Deserts

* Title
* I
* II
* III
* IV
* V
* VI
* U

***“ Above the deserts of North Africa, aerial combat ensues as male Barbaridactylus pterosaurs fight for the attention of females below. ”***

― The official Apple TV+ episode synopsis for *Deserts*
***Deserts*** is the second episode of the first season of Prehistoric Planet.

## Segment I: *Dreadnoughtus*

The first segment of the episode starts in a barren region in western South America. Walking through the shimmering heat of the wilderness are 17 male *Dreadnoughtus*, ready to prove themselves to a group of dozens or even hundreds of females that have already arrived to the desert beforehand, waiting for them. The males begin showing off their gular air sacs, and some of the males are already seen hissing and arguing with each other. One of the males appears appears to be successful in attracting the attention of many females with his display. This angers an old male, who was the dominant center of attention for two weeks straight. The old bull gets up to confront the new arrival, rearing up and inflating his air sacs to show that he is the boss. The new arrival doesn't back down, however, and continues to glare right into the eyes of the dominant male. Seeing that his rival chooses to continue to defy him, the two males circle each other, knowing that there is only one way for dominance to be established.

***“ This huge bull, white with dust, has held the center stage for two weeks. He weighs nearly 50 tonnes. And his display has, so far, intimidated all challengers. But this new arrival... is not deterred. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The two males rear up, the dominant male appearing to be taller than the new arrival, and both push at each other, clashing necks. They repeat this several times, staring each other down before rearing up and colliding. In one clash, the dominant male pushes his rival back. The new arrival responds by resorting to more primal tactics, biting down on the nape of the dominant male to grab him and break contact.

***“ Lifting up such a huge body is exhausting. It's a battle of endurance. As the conflict intensifies, each fighter tries to wound the other, stabbing with dagger-like spikes on each thumb, and raking the skin with their teeth. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Eventually, it is the dominant male that seems to be getting pushed back, and, as his rival repeatedly stabs at him with his thumb claws and bites at his neck, raking his skin off with his pencil-shaped teeth, the old bull appears to grow weaker.

***“ Until eventually... the knockout blow. The old bull's rule is finally over. The young victor takes his turn on the center stage. The price of defeat, for some, is very high. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
With one final neck swing, the challenger knocks the old bull down to the ground. The old bull tries to stand back up, but the impact of his 50-tonne body hitting the ground proved too much, and he collapses, unable to fight anymore. The females bellow, either in surprise or to congratulate the new champion, who now shows off his air sac display to them unopposed.

Eventually, the view of the scene zooms out from above, showing the old bull lying on the ground, unmoving, as the day goes on and the number of *Dreadnoughtus* in the area dwindle. The segment ends at night, with only the deceased old male left in the vast desert.

## Segment II: Lizards and *Velociraptors*

***“ Even though some animals are well-adapted to desert conditions, their survival is often on a knife edge, especially here in Asia, where, in the height of summer, temperatures soar above 60 degrees Celsius, and water evaporates in an instant. There are ferocious-looking reptiles here too... but this little lizard is only a few inches long. Here, getting a meal is never easy. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The second segment of Deserts takes place in Asia. In the simmering heat of the desert, where the temperature rises to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) at the height of summer, a lizard, only a few inches long, runs around to find a meal, pursuing a fly across the rocky wilderness.

***“ This immense carcass could be promising. A dead sauropod, a potential feast for many. But strangely, all is quiet. Tarbosaurus. The equivalent in this desert of T. rex. They keep everyone else away. But for the lizard, they might bring an opportunity. If there is one thing that attracts flies more than a carcass, it's a sleeping Tarbosaur that has been feeding on that carcass. Time to be bold. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The lizard eventually comes across a rotting sauropod carcass, with azhdarchids circling overhead. Surrounding the corpse was a group of four sleeping *Tarbosauruses*. Seeing the number of flies attracted to the carcass and the smelly faces of the tyrannosaurs that fed on the carcass, the lizard sees the good feeding opportunity, and musters some courage to go after some flies, running on and around a *Tarbosaurus*, trying to catch some of the flies that gathered around its face, taking caution not to awaken the large theropod.

***“ A Velociraptor. Time to be careful, because Velociraptors often hunt... together. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Just then, a *Velociraptor* rushes in and snaps up another lizard in the area. A second *Velociraptor*, eyeing another lizard in the area, rushes at the little creature, but the lizard manages to run away in time. Carefully, the *Velociraptor* sneaks around the sleeping *Tarbosauruses*, seeking out more lizards to eat. Finding another one, it goes after it, the lizard rushing under a sleeping *Tarbosaurus*, causing the *Velociraptor* to bump into the bigger theropod, waking it up. Not happy to be disturbed, the tyrannosaur reaches out in an attempt to snap the *Velociraptor*, which rushes off with its companion as the *Tarbosaurus* gets up, causing the other *Tarbosauruses* to also wake up.

***“ The Tarbosaurs move on. And now the pterosaurs can come down and claim a share of the carcass. For the little lizard, the opportunity is gone. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The tyrannosaurs decide to leave the carcass, which has not that much left on it anymore, allowing the azhdarchids flying overhead to finally come down and feast on what little remains of the sauropod. The opportunity to feed gone, the little lizard scampered away from the area, running across the desert once more to look for food.

## Segment III: *Mononykus*

  **Deserts**, Segment III
**Setting**
Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

***“ Mononykus is a desert specialist. Like many desert animals, she must patrol a huge area if she is to find enough food. Bare legs help keep her body cool. Feathers on her body shield her from the sun's rays, and they provide her with a super-sense. They form facial discs that help her detect the faintest of sounds. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The third segment of the episode shows a female *Mononykus* traveling through the desert, looking for a meal. With her hypersensitive directional hearing, *Mononykus* is able to track down the faint sounds of a termite nest in a hollow log. Making her way onto the dead tree, she uses her hearing to mentally map out the termite nest and determines the right position to dig through, breaking a hole through the wood with her left claw. She sticks her long tongue through the wood and licks up some termites, though some do crawl on her face in the process, prompting her to shake and scratch off the irritating insects on the log and with her feet. When a storm suddenly forms in the desert, *Mononykus*, who has likely never seen such an event unfold to such an extent before, ran for shelter, taking refuge in a small cave in the rocks. The rain brings to life seeds that have long lied dormant beneath the ground. When the rains subsided, *Mononykus* rushed out, curiously looking for food through the vegetation, checking out trees, a scorpion, and even charging after eniantiornithine birds, which fly off as soon as she reached them. Running around some more, she eventually manages to find and grab a beetle, before rushing off, presumably to find more food. Eventually, the plants are wiped out and reverted back into an arid landscape.

## Segment IV: The Waterhole

**Deserts**, Segment IV
**Setting**
Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

**Filming Location**
Namibia, southern Africa
TBA

## Segment V: *Barbaridactylus*

***“ With a 17-foot wingspan, Barbaridactylus, a type of pterosaur, can exploit the thermals with effortless skill, and so cover great distances, despite the fact that some have enormous head crests. Every year, males and females gather at these special places in the sky, in their thousands. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
In the fifth, penultimate segment of the episode, thousands of *Barbaridactylus* are seen flying to the tops of plateaus in a North African desert, where no terrestrial predators can reach them, allowing them to rest and attract mates, though not completely in peace, for the males are territorial, not wanting to share the areas on which they perform their displays.

***“ There are no ground predators on the summits of these isolated plateaus, so they're safe places on which to land. Large males select an area in which to perform their displays, whilst eager young bachelors circle overhead. Territory holders warn off any challengers, a message that sometimes needs to be violently reinforced. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
One male, deciding to prove his dominance by more physical means, attacks his rival, biting his foot as he tries to fly off, and chases him around the canyon. He attempts to destabilize the other male by grabbing his foot as they fly, momentarily disorienting him. After some time, the dominant male finally knocks his rival against the mesa's wall, causing the challenger to lose his balance, strike the wall for a second time, and fatally plummet to the rocky slopes below, where his body is buried by sand and rocks.

***“ But you don't necessarily have to be heavyweight to succeed. There are some males that don't develop the huge head crest. They are sneaky males that look like females, and so can try to remain unnoticed. It's a dangerous game to play, because the large males are regularly on patrol, and they perform their displays. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Sometime later, a male that lacks the massive crest, looking like a female, sneaks into the colony. He attempts to woo a female with his courtship song and dance, though he is clearly trying to keep a low profile and not give away the fact that he is male, for the dominant male from earlier is walking around, also trying to attract mates with his own song and his great wingspan. After being rejected by an uninterested female, the dominant male looks through the many females around him, and spots the sneak, which he decides to approach. As the sneak looks around, trying to decide which female to court next, the dominant male gets up right in front of him, surprising him. He anxiously looks up the dominant male as he looks back down on him, hoping his cover isn't blown.

***“ The sneak has been spotted... but in fact, he caught the eye of the large male. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Surprisingly, however, the dominant male, fooled into believing that right before him is another female, begins doing his courtship song and dance, spreading his wings to show off his size. The sneak, of course, pretends to be a reluctant female, and walks away. His advances rejected yet again, the dominant male simply walks away to woo another female, none the wiser that he has actually faced another male.

***“ Now, back to the mission in hand, and time to make his move... success! Large males might seem more attractive, but the females, it seems, ensure producing the fittest young by mating with as many partners as they can, whether they're impressively adorned, or just sneaky. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
With his cover still intact, the sneak walks up with one female and performs his mating display before her. For a moment, the female looks at him, deciding if he is worthy, while he stares back in anticipation. Finally, the female reciprocates his song and dance, and lets her mate with him. The view zooms out to view the many males and females resting, displaying, arriving, and flying on, over, and around the canyon, and the segment ends with a wide shot of the pterosaur-riddled plateaus in African desert.

## Segment VI: *Secernosaurus*

***“ It's not just extraordinary bizarre animals that live in the deserts of the Prehistoric Planet. There are strange, otherworldly landscapes too, such as here in South America. This may look like a dusting of snow, but these great dunes are composed, not of sand, but of gypsum. Gypsum is a fine, white mineral that dissolves in water so easily, it can only exist in solid form in the driest areas on Earth. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
The sixth and final segment of Deserts takes place in the vast gypsum desert of the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation in Argentina, South America, one of the driest places on Earth.

***“ These dunes are so dry that living here is almost impossible, yet some dinosaurs manage to do so. Secernosaurus, a type of small hadrosaur. Although they can survive on a poor-quality diet, every decade or so, this area dries out so extremely, that almost all the vegetation shrivels and dies. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Within a rocky area of long-dead trees, a herd of *Secernosaurus* wander around, exposed to the harsh sun. One individual feeds on the few remaining dried-out shrubs it can find before attempting to chew off one of the low-hanging branches of a shriveled-up tree. However, it is clear that there is nothing left for the herd to subsist on, with the only reminder of sustenance being the shimmering mirage of an oasis flanked by vegetation.

***“ With young to care for, this can be the end of the herd. But some of the older, more experienced individuals may remember other potential sources of food and water, and they know that the way to survive is not to try to leave the desert, but to continue traveling across its baking dunes. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Determined to survive rather than simply waste away in the middle of the desert, the herd decides to set out and find true food and water. As they travel in the darkness and coolness of the night, they navigate the desert by relying on the stars overhead.

***“ By day, the blistering sun still beats down from overhead. Even if they can find shade, this, for some, can be journey's end. But there is something else that may help them. The deep, rumbling sound of waves crashing onto the distant shoreline travels for miles through the dunes. The sound is so low that many animals cannot hear it, but hadrosaurs can, and so are able to find their way towards the coast. But this desert still has one more obstacle that must be overcome. Giant, coastal dunes block their path. Steep, unstable sand saps energy with every step. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
After what may be one or several days, the herd is next seen resting behind a dune, taking refuge from the heat of the sun. There is a noticeable glimmer of hope in the change of scenery, yellow sand as opposed to the blinding white gypsum lands they came from before, indicating that the environment is less arid than before, even if only by a bit. Eventually, the herd comes upon a tall dune, the last obstacle between them and the sea, where their salvation might be. The climb proves difficult, and one juvenile calls out to its mother, exhausted, though the mother calls out to her calf and manages to convince it to continue just for a little longer.

***“ They have made it, and their first award is to lick droplets of water that condense on their skin from the fog that forms where dunes and ocean meet. And this fog also nourishes a rich, coastal paradise. This is enough to feed the herd for now, but once it runs out, they will be forced to move on, and once more endure the trials of life in the deserts of the Prehistoric Planet. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Deserts*
Finally, the herd reaches the top of the coastal dune, being greeted and coated by a salty fog that they lick off their skin, serving as their first taste of water in a long time. This same coastal breeze also allowed lush green shrubs to flourish on the shore. At last, the herd has found a sufficient amount of food that can keep them and their young alive for the time being, sustenance that, until the day it runs out, will bring them relief from the inhospitable gypsum deserts of Argentina.

## Uncovered Segment: Flamboyant Flyers

  **Flamboyant Flyers**
**Subject**
The diversity and purpose of pterosaur crests, as well as their mating strategies.

**Experts**
Dr. Darren Naish, Dr. Liz Martin-Silverstone
This Uncovered segment, based on the head crests and sexual strategies of *Barbaridactylus*, is dedicated to the discussion of the extraordinary head crests seen on pterosaurs. It seems quite surprising that an animal meant for flight has what appears to be a large, cumbersome structure on its head.

***“ These strange, long, thin crests are among the most recently discovered of a wide diversity of bony crests seen in pterosaurs as a whole. We now know of around 20 different species, all equipped with differently-shaped head crests. They range from short spikes and lumps, to enormous bony sails, and now to these ridiculous crests that look like antlers, and which are longer than the whole of the rest of the animal. ”***

― **Dr. Darren Naish**, *Lead Scientific Consultant*
There were debates regarding the use of these crests. One theory was that they were meant to reduce drag, but tests in wind tunnels show that these crests only imparted a small advantage, and thus don't serve as justification for the large crests seen on the heads of these animals. Another explanation is that, given how the biggest crests are seen in older male specimens. In living species where only males have antlers and horns, these indicates that the head structures are used for sexual selection, with those possessing the largest structures proving to be the most attractive to females. However, not all males rely on this impressive decoration to have their way. As can be seen in many modern species today, ranging from kangaroos and cuttlefish to lizards and many species of birds, some males rely on "being sneaky" to mate. Some males in these species are smaller, with their display features greatly reduced, allowing them to look for mates without being seen as competition by the dominant males, mating with females when the dominant males are not looking.

***“ Having the biggest, fanciest crest doesn't necessarily mean that that's the one you want to go for because, maybe that's the one that all of the females are trying to mate with. So sometimes, it's better to go for a smaller, less showy one. ”***

― **Dr. Liz Martin-Silverstone**, *School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol*
Though it's been almost 250 years since the first fossils of pterosaurs were discovered, the massive head crests of some species were only found recently, showing that, while there is a lot known about the prehistoric world, there may be more excited surprises yet to be learned.

## Fauna

*Dreadnoughtus schrani*Mongolian LizardMongolian Azhdarchid*Tarbosaurus bataar*"*Velociraptor*"*Mononykus olecranus**Barsboldia sicinskii**Tarchia teresae**Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis**Therizinosaurus cheloniformis*Mongolian Titan*Barbaridactylus grandis**Secernosaurus australis*