Allosaurus (1/2)
This is also part of this series: Allosaurus - A Walking with Dinosaurs Special (2)
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Subjects:
Animals, Archaeology, Biology, History |
Grade Level: JrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No |
Running Time: 30 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No |
Copyright Date: 2000
Available in French: No
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This first programme is a stunning recreation of Al's life – a 15-year story of a lone battle against formidable prey and voracious predators. After hatching, the young Allosaurus leaves the nest to start life feeding on insects and lizards. Through his youth and adolescence Al learns to tackle larger prey. In a gripping chain of events to bring down a giant Diplodocus, 5-year-old Al receives a blow that cracks a bone in his tail. At 6, he is sexually mature and with the scent of a female, Al pursues his first mate. However his attentions are unwanted and she lashes out at him, tearing his arm and claw sheath and smashing his ribs. Having recovered from this unsuccessful amorous encounter, it is now the dry season and Al is in need of food.When dried carrion cannot satisfy him he turns to stalking Dryosaurs, but again his luck is not in as he trips in the chase and breaks his right foot.The dry season is no time to pick up an injury and with his foot becoming infected, he gets a fever which only exacerbates his need for water. As the drought drags on Al is in desperate circumstances, surviving only on a diet of insects and other invertebrates. Finally, he no longer has the strength to survive. Never reaching his full size Al dies as an adolescent in a dried up riverbed. Ironically no scavengers ever reached him and his body was buried by silt completely, where it lay undisturbed for 145 million years. |
Links: http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/
