A desert full of unblinking killers.
Mongolia, 80 million years ago.
When you're not very big, big brains help.
At 100 pounds, White Tip, a Velociraptor, is,
pound for pound, one of the most terrifying predators.
In a group, they're awesome, but White Tip is now alone.
Without a pack, White Tip will starve.
Without a mate, she has no future.
Can she make it, using only her wits and cunning?
Or will she need more brag in a world full of angry predators?
How will she survive? White Tip's journey.
DINO PLANET
EL VIAJE DE TIP Narrador: Christian Slater
DESIERTO DE GOBI, MONGOLIA HACE 80 MILLONES DE AÃ'OS
The desert of Mongolia is vast and desolate,
hot and unforgiving.
Here, even the toughest dinosaurs struggle to eke out a living.
White Tip, a female Velociraptor, is on a desperate journey.
4 days ago, her pack was killed by another pack of Velociraptors.
Now, she's alone.
White Tip is not a solitary hunter, but she needs to eat, soon,
or face starvation.
Far from home, she stumbles on an oasis that could save her life.
A Prenocephale. She's seen them before. She knows what they taste like.
These youngsters are jousting for fun.
Their 9-inch thick skulls are like battering rams,
and their spines are built to withstand the jolt.
It's just play now, but one day, these males
will fight for dominance in their herd, if they live long enough.
Predators are never very far away.
White Tip is impatient.
Normally, she'd stalk them until the time was right.
If she wasn't alone, this would be fast food,
but her hunger drives her to a dangerous decision.
White Tip's not in top form and, with no pack to back her up,
the brunt of those skulls could easily break her back.
Like many plant eaters, Prenocephale
often separate while feeding, and that's an opportunity for White Tip.
In a pack, Velociraptors are among the smartest killers on the planet.
But hunting alone takes a lot of luck.
A day later, and still no food.
Now, White Tip will settle for anything she can get.
Driven to desperation, she lowers her sights.
A familiar screech. It could be a better meal.
Intruding on a flock of Oviraptors is crazy.
They're fierce rivals, twice the size of White Tip.
Instead of teeth, these meat eaters have wicked beaks
and equally formidable claws.
The noise that lured White Tip here sounded like a killing.
But there's no food here, just sex.
This older male is doing his best to court a female.
He's got smooth moves and a good line.
But it's not working.
I've got to give him credit for trying.
A younger suitor makes a play.
A sore loser, the young oviraptor
takes it out on White Tip.
The Mongolian desert is crawling with predators.
White Tip may be a meat eater, but she still needs to watch her step,
or she could end up someone else's dinner.
Another lousy lizard.
Oh, well.
Beggars can't be choosers.
But this lizard's not going to stick around for dinner.
Uh-oh. Protoceratops.
White Tip's blundered into a nest of trouble.
Protoceratops are usually mild mannered,
but not when they're parents, and not when they're mad.
This old male has only one eye,
but he's relentless when it comes to protecting his family.
He pursues her well beyond his own territory,
and right into another male's domain.
Protoceratops are about the size of sheep, and just as docile.
But the intruder's enraged this herd's leader.
He'll protect his harem with his life.
The old male is a combat veteran.
He'd just as soon be elsewhere.
Dazed and disoriented,
the wounded male staggers in the wrong direction from home.
He's exhausted and bleeding, and has no chance to escape.
All White Tip has to do is wait.
White Tip has caught a break. She's not out of danger.
Without a pack, her days could still be numbered.
In 'Jurassic park', the fleet-footed Velociraptor
SCOTT SAMPSONarrow s20}Museo de Historia Natural de Utah Paleontólogo de Discovery Quest
raised out of nowhere to become one of the world's most famous dinosaurs.
However, Velociraptor was actually less than 1/2 my size.
Scientists used to think dinosaurs resembled lizards,
but now we see them as more akin to birds.
In 1999, paleontologists digging in China,
discovered a new species of dinosaur with a revolutionary feature.
It has a layer of primitive feathers, up to an inch and a half long.
Thriving about 135 million years ago, Sinornithosaurus
is one of the earliest known birdlike dinosaurs.
Yet, it couldn't fly. So, why was it feathered?
Possibly, to help control body temperature,
or perhaps, to attract members of the opposite sex.
55 million years later, along came another flightless carnivore:
Velociraptor.
Besides feathers, Velociraptor and Sinornithosaurus
share more than a hundred specialized features with birds,
including the hollow bones that help make birds airborne.
Based on this mountain of evidence, both of these predatory dinosaurs
support the idea that birds are the direct descendants
of two-legged, meat eating dinosaurs.
We still don't know exactly why feathers evolved,
but we do know, if it looks like a bird and acts like a bird,
it must be a dinosaur.
DESIERTO DE GOBI, MONGOLIA HACE 80 MILLONES DE AÃ'OS
For most of the creatures in the Gobi desert,
just staying alive is a challenge. The daily routine never varies.
For the lone Velociraptor, White Tip, a change is in the wind.
A pack of Velociraptors is on the hunt.
When they're hungry, they'll attack anything.
Their leader is Broken Hand. He's strong and aggressive,
despite his injured limb.
The noise peaks his interest.
A pair of Oviraptors is gorging themselves on Protoceratops eggs.
This is no time for a showdown.
The trail of blood looks promising.
The blood belongs to White Tip's fresh kill.
She's feasting on the carcass.
Velociraptors like these wiped out her pack.
She has reason to fear them.
White Tip has no choice but to go.
Or... maybe not.
Going at it alone is a drag, and this is a strong pack.
She'll have to play it cool. Very cool.
White Tip will bide her time until the pack has eaten its fill.
A full stomach should make these Velociraptors less dangerous,
but timing is everything.
A mistake could cost White Tip her life.
Blue Brow is interested, but he's not the boss,
and he didn't get permission from Broken Hand.
His leadership threatened, Broken Hand unloads.
But it's not White Tip he's mad at, it's Blue Brow.
Blue Brow is down, but he's not out.
Broken Hand's miscalculated. This kid's tough.
The downfall of Broken Hand is a stunning victory for Blue Brow.
The balance of power in the pack has shifted.
With Broken Hand gone, it's a whole new ballgame,
and a new start for White Tip.
White Tip's been accepted.
Secure her place in the pecking order, she still must earn her stripes.
When hunting, a pack of Velociraptors can cover a lot of ground.
These Protoceratops look familiar.
White Tip is back, and this time, she's not alone.
DESIERTO DE GOBI, MONGOLIA HACE 80 MILLONES DE AÃ'OS
For the first time, White Tip is hunting with her new pack.
Velociraptors rarely attack head on,
they're experts at deception.
Equipped with relatively large brains,
they're among the most cunning and dangerous dinosaurs around.
This pair is deliberately distracting the herd of Protoceratops,
while Blue Brow and White Tip circle around.
The rouse works. The nests are unprotected.
The intruders aren't looking for a kill, just trying to pull off a heist.
Now, to divide the loot. Blue Brow keeps his,
White Tip is forced to relinquish hers.
She's still at the bottom of the pecking order.
White Tip has played her hand just right.
She's proven her worth and assured her place in the pack.
Three months later, back in shape and confident,
White Tip is about to become a mother.
She's found a nesting site she likes: somebody else's.
Secure enough to assert herself, White Tip no longer feels the urge to be submissive.
The ousted female hopes Blue Brow will intercede,
but his position is clear.
On Dinosaur Planet, predator and prey
live side by side as intimate enemies.
It's a landscape interrupted only now and then by uproar.
And when stomachs are full again, calm is restored.
White Tip has laid her first clutch of eggs.
It's small, only 5, but it's an investment in the future.
White Tip has no time to go hunting.
Blue Brow is still new at being a leader.
His instincts for hunting have yet to be tested,
as the pack is about to discover.
A Shuvuuia is pecking the bark of a dead tree in search of grubs.
Blue Brow makes a tactical error -
he hesitates and loses the element of surprise.
Now their only hope is to run in the ground.
An Oviraptor's bone-crunching beak ends Blue Brow's hunt
and the pack's chance for a meal.
Humbled, Blue Brow is the first to leave.
Not a good showing.
SCOTT SAMPSONarrow s20}Museo de Historia Natural de Utah Paleontólogo de Discovery Quest
Mongolia, 80 million years ago.
For predators, it was a very good year.
You had Velociraptors, three kinds of Oviraptors,
and little Shuvuuia, just to name a few species.
But the numbers just don't add up.
The species of predators outnumbered the species of prey.
In a typical ecosystem, there are more prey than predators.
But in prehistoric Mongolia,
the ecosystem was a predator's paradise.
Undoubtedly, the most bizarre were the Oviraptors.
It's hard to tell the front of the skull from the back,
especially since they had no teeth.
Instead, there's a strong, birdlike beak.
Yet Oviraptors had the trademark claws of a carnivore.
So, what did they eat?
When the first Oviraptor was discovered in 1923,
it was lying in a clutch of eggs thought to belong
to Protoceratops.
Scientists dubbed the new species Oviraptor, or 'egg thief'.
But the eggs recently were found to be Oviraptor eggs.
The alleged thief was actually a nurturing parent.
Perhaps Oviraptor hunted a smorgasborg of small animals.
Or maybe, as its ancestors lost their teeth, it became a switch hitter.
An omnivore, consuming both plants and meat, and perhaps eggs too.
When it comes to dinosaur behavior, we usually have to rely on our best guess,
and those ideas will change as we make new discoveries.
DESIERTO DE GOBI, MONGOLIA HACE 80 MILLONES DE AÃ'OS
Deserts are unforgiving. Life clings to the slimmest of margins.
When it comes to survival, it's catch as catch can.
And anything is fair game.
As dusk settles, White Tip is in her nest, tending her eggs.
She hasn't eaten for days.
A small Deltatheridium gets her attention.
Its movement is irresistible.
It triggers the instinct to hunt, leaving her eggs vulnerable.
Big mistake.
The intruder is Broken Hand, just trying to stay alive.
White Tip's clutch is reduced to 3 eggs. The loss is a setback,
but at least it's not a disaster for the mom-to-be.
Weeks ago, White Tip laid a foundation for the future.
Last night, the eggs hatched.
Now, both she and her infants need to be fed.
Less than a day old, these young Velociraptors
are left to fend for themselves. She must hunt.
Once again, the pack is at full strength, and hungry for big game.
These bones of the old Protoceratops
are all that's left of the meal that saved White Tip's life.
But others may not be so lucky.
Desperate with hunger,
Broken Hand has recklessly attacked the herd of Prenocephale.
With no pack to reinforce him, the old soldier is defenseless.
Without a backwards glance, the pack moves off,
leaving Broken Hand to his fate.
The Oviraptor nesting ground. Guarded by just two females.
Now it's turnabout fair play.
The surprise attack leaves a pair of hatchlings on open ground,
totally unprotected.
As quickly as the pack appeared, they vanish.
The point is to get a meal, not become one.
The meal White Tip brings home looks just like her offspring.
But here on the Gobi desert,
her own hatchlings could just as easily have been the Oviraptors' dinner.
Something's in the wind.
In prehistoric Mongolia, dark clouds are a rare sight,
and weather, a phenomenon.
Here it rains only inches a year, just enough to sustain life.
This is no spring shower, it's a gully washer.
White Tip has never seen the likes of this,
or the tragedy to follow.
DESIERTO DE GOBI, MONGOLIA HACE 80 MILLONES DE AÃ'OS
For the first time in a century, the rain is unrelenting.
All the dinosaurs can do is hunker down and wait.
When the storm finally breaks, life goes back to normal.
Only this time, it's a little more urgent.
A little more hungry. A little more raw.
The pack is ravenous, and dead set on a serious meal.
They're not above scavenging, but the carcass of their old leader,
Broken Hand, is too putrid to eat.
Their best bet is Protoceratops.
The plan is an old one, with a new twist.
The pack splits up, setting the play in motion.
These two females distract the herd,
while Blue Brow and White Tip prepare to charge.
Normally, Blue Brow would take the lead.
But White Tip attacks first.
Blue Brow hesitates. He's faced this bull before.
He finally engages. White Tip goes down.
Her fall may be a lucky break.
By a freak of nature, the fighting dinosaurs are doomed.
Saturated with water from the strom, the dune begins to slip.
White Tip can't grasp what's happened.
An avalanche of sand has buried her pack alive.
Yet, her instincts tell her to move on.
Once again, White Tip's on her own, but she's not alone.
White Tip's brood is more than a family.
One day soon, these chicks will reach adulthood.
With their mother to guide them, they'll form a new pack,
and become some of the most formidable predators
ever to roam Dinosaur Planet.
In the history of fossil hunting,
SCOTT SAMPSONarrow s20}Museo de Historia Natural de Utah Paleontólogo de Discovery Quest
this mortal embrace of a Velociraptor and Protoceratops
ranks as one of the greatest discoveries of all time.
Paleontologists have never found anything else like it.
A kind of dinosaur Pompeii, life stopped dead in its tracks.
The Velociraptor thrust its killing claw
into the gut of the Protoceratops, while the jaws of the Protoceratops
gripped the predator's arm.
Before this landmark find, the evidence that
Velociraptor hunted Protoceratops was only circumstantial -
teethmarks of the carnivore on the bones of its prey.
The Fighting Dinosaurs provide the hard evidence.
Yet, as one mystery is solved, another looms.
What freak of nature preserved this fossil snapshot?
Before they become fossils,
most bones are exposed to erosion by wind and water.
Perhaps gnawing by scavengers.
The Fighting Dinosaurs show no such wear,
suggesting they were suddenly entombed, but how?
The fossil record suggests the Cretaceous dunes of the Gobi desert
were stabilized by plants, which grew above a layer of calcium.
But nothing built on sand lasts forever.
Every few centuries, torrential storms may have struck the Gobi.
Rain percolated through the sand until trapped at the calcium layer.
Then, like a California mudslide,
the entire top layer gave way.
In an instant, predator and prey were buried beneath tons of sand.
A fossil freeze-frame captured in time.