Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia Page #2

In Patagonia, you have the largest

herbivore and the largest predator,

living at roughly the same

period and in the same territory.

This clearly brings us the question,

Why did this happen

that way in that place?

It is a question,

I've heard countless times.

And as a matter of fact I keep

asking myself the same question.

There is no easy answer.

It could be because

120 million years ago

South America, separated from Africa

and became an isolated world.

Evolution followed a

number of particular paths.

However, it's more complex than that.

A dry climate with colder nights

could have favoured animals

that retain their internal heat to better

because of their larger mass.

But a simpler interpretation rest

on a warm climate and the fertile land,

with all the vegetation you can eat.

Yet another theory tells

us that large herbivores

had to grow big enough,

to accommodate a large stomach

required to digest

high in fibre, low in protein vegetation.

Finally, large spans of flat space could

have led naturally to Argentinosaurus,

as the vast seas have led to whales.

Size has its advantages.

The highest branches belong

to those who can reach them,

and many predators are too small

to be threatening in those situation.

Strong One is now about ten years old.

He has reached the

length of 60 feet, half its adult size.

Rapid growth will give him

the protection of size early in life.

If a single Argentinosaurus

is hard to attack,

a herd of Argentinosaurus

is even more so.

And such a herd have to move

constantly, because it eats a lot,

and have to find new

or regrown food sources.

Long Tooth has reached a

quarter of her adult size.

She is growing fast too.

Her primitive feathers

have almost all disappeared.

She has been feeding on

just about any small animal

and even some vegetation

during the first part of her life.

Her genes will eventually

command her to eat only meat.

The dinosaurs couldn't learn much,

but they had the brains they need.

They thrived for 180 million years.

So it's likely their brain didn't need

to be that large to adapt to survive.

This is a message for us here.

By the way, it is more than

time to introduce Sharp Feathers.

He is Unenlagia, a 6 foot,

50 pound male raptor.

He is related to birds,

as are to some extent Velociraptors,

Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.

Unenlagias had feathers,

but didn't fly.

Big dinosaurs need space.

This is the Carmen Funes Museum,

which also happens to be my second home.

We still know so little about dinosaurs.

Palaeontology is just beginning

to discover the universe.

Sometimes as a joke we say

that it is a science filled with holes.

We have only found about 700 species

of dinosaurs on the whole planet.

This isn't many for a reign

that lasted 180 million years.

Ten percent of these dinosaurs

were found in Argentina,

most of them

in the last 30 years.

Through technology our

knowledge grows faster every day.

But dinosaurs are only found by

people who are working there.

Fossilisation is a process that

requires extremely rare conditions,

and even then very little

of an organism is preserved.

We could easily conclude that

a tremendous number of species

just disappeared without a trace.

Because there is so much is missing,

your imagination can really run wild.

Of course, science fiction can be fun,

but you also need to be

very careful before proposing

a new way of

looking at dinosaurs.

Like so many of my colleagues,

I wish I could travel in time

to see these amazing creatures alive.

Strong One has reached maturity.

For many scientists he is at full size.

He is 20-year-old,

and is at the beginning

of more than a century of life.

Other scientists believe that

he will keep on growing all of his live,

at a much slower pace

than in his earlier years.

Argentinosaurus were 12 times more

massive than their biggest predator.

They were almost invincible.

Here in El Chocon

100 million years ago,

the normally fleeting

footprints of a few dinosaurs

have become

eternal through fossilisation.

These traces speak abundantly

about the creatures that left them.

They give us details

about speed and size.

They tell us, if the animal

was walking on two legs or four,

if they were alone or in a group,

if they were wandering,

hunting, or being hunted

Dinosaur footprints have

found on all continents,

but the trackway layout

in El Chocon is invaluable.

The pattern clearly show association

between contemporary species,

and this is very rare.

The discovery of the

Giganotosaurus has given Rodolfo Coria

his world class reputation

in palaeontology.

His passion for his work

remains undiminished,

despite his being most

of the time very demanding.

His work is intimately linked to nature,

its intimately varied terrain

and ever changing climate.

So there were hardships,

but there are moments, sometimes

when science just blend with the pure bliss

of being outside and wonderful places.

Years in the field have

taught me an essential lesson.

After all this time dealing simultaneously

with the live of the ancient past

and that of the present time,

all life have become meaningful to me.

My scientific work have

shaped my whole way of thinking.

This is prospecting at its simplest.

You just look around.

But finding

required a trained eye.

With time you realise

that the number of questions

grows faster than

the number of answers.

Patience and perseverance

are mandatory virtues.

They help with a

specially puzzling enigma.

For instance, we wondered whether

theropod, such as Giganotosaurus,

hunted alone or in packs.

Again, like many times before,

A good hint and an

answer came unexpectedly.

We found a new species

in a group of Giganotosaurus.

In fact, we didn't

find just one specimen

but a chamber of bones

belonging to at least seven individuals.

For me, and my Canadian

colleague Phil Curry

this was pointing at

something we had considered,

but have no evidence for until then.

Large meat eating dinosaurs,

such as Giganotosaurus,

could hunt in packs.

So long truth belongs to this

new species of Giganotosaurus.

She is to be precise, a Mapusaurus.

And at 22 years of age,

she is fully grown.

Strong One is

unknowingly in a critical time.

As an adult Argentinosaurus

he has no predator to fear,

unless he is too old,

or sick or wounded.

Despite their numbers

and their powerful jaws,

the Giganotosaurus can't

bring down such a giant.

Tearing off pieces of skin and letting

the large prey bleed to death,

or die from infection is a

strategy more likely to succeed.

Giganotosaurus could wait

days even weeks between meals.

But this time, they won't have to.

65 million years ago

Time flies.

Millions of years pass,

and as the continents

keep on drifting,

the earth begins to

resemble more what it is today.

Species emerge, evolve, disappear.

Nature never stops changing.

We are in North America.

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