reason to mention dinosaur-eating giant crocodiles.
  • Prop Recycling: Reuses the model of the smaller African crocodile seen in "Lost World" and "New Giants".

    Fight for Life 

Squatina

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsquatina.jpg

A small flattened shark from Late Jurassic Europe, 150 million years ago.


Kimmerosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdkimmerosaurus.jpg

A typical, medium-sized plesiosaur.


  • Always a Bigger Fish: Bigger to Squatina, smaller to Predator X.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Because they are too large to be shallowed whole, their predators dismember them alive.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The Kimmerosaurus nurse in protected shallow waters that aren't accessible to their predators, but they must venture in dangerous deeper waters to feed themselves.
  • The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: After catching a Squatina, it must flee for its life from a threatening Predator X.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Like all plesiosaurs, it looks like someone crossed a snake with a sea turtle and gave it a crocodile head.
  • Off with His Head!: Its gruesome death at the jaws of Predator X is by decapitation. Surprisingly, this is based on actual fossil evidence.

Predator X

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdpredatorx.jpg

A giant, at the time unnamed pliosaur discovered in Svalbard. Apex predator of the Jurassic European seas.


  • A Love to Dismember: Despite its enormous size, plesiosaurs are still too large for it be able to shallow them whole. Its hunting strategy is to attack from below repeatedly, stunning the prey and ripping off its flippers before going for the killing blow to the head. And even after that, it is forced to cut the body in at least two, before eating it.
  • Big Bad: Of its segment in the episode, although it arguably becomes a Villain Protagonist after stealing the spotlight from Kimmerosaurus.
  • The Dreaded: The Kimmerosaurus scatter the minute it shows up.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Giant crocodile-turtle thing, with a short neck unlike the plesiosaurs.
  • Off with His Head!: After ripping a back flipper from a Kimmerosaurus, it takes out its head. This is based on a plesiosaur fossil consisting of a decapitated head with a few vertebrae attached - and nothing else.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Called "Predator X" because it had not been completely studied at the time the show came out, and was yet to receive a binomial name.
  • Science Marches On: It was later published with the name Pliosaurus funkei.
  • Sea Monster: As straight as it goes. A fifty-foot aquatic super-predator.

Camptosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdcamptosaurus.png

An ornithopod vegetarian dinosaur with keen senses, but no obvious means of defense. It is common in Late Jurassic North America.


  • Cat Scare: As a default sentinel, it regularly watches for potential threats that turn out to be not. The "cats" include a pterosaur and another Camptosaurus, both in the immediate prelude to an Allosaurus attack.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: The Allosaurus's jaws are actually too weak to kill with one bite, so the unlucky Camptosaurus gets hacked down in the back repeatedly before it dies from blood loss. This is like being hit with an ax that has several pointy knives attached.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: How the Camptosaurus attacked by the Allosaurus ends up. The result is not shown, but very likely it was bitten in the head.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: Its safety comes form numbers and hanging around the armored Stegosaurus, so leaving the herd is the absolute worst thing it can do.
  • The Load: While Stegosaurus probably value its warning ahead of coming Allosaurus, it seems they wouldn't have to deal with as much Allosaurus attacks in the first place if they didn't hang around Camptosaurus, which are the easier and as a result preferred prey.
  • Non-Action Guy: It cannot fight nor outrun its main predator, Allosaurus, and must rely on Stegosaurus for additional safety.
  • Red Shirt: If Allosaurus is the Jurassic's "lion", this little guy is its "zebra".
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It is reduced to this when the Allosaurus attacks. Too bad it is also slower than Allosaurus.
  • Those Two Guys: After decades finding their bones together in several fossil sites, a fossil track site finally confirmed for good that they both lived, and traveled together.
  • We Have Reserves: Their best defense is to hang around in enough numbers and run faster than their peers. They make no attempt to defend each other.

Stegosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdstegosaurus.png

A large, armored stegosaur with a stinger tail. One of the most famous dinosaurs of all time, and the Jurassic in particular.


  • Animal Jingoism: As in most dinosaur media it also fights an Allosaurus in the segment. But this time it is based on hard fossil evidence.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: With its back armored and its sides within reach of the thagomizer, the small head is its only vulnerable part.
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: It has four long spines at the end of the tail that it uses against predators, collectively called "thagomizer".
  • Cool Versus Awesome: Its duel with Allosaurus, which is made even cooler by being preceded by shots of the cautious Allosaurus flexing its "weapons" (claws and teeth).
  • Dumb Muscle: Not very bright, therefore relying on Camptosaurus to act as a look out.
  • Mighty Glacier: It is slow and doesn't bother to run away. But it is nearly invulnerable to the Allosaurus and comes out of the duel with barely a scratch.
  • Science Marches On: The obvious reason for such a long, well known dinosaur to appear in this show based on new discoveries. For well over a century, Stegosaurus was assumed to be too armored and too stupid to be a social animal, and it is depicted in nearly all dinosaur related media as a solitary animal that interacted only occasionally with members of its own species and the odd temerary Allosaurus. This is the first time it's depicted not just living in herds, but sharing them also with another herbivore, Camptosaurus.
  • Those Two Guys: With Camptosaurus.
  • We Have Reserves: When the Allosaurus attacks, each Stegosaurus defends only itself, and it is blind luck that an adult ends incapacitating the Allosaurus when it was attacking a younger individual.

Allosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdallosaurus_0.jpg

A large theropod dinosaur and the most common predator in Late Jurassic North America.


  • All for Nothing: An Allosaurus manages to kill a Camptosaurus after a chase, only to lose it to Saurophaganax.
  • Animal Jingoism: Of course, Allosaurus gets to fight Stegosaurus. But for once, this is portrayed as its Plan B.
  • Big Bad: Acts as the main antagonist of its segment.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Yet it fails at killing a Camptosaurus and a Stegosaurus on screen, and when it finally gets the Camptosaurus, it has its prey stolen by Saurophaganax.
  • Cool Versus Awesome: Still, its duel with Stegosaurus is probably the most badass sequence in the series.
  • The Dreaded: The predator Camptosaurus is always on the look for, since it is an ambush predator and it happens to be bigger, stronger and faster than its prey.
  • Eats Babies: It is also not stupid, so if it cannot get the unarmored Camptosaurus it will go for the smaller young Stegosaurus before the fully grown.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The attack ends with the Alloaurus getting thagomized on the backbone. Surprisingly, it survives... but this hunt is certainly over.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Allosaurus mixes serrated, knife-like teeth with weak jaw muscles but strong neck muscles. This unlikely mix of elements results in the Allosaurus hunting by hitting its prey repeatedly from above, using its head like an ax... with slicing knives attached to the blade.
  • Just a Flesh Wound: It survives a direct hit from the Stegosaurus's thagomizer, although it will keep it from hunting large prey for a while.
  • Lightning Bruiser: It is faster than Camptosaurus and certainly faster than Stegosaurus.
  • Morton's Fork: With its cover blown and the Camptosaurus gone, it is left with the choice to either face heavily armored Stegosaurus or remain hungry while it looks for food elsewhere.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: The top part of its head is red, and the eyes area is black.
  • Scary Teeth: Knife-shaped, with serrated front and back for slicing meat.

Saurophaganax

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsaurophaganax.png

An even larger theropod from Late Jurassic North America, and a close relative of Allosaurus.


    New Giants 

Argentinosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdargentinosaurus.jpg

The largest confirmed dinosaur of all time, a titanosaur sauropod from South America 95 million years ago.


  • Bigger Is Better: They're so huge that very few predators dare to attack them. As adults, at least.
  • The Cavalry: An adult scares away a Skorpiovenator that was feeding on hatchlings.
  • Death Trap: Inadvertently creates these when it steps on volcanic ash.
  • Eaten Alive: The few predators that can eat it have to do it this way because it's simply too big for them to kill.
  • Explosive Breeder: Their way to make up for the absolute vulnerability of their young.
  • Feet-First Introduction: How the first adult Argentinosaurus is introduced.
  • Giant Corpse World: When an Argentinosaurus finally dies, it feeds countless carnivores and scavengers for several days.
  • Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: The young are tiny and vulnerable, but when they grow up they're huge.
  • Giant Equals Invincible: They're the biggest known dinosaurs and thus few animals can eat them. And the few animals that can are unable to kill them.
  • Goomba Stomp: Manages to defeat a Mapusaurus this way.
  • No-Sell: Due to its huge size, wounds that would be fatal to smaller dinosaurs do little to no damage to them.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Poor hypsilophodonts. We know Argentinosaurus didn't mean it.
  • We Have Reserves: Zig-zagged. While carnivores could not possibly eat enough hatchlings to make a difference, they still defend their nests and young in the documentary.

Lacusovagus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdlacusovagus.png

An opportunistic chaoyangopterid pterosaur.


  • Book Ends: First seen trying to eat a baby Argentinosaurus. One (presumably the same one) is last seen scavenging an adult Argentinosaurus skeleton.
  • Foreshadowing: Its scavenging skeletons and hunting sauropod hatchlings foreshadows Hatzegopteryx doing the same in the last episode, just more successfully.
  • Eats Babies: First seen as it tries to eat the first hatchling Argentinosaurus from its nest.
  • No Name Given: Identified as a "chaoyangopterid pterosaur" only, but the only known from South America at the time was Lacusovagus.
  • Prop Recycling: Uses the same model as the African pterosaur.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It makes the same actions as the contemporary unnamed African pterosaur and the Hatzegopteryx from the next episode.

Skorpiovenator

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdscorpiovenator.jpg

A typical abelisaurid theropod from South America.


  • Bait-and-Switch: Introduced scaring a pterosaur away from a dinosaur nest. Turns out it's not a Mama Bear defending her nest, but an equally opportunistic carnivore that wants to feast on it itself.
  • Circling Vultures: It is among the first, and last, to feed on a dying adult Argentinosaurus.
  • Eats Babies: And actually succeeds for a while, unlike the pterosaur.
  • Oh, Crap!: Gets this when it encounters an adult Argentinosaurus while in the process of eating hatchlings.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Doesn't get much attention due to sharing habitat with the larger Mapusaurus.
  • Palette Swap: Largely the same as relatives Rugops and Majungasaurus from other episodes, but with a mostly green color.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Runs away from the nesting site as soon as an adult Argentinosaurus intervenes.

Unnamed hypsilophodont

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdsahyppsilo.png

A typical small, gazelle-like ornithopod from South America.


  • Butt-Monkey: They only appear for scenery and their death scene, which is actually based on fossil evidence of small theropods dying this way in Asia (to Mamenchisaurus footprints, rather than Argentinosaurus).
  • Death by Irony: Presumably hangs around Argentinosaurus for protection against predators, but several end sucked and suffocate on muddy terrain left by Argentinosaurus footprints.
  • No Name Given: They are never given a name on screen but they are probably meant to be Notohypsilophodon. Gasparinisaura has also been suggested, but it would be anachronistic.
  • Prop Recycling: They use the same model as Jeholosaurus.
  • Quicksand Sucks: Due to the enormous weight of Argentinosaurus, the volcanic ash liquifies and turns into quicksand under its feet, trapping several small dinosaurs when they step on it later.
  • We Have Reserves: They make no attempt to help each other when some become trapped on quicksand.

Mapusaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdmapusaurus.jpg

One of the largest theropods of all time, and the only potential predator of adult Argentinosaurus.


  • Animal Jingoism: Said to be just one of many allosaur relatives specialized in hunting giant sauropods.
  • Big Bad: Sort of the antagonist of this segment.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death:
    • An Argentinosaurus crushes one to death on screen.
    • If they were to succeed, they would have slowly eaten an adult (or subadult) Argentinosaurus alive, so it is good that they don't.
  • Zerg Rush: Despite their massive size, they are still too small to take an Argentinosaurus one on one, so their only hope of getting food from them is by massing and attacking all at once.

Paralititan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdparalititan.png

A contemporary African relative of Argentinosaurus of roughly the same size.


  • The Cavalry: In a repeat of the "Battle at Kruger", the herd comes together to save a wounded subadult from a Carcharodontosaurus.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Skeletons of possibly Paralitan appear in the first episode "Lost World", which is set in the same location, although there were also other sauropods there in real life.
  • Feet-First Introduction: Also get this.
  • Quicksand Sucks: Downplayed. The shore mud collapses under the feet of a young Paralititan and it gets briefly stuck, but it is never at risk of sinking completely.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It is basically the same as Argentinosaurus, except it doesn't have to worry about zerg rushes because Carcharodontosaurus is solitary unlike Mapusaurus. The scene could have been moved to South America since a second (although slightly smaller) species of Sarcosuchus lived there.

Sarcosuchus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_2634.JPG

A giant African crocodile, twice the size of today's largest species.


  • Anachronism Stew: It actually is almost 20 million years older than Paralititan (though it barely coexisted with Spinosaurus, just not in the timeframe of the show).
  • Eats Babies: After failing to snatch an adult Paralititan, one comes out of the water to grab a young one stuck in the mud.
  • Giant Mook: Both of its appearances involve only one Sarcosuchus, and are preceded by crocodiles of smaller species.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: And this one is a worthy candidate to largest crocodile ever.
  • Science Marches On: Sarcosuchus could not perform the Nile crocodile's "death roll", so it is at least unlikely that it hunted animals larger than itself. It was more likely a piscivore specialist, like the similarly long-snouted gharials of today.

Carcharodontosaurus

See "Lost World"

    Great Survivors 

Magyarosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdmagyarosaurus.png

A pony-sized titanosaur from Hateg Island (now Romania), 65 million years ago.


  • Death by Irony:
    • They are related to the largest dinosaurs ever, which were invulnerable to predators. They are eaten by pterosaurs, the kind of animal most dinosaurs wouldn't mind.
    • Furthermore, sauropods are commonly seen as the dinosaur version of giraffes. These sauropods are much smaller (like ponies) and the pterosaurs that eat them are the ones the size of a giraffe.
  • Death from Above: They are invulnerable to land based predators... but easy pickings for pterosaurs.
  • Fun Size: A comparatively tiny sauropod. Besides the pterosaurs, pretty much all the animals on Hateg Island were this.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality/What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Bradycneme eats lizards in one bite? No big deal. Hatzegopteryx eats Magyarosaurus? Horrific!

Bradycneme

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdbradycneme.jpg

A small theropod from Hateg Island.


  • Bait-and-Switch: It is first introduced as if it was a giant theropod going to hunt an equally giant sauropod, but it is actually after a lizard.
  • Blood Is the New Black: Gets its muzzle covered in blood while feeding on a dead Magyarosaurus after the K/Pg impact.
  • Raptor Attack: It is not feathered enough, and it might not even be a maniraptor in reality.
  • Palette Swap: Uses the same model as Troodon and Saurornithoides, but has dark red plumage.
  • Science Marches On: Over the years, the very fragmentary remains have been suggested to be troodontids, but also basal tetanurans, maniraptorans, alvarezsaurids, and even birds.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here

Hatzegopteryx

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdhatzegopteryx.jpg

The largest pterosaur ever (and in turn, largest flying creature of all time), also an inhabitant of Hateg.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: "Villain" is probably not the right word, but seeing such a mighty predator reduced to desperate scavenging after the K/Pg Extinction Event is rather heartbreaking.
  • Big Bad: The apex predator of Hateg Island and thus the antagonist of its segment.
  • Eats Babies: Shown hunting for young Magyarosaurus, which is swallows in one bite. And the real thing would have had no problem pecking the grown-ups to death, as well.
  • Death from Above: They are the only threat to most dinosaurs in the island and they can come from the sky at any time.
  • Giant Flyer: It has a ten meter wingspan.
  • Lean and Mean: Tall, thin and the island's top predator. The real thing would have been a lot more muscular, though.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A stork with bat wings, that trots on all fours like an ungulate, is as tall as a giraffe, and occupies the apex predator niche.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Possibly the scariest creature in the program.
  • Science Marches On: The version seen in the show is closer to Quetzalcoatlus. Hatzegopteryx had a larger crest and thicker neck vertebrae that have been interpreted as indicative of a shorter, more muscular neck. Perhaps adapted to attack decent sized dinosaurs.
  • We ARE Struggling Together: Though they hang around in groups, they constantly fight and try to steal each other's food.

"Zunityrannus"

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdzunityrannus.png

A somewhat primitive, medium-sized tyrannosaur living in Western North America 92 million years ago.


  • Artifact of Death: They eat carrion infected with botulism bacteria, die, and become poisoned carrion themselves.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': The entire group is successfully repelled by Nothronychus and dies of food poisoning after they settle for scavenging.
  • I Am a Humanitarian: That corpse scavenged? It's one of their own. And it is implied that more will die from eating the pack's corpses.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: The animal was undescribed until 2019, where it was finally given the name Suskityrannus.
  • Rewatch Bonus: You can see the first corpse as a living dinosaur at the beginning of the segment, scavenging an even older carcass.

Nothronychus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdnothronychus.jpg

A primitive therizinosaur, one among a group of bizarre theropods who abandoned meat for a vegetarian diet.


Alectrosaurus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pdalectrosaurus.png

A somewhat larger, more advanced horned tyrannosaur from Mongolia 85 million years ago.


  • Battle Couple: Only implied, but it is quite suspicious that two chose to attack the Gigantoraptor at once.
  • Informed Attribute: They are said to drive all other conventional theropods to extinction, along with their fellow tyrannosaurs. But neither them nor their "Zunityrannus" relatives seem very successful.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After testing the male Gigantoraptor, they turn tail and leave without fanfare.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Like "Zunityrannus", they come, attack the bizarre giant theropod, and are driven away. In a more general sense, they are also this to most large theropods in the series (their relative Daspletosaurus being the most notable exception, ironically).
  • The Worf Effect: Introduced as a bigger threat to Gigantoraptor than Oviraptor, but defeated without much difficulty.

Gigantoraptor

See "Feathered Dragons"

Oviraptor

See "Feathered Dragons"

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