Other Fauna/Cut

Minor Uncovered **Cut**

MinorUncoveredCut

Listed on this page are various animals that were cut from the show, scrapped for a variety of reasons (e.g. technological restrains, time, pacing, etc), leaving only proof of their existence in the form of official concept art or the statements of those involved in the making of Prehistoric Planet.

It is best not to identify animals that cannot possibly or reasonably be identified (e.g. the pterosaur planned for Oceans). If unidentified animals appear in a group, they are to be put under one section. It is only once an animal can be reasonably identified that it can be given its own section.

## Islands

### *Mahajangasuchus*

***Mahajangasuchus*** (Mahajanga Crocodile) is a "hippo-faced" crocodylomorph that lived in the Maevarano Formation, Madagascar, 70 - 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It was 4 meters (13 feet) long, with a robust skull and blunt, conical teeth, as well as a palate much like modern-day eusuchians, allowing it to resist torsional (twisting) stresses during feeding, an adaptation that may indicate that the animal was capable of the "death roll" maneuver that allows crocodiles to disorient and tear large chunks from their prey.

*Mahajangasuchus* is part of a suborder of crocodylomorphs known as notosuchians. Most members of this group were small and sleek, standing upright on slender limbs, though some, like *Simosuchus*, have stouter builds. Both *Mahajangasuchus* and its relative, *Kaprosuchus* (Boar Crocodile, named for its unusual, boar-like canines) of the Cenomanian Echkar Formation of Niger, look more like conventional crocodiles compared to their notosuchian cousins, hence, within the notosuchian subgroup, these two species form the Mahajangasuchidae family. Both *Mahajangasuchus* and *Kaprosuchus* appear to be semiaquatic predators, with their platyrostrine (flat-snouted) skulls, eyes set far back on the head, and nostrils that point toward the back of the head.

*Mahajangasuchus insignis* was originally planned to show up in Islands, viciously attacking the female *Majungasaurus*, being responsible for the animal's injuries and blind left eye (with the experience likely playing a factor in why the bluffs of the *Simosuchus*, a significantly smaller and less-threatening crocodyliform, successfully held the predator at bay in the third segment of the episode). A prop was made for it, and the scene was already well into development before ultimately being abandoned due to constraints like time and manpower limitations.

## Oceans

### *Dolichorhynchops*

***Dolichorhynchops*** (Long-nosed Face) is a polycotylid plesiosaur that was planned to be featured alongside *Hesperornis* according to concept art made by Gabriel Ugueto for the second segment of the Oceans. Polycotylids have previously been planned for Prehistoric Planet, as Dr. Darren Naish, the show's lead consultant, once revealed that there was a conceptualized scene for the first season involving polycotylids threatened by an underwater earthquake.

Polycotylids are plesiosaurs closely related to elasmosaurs, though, with their short necks and large heads, they more closely resemble the pliosaurs, a group of plesiosaurs that lived 228 - 89 million years ago, from the Rhaetian stage of the Late Triassic Period to the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. Among the most notable is *Dolichorhynchops*, which lived in the Western Interior Seaway around 93.9 - 72.1 million years ago, from the Turonian to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. While recognized for its earlier, smaller species (which grew to an average of 3 meters, or 10 feet, in length), the one meant to be featured in the second segment of Oceans is likely the last and largest species, *Dolichorhynchops bonneri* of the Pierre Shale of Wyoming, which, based on its skull (around a meter, or 3 feet and 4 inches, in length), could grow up to 5.1 meters (16 feet, 9 inches) in length, being around the size of the durophagous mosasaur *Globidens*.

### *Hydrotherosaurus*

***Hydrotherosaurus*** (Water Beast Lizard) is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur that lived in the Morena Formation of Fresno County, California, USA, 70 - 66 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It was a moderately-sized elasmosaur, around 8 meters (26 feet) long and 1.1 metric tons (2.2 short tons) in weight. It had a 33-centimeter (13-inch) head and a 4-meter (13-foot) neck with 60 vertebrae, almost half as long as the longest neck of any plesiosaur, *Albertonectes*, which has an 8-meter (26-foot) neck with 76 vertebrae.

The second segment of the Oceans, featuring *Hesperornis* and *Xiphactinus* feeding from a bait ball (with the predatory fish eventually going after the birds, then the weaker individuals among themselves), was originally supposed to showcase a pod of *Hydrotherosaurus* being responsible for forcing several schools of fish into a bait ball, with some unidentified diving pterosaurs joining the feeding frenzy.

### Western Interior Seaway Pterosaur

The second segment of the Oceans, featuring *Hesperornis* and *Xiphactinus* feeding from a bait ball (with the predatory fish eventually going after the birds, then the weaker individuals among themselves), was originally supposed to showcase a pod of *Hydrotherosaurus* being responsible for forcing several schools of fish into a bait ball, with some unidentified diving pterosaurs joining the feeding frenzy.

Most known Western Interior Seaway pterosaurs lived during the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous, 86 - 83 million years ago, beyond the mostly Maastrichtian time scope of the show (72 - 66 million years ago). Given the presence of *Hesperornis* and *Xiphactinus*, as well as the planned appearance of the similarly-scrapped *Hydrotherosaurus*, it is likely that this pterosaur is intended to be an animal that lived during the Maastrichtian stage as well, though what species it is, exactly, remains to be identified. It is also possible that the species is a preexisting one that, in theory, traveled from a distant area (in the same way that *Quetzalcoatlus* visited South Africa in the fourth segment of Freshwater), or is an entirely speculative species.

## References

### General

1. ↑ *Mahajangasuchus insignis* (Crocodyliformes: Mesoeucrocodylia) cranial anatomy and new data on the origin of the eusuchian-style palate

### Dr. Darren Naish

1. ↑ There was a prop made for *Mahajangasuchus*, which was originally planned to be shown attacking the *Majungasaurus* seen in Islands, being responsible for its injuries, though this plan was abandoned due to limitations like time and manpower constraints.
2. ↑ There was an unmade scene involving polycotylids threatened by seismic activity in the deep sea.

### Gaëlle Seguillon

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Prehistoric Planet : Bait ball

### Gabriel Ugueto

1. ↑ *Hesperornis* concept art for Prehistoric Planet featuring *Dolichorhynchops*