Masiakasaurus/Segments

Main **Segments**

MainSegments

These are Prehistoric Planet segments which feature ***Masiakasaurus***.

## Freshwater

The fifth segment of Freshwater takes place in Madagascar, where a shallow river, slow in flow due to being broadened, is depositing sediments by the banks. From the shoals of the river, dozens of crabs emerge. Suddenly, some of the crabs are grabbed by a female *Masiakasaurus*, prompting some of the crabs to scurry back down in the sand or hide under driftwood. One crab, while in her jaws, nips her upper lip, but she just shakes it off & swallows the crab down.

As she continues to hunt crabs, from cover, her three chicks run out to her, and she drops them a dying crab to eat, for they are not yet ready to hunt large crabs. As the three feast on the crab, one of them, made impatient by the greedy tugging of its siblings, decides to pursue food on its own. It eyes a small crab that can be swallowed whole, but just as it ran at the crustacean, it had already retreated under a piece of driftwood, its speed serving as compensation for its small size. As the juvenile continues running across the shoal, poking through the ground and hunting for crabs on its own, its mother tries to call out to it to caution the chick not to stray too far. Still, the juvenile, upon seeing another crab to hunt, runs towards its prey. Suddenly, out of one of the shoal's pools, a large amphibian leaps out, snatching the juvenile from the ground with its tongue, pulling it into its mouth in under a second.

***“ Beelzebufo, the 'Devil Toad', one of the largest frogs that has ever existed. He won't need to feed again for a month. These sandbars may be a rich feeding ground, but there can be a high price to pay for living here. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Freshwater*
Watching in surprise as their sibling is devoured by the *Beelzebufo*, the two chicks run for their mother and hide behind her as she stares in disbelief at the toad. His hunger satiated for a month, *Beelzebufo* sinks back down into his pool. With nothing more that can be done about what just happened, the mother *Masiakasaurus* leaves the shoal with her two surviving offspring.

## Islands

The fourth segment of Islands takes place in Madagascar, where a mother *Adalatherium* lies in a burrow, suckled on by her rapidly-growing cubs in the morning. To continue providing milk for them, she herself needs to eat, so she leaves her cubs in the burrow to search for food. Just then, a *Masiakasaurus*, also seeking food, pokes its narrow head and long neck through holes that could potentially contain a meal. However, just as the *Masiakasaurus* stalks around the tree roots just outside the burrow, close to discovering the oblivious cubs, a serpentine figure, glimpsed just the night before, lunges at the theropod's throat, subduing its victim with its muscular coils.

***“ Madtsoia, a snake nearly 25 feet long, squeezes its prey to death. This neighborhood has now become rather dangerous. As night falls, the mother leads her young out of the burrow for the very first time. For now, at least, they must stay close together. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Islands*
Having bore witness to one potential predator kill and feed on another, just outside her burrow, the returning *Adalatherium* decides that the area has become too unsafe to live in. At night, she moves out of the burrow and sets out for a better place to live in, her ten cubs following close behind. One cub briefly looks back on its old home and finds the *Madtsoia* just a short distance away, staring back, likely full due to just having consumed the *Masiakasaurus*. With that, the cub turns away and continues on with its family.

## Swamps

***“ In Northern Madagascar, conditions are already changing. The first rain in months is reviving the parched land. As pools and channels refill, the animals return. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Swamps*
In the third segment of Swamps, as rains bring back the rivers and marshes of Madagascar, a *Masiakasaurus* runs across the quenched lands, stopping by a pool of water to drink. Suddenly, seeing an incoming threat, the *Masiakasaurus* yelps in surprise and fear, running off as a male *Beelzebufo* drives it away with a guttural bellow. However, the toad is uninterested in eating the small dinosaur, and instead returns to his muddy pool, intent on finding a mate.

## Trivia

The segments of *Masiakasaurus* in Islands and in Swamps, set in the Maevarano Formation, were shot in Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia.

## References

1. ↑ I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 443: Dinosaurs on Islands. Featuring Prehistoric Planet 2
2. ↑ I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 445: Dinosaurs in Swamps: Featuring Prehistoric Planet 2