Dinosaur

VHS cover

*Dinosaur* is the twelfth episode of the first season of Eyewitness. The topic of the episode is about what is known about the lives of the dinosaurs, the world they lived in and how palaeontologists study them. The episode aired on 24th October 1994.

*Dinosaur* is based on a book title that was first published in 1988, and has been republished in 1989, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2021.

## Episode

### Introductory sequence

A glowing blue and orange orb containing an anti-clockwise spinning clock flies several times around a CGI Tyrannosaurus skeleton. The skeleton suddenly turns and snaps at the camera, which flies into the open mouth before the screen fades to white.

### Episode outline

Click here for the full transcript of Dinosaur.

The opening for the episode begins with the narration introducing Tyrannosaurus, as a skull has a lizard superimposed on it to simulate it in life, before stating that dinosaurs are extinct and only come back to life in the movies, represented by stock footage of One Million years BC. A bunch of stop motion dinosaurs and stock footage then come afterwards, as the narration says that humans are obsessed with dinosaurs to the point imagination feeds on them.

Dinosaurs were named by Sir Richard Owen in the 1800s, who referred to the bones of giant animals found in England as Dinosauria, or terrible lizards. We know that dinosaurs had scaly skin and laid eggs, like modern reptiles, but is was their body plan which set them apart. Dinosaurs had straight legs tucked under the body, until the sprawling legs of lizards and crocodiles.

Tyrannosaurus enjoyed the success of its body plan by eating its own weight in meat every week. The first T. rex was actually named Dynamosaurus imperiosus by fossil-hunter Barnum Brown in 1900, but it would soon change its name to Tyrannosaurus rex. People have been finding dinosaur bones for over 2,000 years. The Chinese referred to them as dragons and the first known dinosaur extinction theory came from China, claiming the bones were from a dragon that fell from heaven.

We know that dinosaurs evolved around 225 million years ago, when all the continents were joined into one supercontinent called Pangaea. The dinosaurs then dominated the Earth for the next 160 million years. A comparison between the lengths of the age of dinosaurs, mammals and humans is represented.

The second T. rex discovered in 1902 inspired a mistaken thought about its forelegs, an accident that was only rectified in 1990. Palaeontology has a long habit of getting things wrong, as the evidence is all so old. An early blooper came when Gideon Mantell discovered fossil teeth and described Iguanodon, depicting it with a nose horn. The horn was actually a thumb spike. The discovery inspired the creation of an inaccurate statue at London's Crystal Palace Park, where a dinner party was held inside the statue before it was finished. Iguanodon was one of the billions of dinosaurs which lived during the Mesozoic Age.

The three ages of the Mesozoic are explored. It begins with the Triassic, when dinosaurs first evolved. The heyday of the herbivorous dinosaurs was in the Jurassic, while the Cretaceous was the age in which Tyrannosaurus lived in western North America, an area covered with extensive wetlands.

A theory of Tyrannosaurus hunting in a similar manner to the Komodo dragon is described. The third T. rex was found in 1907, and was the most complete skull discovered for the next 60 years. It took three summers to dig out, even with the help of dynamite. Excavation has now been sped up with heavy machinery. Ironically, heavy equipment can be considered the descendants of dinosaurs, with flesh-eating theropods similar to bucket loaders, while cranes are similar to the long-necked sauropods.

The bus-sized Stegosaurus was a vegetarian, but had a dangerous spiked tail. As well as defence, tails were used to counterbalance long necks or heavy heads. Good balance was also required when a dinosaur started to run. From fossil footprints called trace fossils, scientists can work out the speed a dinosaur ran at. It is still unknown how fast Tyrannosaurus could run, but man would be lucky to escape one without being finished off.

The study of teeth tells us more about dinosaur feeding habits than anything else. Many herbivorous dinosaurs such as Triceratops had cheek teeth for chewing coarse vegetation. Edmontosaurus had over a thousand self-sharpening teeth in its jaws. The largest herbivores such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus had peg-shaped teeth for raking leaves off branches. Meat-eating dinosaurs had dagger-like teeth, with some having serrations to carve meat from bone. The theory of Tyrannosaurus being a scavenger is explored, with the best evidence of hunting coming from trace fossils showing a theropod stalking a sauropod herd. This shows the Mesozoic may have not been unlike the African savannah of today. Pack-hunting Deinonychus could bring down larger prey by working together. A find in Montana showed this was not without risks, as the Tenontosaurus they were hunting killed four of its attackers.

Carnivorous dinosaurs no longer hunt, but are hunted by palaeontologists. In 1981, three Canadian students discovered the next major T. rex, called Black Beauty because of the colour of the fossilised bones. Only after cleaning did its completeness become apparent. Cleaning of fossils is done by removing the protective plaster coating before placing the bones in an acid bath to remove the stone. Not all dinosaurs were giant, with some as small as modern birds. The biggest was the 77 ton Brachiosaurus. It is the smaller dinosaurs that star in the debate about dinosaur descendants, with small carnivorous dinosaurs closely-related to Archaeopteryx and living birds, and larger dinosaurs like Baryonyx related to crocodiles.

The ninth T. rex was found in 1987 and supplied the tip-of-tail vertebra, meaning all the bones of T. rex had been found except for the forelimbs. The same area where most Tyrannosaurus were excavated also revealed information about dinosaur social lives. A massive bone bed with a dinosaur herd 10,000 strong was discovered. Also here were the nesting grounds of Maiasaura, which nested in colonies, built nests for their eggs and cared for their young just like modern birds. Oviraptors were egg-thieving dinosaurs, so adult hadrosaurs had to defend their nests. Also like birds, dinosaurs probably communicated with sound. A less harmonious social activity was head-butting, used by frilled dinosaurs such as Triceratops to resolve differences over territory or fight for mates.

The tenth T. rex, unearthed in 1990, gave the first forelimb that showed this dinosaur only had two fingers. Bigger questions remain in palaeontology, with arguments for and against the idea of dinosaurs being warm-blooded being presented. While both sides have ideas, with the lack of evidence the true answer may never come to light.

Few palaeontologists disagree about how muscle lay over bone, as the bones can be read to determine how they were arranged. Laying skin over bone is more a matter of guesswork. Fossilised skin impressions show that dinosaurs had skins similar to reptiles, and probably came in the same range of colours. Camouflage may have been used. Armour was very popular, with the toughest belonging to the ankylosaurs.

Even armour couldn’t protect ankylosaurs, or any dinosaurs, from extinction. The greatest dinosaur mystery is what finally wiped them out. There are many theories, including that increased UV radiation gave them cataracts and an old belief that they became so big and lethargic they died of boredom. A more widely-held theory is that a meteorite strike stirred up dust that blocked the sun. The only problem with this theory is that fossil teeth have been found from dinosaurs that lived after this event. This makes some scientists believe the demise of the dinosaurs was more gradual, with the dinosaurs unable to adapt to the changing climate or affected by rising or dropping sea levels.

One thing is certain – after 160 million years of dominating the Earth, the dinosaurs became extinct. Life on Earth continued until humanity came along to ponder the fossilised remains and indulge in their fantastic reality. The number of toys of them shows their popularity. Although they’re far from real, perhaps they are the children of our fertile imaginations and the hard evidence of dinosaurs are mere shadows in the stone. Certainly, many new dinosaurs are waiting to be discovered, new mysteries await pondering and, if life imitates art, perhaps we’ll even bring them back to life.

## Animal species filmed for the programme

### Studio footage

* Asian water dragon, *Physignathus cocincinus*
* American alligator, *Alligator mississippiensis*
* Asian elephant, *Elephas maximus*
* Green iguana, *Iguana iguana*
* Ring-necked pheasant, *Phasianus colchicus*
* Nile crocodile, *Crocodylus niloticus*
* Royal python, *Python regius*
* Tiger, *Panthera tigris*

### Stock footage

* Green iguana, *Iguana iguana*
* Chimpanzee, *Pan troglodytes*
* Komodo dragon, *Varanus komodoensis*
* Common ostrich, *Struthio camelus*
* African buffalo, *Syncerus caffer*
* Cheetah, *Acinonyx jubatus*
* Lion, *Panthera leo*
* Blue wildebeest, *Connochaetes taurinus*
* Common kestrel, *Falco tinnunculus*
* Red knot, *Calidris canutus*
* American bison, *Bison bison*
* Sandwich tern, *Thalasseus sandvicensis*
* American alligator, *Alligator mississippiensis*
* Tree frog, Hylidae
* Hooded seal, *Cystophora cristata*
* Great bustard, *Otis tarda*
* Bighorn sheep, *Ovis canadensis*
* Domestic cattle, *Bos taurus*
* Saharan spiny-tailed lizard, *Uromastyx geyri*
* Ruppell’s griffon vulture, *Gyps rueppelli*

## Stock footage sources

The Arctic Giant (1942) – Cartoon dinosaur thawing from ice, breaking down bridge

One Million Years B.C (1966) – Stop-motion Ceratosaurus with cave-people and fighting Triceratops

Prehistoric Beast (1984) – Tyrannosaurus attacking Monoclonius

Dinosaur! (1985) – Sauropods feeding, Oviraptor raiding nest, Maiasaura eggs hatching

The Lost World (1925) – Black-and-white film of Tyrannosaurus attacking Maiasaura and pterosaur, stampeding Triceratops and Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus

Wildlife on One: Enter the Dragons (1991) – Komodo dragons

Three Ages (1923) – Black-and-white film of man standing on sauropod head

Pets in the Wild: Beasts of the Field (1989) – Fighting bulls

The Living Isles: Island Waters (1986) – Sandwich terns

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives: Dinosaur (1989) - Trace fossils

## Credits

* Producer - Ben Southwell
* Graphics Designer - Alisa Robbins
* Writer - Brian Meehl
* Camera - James Aspinall and Alan Trowe
	+ Assistant - Andy Shillabeer
* Set Design - Ben Scott
* Production Manager - Peter Thornton
* Production Assistant - Jon Cox
* Canadian Crew: Aquila BKW - Jeff Connors, Mike Dacre, Sam Dale, Cole Delisle, Paula Lancaster, Steve Lentz, Lorne Smith and Bruce Thompson
* Animation - Sam Fell
* Camera - Graham Pettit
* Model Maker - Sam Holland
* Production Secretaries - Cathy Wilkin and Caroline Elston
* Unit Manager - Grant Dean
* Researchers - John James Hancock and Anthony Lee
* Picture Researcher - Martin Willis
* Research Assistant - Lisa Kendrick
* Graphic Design - Richard Higgs
* Editors
	+ Offline - Chris Godden
	+ Online - Sharon Stiles
* Dubbing Editor - Julie Mitchell
* Dubbing Mixer - Andrew Wilson
* Music - Guy Michelmore
* Executive Producer - Michael Bright,
* Special thanks to:
	+ Royal Tyrrell Museum
	+ Commandant Royal School of Military Engineering
	+ Black Hills Institute American Museum of Natural History
	+ National Museum of Wales
		- Action Products International Inc
		- Barney, courtesy of Hasbro
		- Beatties of London Ltd
		- Bendy Toys Ltd
		- Chart Hobby Distributors Ltd
		- David Halsall Plc
		- Fisher Price
		- Golden Section
		- Invicta Plastics Ltd
		- Jurassic Park Toys (courtesy) Kenner
		- Kristal Corporation
		- Mattel U.K. Ltd
		- Newbright U.K. Ltd
		- Nova Science Inc
		- Revell (Great Britain) Ltd
		- Ritvik Toys
		- Sommerville House
		- Sky Kids
		- Tomy U.K. Ltd
		- Toyway
		- Tyco Matchbox
		- Unimax Toys
		- Waddington Games Ltd
		- Whispers

## Making this programme

The team used many ways of bringing dinosaurs back to life. An expensive but comfortable way is making the dinosaur from computer graphics, as was done for the Tyrannosaurus skeleton. A less comfortable way involved filming construction machinery on an army range on a cold winter’s night. The cameras had to be wrapped in plastic to protect them from the mud. In the finished programme, the machinery was compared to the biomechanics of real dinosaurs. This was done by overlaying stop-motion footage of dinosaur models. The models were created for the Eyewitness: Dinosaur book and brought to life by the animators. Back in the studio, a full-size Stegosaurus tail was built from latex, scaffolding and fibreglass which was then crashed through a corrugated iron fence that had been painted white. Strict safety standards were observed for both the crew and the camera – the shot worked first time. The episode’s hero, Legs, was made from plasticine. Ben, the director of Dinosaur, oversaw the dinosaur race. It was a low-tech approach but was good fun to film.

## Errors and corrections

Because it was created in the early 1990s, much of the episode’s scientific information has been updated or corrected since its production. Some of the information however has never been correct – for example, it has never been thought that large carnivorous dinosaurs such as Baryonyx were more closely related to crocodiles than to birds.

The interactive DVD’s ‘Dino Oscars’ (see in Home media releases, below), released in 2000, had far more inaccuracies. Many of the records are either not measurable because the dinosaurs are no longer alive, or have now been supplanted by new record-holders, but some have always been incorrect – for example, in 2000, the biggest-known dinosaur was Futalognkosaurus rather than Giganotosaurus. Other records, namely 'baddest' and 'nosiest' are completely subjective.

## Home media releases

As well as being released on VHS, Dinosaur was also released as an interactive DVD, was part of the DVD release in America and as one of the free DVDs provided with the UK’s Daily Mirror newspaper.

The programme on the interactive DVD release included twelve hotspots (represented by a blinking crocodile eye).

1. Formation of fossils (from Rock and Mineral) – Linked to films of dinosaur skeletons
2. Gila monster and frilled lizard (from Monster) – Linked to dinosaur body plan
3. Chinese and European dragons (from Reptile) – Linked to Chinese dinosaur extinction theory
4. Komodo dragon (from Reptile) – Linked to Tyrannosaurus septic bite theory
5. Evolution of the horse (from Horse) – Linked to sauropod feeding methods
6. Hunting behaviour of lions (from Cat) – Linked to Mesozoic ecosystems
7. Archaeopteryx (from Bird) – Linked to similarities of dinosaurs to Archaeopteryx
8. Crocodilians (from Reptile) – Linked to similarities of Baryonyx to crocodiles
9. Reptile eggs (from Reptile) – Linked to Maiasaura nesting
10. Bird metabolic rates (from Bird) – Linked to dinosaur warm-bloodedness
11. Internal structure of snakes (from Reptile) – Linked to dinosaur muscles
12. Dinosaur extinction and rise of mammals (from Prehistoric Life) – Linked to ending of episode

The interactive DVD also includes a ten-question quiz:

1. Which dinosaur is similar to a crocodile? Correct answer: Baryonyx
2. Which dinosaur was the size of a bus? Correct answer: Stegosaurus
3. How many fingers did a T rex have? Correct answer: Two
4. Which dinosaurs were egg thieves? Correct answer: Oviraptors
5. Which dinosaur hunted in packs? Correct answer: Deinonychus
6. In which period of the Mesozoic era did the first dinosaurs evolve? Correct answer: The Triassic Period
7. What tells most to palaeontologists about dinosaur feeding habits? Correct answer: Their teeth
8. Which dinosaur is the tyrant lizard king? Correct answer: Tyrannosaurus (not named, only shown by a picture)
9. Which dinosaurs were good mother lizards? Correct answer: Maiasaura
10. Palaeontologists argue about dinosaur blood. Was it…? Correct answer: Do they still not have a definite answer

Uniquely among the interactive DVDs, Dinosaur also includes fifteen separate pages in a so-called ‘Dino Oscars’, looking at various dinosaur record holders:

1. Biggest – Giganotosaurus
2. Best Swimmer – Hadrosaurus
3. Fastest – Hypsilophodon
4. Nosiest – Brachiosaurus
5. Smallest Brain – Diplodocus
6. Heaviest – Brachiosaurus
7. Baddest – Velociraptor
8. Longest Tail – Diplodocus
9. Smelliest – Tyrannosaurus rex
10. Best Pack Hunter – Deinonychus
11. Best Rhinoceros Mimic – Triceratops
12. Best Crocodile Mimic – Baryonyx
13. Hunchback of Notre Dame – Spinosaurus
14. Sting in the Trail – Stegosaurus
15. Most Human Hand – Iguanodon

Dinosaur America-release DVD coverEyewitness Dinosaur Daily Mirror DVD coverEyewitness Dinosaur interactive DVD coverEyewitness Dinosaur interactive DVD alternative cover

**Writing staff**: Anne MacLeod • Ben Southwell • Ben Steiner • Brian Meehl • David Hanson • David Stafford • David Helton • George Bloom • Lynette Singer • Mike Tomlinson • Paul Thomas • Stan Cullimore
**Directors**: Gavin Maxwell • Justine Kershaw • David Hutt • Andrew Jackson • Justin Hardy • Ludo Graham • Jerry Foulkes • Derek Hall • Sanjida O'Connell • Caius Julyan • Bonni Cohen • Leanne Pooley • Edwina Vardey • Alexandra Beazley • Sam Hodgkin • Karen Walsh • Jack Weber • Richard Simkin • Alex Hearle • Brian Cummins • Ben Southwell
**Composers**: Guy Michelmore (season one) • Guy Dagul (seasons two and three)

**Season One**: Cat • Fish • Horse • Dog • Jungle • Bird • Amphibian • Insect • Shark • Elephant • Reptile • **Dinosaur** • Skeleton
**Season Two**: Desert • Tree • Ape • Mammal • Butterfly and Moth • Volcano • Rock and Mineral • Seashore • Pond and River • Weather • Arctic and Antarctic • Prehistoric Life • Shell
**Season Three**: Flight • Bear • Sight • Island • Survival • Mountain • Monster • Human Machine - Plant • Ocean • Planets • Life • Natural Disasters