Last Day of the Dinosaurs is a 2010 Discovery Channel television documentary about the K-T extinction, which resulted in the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. It portrays the Alvarez hypothesis as the cause of extinction.
Proposes a minute-by-minute chronology of the Chicxulub impact and its effect on the dinosaurs and other animals around the world
Proposes a minute-by-minute chronology of the Chicxulub impact and its effect on the dinosaurs and other animals around the world
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00:00Our world was once dominated by dinosaurs, they walked where we walk, they drank the same water, breathed the same air and fought on the same battlefields.
00:00:31But then they faced a day that none of us can imagine.
00:00:47Some of the most critical hours in the history of life on Earth.
00:01:00This is the story of the day their world ended, the last day of the dinosaurs.
00:01:10Earth, 65 million years ago, a warmer place than it is today.
00:01:25Along the west coast of what's now British Columbia, mountains tower over a lush, forested valley.
00:01:35It's the domain of the ultimate forms of prehistoric evolution, dinosaurs.
00:01:48At more than 160 kilograms, with a wingspan of 12 meters, Quetzalcoatlus is the largest flying creature of all time.
00:02:00A kilometer down, a breakfast no carnivore can resist.
00:02:07It will take this tiny hatchling 18 years to become the age's most fearsome predator.
00:02:18But for now, Tyrannosaurus rex is just a few centimeters tall, not very scary and completely exposed.
00:02:31But not completely unprotected.
00:02:34The father, a fully grown T-Rex, is on the hunt.
00:02:43His acute sense of smell helps him sniff out prey from great distances.
00:02:48And it also serves him well as a parent.
00:02:55He knows when something is wrong.
00:03:11Quetzalcoatlus' metabolism demands that it eat regularly.
00:03:18And powering this streamlined body means finding rich sources of protein, like a one-and-a-half-kilogram baby T-Rex.
00:03:29Quetzalcoatlus' huge wings are perfectly adapted for long-distance gliding.
00:03:44But its sheer size makes it hard to lift off when it's backed into a corner.
00:03:58It's lucky this time.
00:04:01It's lucky this time.
00:04:17Of the entire clutch of T-Rex eggs, only one chick survives.
00:04:32And if it grows up, it will grow to be five meters tall and weigh more than seven tons.
00:04:45But surviving to adulthood, even for Tyrannosaurus Rex, isn't written in stone.
00:04:58Because a storm is coming.
00:05:00Born of events that took place long before.
00:05:05This is the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, 320 million kilometers away.
00:05:15Billions of rocks all hurtling through space in the same direction, like traffic on a freeway.
00:05:22All except this one, which is moving diagonally on a completely different course.
00:05:37It's like a 65-kilometer-wide semi suddenly slicing across the highway.
00:05:42But this truck is going 35,000 kilometers an hour.
00:05:56The two asteroids shatter into millions of fragments.
00:06:01But this fragment, over 10 kilometers across, has a special destiny.
00:06:09It's a rock poised to change history.
00:06:14Because it's heading for the fifth largest planet in the solar system.
00:06:19The only planet known to harbor life.
00:06:24Planet Earth.
00:06:29Meanwhile, the planet's reptilian lords live completely unaware of what's heading their way.
00:06:36Triceratops are among the most widespread dinosaurs in what's now Canada.
00:06:42They're herbivores, but that doesn't mean they're wallflowers.
00:06:56Male triceratops take their mating rights very seriously.
00:07:01And up to six tons each, a face-off can be fatal.
00:07:05This time, intimidation does the trick.
00:07:10But there's another enemy waiting in the wings.
00:07:15He's not after mating rights.
00:07:21The Triceratops is fast and well-armored enough to stand a chance against T-Rex.
00:07:28But not against two of them.
00:07:39Hunting as a pair, one T-Rex could get behind the deadly horns and armored collar.
00:07:46There's enough meat here to feed them both for weeks.
00:08:01But they may not have the time to enjoy it.
00:08:05The Triceratops is the Triceratops.
00:08:09400,000 kilometers up is the Earth's last hope of defense.
00:08:14The moon has saved the planet before.
00:08:17Its pockmarked surface bears the scars of countless collisions.
00:08:24This crater, known as Tycho, is more than 80 kilometers wide.
00:08:34Created by a rock only half the size of the one that's on its way.
00:08:39But the moon is rarely in the right place at the right time.
00:08:51Nothing can stop the asteroid now.
00:08:59This cosmic missile isn't as alien as it seems.
00:09:02Like the Earth itself, it's made up largely of rock and water.
00:09:11In the cold vacuum of space, the water freezes into a hard permafrost.
00:09:21But on the inside, there's a chemical cocktail composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
00:09:27Key ingredients for life.
00:09:35Asteroid fragments like this one may have provided the building blocks for life on Earth.
00:09:41Life that evolved into dinosaurs.
00:09:46But what gives life can also take it away.
00:09:49Most dinosaurs in the valley hunt and forage during the day and sleep at night.
00:10:01This giant herbivore, an Ankylosaurus, keeps one eye open for predators.
00:10:09Under the cover of darkness, very different creatures emerge from their hiding places.
00:10:14Like Misadma, a primitive mammal about the size of a possum.
00:10:26Like most other mammals, Misadma's life is all about being where the dinosaurs aren't.
00:10:34It only comes out at night to forage for tasty roots and insects.
00:10:38While the giants sleep, it's the meek that witness a cosmic event.
00:10:47A meteor shower.
00:10:55Each streak of light is a tiny fragment of the asteroid collision, burning up as it enters the atmosphere.
00:11:03But these are mainly outriders of the much larger missile hurtling through space.
00:11:12An asteroid locked into a head-on collision.
00:11:17The day of reckoning is here.
00:11:20After a journey lasting a hundred million years, an enormous chunk of cosmic rock is approaching the end of the line.
00:11:34And the end of the line is Earth.
00:11:36In what is today's central Mexico, a herd of Alamosaurus is wandering the plains in search of food.
00:11:49They're a recent species to evolve.
00:11:52And even by dinosaur standards, they're huge.
00:11:54They're the last of the sauropods, the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth.
00:12:0420 meters long and a staggering 12 meters tall, Alamosaurus weigh up to 30 tons.
00:12:11To maintain that bulk, they need to eat up to a ton of leaves every day.
00:12:24A vast herd like this one strips the landscape of vegetation in just a few hours.
00:12:30Because she's a nomad on a constant search for food, when it's time for this female to lay her eggs, she doesn't nest.
00:12:46She simply lays eggs in groups of five or six to improve the chances that some will survive.
00:12:52Under normal conditions, only one in three thousand will produce a mature Alamosaurus.
00:13:03But the odds stacked against these eggs are about to get astronomical.
00:13:11Because now, just 20 minutes away, two trillion tons of rock is racing right at them.
00:13:18The asteroid fragments enormous mass is only part of the threat.
00:13:23The other part is velocity.
00:13:26But as it gets closer to the planet, the Earth's gravitational pull gets stronger.
00:13:32And the asteroid accelerates past 65 to 72 thousand kilometers per hour.
00:13:40And mass times acceleration equals force.
00:13:44As the asteroid encounters atmosphere, friction turns it into a fireball.
00:13:54Swooping over the Atlantic and aimed at Mexico.
00:13:58And the Alamosaurus.
00:14:01It takes just four minutes to cross the ocean.
00:14:04It crushes and superheats the air surrounding it, transforming gas and debris into white-hot plasma.
00:14:14At 20,000 degrees, it's burning brighter than a million suns.
00:14:19It takes just five seconds to flash the ocean.
00:14:20It takes just five seconds to flash the ocean.
00:14:21It takes just five seconds to flash through the atmosphere,
00:14:49impact seems instantaneous, but hidden within the cataclysm are a series of
00:14:55discrete events invisible to the naked eye, but key to understanding what follows.
00:15:04The asteroid's trajectory is shallow. It flies in at about a 30-degree angle to
00:15:10the surface. This means the full brunt of its destructive power will be thrown to
00:15:17the north of the impact point.
00:15:23Even before the fireball touches down, its sheer brightness in the sky is unimaginable.
00:15:30800 kilometers from ground zero, the light is so intense, it makes the Alamosaurus flesh
00:15:43seem transparent.
00:15:45And burns flash frames of their shadows onto the ground.
00:15:54The scorching light sears their eyeballs. They have no way of seeing what's headed their
00:16:00way. But they can feel it.
00:16:10An explosive force of a hundred million megatons. More powerful than all the nuclear weapons ever built.
00:16:17If the asteroid had crashed into deep ocean, some of the force would have been absorbed.
00:16:29Instead, it hits the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which instantly vaporize.
00:16:35In a fraction of a second, the entire asteroid disintegrates into the planet.
00:16:47Earth and rock also vaporize and are hurled skyward at 150,000 kilometers an hour.
00:16:55Behind them, 120,000 cubic kilometers of the Earth's crust explodes from the ground.
00:17:05800 kilometers from the crash site, the air temperature now reaches over 300 degrees.
00:17:12Hot enough to boil away the water in the dinosaur's skin, which escapes in sudden bursts of steam.
00:17:19The fiery blasts suck every drop of moisture from the vegetation.
00:17:26Anything directly exposed to the blistering heat is simply broiled alive.
00:17:39Just 108 seconds after impact in the Gulf of Mexico, the bright streams of vaporized rock can be seen in prehistoric British Columbia.
00:17:49From their cliff-top roost, a breeding pair of Quetzalcoatlus can see the glow of the fireball high above the horizon.
00:18:055,000 kilometers away.
00:18:08That's how big it is.
00:18:10Just two minutes have passed since the asteroid slammed into the Earth.
00:18:14The body count back near the crash site is immense.
00:18:19Surprisingly, there are survivors.
00:18:21Those lucky enough to be shielded by a mountain are spared the worst of the light and heat blasts.
00:18:24But three more waves of destruction are coming.
00:18:25On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:26On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:27On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:28On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:32But what goes up must come down.
00:18:33On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:37But what goes up must come down.
00:18:38Hundreds of surviving outbursts are coming.
00:18:39On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:42On impact, boulders the size of buildings blasted into the air at supersonic speeds.
00:18:44But what goes up must come down.
00:19:01Hundreds of surviving Alamosaurus are bombarded from above.
00:19:23A second wave hits from below.
00:19:29An earthquake measuring 11.1 on the Richter scale.
00:19:36Nearly 60 times more powerful than any earthquake humans have experienced.
00:19:51The third wave is the blast pulse wave.
00:19:55Radiating outward in a perfect circle.
00:20:06Packing a force that rips through air faster than the speed of sound.
00:20:12Stripping skin from flesh.
00:20:16Flinging 30-ton dinosaurs into the air like so many rag dogs.
00:20:31Just five minutes have passed since impact.
00:20:33And three waves of destruction have decimated an entire species.
00:20:39Many other species of dinosaur in the region share the Alamosaurus fate.
00:20:49Most of the eggs too have been destroyed.
00:20:52And yet the Earth is a powerful protector.
00:20:55Some eggs buried in the cool ground have survived.
00:20:59New Alamosaurus life is growing.
00:21:05There is still hope.
00:21:06For now.
00:21:07An immense boulder the size of Mount Everest crashes into the Gulf of Mexico.
00:21:22Driving entire species of dinosaurs to extinction in less than five minutes.
00:21:32But the worst is still to come.
00:21:38On the other side of the planet, there's still no sign of trouble.
00:21:43Mongolia is 12,000 kilometers from the impact.
00:21:49The scrubland here supports hundreds of dinosaur species.
00:21:56For a family of Koranosaurus, it's business as usual at a favorite watering hole.
00:22:03They can weigh four tons and grow to 12 meters in length.
00:22:08But they're vegetarians and docile.
00:22:11Except when they have to defend themselves.
00:22:14Or their offspring.
00:22:16Which are now at their most vulnerable to the hungry predators that lurk around every corner.
00:22:25Armed with a razor sharp, oversized claw on its hind feet.
00:22:30This is the jackal of the Cretaceous period.
00:22:36Sir Ornithoides.
00:22:38A very smart reptile.
00:22:40Its brain to body weight ratio is among the highest of any dinosaur.
00:22:47It's hungry, but it knows better than to take on a full grown Koranosaurus.
00:22:55Not when there are easier targets.
00:22:57Not when there are easier targets.
00:22:59In its rush to eat, the thief doesn't get as far away from the enraged monster as he's
00:23:05In its rush to eat, the thief doesn't get as far away from the enraged mother as it
00:23:30should. And it can smell its mistake. It's a Mexican standoff between two very different
00:23:41kinds of dinosaur. One has the speed and smarts of a carnivore, but the other is 80 times larger.
00:23:51But the large herbivores of this world aren't made for fighting. And that's exactly what the
00:24:00Sauronothoides is counting on, especially when he's got backup.
00:24:11Speed and strategy give these small hunters the edge.
00:24:15But neither great size nor great intelligence is any guarantee of safety from the kind of
00:24:44enemy that is now approaching.
00:24:48On the other side of the planet, a fireball rises 160 kilometers above ground zero.
00:24:5670 billion tons of pulverized stone in Earth fill the upper atmosphere with a cloud of microscopic
00:25:02dust and glass. And it's spreading fast.
00:25:06This is the ejecta cloud. As the dust spreads at high altitude, trillions of tiny particles
00:25:16re-enter the atmosphere. The friction creates intense heat, an 800-degree dust cloud heating
00:25:24up everything beneath it.
00:25:30From their cliff-top perch in prehistoric British Columbia, the male and female Quetzalcoatlus have
00:25:37a clear view of the approaching cloud.
00:25:39Down in the valley, a thick ocean fog blocks out the sky. The heavy blanket of moisture makes
00:25:53it impossible to see the coming apocalypse. But the animals down here do get a warning. Not
00:26:01from above, but from below.
00:26:08When the asteroid struck, most of the energy is deflected, out or up. Only 1% of the force
00:26:19travels down into the ground. But it's enough to ring the planet like a bell.
00:26:25Seismic waves radiate both across and through the Earth.
00:26:3716 minutes and 40 seconds after impact, they reach British Columbia.
00:26:50In the valley, the ground shakes as the 11.1 earthquake ripples through the ground.
00:26:59Triceratops panic up the side of the valley in a desperate attempt to escape the tremors
00:27:04and falling debris.
00:27:09Smaller animals take shelter underground.
00:27:11Meanwhile, the ejecta cloud is approaching at 16,000 kilometers per hour. It bakes the Earth
00:27:22with unrelenting heat.
00:27:24Millions of volts of static electricity charge the cloud like a giant battery, creating a vast
00:27:47electrical storm.
00:27:54Superheated rocks shower the valley. A burning hail.
00:28:02The Quetzalcoatlus are fleeing the quake's devastation below, but there's no way to hide from a rain of fire.
00:28:08Only the valley floor can provide shelter, but they're too big to descend quickly.
00:28:21Until the male's tattered wings can no longer keep him aloft.
00:28:25If his mate doesn't find shelter, she'll be next.
00:28:34On the mountain slopes, a pair of Triceratops emerges above the cool sea mist.
00:28:53They're almost out of the quake-ravaged valley when the ejecta cloud arrives like a blowtorch.
00:29:07A dinosaur paradise just hours ago.
00:29:26North America is now a living hell.
00:29:31But the ejecta isn't finished yet. Not by a long shot.
00:29:48Less than an hour since the asteroid impact, hundreds of species of dinosaurs lie devastated across the western hemisphere.
00:29:57The ejecta cloud continues to spread at high altitude.
00:30:07As it spans the globe, the effects on the ground vary dramatically.
00:30:14Twelve thousand kilometers away in Asia, the cloud rolls in silently from the east.
00:30:20In Mongolia, temperatures on the ground tick upwards, a few degrees hotter every second.
00:30:31There's no audible warning, only mounting heat.
00:30:34As the air reaches 50 Celsius, the only hope is shelter.
00:30:45At 70 Celsius, survival is measured in minutes.
00:30:49Over 90 Celsius, just seconds.
00:30:5290 minutes after impact, the temperature on the ground in Mongolia peaks at 150 Celsius.
00:31:06But not every dinosaur is baking alive.
00:31:14The microclimate of a cave can keep a handful of survivors cool enough to breathe.
00:31:19But it's a refuge that has to be shared, forcing an uneasy peace between sworn enemies, one that's already fraying at the edges.
00:31:38Back in prehistoric British Columbia, the dense fog still shields the valley from the intense heat above.
00:31:44In sheltered areas like this, small pockets of dinosaurs hang on.
00:31:54For the Triceratops here, the high temperatures and humidity force them to keep moving.
00:32:07For scavengers, there's no shortage of food.
00:32:10But most animals caught by the ejecta cloud aren't so lucky.
00:32:25The female Quetzalcoatlus is one of the few survivors of her species.
00:32:32The last thing these animals need is a new threat.
00:32:34But the after effects of impact are just getting started.
00:32:48Above the valley and across North America, the intense heat of the ejecta cloud has ignited fires.
00:32:57Blazes so intense, they generate their own winds.
00:33:00Down in the valley, the air pressure plummets.
00:33:05Creating a vacuum that sucks in the flames.
00:33:14The dry vegetation goes up like a powder keg, building a wall of fire.
00:33:15The dry vegetation goes up like a powder keg, building a wall of fire.
00:33:19The front of the fire burns hottest and fastest.
00:33:20The dry vegetation goes up like a powder keg, building a wall of fire.
00:33:46The front of the fire burns hottest and fastest, moving across the valley floor at 15 kilometers
00:33:57an hour.
00:34:03T-Rex can run twice that speed, but it can't keep the pace up forever.
00:34:14The valley basin is now a firestorm, 1,000 degrees, hot enough to melt solid aluminum.
00:34:25The panicked animals race up the valley slopes, but fire goes faster uphill.
00:34:32Some lucky creatures escape below the flames, but large dinosaurs have no place to hide.
00:34:53Their wings still damaged from the falling ejecta, the wounded Quetzalcoatlus struggles to take off.
00:35:11For the dinosaurs, time is running out.
00:35:21Two hours after the asteroid impact, the entire planet is covered in dust and smoke.
00:35:29One of the few remaining Quetzalcoatlus, a flying pterosaur as big as a giraffe, is struggling
00:35:42to get airborne.
00:35:54From above, what was once a lush valley is now an inferno.
00:36:00Animals that fly can escape the flames.
00:36:03There are few places to land, and almost nothing to eat.
00:36:10A food chain once rich enough to support giants, now lacks its basic component, plants.
00:36:24About 12,000 kilometers away in Mongolia, the temperatures are finally dropping.
00:36:33A handful of animals remain safely holed up in their cave.
00:36:44It seems the worst is over.
00:36:49The ravenous or ornithoidids can't resist the sight of an easy meal.
00:37:04Soon the braver Quetzalcoatlus follow, making their way back towards the watering hole.
00:37:11One stays near the protection of the cave.
00:37:21As the ejecta begins to clear, the parting clouds reveal the shift in temperature is throwing
00:37:27Earth's weather systems into turmoil.
00:37:32And in Mongolia, powerful winds are gathering billions of tons of dust and sand.
00:37:41A dust storm forms as hot air rises.
00:37:47Thermal imaging shows how it builds, whipping up loose particles of sand and dust, and gaining
00:37:55energy from the heat of the sand itself.
00:37:59The 150-degree temperatures that baked Mongolia turn a common-weather phenomenon into a superstorm.
00:38:18As it hits, the sironithoidids are small enough to crouch for cover.
00:38:25But the Choranosaurus are out in the open.
00:38:31The sand blasts their bodies.
00:38:42The harder they struggle, and the deeper they gasp for oxygen, the more sand fills their lungs.
00:38:52Until finally, they can't breathe.
00:39:02The superstorm engulfs much of the continent.
00:39:06It's hours before the winds die down.
00:39:19The last Choranosaurus, protected once again by the cave, heads to the watering hole on her
00:39:26own.
00:39:31Halfway there, she finds she's the last of the herd.
00:39:38But she's not the last remaining dinosaur in the neighborhood.
00:39:59Huddled close to a Choranosaurus corpse, the sironithoidids were sheltered from the worst
00:40:05of the storm.
00:40:07But the sand has swallowed their meal.
00:40:19Instinct drives them back to their prime hunting spot.
00:40:23The watering hole, where the last surviving Choranosaurus is taking in the much needed fluid.
00:40:35She's lucky to be alive, but too exhausted to run from any new sign of danger.
00:40:46The sironithoidids are desperate for food, but they're weak from hunger and the buffeting of the sandstorm.
00:40:59Only one has the confidence to attack.
00:41:06Its prey is still too exhausted to run.
00:41:22But this time, size does matter.
00:41:35The remaining sironithoidids moves in, but it has no intention of making a run at the
00:42:02choranosaurus.
00:42:09Not when fate offers it a meal that can't fight back.
00:42:21A week after impact, food is in very short supply across the entire planet.
00:42:28Life is hardest for the plant eaters.
00:42:33Huge herbivores have to eat vast amounts just to sustain their massive bulk.
00:42:56But there are simply no plants to be found.
00:43:03They can only hope that something, somewhere, is growing.
00:43:09The carnivores are more fortunate.
00:43:15They can eat the herbivores.
00:43:29But two triceratops are a little too much to take on.
00:43:36For now.
00:43:43Three days after the asteroid impact, a once blue planet is shrouded in darkness.
00:43:49And the landscape is anything but green.
00:43:53Fire, heat, and acid rain have battered the terrain until it's unrecognizable.
00:44:01Normally, triceratops wouldn't travel more than a few miles a day.
00:44:08They wouldn't have to.
00:44:10But now, most of the continent is stripped of vegetation.
00:44:14Hunger drives the giant herbivores toward the Pacific coast.
00:44:20The devastation reaches all the way to the sea.
00:44:27But geography has a way of protecting certain places from cataclysmic events.
00:44:34In this case, an island, apparently untouched by the surrounding desolation.
00:44:40There may still be food here.
00:44:51The female Quetzalcoatlus has been flying for three days.
00:45:00She is weak and in desperate need of food.
00:45:03From 300 meters up, the island comes into view.
00:45:13But all is not as peaceful as it seems.
00:45:20Deep below the surface, the ocean floor was shaken by the asteroid's initial impact.
00:45:26Sedimentary rock disintegrates under the strain and collapses hundreds of meters into the ocean floor.
00:45:46On the surface, sea level plunges, triggering a massive swell.
00:45:51At the coast, the ocean is dragged back hundreds of meters from the land, exposing huge expanses of seabed.
00:46:04Exposed land suddenly creates a path to the island.
00:46:08The forest ahead of them appears untouched by the hell storm of the ejecta.
00:46:25It seems too good to be true.
00:46:27The forest ahead of them appears untouched by the hell storm of the ejecta.
00:46:30A kilometer from the coast, the three Triceratops finally reach the promised land.
00:46:51Sheltered from the ejecta by sea mist and protected from fires by the surrounding ocean, the island has all the food they need.
00:46:59The Quetzalcoatlus hasn't had a decent meal in days.
00:47:11The Quetzalcoatlus hasn't had a decent meal in days.
00:47:12The Quetzalcoatlus has also been anchored to Alex.
00:47:13If it is empty, that's not the judgments in the place.
00:47:14The Lo esterkaetone has yet to be represented.
00:47:15It seemed acceptable to be fully absorbed by the country without Hin 조심halla,
00:47:16and a musician was slurped for sheer furious electricity.
00:47:17All everyone had a decent meal in days.
00:47:18The A suруг召 anosology has also been following the prosecutorial brilliance,
00:47:21trying to take the whole stomach...
00:47:35...to be своей portion in the ocean of the sea to rockились.
00:47:37The asteroid has awakened the ocean's most destructive force, a mega tsunami, a wall
00:47:51of water 100 meters tall. Within seconds, the land is deluged.
00:48:21And as quickly as it came, the flood is gone. But this is only one in an immense army of mega tsunamis.
00:48:33The asteroid impact launches them against more than 20,000 kilometers of coast. Huge swaths
00:48:40of shoreline simply wash away into the sea. The avalanche of water leaves countless dead
00:48:48in its wake. But as devastating as the first wave of disasters is, there's more to come.
00:49:03In the days following the asteroid's arrival, a series of plagues have been unleashed on the
00:49:08planet. Firestorms, earthquakes, sandstorms, and towering tsunamis. But these are only the
00:49:21outward signs of a catastrophe that reaches much deeper. Across the continents, thousands
00:49:30of dinosaurs may be walking, but their species are already dead. Because to survive, any species
00:49:39needs to maintain a critical mass of population, fall below that threshold, and there's no way
00:49:46to climb back from certain extinction. The final nail in the coffin may take a while to develop,
00:49:55but it's no less deadly, and no less final. The coup de grace for the dinosaurs comes from inside the planet.
00:50:08Because when a rock 10 kilometers across slams into the earth at 72,000 kilometers per hour, it shoots a million megatons of energy straight into the ground.
00:50:20Seismic shock waves ripple through the planet.
00:50:35The aftershocks continue for months as tectonic plates shear and tear.
00:50:44Deep inside the planet, they trigger molten rock to force its way to the surface through newly formed fractures.
00:50:57Until it explodes from the earth's crust in violent volcanic eruptions.
00:51:05The seismic waves awaken dormant volcanoes around the world.
00:51:18Adding to the debris clouds of dust and toxic gases that already surround the globe.
00:51:24The shroud is already many kilometers deep.
00:51:34A thick blanket stopping light and warmth reaching the earth's surface.
00:51:40The planet plunges further into a nuclear winter.
00:51:45In the days and weeks that follow, the only growth to thrive is fungus, which lives off the rotting remains.
00:51:58Here in Mongolia, few signs of dinosaurs remain.
00:52:04And for the starving Koronosaurus, the future looks bleak.
00:52:17But it stays near the cave that has saved it twice in the past.
00:52:22The watering hole that once provided plenty.
00:52:37But the last Koronosaurus doesn't fall victim to starvation.
00:52:43Bubbling to the surface is one of nature's most toxic gases, hydrogen sulfide.
00:53:03Released from deep underground by volcanic activity, it collects invisibly in low-lying areas,
00:53:10like the water hole's natural basin.
00:53:15The gas paralyzes the lungs, making escape impossible.
00:53:20Then it kills by suffocation.
00:53:31What was once a refuge is transformed into a death trap.
00:53:35The last dinosaur in this part of Mongolia is dead.
00:53:52Mexico, too, is a graveyard.
00:53:54Just 800 kilometers from ground zero, it's been hit by wave after wave of devastation.
00:54:10There would seem to be little else that nature could throw at it.
00:54:15And yet, amidst all this destruction, beneath a thin layer of charred soil,
00:54:21a lone Alamosaurus egg survives.
00:54:24In what's now British Columbia, just a handful of dinosaurs patrol the grey wasteland.
00:54:31An Ankylosaurus, severely weakened by hunger, searches the charred terrain for something to eat.
00:54:37Seven meters long, and weighing four tons, this heavily armored herbivore,
00:54:38this heavily armored herbivore, is used to getting nearly 135 tons.
00:54:40In what's now British Columbia, just a handful of dinosaurs patrol the grey wasteland.
00:54:46An Ankylosaurus, severely weakened by hunger, searches the charred terrain for something to eat.
00:54:52Seven meters long, and weighing four tons, this heavily armored herbivore, is used to getting nearly 135 kilograms of food every day.
00:55:09All it can find now is a small bush.
00:55:13A small bush.
00:55:18And even that won't come without a fight.
00:55:21Suddenly hunger isn't their biggest problem.
00:55:45He is.
00:55:46He is.
00:55:47He is.
00:56:16He is.
00:56:17He is.
00:56:18He is.
00:56:19He is.
00:56:20He is.
00:56:21He is.
00:56:22And he is.
00:56:23He's.
00:56:24You.
00:56:25He is.
00:56:26He is.
00:56:28He is.
00:56:29He is.
00:56:30He is.
00:56:31He is.
00:56:32He is.
00:56:33He is.
00:56:34He is.
00:56:39The leider Souris' main defense weapon, is a heavy weapon of air.
00:56:45is a heavy tail club.
00:56:51But it's too weak to get in a good shot.
00:57:15I'm so hungry.
00:57:38It took a hundred and sixty million years to bring the dinosaurs to this point in their
00:58:02evolution. It took just one rock to bring them down the events triggered by the
00:58:12impact flashed by at breakneck speed. Seismic shocks caused massive earthquakes, boulders
00:58:26the size of buildings rained down, followed by a brutal blast wave, all within the
00:58:36first three minutes. By the time the superheated ejecta cloud hit Mongolia,
00:58:43just forty-four minutes later, the whole planet was in shock.
00:59:01In the coming days, forest fires raised the earth.
00:59:08Violent dust storms destroyed entire ecosystems.
00:59:15Titanic waves wrecked coastlines.
00:59:22Put all these together and it's hard to believe that anything on earth could have survived.
00:59:37But something has.
00:59:51Mexico, eight hundred kilometers from the point of impact.
00:59:56The very first land mass to feel the force of the asteroid strike.
01:00:02A region that has suffered wave upon wave of violence.
01:00:10Yet even here, even now, life remains.
01:00:14The last surviving Alamosaurus egg. Buried safe within the soil, a chick has survived the barrage of destruction.
01:00:29And he's not alone.
01:00:30All around the world, small handfuls of dinosaurs try to start over.
01:00:43But inbreeding and disease weaken their tiny populations.
01:00:49Eventually, the huge numbers of dinosaurs that had ruled the world are reduced to a single, solitary dinosaur.
01:01:01Then it, too, is gone.
01:01:03And with it, a dynasty that had ruled the earth for a hundred and sixty million years.
01:01:18But dinosaurs weren't the only animals on the planet.
01:01:21There were other, humbler life forms that had lived in the dinosaur's shadow for a very long time.
01:01:28When floods and firestorms hit, they found shelter underground.
01:01:34Some hid deep inside trees and plants.
01:01:40Others took refuge beneath the soil.
01:01:42And small mammals, like Masadma, survived by scampering into burrows.
01:02:01Down here, they were protected from the worst the asteroid could throw at them.
01:02:05The earth would be inherited by animals that were good at hiding.
01:02:18Fish were sheltered beneath the water.
01:02:25So were the aquatic reptiles.
01:02:27Birds, especially waterfowl, could survive by diving underwater or hiding in burrows.
01:02:40It would be years before all the sun's energy could reach the land again.
01:02:48But the heavy cloud slowly begins to clear.
01:02:52In the Gulf of Mexico, where the asteroid struck, a shallow crater can be seen.
01:03:01A tiny scar for such a fatal wound.
01:03:08Out of the ruins, nature starts over.
01:03:11Simple organisms like mold and fungus dominate the burned and rotting landscape.
01:03:21Then new growth emerges.
01:03:24And one plant in particular.
01:03:27Ferns.
01:03:31Tough and resilient, they soon carpet the planet in green.
01:03:35It takes thousands of years for ferns to give way to forests.
01:03:42Breathing oxygen and life into the planet again.
01:03:46And setting the stage for a new era.
01:03:49Because wading in the wings are creatures whose development had long been thwarted by the dinosaurs.
01:03:57The mammals.
01:03:59Unlike the dinosaurs, the mammals are fast breeders.
01:04:02Brilliant adapters.
01:04:05They multiply.
01:04:09And diversify.
01:04:1510,000 species exploding across the planet.
01:04:19But it's millions of years before one very important species branches off from its relatives.
01:04:29And comes down from the trees.
01:04:31They walk on two legs.
01:04:34Evolve bigger brains.
01:04:37And eventually rule the planet.
01:04:39Just as the dinosaurs once did.
01:04:41But unlike them, they'll reshape the world.
01:04:52Building cities that touch the sky.
01:04:57Vehicles that can leave the planet.
01:05:01And weapons that can destroy it.
01:05:03But none of it could have been possible if a chance collision in space 165 million years ago hadn't sent an asteroid hurtling toward Earth.
01:05:20And doomed the dinosaurs to extinction.
01:05:29Only because they died can human beings live.
01:05:33Human beings live.
01:05:34Human beings live.
01:06:03Human beings live.
01:06:04Human beings live.
01:06:05Human beings live.
01:06:06Human beings live.
01:06:07Human beings live.
01:06:08Human beings live.
01:06:09Human beings live.
01:06:10Human beings live.
01:06:11Human beings live.
01:06:12Human beings live.
01:06:13Human beings live.
01:06:14Human beings live.
01:06:15Human beings live.
01:06:16Human beings live.
01:06:17Human beings live.
01:06:18Human beings live.
01:06:19Human beings live.
01:06:20Human beings live.
01:06:21Human beings live.
01:06:22Human beings live.
01:06:23Human beings live.
01:06:24Human beings live.
01:06:25Human beings live.
01:06:26Human beings live.
01:06:27Human beings live.
01:06:28Human beings live.