Paleoworld (1994-1997) is one of the most complete documentaries on prehistoric life that ever aired. However, given its air date, it has become majorly dated.
Examples for each episode:
Episode 1: Rise of the Predators
- Eoraptor’s status as a basal predatory theropod, and even its exact position within Dinosauria, has been subject to debate for decades now. The problem lies in the fact that it shares so many traits found in other groups of basal dinosaurs, that it’s been difficult to determine exactly which group Eoraptor really belongs to. Current research points to it being, of all things, a basal sauropodomorph. note
- Even more uniquely, while it’s still considered to be a predator, Eoraptor was omnivorous.
Episode 2: Flight of the Pterosaurs
- Throughout the episode, paleontologists argue whether pterosaurs walked on two or four legs. Current consensus favors the latter theory.
- One scientist asserts that pterosaurs would be rather slow on the ground. Current science suggests that this isn't the case at all. Indeed, Quetzalcoatlus would have been a Lightning Bruiser on the ground.
Episode 3: Back to the Seas
- Whales are no longer believed to have descended from mesonychids, but rather from artiodactyl (even-toed) ungulates, such as pigs, cattle, deer, antelope, camels and hippopotami.
- Pakicetus was more doglike than the episode portrayed it.
Episode 4: Carnosaurs
- Most of these guys aren't even carnosaurs in the 21st century, and it's now understood that multiple lineages of theropods that reached large sizes simply converged on similar superficial similarities such as oversized heads and small arms but were otherwise quite distinct. These days, the term refers only to Allosaurus and its closest kin (although the episode does acknowledge that it's something of an informal term). For context, Cryolophosaurus is thought to be a basal neotheropod (possibly a very basal tetanuran), Carnotaurus is a ceratosaur, and tyrannosaurs like T. rex and Albertosaurus are giant coelurosaurs (closer to dromaeosaurs than allosaurs). Interestingly the first studies to seriously push the idea of tyrannosaurs being coelurosaurs using modern cladistics came out around the same time this episode aired.
- Carnotaurus wasn't a primitive "carnosaur" from the Early Cretaceous, but rather one of the last and most derived of the abelisaurs, having lived just before T. rex. It was also far from the biggest South American theropod, as the local carcharodontosaurs such as Giganotosaurus (named just one year after this episode aired) grew just as massive as the biggest tyrannosaurs, and Carnotaurus itself would have been sympatric with the even large megaraptoran Maip (named in 2022).
- The "prosauropod" that coexisted with Cryolophosaurus was named Glacialisaurus in 2007.
- It's mentioned that during the Late Cretaceous, "carnosaurs" (meaning tyrannosaurids) were evolving and diversifying much more rapidly than in the past. This is purely because in the early '90s, we still had relatively few large predators known from older strata (Jurassic to Mid Cretaceous) but countless new taxa described since then show that predatory dinosaurs had always been diverse and evolving quickly, such as numerous forms of carcharodontosaurids from the Early-Mid Cretaceous, who also had a near-cosmopolitan distribution (unlike tyrannosaurids, who only inhabited Asia and North America).
- When comparing T. rex and Albertosaurus, it's claimed that the two represent opposite extremes, with Albertosaurus having evolved to be more gracile and better suited for running. Now that we know a lot more about tyrannosaur evolution and the ontogeny of derived tyrannosaurids, it's known that tyrannosaurs spent most of the Mesozoic as small, gracile, and long-legged mesocarnivores, and that juvenile tyrannosaurids retained that body plan before growing into bulky, slower-moving bruisers (as is well-documented in T. rex itself), while albertosaurines retained their more gracile build into adulthood (an example of neotony).
- When talking about "carnosaur" integument, they bring up the possibility of them having lizard-like scale or even feathers before showing the skin impressions of Carnotaurus (which is scaly and covered in bumpy osteoderms) as an example of what their integument would have looked like. However, since many of the other "carnosaurs" aren't closely related to Carnotaurus (an abelisaurid ceratosaur distinct from tetanurans), this doesn't apply to them, and many large tetanurans such as Allosaurus and tyrannosaurids instead show evidence of being covered in small, non-overlapping scales, and basal tyrannosaurs such as Dilong and the large-sized Yutyrannus preserve evidence of being covered in primitive hair-like feathers (unsurprising, given that they were basal coelurosaurs), though later forms like T. rex seem to have reverted back to being mostly (or even entirely) scaly since they lived in warmer climes and didn't need insulation (on top of benefitting from gigantothermy).
Episode 5: Missing Links
Episode 6: Sea Monsters
- Kronosaurus did not grow 50 feet long. The first specimens found were in poor condition, and so the people who put the fossil together gave it too many vertebrae. It probably didn't reach much longer than 33 feet.
- Plesiosaurs probably couldn't return to land, as their anatomy had become far too specialized for life in the sea and the large elasmosaurids and pliosaurids would have been too heavy to leave the water without becoming beached. On top of that, a specimen of Polycotylus was later found to have died while giving birth to live young, showing that plesiosaurs were viviparous just like ichthyosaurs, which lines up with their lack of adaptations for terrestrial movement.
- "Mosasaurus maximus" has been sunk into Mosasaurus hoffmanni. And mosasaurs would have had vertical tail-flukes and more compact bodies, which would have made them much more effective swimmers.
Episode 7: Tale of a Sail
Episode 8: Attack of the Killer Kangaroos
Episode 9: Dino Sex
Episode 10: Mistaken Identity
Episode 11: The Legendary T-Rex
- Most of the episode is dedicated to discussing whether Tyrannosaurus Rex was an obligate scavenger or opportunistic predator. Since the episode aired, at least two Edmontosaurus specimens and a Triceratops were recovered showing bite marks matching the dentition of T-Rex that showed new bone growth around the wound, indicating that they survived attacks from the giant theropod. As such, Tyrannosaurus is now near universally thought to be an opportunistic predator, much like modern day mammalian and avian predators.
- Most of Sue's injuries are now believed to be the result of parasitic infections and trampling by other dinosaurs after she died.
- The episode does go into some detail about sexual dimorphism in Tyrannosaurus Rex, citing the larger specimens, and those without full chevron bones, as being female. However, Sue herself was later found to have a chevron in her first tail vertebra, and it is thought that the differences between specimens is a result of age and geographic variation, thus weakening the evidence of sexual dimorphism in the giant theropod.
Episode 12: Dino Docs
Episode 13: The Mysteries of Extinction
Episode 14: African Graveyard I: Hunting Dinosaurs
- Spinosaurus wasn't just a generic theropod with a sail. It was a highly specialized piscivore with a crocodile-like skull (confirmed just after this episode aired), that was also amphibious with short back legs (confirmed with new finds in 2014) and even had a paddle-like tail akin to a crocodile (confirmed with finds in 2020), making it one of the strangest and most derived theropods.
Episode 15: African Graveyard II: Discovering Dinos
Episode 16: Earthshakers
- Seismosaurus was not its own species, but rather a large Diplodocus.
Episode 17: Trail of the Neanderthal
Episode 18: Monsters on the Move
Episode 19: Mystery of Dinosaur Cove
- Leaellynasaura and the other Dinosaur Cove ornithopods are called "hypsilophodonts", which has since been recognized as a wastebasket group of unrelated little ornithischians, and the ones from Dinosaur Cove are thought to be elasmarians, a widely distributed group of southern ornithopods also known from Argentina and Antarctica.
- Timmimus is no longer considered an ornithomimosaur and is seen as too fragmentary to be positively identified as anything beyond an indeterminate coelurosaur. Likewise, the also very fragmentary and dubious Serendipaceratops (named in 2003) probably isn't a ceratopsian and might instead be an ankylosaur (akin to Minmi and Kunbarrasaurus). This jettisons the notion that either ceratopsians or ostrich dinos have their origins in Australia.
- There was no dwarf polar Allosaurus living in Early Cretaceous southern Australia. This was based on a single ankle bone, now thought to belong to a megaraptoran similar to the Queensland Australovenator.
- The late-surviving Victorian "labyrinthodont" was named Koolasuchus in 1997.
Episode 20: Dinos in the Air
- Protoavis is probably just a jumble of bones from different creatures, not an early bird. As a matter of fact, the coelurosaurs (the very diverse group of theropods that includes birds) likely didn't diverge from other tetanuran theropods until well into the Lower Jurassic.
Episode 21: Mammoths!
Episode 22: Are Rhinos Dinos?
Episode 23: Killer Birds
- Terror birds did not have clawed wings, this was a mistaken assumption based on a unique wing bone found in Titanis, which later turned out to also be present in seriema (their closest relatives), who lack such features. Evolving clawed wings would be a pretty useless adaption when they already had powerful beaks and sharp talons for killing and feeding.
Episode 24: The Land That Time Forgot
Episode 25: Island of the Giant Rats
Episode 26: Troodon: Dinosaur Genius
- Troodon is no longer considered to be a valid genus.
- Troodontids should have feathers.
Episode 27: Ancient Crocodiles
Episode 28: Dawn of the Cats
Episode 29: Boneheads
Episode 30: Amber Hunters
Episode 31: Dinos in the Snow
- Edmontosaurus is stated to have no crest on top of it's head. But since then a specimen of the species Edmontosaurus Regalis has been discovered with a crest.
Episode 32: Armored Dinos
Episode 33: Flesh on the Bone
Episode 34: Ape Man
Episode 35: Horns and Herds
Episode 36: Treasure Island
Episode 37: Dino Diet
Episode 38: Dwarf Dinos
- Despite the episode being about Hateg island, there is no mention of its apex predator, the giant stocky azhdarchid Hatzegopteryx, who wasn't named until 2002. This biome wasn't merely a dinosaur lilliput, but also a land dominated by gigantic pterosaurs, the only known ecosystem from the Mesozoic where the latter ruled the roost.
Episode 39: Early Birds
Episode 40: Prehistoric Sharks
Episode 41: Loch Ness Secrets
- Mosasaurs could not move on land, nor were they ancestral to monitor lizards.
Episode 42: Secrets of the Brontosaurus
Episode 43: Baby Monsters
Episode 44: Valley of Venom
Episode 45: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Episode 46: Killer Raptors
- Deinonychus should be feathered, and its skull would be more elongated.
- Megaraptor was not a dromaeosaur, but rather a wholly different type of theropod with an abnormally large hand claw, eventually becoming the type genus of its own family, the megaraptorans.
Episode 47: Clash of the Titans
- Giganotosaurus was not the largest carnivorous dinosaur, and it's unlikely that there an actual record-holder. Giant carcharodontosaurs like it, along with giant tyrannosaurs like T. rex likely represented the max size limit for macropredatory theropods, and 40-43-foot giants existed all throughout the Mesozoic. Spinosaurs reached similar dimensions, with Spinosaurus possibly being the longest (at 50 feet) but it was a specialized amphibious piscivore.
Episode 48: Dinosaur Doomsday
Episode 49: Valley of the Uglies
- Diatryma should be called Gastornis, and isotope analyses proved that it was actually a herbivore, more like a giant cassowary than a prototype terror bird.
- Entelodonts are no longer considered cousins of pigs but rather of whales and hippos.
Episode 50: Troodon: Portrait of a Killer
- Troodon should be feathered.
