History ScienceMarchesOn / WalkingWith

* The series, especially WWD itself, frequently pays lip service to orthogenetic evolution, the outdated notion that later and more derived organisms are just inherently "better" and more adaptable than more basal forms and will inevitably supplant them. This is most evident in "New Blood", where the ''Placerias'' and ''Postosuchus'' are depicted as ponderous primitives that are destined to be outcompeted by the more intelligent, agile, and adaptable dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and cynodonts. The cynodonts, in turn, are portrayed in a more compassionate light than their reptilian contemporaries, as they pair-bond and take care of their offspring, while the T. rex in "Death of a Dynasty" only get together to mate and throughout it, the female is on the verge of killing the male due to her aggression, and she's said to only take care of her chicks for a short time period before abandoning or possibly eating them (even though both birds and crocodiles are well known for being attentive parents). The T. rex chicks are also shown bullying their weaker sibling and eventually killing it off-screen ([[NatureIsNotNice though this is rather accurate for bird chicks]]).

* Regarding sexual dimorphism, a 2021 study on the ''Tupandactylus'' fossil ''tentatively'' suggested that ''T. navigans'' may actually represent the female form of the larger ''T. imperator''. This is unlike the episode's portrayal, which has ''T. navigans'' as the larger male form, while the smaller female is represented by a speculative and made-up morph with blunt crests. However, the authors stressed that this was just one possible interpretation (because sexual dimorphism is generally hard to prove from fossils). On the other hand, we have evidence suggesting that tapejarids like ''Tupandactylus'' might not have been sexually dimorphic at all, since the closely related ''Caiuajara'' was described in 2014 and is known from a large bonebed containing close to fifty specimens of varying ontogenetic stages and yet none of them indicate a sexually dimorphic male and female morph (unlike ''Pteranodon'').

** The 2021 study on the ''Tupandactylus'' fossil cautiously suggested that ''T. navigans'' may actually represent the female form of the larger ''T. imperator''. This is unlike the episode's portrayal, which has ''T. navigans'' as the larger male form, while the smaller female is represented by a speculative and made-up morph with blunt crests. However, the authors stressed that this was just one possible interpretation (because sexual dimorphism is generally hard to prove from fossils).

* WWD was perhaps the last hurrah of sea turtle-like pleisosaurs in documentary media before the idea fell out of favor with the TurnOfTheMillennium. [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Plesiosaurs]] [[http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1205689 gave birth to alive newborns in water]] just like the fish-like [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs ichthyosaurs]]; [[http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2019/01/plesiosaurs-on-rocks-terrestrial.html and it's now universally agreed that they could not crawl onto land because of their limb anatomy and the shape of their chest]], not even the small ones, thus making them far more analogous to cetaceans.

* During the '90s it was indeed believed that the largest ornithocheirids might have had wingspans of 11-12 meters (though those were the highest possible estimates), based on wing bones and other fragments found in the Santana Group, [[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287549358_Giant_pterosaurs_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_of_the_Isle_of_Wight_UK as well as the Isle of Wight]] ([[AllInTheManual as explained in the tie-in books]]). However, improved understanding of ornithocheirid anatomy during the 21st century lowered such estimates, as well as the description of more complete specimens, like the giant partial skeleton MN 6594-1 (which wasn't an inspiration for the show, as far as supplementary material suggests), which has an estimated wingspan between 8.2 to 8.7 meters, smaller than the giant featured in the episode, but still quite a massive pterosaur, second only to the giant azhdarchids. The apparent presence of gigantic ornithocheirids in both Brazil and England further encouraged the intercontinental migration shown in the episode.

* During the '90s it was indeed believed that the largest ornithocheirids might have had wingspans of 11-12 meters (though those were the highest possible estimates), based on wing bones and other fragments found in the Santana Group, [[[[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287549358_Giant_pterosaurs_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_of_the_Isle_of_Wight_UK as well as the Isle of Wight]] ([[AllInTheManual as explained in the tie-in books). However, improved understanding of ornithocheirid anatomy during the 21st century lowered such estimates, as well as the description of more complete specimens, like the giant partial skeleton MN 6594-1 (which wasn't an inspiration for the show, as far as supplementary material suggests), which has an estimated wingspan between 8.2 to 8.7 meters, smaller than the giant featured in the episode, but still quite a massive pterosaur, second only to the giant azhdarchids. The apparent presence of gigantic ornithocheirids in both Brazil and England further encouraged the intercontinental migration shown in the episode.