Walking with...

The Walking with... series (also known as the Trilogy of Life or Walking with Prehistoric Life series) is a collection of shows that are produced by the BBC and are made by Impossible Pictures. The aim of the series and specials, along with its books, is to recreate extinct animals and presents them as a wildlife documentary. All the shows (with the exception of Chased by Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters) focus on one individual of a certain species or that species as the main characters in each episode. Creatures were realized through computer graphics and animatronics and are directed by Tim Haines. The concept for the series was imagined by Tim Haines and Jasper James.

Series

• Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)

This six-part series is focused on the rise, success, and the demise of the dinosaurs and other animals in the Mesozoic Era.

• Walking with Beasts (2001)

This six-part series was a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs, and its focus is on the world after the dinosaurs, and the rise of the mammals in the Cenozoic Era. It was released in North America as Walking with Prehistoric Beasts.

• Walking with Cavemen (2003)

This four-part series recounts the evolution of humans.

• Walking with Monsters (2005)

The three-part series was a prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs, and its focus is life before the dinosaurs, in the Paleozoic Era.

Specials

• The Ballad of Big Al (2001)

This special follows the life and death of "Big Al", a famous Allosaurus skeleton found with various injuries. In the North American market, it was released under the title Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special.

• Chased by Dinosaurs (2002)

In these two episodes, real-life zoologist Nigel Marven travels through time in search for various dinosaurs.

• Sea Monsters (2003)

Nigel Marven is featured again, in these three episodes he dives in the seven deadliest seas of all time, and encounters creatures such as Tylosaurus, Basilosaurus and Dunkleosteus. It was released in North America as Chased by Sea Monsters.

Timeline of episodes

Time	Geological period	Series	Episode
4400 mya	Early Precambrian	Walking with Monsters	"Water Dwellers"
530 mya	Early Cambrian	Walking with Monsters	"Water Dwellers"
450 mya	Late Ordovician	Sea Monsters	First episode
418 mya	Late Silurian	Walking with Monsters	"Water Dwellers"
360 mya	Late Devonian	Walking with Monsters	"Water Dwellers"
360 mya	Late Devonian	Sea Monsters	First episode
300 mya	Late Carboniferous	Walking with Monsters	"Reptile's Beginnings"
280 mya	Early Permian	Walking with Monsters	"Reptile's Beginnings"
250 mya	Late Permian	Walking with Monsters	"Clash of Titans"
248 mya	Early Triassic	Walking with Monsters	"Clash of Titans"
230 mya	Late Triassic	Sea Monsters	First episode
220 mya	Late Triassic	Walking with Dinosaurs	"New Blood"
155 mya	Late Jurassic	Sea Monsters	Third episode
152 mya	Late Jurassic	Walking with Dinosaurs	"Time of the Titans"
149 mya	Late Jurassic	Walking with Dinosaurs	"Cruel Sea"
145 mya	Late Jurassic	The Ballad of Big Al	"The Ballad of Big Al"
127 mya	Early Cretaceous	Walking with Dinosaurs	"Giants of the Skies"
106 mya	Early/Middle Cretaceous	Walking with Dinosaurs	"Spirits of the Ice Forest"
100 mya	Early/Middle Cretaceous	Chased by Dinosaurs	"Land of Giants"
75 mya	Late Cretaceous	Chased by Dinosaurs	"The Giant Claw"
75 mya	Late Cretaceous	Sea Monsters	Third episode
65 mya	Late Cretaceous	Walking with Dinosaurs	"Death of a Dynasty"
49 mya	Early Eocene	Walking with Beasts	"New Dawn"
36 mya	Late Eocene	Walking with Beasts	"Whale Killer"
36 mya	Late Eocene	Sea Monsters	Second episode
25 mya	Late Oligocene	Walking with Beasts	"Land of Giants"
4 mya	Early Pliocene	Sea Monsters	Second episode
3.2 mya	Late Pliocene	Walking with Beasts	"Next of Kin"
3.2 mya	Late Pliocene	Walking with Cavemen	"First Ancestors"
2 mya	Early Pleistocene	Walking with Cavemen	"Blood Brothers"
1.5 mya	Early Pleistocene	Walking with Cavemen	"Savage Family"
1 mya	Early Pleistocene	Walking with Beasts	"Sabre Tooth"
500,000 ya	Late Pleistocene	Walking with Cavemen	"Savage Family"
400,000 ya	Late Pleistocene	Walking with Cavemen	"The Survivors"
30,000 ya	Late Pleistocene	Walking with Beasts	"Mammoth Journey"
30,000 ya	Late Pleistocene	Walking with Cavemen	"The Survivors"

Books

Related books issued by the BBC and Dorling Kindersley include:

• Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History by Tim Haines
• Walking with Dinosaurs 3-D Dinosaurs by Stephen Cole
• Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence by David Martill and Darren Naish
• Walking with Dinosaurs Sticker Book by Stephen Cole
• Walking with Dinosaurs: Fascinating Facts by Mike Benton
• Walking with Dinosaurs Photo Journal by Stephen Cole
• Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari by Tim Haines
• Walking with Beasts Photo Journal by Stephen Cole
• Walking With Cavemen by John Lynch
• Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al by Stephen Cole
• The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life by Tim Haines and Paul Chambers
• Sea Monsters (TV series)|Sea Monsters by Nigel Marven and Jasper James

Paleontological inaccuracies

Despite the Walking with... series being a remarkably well-researched documentary production, it has made some paleontological errors. Even the book also has some inaccuracies.

TV series

• Cephalaspis was not the ancestor of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates), as they appear in the fossil record before Cephalaspis. Furthermore, even though Cephalaspis was found only during the early Devonian, it is shown being pursued by the Late Silurian Brontoscorpio.
• Pterygotus was not the largest arthropod, with its relative Jaekelopterus being slightly larger. However, it should be taken into account that the latter was only discovered after Walking with Monsters, and thus, the show was accurate in showing Pterygotus as being the largest arthropod yet discovered at that point.
• Diictodon and Rhinesuchus are only known from South Africa, yet in episode 3 of Walking with Monsters, they are portrayed living with Scutosaurus, which have only been found in Siberia.
• In the series, Petrolacosaurus is incorrectly portrayed as an ancestral Amniote that was the ancestor of both synapsids and diapsids. In fact, it was an early diapsid and could therefore not have been the ancestor of any synapsids (e.g. Edaphosaurus).
• Diictodon was shown to evolve into Lystrosaurus. However, some types of Lystrosaurus are known from Permian sediments!
• The cynodonts featured in the Walking with Dinosaurs episode New Blood were scaled up versions of Thrinaxodon. However, the episode took place during the late Triassic, while Thrinaxodon actually lived in the early Triassic.
• In the Discovery Channel edition of Walking with Monsters, the narrator says the following about Euparkeria: "Giants such as Tyrannosaurus and Brontosaurus can trace their family tree back to this little insect-eater." The name Brontosaurus has been invalid for many years; the valid name is Apatosaurus. (In the British version, Diplodocus is said, which is correct.) Also, Euparkeria was not the direct ancestor of the dinosaurs, but a fairly close relative to the last common ancestor of dinosaurs and crocodiles. A more accurate statement might have been that the giants can trace their ancestry to an insect-eater closely allied to Euparkeria.
• Mesothelae had originally been referred to as Megarachne (which, at the time, was thought to be a giant spider, but turned out to be a eurypterid), and removing the scene would have been impossible. Mesothelae is a suborder of three primitive spider families (two extinct, and one still extant); the animal would more properly have been referred to as a "mesothelan". In any case, the spider depicted in the series is effectively fictitious, is not based on any actual arachnid fossil, is considerably larger than the known Paleozoic mesotheles and retains an appearance based on the misinterpretation of Megarachne.
• The "American Iguanodon" featured in Giant of the Skies is probably the species now known as Dakotadon.
• In the first episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, Postosuchus urinates copiously. Michael J. Benton, a consultant to the making of the series (and Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Bristol University), notes that a group of critics gleefully pointed out that birds and crocodiles, the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs, do not urinate; they shed waste chemicals as more solid uric acid. However, Benton notes that nobody can prove this was a real mistake: copious urination is the primitive state for tetrapods (seen in fishes, amphibians, turtles, and mammals), and perhaps basal archosaurs did the same. He believes many other claims of "errors" identified in the first weeks fizzled out, as the critics had found points about which they disagreed, but they could not prove that their views were correct.
• Chased by Dinosaurs and Walking with Dinosaurs portrayed Troodon, Velociraptor, Dromaeosaurus, Utahraptor, juvenile Tyrannosaurus, Therizinosaurus, Ornithomimus and Mei long as being scaled and featherless, whereas the majority of scientists now agree that all of these dinosaurs had feathers, based on fossil evidence. When Walking with Dinosaurs and Chased by Dinosaurs were made, the creators either didn't know they had feathers or they didn't have enough time and money.
• Throughout the series, theropod's hands are depicted with the palms able to rotate, but this would have been anatomically impossible for the real animals, as their forearm bones (ulna and radius) could not rotate in this way. Their palms should have been relatively fixed facing each other, like a person about to applaud.
• Velociraptor did not live in heavily forested areas. All of the sites where Velociraptor fossils were found suggest that the animal lived in sandy, arid environments with many sand dunes (with one specimen apparently being smothered to death by a sand dune).
• Ornitholestes didn't have a nasal crest. However, this discovery was made after the program had been made.
• Argentinosaurus is said to have been the biggest dinosaur ever. That record may actually belong to poorly known forms such as Bruhathkayosaurus or Amphicoelias. However, since both are poorly known, and the latter only from drawings, the record, for now, belongs to Argentinosaurus.
• Allosaurus was not the biggest Jurassic carnivore; that record belongs to the Torvosaurus , Epanterias, Edmarka, or Saurophaganax (although the latter two have been argued to be big specimens of Allosaurus).
• In the second episode of the original British version of Walking With Dinosaurs, the narrator refers to "a great family of dinosaurs called the sauropods". However, sauropoda is actually classified as an infraorder, not family, of dinosaurs.
• In Walking with Dinosaurs, the Liopleurodon was overestimated to be 25 metres (82 feet) long and 150 tons. These lengths were based on what was at first believed to be tooth marks from a juvenile Liopleurodon. It was more likely to have grown to 12-16 meters (36-48 feet) long. (However, in Walking with Dinosaurs, the narrator stated that the program's version is big, even for its kind). In Walking with Dinosaurs: The Next Chapter, this was fixed with a more reasonable 40 feet long.
• H. neanderthalensis may not have been the last survivor of the genus Homo besides modern humans. The controversial H. floresiensis would be more recent, assuming that it really is a separate species. However, its status as such is highly disputed, and the first publication is so recent that the information was almost certainly not available when the film was being made.
• Some paleoanthropologists believe the African H. heidelbergensis is merely an archaic form of modern humans.
• In the Cretaceous part of Sea Monsters, a Tyrannosaurus can be seen roaring on the shore. However, the episode took place 75 million years ago, while the oldest Tyrannosaurus remains are 68.5 million years old.
• It is unlikely that Basilosaurus weighed sixty tons.
• Some paleoanthropologists do not recognize H. ergaster and H. erectus as separate species. Even if they were separate, some believe H. erectus did survive and evolved into the highly controversial Homo floresiensis.
• Mei Long was never 7 feet long.
• If Microraptor glided with its hind legs sticking to the sides, its legs would dislocate. More likely, it glided with its legs down.
• It is unlikely that Tyrannosaurus could run at 60 kph.
• All dinosaurs in the series had their fleshy nostrils located quite high in the bony nostril, whilst in reality, they would've been located rostrally (as far forward as possible in the bony nostril), and in sauropods their location should be rostroventral (far in front of the bony nostrils). This was not known during the production of the series, but is later shown to be evident both in the CT-scanned fossils and relatively obvious for important physiological reasons.
• Some Embolotherium in Walking with Beasts have catapult-like horns similar to Brontotherium while in reality, it only had heart-shaped horns.
• In Walking with Dinosaurs, Utahraptor was shown living in Europe. Utahraptor actually lived in North America in what is now Utah.
• In Chased by Dinosaurs, Ornithocheirus is described as the largest pterosaur ever, but this is not true.

Book

See more at The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life#Scientific_errors.

• On page 209, on the family tree, Pteranodon is incorrectly placed in the crocodiles branch - probably an accident.
• Also in the family tree, Nothosaurus is placed on a separate branch from the one labeled "Nothosaurs".
• Also in the family tree, it is said that the mesonychians were the ancestors of the whales. However, this theory has been discarded in favor of one where cetaceans and artiodactyls share a common ancestor.
• The family tree also claims that the Carnivora descended from the creodonts. However, this is a grossly outdated theory. Rather, the carnivores more likely descended from the tree-dwelling miacids.
• The family tree shows that the apes first appeared in the Oligocene, while the oldest known ape, Proconsul, dates back to the later Miocene.
• Cameroceras is repeatedly misspelled as "Cameraceras".
• On page 46, it is said that turtles and tortoises may have descended from Scutosaurus. However, chelonians are now thought to be more closely related to modern reptiles than to pareiasaurs.
• Coelophysis is repeatedly misclassified as a coelurosaur, while it was actually a ceratosaur (pp. 70, 100, 107).
• On page 64, it is said that nothosaurs laid eggs. However, it is now generally agreed that they gave live birth like their descendants, the plesiosaurs and pliosaurs.
• On page 65, Cymbospondylus is dubbed "The largest ichthyosaur of all time". In fact, the creature was not even half the size of Shonisaurus, which is also the largest known marine reptile. (Interestingly, the book Chased by Sea Monsters states that the largest ichthyosaur is either Shonisaurus or an undescribed genus.)
• On page 90, Eustreptospondylus and Megalosaurus are said to be carnosaurs, while they are basal spinosaur relatives.
• On page 112, Leaellynasaura is said to be an ornithopod. However, it may have been a more primitive ornithischian that does not fit in any of the known families.
• On page 127, it is said that there is no evidence for Velociraptor having feathers. However, quill knobs have been found in association with the creature's skeleton, showing that its arms at least were feathered. However, this discovery was made after the book was published.
• On page 128, Protoceratops is incorrectly identified as an ornithopod, while it's actually a ceratopsian.
• On page 137, it is said that Tyrannosaurus means "terrible reptile". However, this is what the term "dinosaur" means. Tyrannosaurus means "tyrant reptile".
• On page 137, it is said that Tyrannosaurus lived from 75 to 65 million years ago. However, the oldest fossils that can be confidently assigned to this genus date back only 68.5 million years ago.
• On page 138, it is said that Torosaurus means "bull reptile". However, this is a common misconception. It actually means "perforated reptile".
• On page 188, Smilodon is said to have died out 100,000 years ago. However, it is known to have survived until 11,000 years ago.
• On page 190, the closest living relative to Phorusrhacos is said to be the secretary bird. That would actually be the seriema bird.
• On page 196, Megaloceros is said to reach antlerspans up to 3 metres (10 feet) while, in fact, specimens with 3.6 metres (12 feet) are not uncommon.
• On page 197, the cave lion is depicted with a much shorter tail than it had in real life.
• On page 201, it is said that a population of pygmy mammoths survived on an island off the east coast of Russia until about 6,000 years ago. In fact, this time estimate is only accurate about the population on the Alaskan St. Paul Island than the real last sanctuary, the Wrangel Island, where the most recent remains are as young as 3,700 years old.
• The size comparison images of some animals are erroneous, such as Meganeura, Ornitholestes (both too big), Megatherium and Megaloceros (both too small). Also, the silhouette used for Tarbosaurus (actually a stock image that has been used in older books) depicts the animal standing in a kangaroo-like manner, instead with its spine parallel to the ground. Also, an old stock image of Eryops was used for the size comparison model for Proterogyrinus, although Eryops has a more rounded-out skull.

External links

• Impossible Pictures homepage