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00:00I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
00:30This is our galaxy, the Milky Way. Our sun takes 225 million years to go round the galaxy
00:45once. The dinosaur era lasted 180 million years. So if one rotation of the galaxy is
00:54one hour, the Earth is 20 hours old, dinosaurs have lived for 48 minutes, and us, 48 seconds.
01:06This is a comet. It's all ice and rock. It's 10 miles wide, and it's headed for the Earth
01:35fast. But this isn't the Earth that we know, not really. This is 65 million years ago,
01:48and we're in South America, long before the dawn of man.
01:52At this time, the masters of the Earth are dinosaurs.
02:22So
02:52this is Patagonia, a vast region of Argentinian South America as it is today.
03:22The oldest known dinosaur is from Argentina. Dinosaurs have rapidly spread throughout the
03:43whole planet, partly because 250 million years ago, all the land on Earth was connected as
03:50one colossal supercontinent, the Pangaea. And there was only one immense ocean, Panthalassa.
04:12We are north of the South American plate, in a sea that will grow to be the Atlantic Ocean.
04:21Dinosaurs only existed on land. The large ocean creatures of their time were marine reptiles.
04:37These creatures are not dolphins. They are ichthyosaurs from 160 million years ago.
04:43Some species of ichthyosaurs grew up to 75 feet.
04:51One prey's predator is almost always another predator's prey,
04:56until you reach the top of the food chain, where you'll find this terror ruling alone,
05:03the leopleurodon.
05:11This one is 60 feet long, but an isolated find points at a specimen reaching 80 feet.
05:21Extreme forms of life also appeared on land during the dinosaur era.
05:33Erosion and geological forces have revealed that South America saw the evolution of exceptional
05:39dinosaurs. In many places there, one walks today on the very ground these giants walked upon a
05:49hundred million years ago.
06:03Patagonia, in particular, offers us some of the most amazing discoveries in the history
06:08of paleontology, the science of ancient life.
06:12This phenomenon seems to depend on another peculiar twist of evolution.
06:19Regions that produce great dinosaurs
06:24also tend to produce great paleontologists.
06:34This is Professor Rodolfo Correa, world-renowned paleontologist,
06:40and director of the Carmen Funes Museum in Plaza Juinca,
06:43a small town of the Núquen province in Argentinian Patagonia.
06:50The museum I work for is very active. Many doctoral students come to pursue their research.
06:57Sometimes younger people like my daughter, Luzmila, just come to satisfy their curiosity.
07:03I love talking about dinosaurs with everyone.
07:06Whether they are experts or not. It's a busy life, and it would have been plenty for most people.
07:14But early in my career, new horizons opened up for me. Things became much larger than life.
07:23A rancher had stumbled upon a surprisingly large bone.
07:28My mentor, the great Argentinian paleontologist Dr. Jose Buenavarte,
07:33immediately saw that this bone surpassed all the dinosaur bones he had seen in his career.
07:40After several digging seasons, we ended up facing the largest dinosaur ever found.
07:48It was one of those so familiar long-necked, four-legged herbivores.
07:53We named it Argentinosaurus.
08:03This discovery had a profound effect on the way we look at South American dinosaurs.
08:10On a personal level, well, it took a big, big place in my life, to say the least.
08:25The earth will never see a bigger creature on land.
08:33Yet it starts its life in eggs just a little bigger than grapefruits.
08:45Scientists believe that female Argentinosaurus, like all Titanosaurs, a class of four-legged,
08:52long-necked dinosaurs, left their eggs to their fate as soon as they were laid,
08:57relying on their large number for the survival of the species.
09:02This baby Argentinosaurus, let's call him strong one, will grow up to be as big as a herd of 14
09:09elephants, 120 feet long, longer than a blue whale, the largest animal living today, if he lives long
09:15enough.
09:22Predators and hazards abound. Only a few will reach adulthood.
09:32So
09:54actually, one of the most important discoveries I've been associated with
09:59is an extremely large nesting ground. It helped us to learn a lot about the reproductive behavior
10:06of Titanosaurs. This site is known as Aocama Huevo. It covers more than 15 miles and it is
10:13approximately 80 million years old. We believe that it was chosen as a nesting site by generation
10:22upon generation of these dinosaurs. The nests are so close together that the females could not
10:29walk between them. We think that they laid their eggs on the edge of the site and just walked away.
10:52The earth of the dinosaurs is familiar, yet different. It was warmer than today.
11:06Deserts were widespread. For a great part of the dinosaur era,
11:12there were no broadleaf trees and no flower bearing plants.
11:22During the dinosaur era, there is no arctic ice cap and Antarctica is subtropical.
11:38For tens of millions of years, seasons barely change. The water of the oceans is also much
11:43warmer. Hurricanes are frequent. The magnetic pole changes position continuously. Many times
11:50a modern compass would have pointed east, west, or south. When dinosaurs appear, the nearby stars
11:59are in radically different positions. The moon is closer and the tides have more amplitude.
12:05The earth spins faster and thus the year has 385 days.
12:21Professor Correa has contributed to the discovery of more than a dozen new dinosaurs.
12:31As a scientist, he insists that each new find is important no matter how big or small.
12:38The journey to discovery is as rewarding to him as the discovery itself.
12:43And sometimes he says what plays the biggest part is simply not in our hands.
12:51I like to think that I am lucky, just incredibly lucky.
13:11Lucky to work in Patagonia and lucky to have been there at the right time with the right knowledge.
13:21Many paleontological discoveries are not made by professionals.
13:25That's what happened with the Argentinosaur. And it happened again with yet another dinosaur.
13:42Dr. Leonardo Salgado is a smart colleague and friend of mine. He and I were notified of the
13:49presence of fossil bones not far from my museum.
13:58We organized a field expedition and started to dig up more bones. They were relatively big,
14:05so at first we thought that they belonged to a herbivore, because in general these dinosaurs
14:10tend to be larger. But instead, the bones proved to be those of a predator, a very large one.
14:18Professor Correa's team had unveiled the first species of a group of fierce predators
14:45called the Giganotosaurus.
14:51The first Giganotosaurinae appeared 100 million years ago.
14:56The three species in this group surpassed the famous T. rex in terms of size.
15:08Although rare for reptiles, caring for the young has been observed among crocodiles, for instance.
15:14In dinosaurs, this caring behavior evolved enough to remind us of birds.
15:30This baby female is named Longtooth. However small, vulnerable, and some cute,
15:44she may appear now. She's genetically programmed to rapidly become a 45-foot-long,
15:508-ton predator like her mother.
16:10In Patagonia, you have the largest herbivore and the largest predator living at roughly the same
16:16period and in the same territory. This clearly brings up the question,
16:20why did it happen that way in that place? It's a question I've heard countless times,
16:27and as a matter of fact, I keep asking myself the same question.
16:35There's no easy answer. It could be because 120 million years ago, South America separated
16:41from Africa and became an isolated world. Evolution followed a number of particular paths.
16:49However, it's more complex than that.
16:56A dry climate with colder nights could have favored animals that retained their internal
17:01heat better because of their larger mass. But a simpler interpretation rests on a warm climate
17:08and a fertile land with all the vegetation you can eat. Yet another theory tells us that large
17:14herbivores had to grow big enough to accommodate the large stomach required to digest high-in-fiber,
17:20low-in-protein vegetation. Finally, large spans of flat space could have led naturally
17:27to Argentinosaurs, as the vast seas have led to whales.
17:32Size has its advantages. The highest branches belong to those who can reach them,
17:57and many predators are too small to be threatening in most situations.
18:02The strong one is now about 10 years old. He has reached a length of 60 feet,
18:12half his adult size. His rapid growth will give him the protection of size early in life.
19:02If a single Argentinosaur is hard to attack, a herd of Argentinosaurs is even more so,
19:15and such a herd has to move constantly because it eats a lot and has to find new or regrown food sources.
19:32So
20:32long tooth has reached a quarter of her adult size. She's growing fast too. Her primitive
20:47feathers have almost all disappeared. She has been feeding on just about any small animal and even
20:53some vegetation during the first part of her life. Her genes will eventually commend her to eat only
20:59meat. The dinosaurs couldn't learn much, but they had the brains they needed. They thrived for 180
21:11million years. So it's likely their brains didn't need to be that large to adapt and survive. Maybe
21:23there's a message for us here. By the way, it's more than time to introduce Sharp Feathers. He's
21:27a Euninlagia, a six-foot, 50-pound male raptor. He's related to birds, as are to some extent
21:34Velociraptors, Giganotosaurs, and Tyrannosaurs. Euninlagias had feathers, but didn't fly.
21:58Big dinosaurs need space. This is the Carmen Funes Museum, which also happens to be my second home.
22:14We still know so little about dinosaurs. Paleontology is just beginning to discover
22:21their universe. Sometimes, as a joke, we say that it's a science filled with holes.
22:32We have only found about 700 species of dinosaurs on the whole planet.
22:38This isn't many for a reign that lasted 180 million years.
22:4210% of these dinosaurs were found in Argentina, most of them in the last 30 years.
22:57Through technology, our knowledge grows faster every day, but dinosaurs are only found by people
23:04who are walking the Earth.
23:34Fossilization is a process that requires extremely rare conditions, and even then, very little of an organism is preserved.
23:51We could easily conclude that a tremendous number of species just disappeared without a trace.
23:59Because there is so much missing, your imagination can really run wild.
24:05Of course, science fiction can be fun,
24:08but you also need to be very careful before proposing a new way of looking at dinosaurs.
24:17Like so many of my colleagues, I wish I could travel in time to see these amazing creatures alive.
24:34Strongman has reached maturity. For many scientists, he's at full size. He's 20 years old,
24:49and he is at the beginning of more than a century of life.
24:52Other scientists believe that he will keep on growing, all of his life, at a much slower pace than in his earlier years.
25:08Argentinosaurs were 12 times more massive than their biggest predator.
25:26They were almost invincible.
25:39Here, in El Chocón, 100 million years ago, the normally fleeting footprints of a few dinosaurs have become eternal through fossilization.
25:53These traces speak abundantly about the creatures that left them.
25:57They give us details about speed and size. They tell us if the animal was walking on two legs or four,
26:03if they were alone or in a group, if they were wandering, hunting, or being hunted.
26:11Dinosaur footprints are found on all continents, but the trackway layout in El Chocón is invaluable.
26:18The patterns clearly show associations between contemporary species, and this is very rare.
26:25The discovery of the Giganotosaur has given Rodolfo Correa his world-class reputation in paleontology.
26:31His passion for his work remains undiminished, despite it being, most of the time, very demanding.
26:37His work is intimately linked to nature. It's infinitely varied terrains and ever-changing climate.
26:43So there are hardships, but there are moments, sometimes, when science just blends with reality.
26:51But there are moments, sometimes, when science just blends with the pure bliss of being outside in wonderful places.
27:03Years in the field have taught me an essential lesson.
27:08After all this time dealing simultaneously with the life of the ancient past and that of the present time,
27:15all life has become meaningful to me. My scientific work has shaped my whole way of thinking.
27:25This is prospecting at its simplest. You just look around, but finding requires a trained eye.
27:33With time, you realize that the number of questions grows faster than the number of answers.
27:40Patience and perseverance are mandatory virtues. They help with especially puzzling enigmas.
27:49For instance, we wondered whether theropods, such as Giganotosaurs, hunted alone or in packs.
27:57Again, like many times before, a good hint at an answer came unexpectedly.
28:04We found a new species in the group of Giganotosaurs.
28:10In fact, we didn't find just one specimen, but a jumble of bones belonging to at least seven individuals.
28:18For me and my Canadian colleague, Phil Currie, this was pointing at something we had considered but had no evidence for until then.
28:27Large, meat-eating dinosaurs, such as Giganotosaurs, could hunt in packs.
28:36So, long-tooth belongs to the group of Giganotosaurs, and long-tooth belongs to the group of Giganotosaurs.
28:46So, long-tooth belongs to this new species of Giganotosaurs. She is, to be precise, a Mapusaurus.
28:56And at 22 years of age, she is fully grown.
29:00Strong one is, unknowingly, in a critical time. As an adult Argentinosaur, he has no predator to fear, unless he is too old or sick or wounded.
30:00Despite their numbers and their powerful jaws,
30:31the Giganotosaurs can't bring down such a giant.
30:48Tearing off pieces of skin and letting the large prey bleed to death,
30:52or die from infection, is a strategy more likely to succeed.
30:57Giganotosaurs could wait days, even weeks, between meals. But this time, they won't have to.
31:27Time flies. Millions of years pass. And as the continents keep on drifting, the Earth begins to resemble more what it is today.
31:46Species emerge, evolve, disappear. Nature never stops changing.
32:16We're in North America. Flying reptiles reach their apogee with the Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur as wide as a small plane. No flying bird will ever get as big, not even close.
32:46Apart from flight, this reptile has nothing in common with birds. And evolution gave it nothing to survive the impending dramatic events.
33:16Several factors could have contributed to the demise of dinosaurs.
33:31Mammals became bigger and more competitive. Drifting, isolated continents touched each other.
33:55New rivalries appeared. New diseases spread.
34:11The climate was growing colder, possibly because of increased volcanic activity.
34:25Five million years before the end of the dinosaur era, the volcanoes of the world became much more active.
34:45The air was unbreathable in many places. Vegetation suffered from the acid rain, and also from the darkened and dust-filled skies.
34:59But still, many dinosaurs made it through, for a little while longer.
35:14This comet is as big as Mount Everest. It covers the distance from the Moon to the Earth in two hours.
35:39It will pass through our atmosphere in two seconds.
35:55It hits the Earth near today's Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
36:09All the forests of North and South America are destroyed by fire.
36:27Already weakened, dinosaurs are the animals that suffer most.
36:33If they don't die as a result of the impact and its immediate consequences, they will die gradually in the aftermath.
36:45In a relatively short time, dinosaurs become history. Or do they?
37:05Not all the dinosaurs disappeared. Birds are dinosaurs.
37:21It's difficult to imagine how mammals could have evolved alongside large dinosaurs.
37:27If they hadn't become extinct, maybe we just wouldn't be here.
37:33But when we look at the birds of today, it's as if the dinosaurs have left us only their grace and beauty.
38:04Paleontology takes me to fantastic places all over the planet.
38:10Still, it keeps bringing me back to my roots, here in Patagonia.
38:34More discoveries await me here, perhaps.
38:40But as I move forward in life, I find as much meaning in sharing knowledge as in discovering new dinosaurs.
38:50This said, I'm not that old.
38:58This said, I'm not that old.
39:28This said, I'm not that old.
39:34This said, I'm not that old.
39:40This said, I'm not that old.
39:46This said, I'm not that old.
39:52This said, I'm not that old.
39:56This said, I'm not that old.
40:02This said, I'm not that old.
40:08This said, I'm not that old.
40:14This said, I'm not that old.
40:20This said, I'm not that old.
40:26This said, I'm not that old.
40:30This said, I'm not that old.
40:36This said, I'm not that old.
40:42This said, I'm not that old.