Prehistoric Animals

VHS cover

Prehistoric Animals is the twelfth episode of the second season of Amazing Animals. The plot revolves around Henry travelling back in time to find out how ancient animals have survived to the present day. It first aired on the Disney Channel on 7th July 1997.

## Episode

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript for Prehistoric Animals.

Henry is driving in his car when he finds himself held up by a tortoise crossing the road. The narrator tells Henry that tortoises are very ancient animals, and when Henry suggests that the tortoise make way for the younger generation, the narrator scolds him. The narrator says that tortoises have been around since prehistoric times, and that they are kind of like dinosaurs in that regard. When Henry says that dinosaurs are big and scary, the narrator corrects him by saying that some dinosaurs were actually very small. Remarking that he has to see this, Henry converts his car into a time machine and both he and the narrator travel back in time millions of years. However, the animals they find are all familiar, with the narrator saying that these are ancient animals that have survived to the present day. Some have changed, such as the crocodiles, which grew up to 60 feet in length during ancient times. They also watch tortoises battle for the chance to mate.

#### First cartoon

* Tiger watches hungrily as Rooster tries to cross a road. After nearly being knocked down several times, Rooster builds a time machine. He accidentally travels too far into the past and both he and his machine fall into the sea, where they are both eaten by a giant Fish.

Henry finds he is getting time travelsick, so the narrator suggests having a walk around. Henry finds himself in a slimy prehistoric forest full of tree ferns. He is buzzed by an enormous dragonfly. When Henry asks the narrator how he knows so much about prehistoric insects, the narrator says that in the past, insects got trapped in tree sap which fossilised into amber. Henry nearly gets stuck in tree sap himself, and flees back to his time machine. He is scared to see more dragonflies, but the narrator points out that ancient dragonflies were much larger and had a wingspan similar to that of a pigeon. They and many other insects have been largely unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. Henry asks where the dinosaurs are, the narrator says they haven’t evolved yet. Their ancestors, the salamanders, already exist. They evolved in water and were among the first vertebrates to come up onto land. The narrator now reminds Henry about his special report, which is supposed to be about what happened to the dinosaurs. Henry starts strongly, saying that it is thought that climatic change might have wiped them out. But then, he says the dinosaurs grew wings, turned into dragons and flew south for the winter, setting up a city on a tropical island and building a theme park to make money. When humans made their own theme parks, Dragon-World went bankrupt and the dragons went extinct. The narrator says Henry’s report was wrong but a very dragon-like creature, the Komodo dragon, does live on a tropical island. It is the world’s largest lizard, but they are not living dinosaurs.

#### Second cartoon

* Rooster uses the time machine to escape from inside Fish. He finds himself by another road and tries to cross it, only to be immediately trampled by Tyrannosaurus.

Henry and his time machine now arrive in the age of reptiles. Henry finds salamanders in a pool of water and looks at them, when the water starts to ripple with large footsteps. A Triceratops suddenly bursts through the white background behind Henry but, although the narrator shouts a warning, Henry does not believe him and misses the dinosaur before it disappears again. Henry is frightened by encounters with a bearded dragon and an alligator, mistaking them for dinosaurs. The narrator understands how Henry could mistake lizards for mini-dinosaurs, as they have look and move like them. When Henry asks if that makes him a dinosaur the narrator says no, as lizards survived the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. The narrator then points out that some people think that descendants of the dinosaurs are still alive today, and shows Henry an ostrich. While Henry is at first sceptical the narrator says that the first bird, Archaeopteryx, was a close relative of the dinosaurs. If that is the case, then the dinosaurs didn’t go extinct and, because of the abundance of birds around today, still rule the Earth. Henry now does the Golden Gecko Awards. The bronze medal goes to the dragonfly and the silver medal to the shark. Henry gives the Golden Gecko Award to the crocodile, as they are one of the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs.

#### Third cartoon

* Rooster repairs the time machine just in time to escape Tyrannosaurus. He finds himself by a different road and prepares to cross it, but is interrupted by Caveman. Caveman bashes him on the head with a club and drags him back to his cave.

As the Caveman walks past with Rooster, Henry runs into a cave to take shelter. A campfire illuminates the paintings on the wall that show the animals that cavemen used to hunt, such as bison, but not dinosaurs which had disappeared by the time humans evolved. Henry then approaches a sabre-toothed cat skull, which roars at him and frightens him away. When cavemen were around, mammals ruled the world. Some primitive mammals, like the echidna, lay eggs. In ancient times, there were vast plains with millions of large grazing mammals like the Serengeti of modern times. And wherever lots of grazers gathered, they in turn attracted predators.

#### Fourth cartoon

* Rooster manages to repair his time machine and escape from a cage in Caveman’s cave. He arrives back in the present day on the other side of the road. Tiger now jumps out and prepares to attack, but the celebrating Rooster stops him before bashing him on the head with Caveman’s club. Tiger staggers away as Rooster continues to dance.

Henry finally makes it back to the present day. His time machine turns back into a car but as he sets off, he is immediately frightened by the sight of a hadrosaur fossil. The narrator explains how a fossil is formed. Henry then carries on driving, passing a woolly mammoth that has been frozen in ice. While it has been frozen for thousands of years, the animal is kept so fresh that people were able to eat its meat. Henry says that it is a shame these animals aren’t still around, with the narrator responding that this is evolution – few animals have been equipped to survive all the changes the planet has been through. One animal that has been able to survive is the horseshoe crab, which is more closely related to spiders. At one point, these were one of the most advanced animals on Earth. They still come ashore to lay eggs on the beach. When they started doing this, there were no land animals but now they have to deal with hungry gulls. The narrator then says he has a surprise for Henry and shows him a series of fossilised footprints. Henry thinks the smallest one looks familiar and finds it fits his foot. It was a footprint that he left behind in the swampy forest on his trip to the past. Henry says he can be called Henrysaurus for short and the narrator says that on this show, even Henry can be an amazing prehistoric animal. A stop-motion Tyrannosaurus runs through just before the credits roll.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Leopard tortoise, *Stigmochelys pardalis*
* Madagascar hissing cockroach, *Gromphadorhina portentosa*
* Sun beetle, *Pachnoda marginata*
* African giant millipede, *Archispirostreptus gigas*
* Fire salamander, *Salamandra salamandra*
* Central bearded dragon, *Pogona vitticeps*
* American alligator, *Alligator mississippiensis*

### Stock footage

* Nine-banded armadillo, *Dasypus novemcinctus*
* Short-beaked echidna, *Tachyglossus aculeatus*
* Common ostrich, *Struthio camelus*
* Common darter dragonfly, *Sympetrum striolatum*
* Komodo dragon, *Varanus komodoensis*
* Blue shark, *Prionace glauca*
* Rock monitor lizard, *Varanus albigularis*
* Tadpole shrimp, *Triops sp*.
* Northern caiman lizard, *Dracaena guianensis*
* Nile crocodile, *Crocodylus niloticus*
* Atlantic horseshoe crab, *Limulus polyphemus*
* Spur-thighed tortoise, *Testudo graeca*
* Yellow-footed tortoise, *Chelonoidis denticulatus*
* Dropwing dragonfly, *Trithemis sp*.
* Emperor dragonfly, *Anax imperator*
* Dobsonfly larvae, Corydalinae
* Salamander, Urodela
* Pacific giant salamander, *Dicamptodon sp*.
* Large-billed crow, *Corvus macrorhynchos*
* Collared lizard, *Crotaphytus collaris*
* Horned lizard, *Phrynosoma sp*.
* Green iguana, *Iguana iguana*
* Plains zebra, *Equus quagga*
* Basking shark, *Cetorhinus maximus*
* Blue wildebeest, *Connochaetes taurinus*
* African bush elephant, *Loxodonta africana*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Laughing gull, *Leucophaeus atricilla*

## Credits

* Henry - Eric Meyers
* Narrator - Tom Clarke-Hill
* Writer - Alastair Swinnerton
* Script Editor - Jennifer Lupinacci
* Music - David Poore
* Director - Anne Neale
* Graphic Designer - Kate Beldon
* Graphic Design Assistant - Emma Rigney
* Researcher - Graham MacFarlane
* Production Co-ordinator - Esta Porter
* Post-Production Co-ordinator - Liz Lewin
* Production Secretary - Vivienne Mackay
* Production Team - Steve Cronick, Pauline Davis, Sam Evans, Susan Hubble and Dominic Weston
* Camera - Andy Shillabeer
* Computer Animation - Ricochet 4 and Daniel Pearson
* Computer Animation Director - Henry Lutman
* Cell Animation - A for Animation
* Cell Animation Director - Mark Taylor
* Sound Editor - James Pursey
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Editors
	+ Offline - David Hindmarsh and Vincent Pipe
	+ Graphics - Sue Land
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Producer - Rob Harvey

## Home media releases

The VHS for Prehistoric Animals was released on 3rd November 1997. The cover shows Henry looking at a Tyrannosaurus skull he is holding in his hand, and he is accompanied by a damselfly, an insect in amber, a model of a great white shark and a spectacled caiman.

The blurb on the back cover of the VHS reads:

**Which lizard is as long as a car? Where might you find a woolly mammoth?**

**“D-D-DINOSAUR!”**

Henry turns time-traveller to see if some animals really have been around for millions of years. From deadly sharks to giant dragonflies, he discovers the survival secrets of the world’s most successful PREHISTORIC ANIMALS.

**Cartoon Characters**: \* Eagles • Tyrannosaurus • Rattlesnake • Tiger • Squirrel • Lizards • Elephant • Bat • Fish • Camel • Gorilla • Caveman • Mole • Bear • Stickman • Chicks • Hen • Rooster • Owl • Chameleon • Tortoise • Crocodile • Frog and Toad •
• Parrot • Porcupine • Mouse • Whale • Rhinoceros • Beavers • Snail • Rabbit • Dog • Skunk • Spider • Octopus • Vulture • Woodpecker • Flea • Dung Beetle • Butterfly • Gibbon • Fly • Mosquito • Bee • Beetles • Crab • Pigeon • Carnivorous Plant • Lamb

**Voice Actors**: Eric Meyers • Tom Clarke-Hill
**Season One**: Tropical Birds • Animal Disguises • Nighttime Animals • Animal Appetites • Animal Survivors • Animal Senses • Animal Weapons • Animal Builders • Armoured Animals • Mini-Beasts • Animal Babies • Poisonous Animals • Animal Journeys
**Season Two**: Birds of Prey • Desert Animals (Amazing Animals) • Scary Animals • Animal Records • Animal Colors • Animal Mothers • Animal Pets • Seashore Animals • Animal Families • Endangered Animals • An Animal Year • **Prehistoric Animals** • Monkeys and Apes
**Season Three**: Animal Hunters • Animal Talk • Slimy Animals • Rainforest Animals • Animal Acrobats • Underwater Animals • Animal Neighbors • Giant Animals - Creepy Crawly Animals • Farm Animals (Amazing Animals) • Animal Changes • Extinct Animals • Animal Eggs
**Season Four**: Around the World • Polar Animals • Clever Animals • Underground Animals • Animal Helpers • Woodland Animals (Amazing Animals) • Mountain Animals • Backyard Animals • Tiny Animals • Animal Partners • Scaly Animals • River Animals • Animal Flight