Walking with Monsters

***Walking with Monsters*** (marketed as ***Before the Dinosaurs*** in North America) is a British three-part documentary miniseries created by Impossible Pictures, directed by Chloe Leland and Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and the Discovery Channel. It is a prequel to *Walking with Dinosaurs*, following life in the Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic eras; this includes the evolution of arthropods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and synapsids. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh and first aired in the United Kingdom, and subsequently in the United States, in 2005.

This installment takes a slightly different approach to previous *Walking with...* series. Here, each period begins with "tech specs" highlighting specific traits of that period. as well as the location based on fossils from that period, they also show the period's oxygen content (from up to the Carboniferous period)/global temperature, (from the Early Permian onwards), and hazards. It also features evolution sequences between periods and looks inside creatures to show new evolutionary traits that humans - within the context of the series - would later adopt. The major difference is that instead of six full episodes, there are only three episodes, each containing two to three segments at a time, similar to *Sea Monsters*.

## Episodes

The series was presented in two versions: first as a single 90-minute installment in November 2005, followed by a three-week episodic format in December.

 **530 million years ago**: Cambrian*Place*: Chenjiang, China*Oxygen Content*: 30% below today*Hazards*: world's first super predatorThe episode begins approximately 4.4 billion years ago, when the Earth is just forming. A planet-like object known as Theia crashes into Earth, dynamically reshaping it and forming the Moon. The episode then jumps to the Cambrian Explosion, showing the diversification of first life on earth. Strange arthropod predators called Anomalocaris feed on trilobites, of which both are among the first creatures to evolve eyes. Two of the Anomalocaris fight each other, and the wounded loser is attacked by a school of Haikouchthys, a primitive fish which is also the first vertebrate.

**418 million years ago**: Silurian*Place*: South Wales, UK*Oxygen Content*: 30% below today*Hazards*: giant scorpionsHaikouichthys has evolved into Cephalaspis, a jawless fish which has developed sensors on its skin which are similar to touch and has an advanced brain capable of processing memory. The oceans are teaming with life, while the first plants are beginning to appear on land. A Cephalaspis is pursued by a Brontoscorpio, a marine scorpion, but is able to escape using its sensors to detect its pursuer, who in turn is caught by a Pterygotus, a giant eurypterid, which feeds the scorpion's corpse to its offspring. A shoal of Cephalaspis migrate into the shallows to spawn, using their memory to navigate. They arrive at a shallow embankment and begin crossing over to a shallow pool, when they are ambushed by several Brontoscorpio, which are depicted as the first animals capable of walking on land. Several fish are killed, but the majority escape and lay their eggs. One scorpion is forced to molt its exoskeleton, and in doing so misses the opportunity to feed.

 **300 million years ago**: Carboniferous*Place*: Kansas, USA*Oxygen Content*: 40% above today*Hazards*: giant insectsIn the swampy coal forests of the Carboniferous, there is a much higher oxygen content in the atmosphere than today, which has allowed the arthropods to grow bigger. However, this also makes the atmosphere very combustible, so lightning is a real danger. A giant spider of the Mesothelae family hunts down a Petrolacosaurus, an early lizard-like reptile which has evolved a complex heart that temporarily allows it to outrun the spider; it is nevertheless caught and killed. The spider returns from her hunt to find that her burrow has flooded, and a Meganuera, an eagle-sized dragonfly, steals her kill. The spider begins searching for a new home, coming across a pond full of Proterogyrinus, crocodile-like amphibians, and is chased by an Arthropleura, a giant relative of millipedes and centipedes, which is killed in a fight with one of the Proterogyrinus. The giant spider finally chases a Petrolacosaurus out of its burrow before moving in. A storm brews in, forcing several Meganuera below the forest canopy, where several Proterogyrinus leap out to catch them. Lightning strikes and causes a forest fire, devastating the life around. The next morning, a Petrolacosaurus which had managed to outrun the flames heads into the giant spider's lair; instead of being killed, it emerges with her dead body (her burrow was at the center of the lightning strike) and feeds on the spider's carcass.

 **250 million years ago**: Late Permian*Place*: Siberia*Global Temp*: 60% hotter than today*Hazards*: extreme heat, volcanic activityAll the continents have come together to form the supercontinent of Pangaea, which is covered by a vast and inhospitable desert. In this arid climate, early therapsids, which are more mammal-like than reptile, fight to survive alongside other animals. An old Scutosaurus, an ancient relative of turtles, falls behind its herd and is killed by a female Gorgonops, which joins others of her kind at a waterhole. Other inhabitants include several pairs of Diictodon, burrowing dicynodonts with hearing bones in its lower jaw (which will eventually become human middle ear bones). In the pool itself is a Rhinesuchus, a labyrinthodont amphibian, who attacks the female Gorgonops out of desperation and quickly retreats. A herd of Scutosaurus arrive at the waterhole, which they soon drink dry before moving on. The Gorgonops tries to dig out a pair of Diictodon, but is unsuccessful and turns to the dried up waterhole, where she finds the Rhinesuchus wrapped up in a "cocoon" which it utilized to survive the drought. In a torpid state, it is quickly killed and eaten. A sandstorm blows in and kills the Gorgonops, foreshadowing the Permian-Triassic extinction event. The Diictodon adapt by digging their burrows deeper, occasionally unearthing plant tubers for sustenance.

### American version

The 90-minute version of the series was aired in North America under the title *Before the Dinosaurs*, which aired on the Discovery Channel on November 5, 2005. This version was narrated by Edward Gero, though some airings retained Branagh's narration, and was released on DVD as a Discovery Channel Store exclusive.

## Home media

Main article: *Walking with... (videography)*