History Series / PrehistoricPlanet

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Downplayed. The series is set in the last million years of the Cretaceous period, so the viewer is definitely aware that the end isn't far off - at least, in geological time. However, the narrator never really dwells on it and there is no big "extinction event" episode. See TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed.

* TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed: Notably averted. Every episode is set during the Maastrichtian epoch, the very last geological stage of the Mesozoic Era, but in no episode is the looming mass extinction even mentioned, never mind shown. In fact, the last lines of the show talk about how abundant and diverse life is on the prehistoric planet.

** The end of the third episode briefly shows an unnamed titanosaur, but WordOfGod confirms this sequence is in South America, and made on its appearance, it's likely ''Austroposeidon'', which has its own segment in the fifth episode.

** Strangely, in the forest fire sequence with ''Atrociraptor'', the ankylosaur is not identified by name, even though the fact it's contemporary with ''Edmontosaurus'' and ''Atrociraptor'' and its distinctive pronged tail club clearly identify it as ''Anodontosaurus'' (which is confirmed by WordOfGod).

* RuleOfCool: Choosing the Campanian ''Velociraptor'' over the actual named Maastrichtian dromaeosaur that coexisted with ''Tarbosaurus'', ''Adasaurus'', (with the WordOfGod justification that it's an indeterminate velociraptorine) is most likely down to the former having far more name recognition.

* SocialOrnithopod: In numerous episodes, hadrosaurs make appearances, and in all appearances they are depicted as herd-dwelling animals which care for and travel with their young. WordOfGod [[https://twitter.com/TetZoo/status/1529811551905013766 has confirmed]] the series intentionally show hadrosaurs with young very often on purpose; dinosaurs, unlike mammalian megafauna, have large clutch sizes and therefore many young.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: All of the episodes are themed around environments (coasts, forests, islands etc.), except the second season finale, which is based on a specific location (North America).

** ''Simosuchus" are shown to be burrowing animals that live in small groups, just like prairie dogs.

** An adult ''Alamosaurus'', stated to reach one-hundred feet long and eighty tons, explicitly making them far too large for any predator to take on; no small feat considering they live alongside ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. Their skin alone is three inches deep, so thick that smaller predators are unable to even pierce it. Nonetheless, the "North America" episode does feature the death of an ''Alamosaurus'' - of old age.

** The ''Ornithomimus'' segment features a late-arriving male desperately looking for nest materials at his meager spot on the island. He turns to a life of crime by stealing branches and leaves from his rival, leading to a comical situation where he constantly freezes in place whenever his rival turns his head back at the nest.
** In "Forest", a trio of young ''Therizinosaurus'' spots a honey-filled beehive on a tree, and naturally try to get it by climbing onto the dead branches to get a taste. Their first several attempts have them clumsily fall off and they finally do reach the hive, the [[BeeAfraid angry bees]] attack these hapless dinosaurs, giving them a stinging of their lives. It's subverted with arrival of the adult ''Therizinosaurus'' looking for honey as well. While the bees sting the adult with as much ferocity as they did to the youngsters, the giant's coat of feathers is too thick to penetrate, allowing the adult ''Therizinosaurus'' to destroy the hive with ease. All of this is awe-inspiring to the youngsters watching from the bushes.

** The second episode focuses on the challenges faced by dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals living in arid deserts, particularly the last segment. The hadrosaur ''Secernosaurus'' lives in a desert so arid, the sand is made not of silica, but of of powdered gypsum (which is water-soluble, so can only exist where it almost never rains). They're able to subsist on nutrient-poor vegetation, but are forced to migrate to the coast every decade or so when periodic droughts make survival impossible.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 2 puts a slightly greater focus on the NatureIsNotNice elements introduced in season 1, with more segments dealing with extreme environments and violent interactions between animals.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 2 puts greater focus on the NatureIsNotNice elements introduced in season 1, with more segments dealing with extreme environments and violent interactions between animals.

** ''Tethyshadros'' (another Campanian animal) is depicted living in the Maastrichtian alongside ''Hatzegopteryx'', [[ScienceMarchesOn likely because this was thought to be correct until 2021]].

** "Forests" (the last episode) ends in the same way that the first episode began; with a shot of a beach.

* CoveredInScars: The old male ''Tyrannosaurus'' in the third episode is covered with nicks and faded slashes from a long life hunting large, armoured prey. Even the tip of his tail has been torn off from some prior bout. However, it's noted the scars make him more attractive to females, because it's a clear sign he's fought long and hard in life and won.

* DeadlyGas: "Badlands" shows a herd of female ''Isisaurus'' venturing through the highly volcanic Deccan Traps to lay their eggs in a dormant caldera. The biggest danger isn't the lava, but the toxic gases which seep from the volcanic vents. The adults are normally kept safe from the gas by their great heights, but when the winds whip the gases higher, even they're at risk. However, this journey is worth the risk, because the gases keep predators away from the nests (by the time the eggs hatch, seasonal weather conditions temporarily blow away the poisonous gases, allowing the babies a window to escape).

** A dead ''Triceratops'' appears as the prey of a ''Tyrannosaurus'' in the third episode, but they are depicted alive in their own segment in the fifth episode.

** The fifth episode shows a group of baby ''Zalmoxes'' being predated by the giant pterosaur ''Hatzegopteryx''. The sixth episode also shows ''Hatzegopteryx'' hunting and feeding on young ''Tethyshadros'' (although from the way even the adults flee, even the full-grown hadrosaurs would have been preyed on given the opportunity).

** ''Mosasaurus'' is shown resting at a coral reef so that fish can pick its body clean of dead skin and parasites, much like modern sea turtles and hammerhead sharks. The shot of it breaching out of the water with a young Tuarangisaurus in its jaws from "Oceans" is alot like great white sharks doing the same thing, but with seals.

** Similar to the ''Olorotitan'', ''Isisaurus'' burry their eggs in volcanic soil to incubate them, just like Galapagos iguanas.

* FeetFirstIntroduction: The ''Velociraptor'' is first shown this way in the second episode. Because what better way is there to introduce a dromaeosaur than by immediately showing its most iconic anatomical characteristic.

** An adult ''Alamosaurus'', stated to reach one-hundred feet long and eighty tons, explicitly making them far too large for any predator to take on; no small feat considering they live alongside ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. Their skin alone is three inches deep, so thick that smaller predators are unable to even pierce it.

* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Averted. In a complete opposite of how sauropods are usually depicted, the ''Dreadnoughtus'' are shown here engaging in territorial disputes to the death.

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Downplayed. The series is set in the last million years of the Cretaceous period, so the viewer is definitely aware that the end isn't far off - at least, in geological time. However, the narrator never really dwells on it and there is no big "extinction event" episode.
* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: All of the episodes are themed around environments (coasts, forests, islands etc.), except the last one, which is based on a specific location (North America).

* MediumBlending: CGI dinosaurs are composited onto real environments and alongside real animals in some sequences, such as the baby sea turtles in the ''Tyrannosaurus'' beach segment, as well using practical effects.

** The ornithomimosaurs are shown nesting communally and stealing each other's nesting material, as many penguins do.

* SeaOfSand: In the last segment in the second episode, the ''Secernosaurus'' need to navigate in a constantly shifting, featureless desert stretching for many, many miles. With no landmarks to follow, they travel by night and rely on the position of the stars to prevent from getting lost.

** The ''Beelzebufo'' in "Swamps" having to navigate its way past a herd of ''Rapetosarus'' to get to a suitable waterhole for attracting mates calls ''{{VideoGame/Frogger}}'' to mind.

* ScaryStingingSwarm: When the young ''Therizinosaurus'' disturb a beehive in their attempt to get honey, the bees immediately swarm over the hapless trio and start stinging them to no end. The only thing that stops the swarm is an adult ''Therizinosaurus''.

** Defied. The show goes out of its way to show dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals in unconventional behaviours that are still supported by evidence or at least speculatively plausible, such as introducing ''Tyrannosaurus'' swimming across the ocean, showing plesiosaurs collecting gastroliths and ''Mosasaurus'' being picked cleaned by tiny reef animals, rather than hunting fish, or showing a ''Tarbosaurus'' menacingly approaching a herd of hadrosaurs... which it totally ignores because it just wanted to drink water.

* SummonBiggerFish: In the second episode, a small agamid lizard, chased by a ''Velociraptor'', runs to hide under a sleeping ''Tarbosaurus''. The raptor bumps into the large predator, which wakes up and snaps at the raptor, chasing it away.

** Downplayed with the Asian tyrannosaur ''Tarbosaurus'' in the second episode. The other dinosaurs treat it as TheDreaded, but the most threatening thing it does is taking a snap at a ''Velociraptor'' that accidentally wakes it up. Otherwise it's just mostly seen lounging and taking a drink at a watering hole.
** Played mostly straight with the two smaller tyrannosaur species ''Nanuqsaurus'', and ''Qianzhousaurus'', who are both presented as formidable hunters. ''Nanuqsaurus'' is a pack hunter that [[SuperPersistentPredator relentlessly chases]] a ''Pachyrhinosaurus'' herd until killing an old bull; ''Qianzhousaurus'' is a stealthy ambush predator sneaking up on a flock of ''Corythoraptor''. However, both predators are portrayed as fairly realistic animals rather than {{Prehistoric Monster}}s.
* ThirstyDesert: The second episode focuses on the challenges faced by dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals living in arid deserts, particularly the last segment. The hadrosaur ''Secernosaurus'' lives in a desert so arid, the sand is made not of silica, but of of powdered gypsum (which is water-soluble, so can only exist where it almost never rains). They're able to subsist on nutrient-poor vegetation, but are forced to migrate to the coast every decade or so when periodic droughts make survival impossible.

* CarnivoresAreMean / HerbivoresAreFriendly: Doubly averted. The ''Tyrannosaurus'' is shown as a doting parent watching over his young and teaching them how to hunt, and a ''Tarbosaurus'' that approaches a watering hole crowded with sauropods simply wants to drink. On the opposite end, however, are the ''Dreadnoughtus'', who, in a complete opposite of how sauropods are usually depicted, are shown here engaging in territorial disputes ''to the death.''

** '''Averted''' with the ''Dreadnoughtus''. In a rarely-depicted display of violence, the male ''Dreadnoughtus'' battle ferociously over territory and mates, biting each other's throats, stabbing with their thumb claws, slamming their necks with brute force and ultimately inflicting so much damage that some of the combatants are outright killed.

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Downplayed. The series is set in the last million years of the Cretaceous period, so the viewer is definitely aware that the end isn't far off - at least, in geological time. However, the narrator never really dwells on it and there is no big "extinction event" episode. See TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed.

* SwallowedWhole: Happens to many animals in the show, since its reptilian subjects can't chew. Special mention goes to ''Phospatedraco'', which swallows a baby ''Alcione'' in front of its flock.

** ''Mosasaurus'' is shown resting at a coral reef so that fish can pick its body clean of dead skin and parasites, much like modern sea turtles and hammerhead sharks.

** The tenth episode features a battle between two male ''Triceratops'' (an old one and a younger one) fighting for mating opportunities. The younger male is six tonnes, while older male is said to weigh ''ten tonnes''. There is also a fight between a ''Tyrannosaurus'' (one of the largest ever land predators) and a pair of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' (one of the largest ever fliers).

** Several species are not identified by specific names, only more generally, either because their real life identification is in question (like the Alaskan troodontid), they're based on fossils which are too fragmentary to have a name (like the Mongol Titan or the Antarctic hadrosaur), or they're a hypothetical species (the agamid lizard in the "Deserts" episode).