Top-rated
Sat, Apr 22, 1989
In the first of this four-part BBC series, David Attenborough shows us how ancient creatures have come to be preserved as fossils and how those fossils can shed light on characteristics of these creatures' lives, and even their death. He further demonstrates how scientists use a variety of ingenious methods to extract once living creatures and plants from their rocky tombs.
Top-rated
Sat, Apr 29, 1989
Using modern day creatures for comparison, scientists theorize what prehistoric animal traits seen within fossilized remains might have been used for during their period. Teaming together with aeronautical engineers, the Smithsonian Institution commissions a scale replica of a pterosaur to determine its flight capabilities.
Top-rated
Sat, May 13, 1989
In this final installment to the series, David Attenborough travels to four unique locations about the globe where an abundance of fossilized plant and animal remains have given us a detailed picture of what life could have been like in prehistoric times. Each of the sites experienced its own set of circumstances which enabled it to preserve many perfect specimens for extraction and analysis. Piecing together the collected evidence, paleontologists have been able to determine early animal hierarchies, their diets and their evolutionary paths.