Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World

1

(EXCITED VOlCES SPEAK DUTCH)

It was in one of the galleries

of St Peter's Mount,

at about 500 paces

from the main entry

and at 90 feet below the surface,

that the quarrymen exposed

part of the skull

of a large animal

embedded in the stone.

They suspended their work to tell

of their discovery to Dr Hoffmann,

who had for some years been

collecting fossils from the quarries.

Dr Hoffman, observing

the specimen to be the most important

that had yet been discovered,

took every precaution

to preserve it in one piece.

After having succeeded in removing

a large block of stone

surrounding it,

and reducing the mass

to a proper condition,

it was transported

to his home in triumph.

25 years later,

after the occupation of Maastricht

by the French Revolutionary Army...

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

You are here at last.

Please, gentlemen, take it.

..the famous fossil shows up

one cold winter night

at the National Museum

of Natural History in Paris.

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

Be careful, it's priceless.

This strange thing

they called at the time

"the unknown animal of Maastricht"

started to raise interest

among the scientific community.

(SPEAKlNG lN FRENCH)

It's here!

Let's go, let's go!

Little bit more.

Put it on the table.

Be careful!

Gentlemen, open this chest.

Yes let's open it.

Be very, very careful!

Gentlemen, all together now.

(SPLlNTERlNG WOOD)

What they discovered that night

looked unlike

any known living creature.

Some thought it was a crocodile.

Others believed it to be a whale.

Neither the shape of its teeth

nor the size of the jaws

helped them to determine

its true identity.

It's too big for a crocodile.

A whale would be more appropriate.

Back then, that is 40 years before

the discovery of the first dinosaur,

nobody had ever thought that

thousands of species could have lived

and disappeared in a distant past.

(RAISED VOlCES)

But everything was about to change.

SEA REX:

JOURNEY TO A PREHISTORIC WORLD

(WOMAN) I'm sure

marine dinosaurs still exist!

My apologies for intruding

upon your thoughts, mademoiselle,

but, strictly speaking,

only reptiles that walked on dry land

are called "dinosaurs".

If they lived under the water,

they are called marine reptiles.

And they all disappeared

a very, very long time ago.

- What happened?

- You'll see, Julie.

(PREHlSTORIC BIRD CALL)

65 million years ago

reptiles ruled the world.

On land.

In the air.

And reptiles were kings

in all the seas as well.

But then came a great cataclysm

from outer space.

An asteroid 1 2 miles in diameter

struck the Earth.

This asteroid's massive impact

unleashed the power

of more than 1 00 atomic bombs.

The sky went dark, and the Earth's

climate changed drastically.

70 per cent of all life

on the planet perished.

And, with the end of the dinosaurs,

it was also the end of the reign

of the reptile in the sea world.

And... when did you say that happened?

65 million years ago.

So... then humans came

right after that?

Humans will come... a little later.

How much later?

65 million years.

You're kidding.

Modern humans, like you and I, only

appeared barely 200,000 years ago.

In comparison to the age of

the Earth, that's a blink of the eye.

200,000 years?

An instant, in geological time.

Somewhat difficult to comprehend,

is it not?

(SURPRISED LAUGH)

Comparing thousands and millions

and even billions of years.

Don't you agree?

Um...

Then follow me, Julie.

And when you want to stop time,

say "stop".

- Stop?

- All right, then. Forward to the past!

Now, let's start slowly,

from the beginning.

Earth forms

four and a half billion years ago.

Then life appears but remains

microscopic for three billion years.

In this time spiral,

only the last turn interests us

that leads to our time.

Let's consider this

as a 1 2-hour clock.

540 million years ago, at 2 o'clock,

the Primary Era begins.

Life grows and evolves

in every environment.

At 7.30 the Secondary Era,

or the Mesozoic, begins.

It is the age of reptiles.

Including the famous dinosaurs?

Yes, as well as

flying and marine reptiles.

The next and last era, the Cenozoic,

is the age of mammals.

On this clock, Homo sapiens,

our miniscule species,

appears just eight seconds before 1 2.

The Mesozoic takes place between

the two major ecological crises

that led to the extinction

of many species on Earth.

The largest at 7.30,

and the last, right there, at 1 0.50.

That one caused the extinction of the

dinosaurs and large marine reptiles.

(JULIE) But how did it start?

Well, first,

you'll need a microscope.

Life on Earth starts in the water,

as bacteria,

3.5 billion years ago.

Slowly, this micro-life evolves.

Then, 650 million years ago,

life becomes visible to the naked

eye, soft-bodied organisms.

The following 400 million years

bring with them an explosion of life.

New morphological forms appear,

reaching considerable sizes.

And, finally,

amphibians follow fish with feet

to conquer terra firma.

300 million years ago,

the first reptiles appear on land.

And in the sky, the wingspan of

some insects reaches over three feet.

By the end of the Paleozoic, the land

and the seas are bursting with life.

It is the golden age

for biodiversity.

But this period ends

with gigantic cataclysms,

which exterminate

up to 95% of the species,

the largest extinction of all time.

95% of the species?

But that's enormous!

Nothing much must have remained

after that!

You're right, my dear.

And most of the world's

great predators have disappeared.

But life persists.

And in the seas

many fish and molluscs remain.

What about the marine reptiles?

Their reign begins now.

Three different groups, one after

the other, will rule the world's oceans.

First the lchthyosaurs,

that use their tails to swim.

- Like a fish?

- Much like a fish.

And then the Plesiosaurs,

that use their four paddle-like limbs

to fly through the water.

And next, the Mosasaurs,

that use an undulating movement

similar to... to a snake.

And these animals ruled the seas

for 1 80 million years,

throughout all three

Mesozoic periods,

Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.

From the early

Triassic period onwards,

Ichthyosaurs are

the kings of the seas.

During this time, above the water,

all the continents on Earth

are joined together

in a single mass of land,

a supercontinent called Pangea.

Off to the Pangean coast!

- Switzerland?

- Yes.

At this time,

most of Europe is under water,

a shallow and warm sea.

In the middle Triassic, it's hot

and dry on land with little to eat.

In the sea, life flourishes again.

Several reptile species have returned

to the marine environment,

thriving on

the plentiful food supply.

(ROARlNG)

The Tanystropheus

hold a world record.

In proportion to their bodies, they

have the longest necks ever recorded.

With its flat teeth, this Placodont

mostly eats seashells and molluscs.

- Aren't those turtles?

- Not at all.

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