"The amazing animals that time has left behind." "But what if we could bring them back?" "What if extinction didn't have to be for ever?" "We're going back in time on a safari with a difference as wildlife adventurer Nigel Marven plunges into prehistory to rescue creatures on the brink of extinction." "His plan is to bring them back to the safety of the present and give them a second chance." "This time Nigel is going back 300 million years to a time long before the dinosaurs when insects ruled the world." "His goal is to rescue some of the largest and most dangerous creepy-crawlies in history." "Welcome to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary." "Welcome to Prehistoric Park." "Prehistoric Park's mission to bring back extinct animals has so far been a big success." "The Park's elephants now live with their hairy lce Age cousin." "The herd of hungry Titanosaurs roam freely and a bad-tempered Triceratops needs a lot of attention." "These are just a few of the Park's current residents and there are plenty more to come." "Right now, while Nigel plans his next prehistoric collecting trip, the rest of the team are having some trouble with Prehistoric Park's breeding programme." "now, do as you're told and stay there!" "Go on." "Do as..." "OW!" "There are either too many babies or too few." "(GroWls) ln his last adventure," "Nigel and his team went back in time 1 0,000 years to the plains of South America." "Back then, Sabre Tooth Cats were on the very brink of extinction." "Nigel managed to rescue a young male and a female that had just lost her cub to starvation." "Now both animals have fully recovered and head vet Suzanne wants them to breed." "The trouble is, the female is proving to be a very fussy feline." "We Want them to breed and it's just not Working." "She is so aggressive to him." "I think if We put them together, she Would kill him." "He is just like an annoying little teenager and she's a nice, sensible, older Woman." "And she is not interested in being With him." "To get them started, the lucky couple have been put into a special breeding enclosure." "This is to keep them close together, so they can get to know each other without fighting, but so far, it's not working." "I've been doing research on breeding large cats in captivity and I've got an idea." "I think We need romance, so just Wait." "Nigel has been fascinated with insects and other invertebrates since he was a boy." "Now he plans to bring back some prehistoric bugs from extinction." "To get it right, first he needs to know exactly where and when to go to find the creatures he's looking for." "And there's a clue waiting on the remote Scottish island of Arran." "The rocks of Arran date back 300 million years to a time long before the dinosaurs when the world was home to a very different kind of giant." "Nigel has come all this way to study some faint marks in the rock." "These are the fossilised tracks of a creature called Arthropleura, a primitive Arthropod like modern millipedes and centipedes, except for one thing." "It grew as big as a man." "Other fossils show that Arthropleura was far from alone." "Giant scorpions and dragonflies were just some of the amazing creatures that shared the muggy swamps of prehistoric Scotland." "(Nigel) lt's mind-boggling What happens through time." "300 million years ago, this Was right on the Equator." "It Was a swamp teeming With giant insects." "I've got to go back here." "This is so exciting." "The specimens We can catch for Prehistoric Park, giant dragonflies, huge scorpions, maybe even a centipede that's as big as I am." "With the exact time and place co-ordinates of his mission confirmed," "Nigel heads back to the Park to get ready." "What he doesn't realise is that he's driving straight into a major emergency." "Bob to Nigel." "Get down to the T-Rex enclosure now!" "T-Rex Matilda has broken into her brother Terence's enclosure." "Terence wants her out, and when you're a T-Rex a family argument is not a good idea." "When Nigel brought back the two T-Rex from the late Cretaceous Period, they were young and some might even say cute." "Now, though they're still not fully grown, they're very big and very dangerous." "Matilda is the more aggressive of the two and is easily getting the better of her brother." "Bob decides to dart her first." "The dart hits home, but there's a problem." "With reptiles, tranquillisers take time to work." "Some dinosaurs are known to have been cannibals." "For Terence, Bob's dart may have come too late." "That'll be Nigel then!" "(Horn toots)" "Like most modern predators, Matilda can't resist a moving target." "The plan works, but there's a catch." "She's after us!" "Now she's after Nigel." "Don't know Where to go now." "It's a dead end." "Here We go." "(GroWls)" "Come on, Matilda." "That tranquilliser drug must be Working now." "You must be tired." "Come on." "Go on, go over." "Having stopped the fight, Nigel sets off on his prehistoric insect hunt." "With the male T-Rex so badly Wounded, it's a tricky time to go, but he's in good hands." "I've seen reptiles recover from horrendous injuries, so hopefully he'll be OK." "Nigel's mission will take him back 300 million years to a time known as the Carboniferous, further back than he's ever been before." "At that time, the world was a very different place." "Dinosaurs, birds and mammals had not yet evolved." "Scotland was a hot, boggy swamp on the Equator, full of primitive fish, amphibians and giant insects." "But Nigel's destination is so far back in time that he has no way of knowing what dangers he may have to face." "Carboniferous, here We come!" "(Screeching)" "Start, please!" "(Engine splutters)" "What a start!" "We got our co-ordinates a bit Wrong." "Meant to be an island of dry land." "Could have been Worse, I suppose." "What a great start!" "Broken-doWn vehicle, up to my knees in slime!" "Look at this place!" "Magical." "The forest seems strangely quiet." "But in a prehistoric swamp you never know what's just around the corner." "(Beeping)" "Back at the Park, Suzanne's vet skills are being tested to the limit." "Terence has lost a lot of blood and is in a critical condition." "Now Suzanne has got to save a very sick dinosaur, something they didn't teach her in vet school." "Support his head." "Watch it, gentle." "OK, that's it, that's it." "OK..." "The most threatening injury is a massive gash on the T-Rex's face." "It's really deep." "Fossils show many examples of face bites in carnivorous dinosaurs." "In a fight, the head was a popular target." "Often With reptiles you'd use staples, rather than stitching them." "I've chosen not to because We'd have to re-anaesthetise him to take the staples out." "With reptile Wounds, We stitch them With the skin edges sticking out." "If they're nice and even, the skin edges can grow in and get horribly infected." "So We're going to give that a go." "Thanks." "The biggest risk now is infection." "We'll see how he goes because We don't Want to use antibiotics if We can help it." "For Terence, the next 2 4 hours are critical." "300 million years ago, oxygen levels in the air were almost twice what they are today." "Scientists believe that this may be why insects then were so large, but so far, Nigel hasn't seen anything, big or small." "Some butterflies have territories at the tree tops." "Maybe dragonflies do." "I've got to get up there." "It's not an easy option." "Prehistoric plants like this one grew to heights of 1 50 feet and had no branches." "It's a tricky climb." "Over millions of years this magnificent prehistoric forest will turn into the coal that we burn today." "But right now, it's still a beautiful sight." "Oh, yeah!" "Just a sea of green for as far as you can see." "It's mind-boggling What Will happen here over the next 300 million years." "Already the climate's changing and this Carboniferous sWampland is diminishing." "In another 50 million years there'll be conifers here." "After that, there'll be ice." "The most incredible thing, in 300 million years, right on this spot, Well, 1 50 feet below me, there could be a fish and chip shop in glasgow." "And look, coming out there from the trees..." "Just as I thought, coming straight..." "Oh!" "Straight at me!" "A Giant Dragonfly. I can see the sun glistening off its Wings." "And down below, through the trees, there are chinks of shiny, reflective Water." "I think that's the place to go." "That's Where they'll lay their eggs and Where they'll hunt prey." "And What I've got to do is get down there, get down to Water to find the dragonflies I'm after." "He's got an easier job getting down than me." "It's all very well collecting giant insects, but you need somewhere to put them." "I hate to say it, but We need to get a shift on!" "Back in the 2 1st century," "Bob has got a team building a new hi-tech bughouse." "This Will be the new insect house." "It needs to be a fair size With a fair bit of headroom for the flying insects." "I have to make it airtight to create a special atmosphere." "That means the doors have to be airtight, too, so We don't lose that atmosphere." "What's he doing down here?" "I don't know Why, but the Titanosaurs can't settle at the other end of the Park." "They're looking for something, I don't know What." "Hang on, I've had an idea." "The Titanosaurs have broken out of every enclosure Bob has built." "Now they roam freely, causing trouble wherever they go." "now, you should like these - cycad leaves." "We know they Were around in his day." "Right..." "Let's see if this does the trick, eh?" "is this What you're after?" "Obviously not." "I don't know What's the matter With him." "In his search for the ultimate dragonfly," "Nigel moves deeper into the swamps of prehistoric Scotland." "There's something big moving in here, guys." "Look, there's a trail of bubbles disappearing off there." "There's something moving under the Water." "It seems there are plenty of things in this swamp bigger than dragonflies." "(Rustling)" "Did you hear that?" "It's something big and it's moving." "It's so fast!" "Look at that!" "It's an Arthropleura." "WoW!" "What a magnificent creepy-craWly!" "We saw the tracks of this..." "Hey!" "That rearing arc is a defensive reaction." "I've been sprayed by modern millipedes." "They can secrete cyanide." "That smells of almonds. I've had that in my eyes." "Nobody knows anything about these." "Of course nobody's seen a living one." "They've only seen the fossils." "Nobody's even too sure Whether this is a predator or a vegetarian." "It must be about ten feet and those huge mandibles, those huge mouth parts... I'm overjoyed by this." "What a specimen for Prehistoric Park!" "If We can catch it. lt's relaxing." "We have to be so careful." "If it just relaxes and goes down, maybe I can make a lunge." "Got to be..." "Whoa!" "Come on, relax, relax." "Relax." "Aagh!" "That thing is so fast!" "(Laughs)" "Back at Prehistoric Park, head vet Suzanne is putting her Sabre Tooth breeding plan into action." "She's having their pens altered in an effort to get some romance into the air." "We're doing environment enrichment to make this enclosure much more interesting and mimic the natural surroundings of the Sabre Tooth Cat." "We're hoping that Will make them more comfortable, more relaxed With one another and make her less aggressive towards him and they'll breed successfully and We'll get our first Sabre Tooth cubs." "On the other side of the Park, head keeper Bob is busy trying to solve the problem of the restless Titanosaurs." "Some nice, rounded stones." "I Want to give them to the Titanosaurs." "We might have found their problem." "A friend of Nigel's, a palaeontologist, has sent us some photographs." "Here, I'll show you." "And it appears that the Titanosaurs used to eat stones." "That's not as barmy as it sounds." "Ostriches do." "Have a look." "Fossils of large plant-eating dinosaurs have been found with stones in their stomachs." "One theory is that they ate stones to help grind up tough plant matter in their gut." "It's a nice idea, but will the Titanosaurs really fancy a mouthful of rocks?" "The Arthropleura has long gone." "We can't give up." "It's slurping mud, it's stinking hot." "But swamps are a paradise for me, teeming With life." "We have to catch some of it." "Just imagine the insect house at Prehistoric Park!" "Just to taunt us, look at this." "The Arthropleura tracks." "These are just like the ones in Scotland, on the Isle of Arran." "We're about the right place, the right time." "This could be the same tracks." "He may have lost the Arthropleura, but Nigel is about to find something just as exciting, a lake swarming with Giant Dragonflies." "There's one stopped there, one flying backwards." "HaWker Dragonflies in modern times can go at 30mph." "These big ones, Who knows What speed they're going?" "They're looking for mates." "If they find a female, they grab hold With claspers and start mating." "But they can't identify What sex it is until they get really close." "[ Skipped item nr. 277 ]" "And these are two males having a dogfight." "And look at them." "Look at that!" "They are so aerobatic." "He's Whizzing right close." "They can stop immediately, they can spin round on a sixpence." "low over the Water there, coming straight towards me." "You could feel the breeze from their Wings on my face then." "This is incredible." "This is great." "Watching it in the 21 st century is fun enough, but to see dragonflies With a three-foot Wingspan having a dogfight..." "This is tremendous stuff." "One's broken off." "He's left the other one." "He's patrolling, looking for food now." "The dragonfly settles." "Time to get hunting." "Keeping low, moving slow." "They've got superb eyesight." "50% of a dragonfly's head is eye." "Aagh!" "Aagh!" "Got me in the shin." "Aagh!" " (MAN) Are you all right?" " Yeah." "Something bit me underwater." "There must be a big amphibian in there, a predatory fish or something." "But that'll be fine." "Animal bites for us Wildlife blokes are just a badge of courage." "I've just seen a dragonfly go up into the canopy. lt'll be dark before We know it." "We need to find some drier ground and set up camp." "OK, this is about the driest We'll get." "Everywhere's soggy." "We're looking for a campsite." "This is slightly above the rest of the swamp." "The guys Want to make a fire, but 20% oxygen in the 21 st century, 35% in Carboniferous times, even this soggy stuff could go up, so We have to be really careful." "The film crew sets up camp." "The big question is, what might come out in the night?" "Don't Walk around here Without boots on." "If you have to go off for a Jimmy Riddle, use the torch." "There could be poisonous scorpions and everything." " Bill, What are you doing?" " Putting up my mosquito net." "You don't need that." "Mosquitoes haven't evolved yet." "They sucked the blood of dinosaurs and Won't be around for 75 million years or so." "(Thunderclap)" "The weather turns nasty." "Come on, guys, quick." "Right, let's get under." "Sleep Well, guys." "Sleep Well." "But Nigel and his crew will have more to deal with in the storm before the night is through." "At Prehistoric Park," "Bob's trying to solve the problem of the troublesome Titanosaurs by giving them rocks to eat." "All right, here you go." "Amazingly, Bob's pebble plan diet is proving popular." "What's all the fuss about, eh?" "Perhaps now they'll stay where they're supposed to." "On the other side of the Park, head vet Suzanne is visiting the observation pens to see how Terence, the injured T-Rex, is getting on." "Hey, come over here." "Here, boy." "He looks terrible." "He's really lethargic." "That Wound's all red and inflamed." "It looks horrible." "I think it's gone septic." "The Worst-case scenario is he gets septicaemia Which is a disaster." "We need to give him antibiotics and get that sorted out. lt's really serious." "Tests confirm that Terence does have septicaemia." "Suzanne decides to take drastic action." "It's risky giving him antibiotics." "We've no idea how that'll act on his system." "But We have to or he'll die." "Back in the swamps of prehistoric Scotland, the rain has finally stopped." "But there's something more sinister stirring." "Creatures often become active after rains and there's something over there I Want to show you." "It is one of nature's show stoppers." "Experienced bug hunters never go anywhere without a handy ultraviolet light." "The monster I'm going to show you fluoresces With this." "A scorpion that's nearly a metre long, much bigger than any modern scorpions." "It's got a protein in its cuticle, in the exoskeleton." "That fluoresces in ultraviolet light." "Nobody knows Why." "That is gorgeous and What a specimen!" "But my camera Work is shaky and rubbish, so even they Won't like it." "I've got to Wake up the cameraman." "Crew member Bill is about to get his own wake-up call." "It's on the move!" "Bill Wouldn't like this, but I Won't Wake him up." "The scorpion Won't sting unless it's provoked." "And he's moving slowly." "It's getting really close." "They have sense organs under their bodies called pectines, amazing vibration detectors." "He stopped there." "Bill gave a twitch." "That's Why he's coiled in an attack position." "I've got to get him, just grab him..." "Got ya!" "Aagh!" "I never get used to that." "I always forget those pincers!" "Sorry, mate." "You had a scorpion on you, a three-foot, metre-long scorpion." "I'll look for him in the morning." "Sorry about that, guys." "Next morning, with no change in the T-Rex's condition," "Suzanne goes to see how the Sabre Tooths are getting on with their new, improved enclosure." "It's amazing What a difference the climbing frames have made." "She is such a happy cat." "Look at her now." "She's rubbing, she's affectionate, she's rolling on the grass." "She just looks like a happy pussycat." "She looks really good." "He's still pacing up and down the fence, trying to get her attention." "She's no longer ignoring him." "Hopefully, she Won't be aggressive and she might even accept him." "Now Suzanne has to decide if it's safe to put the two animals in together to breed." "If she gets it wrong, there could be a lethal fight." "It's a new day in the swamps of prehistoric Scotland and Nigel's determined to catch himself a dragonfly." "I'm going move in quick because he's shimmering his Wings." "That means they're Warming up for a flight." "Aagh!" "He's just too fast and this thing is so big and unwieldy." "I've got another idea." "This is my secret Weapon." "It Works With modern, fast-flying dragonflies. lt's a Water pistol." "I'll put detergent in here, fill this With Water." "As they go by, shoot 'em down in mid-air, they fall into the Water." "Because of the detergent, the surface tension on the lake is broken." "They go under the Water and that gives me time to catch it With the net." "This is harder than I thought." "These things are so fast." "Stay there." "Aagh!" "He's settled." "This is our best chance yet." "Yes!" "Quick..." "I'm going to get the net." "Hey!" "Got you!" "At last!" "Take the dragonfly, mate." "Thank you, thank you, thank you." "Good old Marven!" "Here We go!" "This...is the mystery predator." "WoW!" "And I think I know What it is." "This is Crassigyrinus Scoticus." "It's a fossil that's only ever been found in Scotland, a real Scottish speciality." "Those jaws are so powerful." "This Was the thing that injured me." "Bitten off more than it can chew!" "And a really powerful tail there, look at that!" "What I need to do is get him into the shallows and have a look at him." "You need a tight grip." "This is slimy and powerful." "Look at these..." "Aagh!" "Look at these tiny limbs!" "They're for an animal a quarter of this size, so it Wasn't very good on land." "This thing lived in the shallows and erupted out like a modern-day pike and caught big fish and other amphibians." "This is an ambush predator." "Look at the length of the jaw there." "I've got to be careful Where I put my fingers." "It can open its mouth really Wide, perfect snap trap." "It Waits in ambush. lt attacks anything that it can dismember - fish, amphibians." "A double row of fearsome teeth in there." "Crassigyrinus Scoticus hasn't got a common name, but I'm going to call this - look - the swamp Monster!" "Whoa!" "Off you go, boy, off you go!" "Bye-bye!" "With no way to transport it safely," "Nigel decides to let his Swamp Monster go." "[ Skipped item nr. 440 ] lf that Crassigyrinus Was a swamp Monster, you are a swamp Beauty!" "Look..." "Look at those exquisite eyes!" "You are gorgeous!" "What a dazzling insect!" "And I can't resist this." "Gossamer Wings, but there's power behind them!" "A perfect fan on a hot summer day." "Stop that now." "There We go." "I don't Want him to damage his Wings." "Look at the abdomen there." "He's flexing it to show us." "And those strange structures, you can see those in the fossils of this species." "Nobody knows What they're for." "They could be used for courtship or grabbing a female." "Got to get you back to Prehistoric Park." "It's a big moment for the Sabre Tooth Cats." "Suzanne is about to open the gate between the two enclosures, but will they frolic or fight?" "I'm still quite apprehensive about introducing them and seeing how it goes." "The Water doWser is on standby." "Cats don't like Water." "If it doesn't go Well, We'll just blast them apart. I think We should do it." "OK..." "Are you guys on standby?" "OK, lift the gate now." "No, she's Walking up towards him." "(Faint growling)" "Stand by, stand by!" "OK." "She looks quite comfortable in there and he's not attacking her." "We've got a long Way to go before they'd mate successfully, but at least they're not attacking each other." "It's a really good start." "With a dragonfly safely in the bag," "Nigel begins his search for the Giant Scorpion." "You think of scorpions in deserts, but lots of them live in places like this, in forests and things." "And there!" "I just saw something different under here." "There it is, just as I thought." "See, the eight-legged scorpion." "They're not insects." "They're arachnids in the same family as spiders, ticks and mites." "It knows I'm here. incredible sensory system." "See those hairs on the body?" "It uses those to detect air currents and Will be sensing my vibrations." "When I move, it moves towards me." "And pretty small claws." "That's What Worries me." "Small claws, big sting." "It probably kills its prey using venom." "Scorpions With big claws normally crush their prey." "[ Skipped item nr. 482 ] lt's a pretty nasty brew, scorpion venom." "There's toxins in there that can stop your heart beating, stop you breathing." "When it raises that sting, it doesn't half get your heart beating." "I've got to try and grab the telson, the big bulb beneath the sting." "And if I can get that, I'll be safe." "What I've got to do is try to draw his attention." "There We are, come on." "Come on." "He's responding to the vibrations from the stick." "Come on." "This is it. lt's all or nothing." "This is a strong and powerful creepy-craWly, but this is tiny in comparison to the ancestors of the scorpions." "They Were Eurypterids, they came out of the sea and had the basic body plan of this, but they could've been six feet long and Weigh as much as I do." "somehow I've got to get him into a box and take him back to Prehistoric Park." "But to get a scorpion into a box, you have to let it go." "It's a dangerous moment." "Aagh!" "Oh, God!" "Scorpion venom can take several hours to have an effect." "It may turn out to be toxic or even fatal to humans." "It's throbbing up my Whole arm." "I'll put a plaster on it..." "But that's not all..." "a couple of miles away, there's trouble brewing that could jeopardise the lives of the entire crew." "At the insect house," "Bob has worked out the new threat they're facing for himself." "To keep the prehistoric insects happy, he's recreated the atmosphere found 300 million years ago, but there's a dangerous side-effect." "The higher oxygen levels mean things burn much faster." "The lightning storm the night before has started a forest fire." "Look at this!" "It's so easy for fire to get a hold." "There's so much oxygen in the atmosphere, this is going to go through the forest at a fair old lick towards the Jeep." "We've got to get the animals, get the Land Rover started and get back to Prehistoric Park." "Hey, guys, We've got to move out of here!" "You can feel the heat." "The Land Rover is just over there." "Flames are all around it." "Look, fleeing from the fire..." "He's got the right idea, but We've got to go towards the heat." "Aagh!" "Nigel stumbles, but this is no ordinary fallen log." "Nigel has stumbled across another Arthropleura, but it couldn't have happened at a worse time." "Arthropleura Was burrowing in the leaf litter and must've felt the heat." "But it's got no chance." "It'll be burnt alive." "Unless Nigel can save it." "I'll be back!" "This is such a powerful beast and even When you get close to it, I'm not sure if it's a centipede or a millipede." "Hey!" "Jim, quick!" "Quick!" "Quick, Jim!" "Move!" "Come on!" "With the oxygen, this place is like a tinderbox!" "Come on, quick!" "We have got to get out of here!" "I can smell burning insects." "The fire is getting so close." "Hurry up!" "We haven't got much time." "We've still got to get this thing moving." "With the engine out of action, Nigel must find a way to get them and the Jeep through the time portal and back to the Park before it's too late." "When you've got a park full of dinosaurs, you'll never need a tow truck." "Come on, this Way!" "And Bob knows just how to say thank you." "There you are now." "That's it." "Good girl." "Good girl." "Well done." "Well done." "They'll do anything for a treat." "Thanks for that." "Everyone's back safely, but Nigel's still got something on his mind." "I think it'll be fine. lt probably Would have had an effect by now." "Scorpion venom is designed to kill insects and luckily he's a mammal." " Nigel, you need a good night's sleep." " Thanks, Suzanne." "Good night." "At the insect house, Bob is checking up on the new arrivals." "Where is he?" "Should be around here somewhere." "There he is." "I'm not too Worried because the Arthropleura is actually a vegetarian." "You know What the funny thing is?" "I'm rather fond of him." "It's because he's big, not an iggly-Wiggly little spider that creeps up behind you." "Aye, good lad." "Something's up at the vet surgery." "(GroWling)" "Suzanne, I thought you had bad news, but Terence is OK?" "He's fine." "The good news is he responded to the antibiotics." "The bad news is I didn't restrain him." "I didn't think he'd come round so quickly." "He's destroying my surgery!" "I don't know how We're going to get him out." " Bob?" " 'What is it, Nigel?" "'" "Hello, mate." "Can you get over here?" "I've got a real surprise for you." "A few hours later and Terence the T-Rex is safely back in his enclosure." "Thanks to a tough immune system and a bit of modern medicine, he should make a full recovery." "Leaving Suzanne the minor job of tidying up the surgery!" "Next time, Nigel goes back 75 million years to catch the biggest crocodile of all time." "Suzanne finds out if the Sabre Tooths will finally have cubs." "And the Titanosaurs cause some serious mayhem." "But for now at least, all is calm at Prehistoric Park." "(Roars)"