The Mesozoic World: Ep 1, Dawn Of The Dinosaurs.

Millions of years ago, long before Man walked the Earth, the world was dominated by a group of strange looking animals called Synapsids. Synapsids are a unique group of animals because they're a missing link between reptiles and mammals. They had originally evolved from an early group of reptiles that branched off from all other early reptiles and over time, they evolved many mammal like features and thus these strange mammal-like-reptiles became the ancestors of all mammals, including us Humans! For the past 50 million years, Synapsids have thrived on our planet, but then, 252 million years ago, near the end of the Permian period, everything changed. Earth suffered from the most catastrophic event ever to occur. Massive volcanic eruptions across the globe made life on Earth nearly unsustainable. Scientists nicknamed this event The Great Dying.

Far out in what is now Northern Russia, a lone Inostrancevia alexandri, a 12 foot long quadrupedal carnivore with a long narrow head and slender body, is feasting on a carcass of a Scutosaurus karpinskii. Inostrancevia has large and powerful canine teeth that he uses to tear chunks of meat into small pieces, like Dogs. These Dog like teeth help him make short work on the Scutosaur's flesh. 

But the smell of blood soon attracts other predators. Another male Inostrancevia approaches the dead Scutosaur. This second male is weak from starvation; his rib bones are visible on his body from the lack of food. Desperate for food he has been driven here to feast on the carcass but before he gets a chance to sink his teeth into the Scutosaur's meat, the first Inostrancevia spots him and lets out a roar at the other male warning him off. The second Inostrancevia growls right back at the first one also telling him to get lost. For the past few decades, the world has already been suffering from The Great Dying, millions of animals have already died, and with prey scarce, predators like Inostrancevia will fight any creature to win the rights to any carcass they can find, even other Inostrancevia. As the two killers start fighting over the carcass, things are about to go from bad to worse for them. Just two miles away a massive volcano is about to unleash a devastating eruption. The top of the mountain explodes, gas clouds shoot out from the top of the mountain, extending high into the sky. Soon molten lava starts to flow down from the volcano, and volcanic ash begins to rain down.

Volcanic ash is made of tiny sharp crystals, if an animal is to breathe in enough of this ash, it can clog up its lungs and choke the poor creature to death, while lava is made of molten rock that has been melted down overtime by heat and pressure deep inside the Earth. It can reach a singeing temperature of 1,700 °F, burning anything that touches it. However, the lava and ash are nothing compared to what else the volcano is also about to unleash. Soon enough, a devastating Pyroclastic flow forms on the volcano's side. 

Pyroclastic flows are fast-moving currents of hot clouds of gas and rock. The gas in them can reach a scorching 1,800 °F, burning anything in its path, and can move at speeds of 400-500 mph. And this Pyroclastic flow is heading right towards the Inostrancevias! Sensing the approaching danger, the two Inostrancevia abandon the carcass and run for the lives, unfortunately the two Inostrancevia are nowhere near fast enough to outrun the deadly Pyroclastic flow. The Pyroclastic flow catches up to them in less than a minute and the intense burning heat kills them both almost instantly!

The Great Dying is the most devastating extinction event ever recorded in the paleontology records, even bigger than the famous K–T extinction. The Great Dying  destroyed 95% of all marine life, and 70% of all life on land. A total of 90% of all life on Earth, died out. But despite this massive extinction, a few family groups of Synapsids had successfully made it through The Great Dying alive. The surviving Synapsids slowly began to re-populate the empty Earth, but as they began to repopulate, a new group of animal had evolved, Archosaurs. Soon enough the Archosaurs evolved better ways to survive than the Synapsids, and they quickly began to take over as the new dominant race. They soon evolved into many recognizable animals including Crocodiles, Birds, Alligators, and the most famous of them all......................... DINOSAURS!!!

In Mesozoic World, we will travel across 20 different time zones around the globe to see these magnificent animals in their natural environments, starting with their birth in prehistoric Argentina 230 million years ago in the late Triassic, to their extinction in prehistoric South Dakota 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous. Using the most up to date knowledge on fossils, discover how these magnificent beasts eat, hunt, fight, and reproduce. And we will even witness the events that drove the creatures to extinction!

The Mesozoic World: Episode 1, Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Location: South America (Argentina).
Time: Late Triassic, 230 million years ago.

20 million years have passed since The Great Dying, the world has fully recovered and life is once again beginning to thrive. Our story begins here in the late Triassic period, in the ancient Ischigualasto Formation fossil digsite.

An Eodromaeus murphi, a bipedal carnivores Theropod with small arms and a long and slender head, feasts upon a dead fish washed up on a river bank. He's one of the very first Dinosaurs to evolve. He's small though, measuring up to 3 feet long and weighing up to 11 pounds, but in time, his kind will one day take over the entire planet.

Dinosaurs like Eodromaeus are far different from most ordinary reptiles. Studies show that Dinosaurs were warm-blooded, much like modern mammals. If that wasn't enough though, he even has special hips and ankles that allow him to walk and stay perfectly balanced on 2 legs. Being warm-blooded, and being able to stand on two legs makes him agile and fast, so he can avoid predators or catch prey more easily.

One other strange feature he has is most of his body is also covered in a fuzzy coating of feathers, an evolutionary feature that will trace down to many future Dinosaurs like T. rex and Velociraptor. This trait will even be carried on to the Dinosaur's decedents, Birds. For many years, Dinosaurs were believed to have been related to modern day Lizards; the theory that Dinosaurs were the ancestors of Birds was first suggested in 1868 by Thomas Henry Huxley when fossilized feathers were found on a small Dinosaur known as Archaeopteryx. More studies in the twentieth century revealed that Birds even share many unique skeletal features with Dinosaurs. Since then, paleontologists have uncovered more evidence of the relationships between Dinosaurs and Birds. Now a day's most scientists agree that Dinosaurs were in fact the ancestors of the Birds we see today. And just like Birds, some Dinosaurs like Eodromaeus, had feathers.

Not far away, a Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis watches the Eodromaeus with heavy interest, another early bipedal Theropod Dinosaur that shares these volcanic floodplains with Eodromaeus. Like Eodromaeus, it too is covered in feathers, but unlike her feathery cousin, Herrerasaurus is a much bigger Dinosaur. 20 feet long, weighing nearly 800 pounds, strong hind limbs for speed, and curved shaped claws on each finger designed for grasping prey. This was a predator fully capable of stealing prey from other Dinosaurs. But this female Herrerasaur has bigger prey in mind. 

The female Herrerasaurus charges forward and attacks, but the Eodromaeus spots her and he quickly runs with the Herrerasaurus hot on his tail. But as he takes a sharp turn in attempt to cross the river, another set of jaws suddenly crashes down on top of him. The Eodromaeus screams in pain as the massive jaws thrash him around violently.

The female Herrerasaurus arrives just in time to see the Eodromaeus, now dead, being swallowed whole head first by a predator even larger than her. The attacker is Saurosuchus galilei. A 25 foot long quadrupedal killer, weighing up 1,000 pounds, and has a mouth full of large recurved and serrated teeth, he is the top predator of his time. 

Saurosuchus is a member of a group of animals called Rauisuchians, the early ancestors of Crocodiles and Alligators. Although their not true Dinosaurs, Rausishians like Sarosuchus are still close cousins of the Dinosaurs. Both animal groups are part of the Archosaur order and the two even shared the same ancestors. But the Rauisuchians are vicious carnivores, and many of them only see their Dinosaur relatives as another meal.

The Saurosuchus spots the female Herrerasaurus and lets out an aggressive hissing noise at her, leftover blood from the Eodromaeus drools from his mouth. The female Herrerasaurus knows better than to stay. Quickly she turns and runs off to avoid becoming a meal herself.

Having failed her first meal attempt the female Herrerasaurus heads down river in search of new prey. As she approaches an open field, she spots a small odd looking animal further down the river. Perhaps she can sink her teeth into this animal. Carefully she walks up to the creature quietly to avoid alerting the creature. 

The creature is a Hyperodapedon sanjuanensis, a small quadrupedal critter with short legs and a strange beak. She's a species of Rhynchosaur, a group of animals related to Archosaurs. Rhynchosaurs are famously known for their powerful beaks and incisor teeth, designed to break open seeds from plants for food. This female  Hyperodapedon is using her beak to break open the seeds of cycads, a prehistoric plant that still exists to this very day. 

But she's so busy eating, she's unaware that she's being watched by the female Herrerasaurus. But before the Herrerasaurus gets a chance to strike, a loud noise scares off the Hyperodapedon and ruins everything for the female Herrerasaur. Several yards in-front of the Herrerasaur, a huge herd of Ischigualastia jenseni  appears! A huge quadrupedal animal, with a large body, a short high head, and a small stumpy tail.

However, Ischigualastia isn't a Dinosaur, instead its a large plant-eating Dicynodont, a group of animals from the Synapsid order, like Inostrancevia. Dicynodonts first appeared around the mid Permian period, and they're one of the few family groups of Synapsids that survived The Great Dying, the mass extinction that ended the  Permian period and whipped out 90% of all life on Earth.

The herd approaches the river bank, many of them remain on shore to drink, while a few wade out into the water for more space. No doubt these were the creatures that scared off the female Herrerasaurus's prey. It's one thing to attack an 11 foot long herbivore that could easily fight back, but to attack an entire herd of these creatures is another story. The female Herrerasaurus decides to leave, but before she gets the chance, one of the Ischigualastia let's out an alarming sound, warning the other Ischigualastia that a predator  is nearby. At first the female Herrerasaurus believes she's the predator that's causing the herd to panic. She turns her head towards the herd and lets out an aggressive roar in self-defense, but she is about to discover that she isn't the predator the Ischigualastia herd are afraid of. A loud aggressive hissing noise sounds out from behind the female Herrerasaurus. The same Saurosuchus that stole the Herrerasaur's prey early is still hungry, and it   appears that Ischigualastia are on the menu. The herd quickly forms a defensive maneuver to try and scare off the Saurosuchus, but the tactic doesn't seem to work as the Saurosuchus charges towards the herd and fights back. 

The skull of Saurosuchus was much wider at the back than at the snout; this suggests housing for strong biting muscles. The eyes were also slightly angled forwards for depth perception, a trait that is very common in many predatory animals. This not only made it easier to lock its eyes on its selected prey, but also helped to give   Saurosuchus a better timing of strikes so that it could more successfully deliver a devastating bite to kill its prey.

Things are about to get even worse for the Ischigualastias. Another Saurosuchus approaches the herd from behind; he too is on the hunt for prey. With the herd distracted trying to fight off the first Saurosuchus, they're completely unaware of the second one sneaking up behind them. One of the Ischigualastia suddenly cries out in pain and feels himself being dragged by one of his back legs. The other Ischigualastia all turn around to see the second Saurosuchus dragging the wailing Ischigualasti away from the herd. The first Saurosuchus grabs the same Ischigualastia by the head and starts to pull. With the presence of a second Saurosuchus, the herd turns toward the river and flee to avoid ending up like the one Ischigualastia caught in the middle of a deadly game of tug-of-war.

The two Saurosuchus continue to fight over the poor Ischigualastia, each dragging the large Dicynodont in opposite directions, but in this extreme tug of war there can only be one winner. At last, the second Saurosuchus loses his grip on the Ischigualastia's leg and let's go, allowing the first Saurosuchus to claim his prize. But despite everything it just went through, the Ischigualastia is still alive, but has lost allot of blood. Too weak to stand, the injured Ischigualastia collapses. The  Saurosuchus then bites down on the Ischigualastia's neck delivering the final blow. The Ischigualastia lets out one last breath of air and dies. 

Once, Synapsids like Dicynodonts were Earth's dominant race, but their numbers have dwindled dramatically from The Great Dying, and although the survivors have fully recovered from the world's greatest extinction, now they're suffering from harsh competition from the new Archosaurs. The old school creatures won't be able to compete with these new powerful killers for much longer. Soon, creatures like Ischigualastia will face extinction.

The victories Saurosuchus looks up to see the second Saurosuchus still standing nearby, he lets out a hissing growl telling the loser to get lost. The second   Saurosuchus backs down and decides to look for food somewhere else. But he isn't the only one that's still hungry, the female Herrerasaurus who has seen the whole battle sees an opportunity. With the Saurosuchus distracted by the second Rauisuchian, he isn't paying attention to the carcass. Carefully she sneaks over to the dead Ischigualastia in hopes to get a few scraps. But as she approaches the carcass, the Saurosuchus spots her and let's out an aggressive snarl telling her to get lost as well. Once again the female Herrerasaurus is left on an empty stomach.

The Herrerasaur continues to head down river in hopes to find food. Her hunger has also begun to make her feel thirsty, so she decides to stop for a drink. As she starts to gulp water down her throat, she notices an odd looking creature on the other side of the river, a Pisanosaurus mertii. This three foot long bipedal small fry is a unique creature, for its the earliest known Dinosaur of the Ornithischian order.

Dinosaurs are known from two different order groups, the Saurischian order, and the Ornithischian order. The Saurischian, or "Lizard-hipped", Dinosaurs are named after the shape of their hip bones for their shaped like the hip bones of modern Lizards. Predatory Theropod Dinosaurs like T. rex, Velociraptor, Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus and even the giant long-necked Sauropods like Brontosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Ultrasaurus, and Argentinosaurus are all part of the Saurischian group. The Ornithischian, or "Bird-hipped", Dinosaurs are also named after the shape of their hip bones. But unlike the Saurischian group, their hip bones are shaped like those of modern Birds. Plant-eating Dinosaurs like Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus,   Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Edmontosaurus were all part of this group.

Strangely though, all fossil evidence shows that Birds are decedent from the the "Lizard-hipped" Dinosaurs and not from the "Bird-hipped" Ornithischian Dinosaurs. This is because while the Ornithischian Dinosaurs have similar shaped hip bones to Birds, they don't have the Bird-like pelves that the Saurischian Dinosaurs have. This kind of evolution is called a Convergent Evolution. An evolution process where organisms not monophyletic related evolve similar traits.

At last, the perfect kind of prey our female Herrerasaurus has been looking for. The female Herrerasaur charges forward, the Pisanosaurus spots her and tries to flee, but the predator bites down on his tail before he can escape. 

Herrerasaurus had a flexible joint in the lower jaw that could slide back and forth to deliver a grasping bite. This specialized feature is unusual in Dinosaurs but has evolved in some modern day Lizards. The jaws were equipped with large serrated teeth for biting and eating flesh. And thanks to these specialized features, the  Herrerasaurus is able to kill the Pisanosaurus with ease. 

At last, after three failed attempts to get food, the female Herrerasaurus is finally able to eat. Soon she starts to sink her teeth into the dead Pisanosaurus. A few hours later, and the female Herrerasaurus has eaten her fill. The sun is beginning to set, and the female decides to lay down by a large rock for the night. She'll need all the rest she can get, for tomorrow will feature one of the most important events in her life. Night falls, and our female Herrerasaurus tucks her head underneath her forelimbs and curls her tail towards her head to sleep, modern Birds sleep in this position too. As the Herrerasaurus sleeps, an Eoraptor lunensis, a small bipedal Dinosaur with a slim body and a light coating of feathers, quietly walks by in search of food. 

Eoraptor's teeth dentitions were heterodont, suggesting that this Dinosaur was an omnivore, capable of eating plants or meat. The teeth towards the front of   Eoraptor's mouth were long and sharp and were capable of cutting through meat, while others toward the back of its mouth were blunt and leaf-shaped, and suited to grinding down tough vegetation. 

But because of its odd teeth, Eoraptor's exact classification has been difficult to determinate. For years, it was thought that Eoraptor was an early Theropod, and then in 2011, a new study theorized that Eoraptor was actually a Sauropodomorph, an early ancestor of Sauropods. With this new study, it's believed that Eoraptor   might have been the earliest ancestor of the largest group of Dinosaurs to have ever lived.

As the Eoraptor searches for food by the sleeping Herrerasaur, he accidentally steps on a small stick, causing it to snap in half and emitting a loud cracking sound. The noise awakens the female Herrerasaurus from her sleep. The Herrerasaurus growls and snaps her jaws at the smaller Dinosaur. The Herrerasaurus is much larger than the Eoraptor, and she could easily kill him, he takes note of the larger predator's aggression towards him and quickly flees. With the intruder gone, the   Herrerasaur is able to get back to sleep.

Dawn, the early morning sun starts to wake up the animals of the ancient Ischigualasto Formation. Despite the small disturbance in the middle of the night, our female Herrerasaurus feels well rested and is ready to seize the day. First thing she does is head over to the river for a morning drink. As she finishes, she's ready to begin one of the most important events in her life, finding a mate.

Soon she begins to travel up river in search of a male Herrerasaurus to mate with. Every few miles or so, she emits a call to try and contact any other Herrerasaurs      nearby. Hours pass, she finds a few other Herrerasaurs, but none of them are interested. But as she approaches the area where the two Saurosuchus attacked the Ischigualastia herd yesterday, at last, she finds what she's looking for. A male Herrerasaurus feasts upon the meat of the Ischigualastia carcass left from the Saurosuchus. And he too is ready to mate.

The two Herrerasaurs emit their mating calls to each other. The female slowly approaches him with heavy interest. Soon the two of them are standing face to face with each other, and before they know it, they start nuzzling each other's heads. Suddenly a loud roar interrupts them. Someone is mad at them for stealing his left over lunch from yesterday, and that someone is the same Saurosuchus that the female Herrerasaurus encountered twice yesterday. The two Herrerasaurs roar right back at the Saurosuchus, trying to warn him off, but here in the ancient Ischigualasto Formation, Saurosuchus is the top predator, and nothing scares this Triassic   apex killer. He charges forward and attacks the male Herrerasaurus, knocking him on his back and exposing belly. The male tries to kick the Saurosuchus off of him in an attempt to escape. The Saurosuchus then bites down on one of the male Herrerasaur's arms, in an attempt to injure his enemy. Suddenly the Saurosuchus feels a sharp pain in his tail; he quickly turns around to see the female Herrerasaurus biting down ferociously on his tail. With the Saurosuchus distracted, the male  Herrerasaurus seizes his chance. Quickly he gets up and bites down on the giant killers head.

Saurosuchus, the apex predator of the Ischigualasto Formation, is being bested by two smaller carnivores. The two Herrerasaurs continue to bite down all over the Saurosuchus's body. Each bite leaves an inflicting wound, causing the deadly killer to lose allot of blood in the process. The Saurosuchus is getting exhausted, but the Herrerasaurs won't stop attacking. Finally, the Saurosuchus has lost too much blood, and collapses. Too weak to fight, or even stand, the Saurosuchus slowly closes his eyes, lets out one last breath, and dies. The two Herrerasaurs roar in victory, and not wanting to let a good carcass go to waste, the two Herrerasaurs begin to feast upon the dead Saurosuchus. A few hours later the two Herrerasaurs have eaten their fill and continue to finish what they started. With a new mate, and the Saurosuchus's old territory now theirs, it would seem our female Herrerasaurus has a bright future.


Next Time on Mesozoic World: We journey 18 million years into the future into prehistoric Germany, where we meet new predators like Liliensternus as well as two deadly Rauisuchians who compete to win the rightful title for dominant predator. And we even meet one of the first giant Dinosaurs, Plateosaurus!


Next Episode: jplover764.deviantart.com/art/…
Full Episode list: The Mesozoic World Series Poster.

Author's note: Welp, that's all there is for episode 1 of this series folks. Not gonna lie, this was kinda difficult to write, due to me struggling to come up with solid ideas to extend this episode, but hey at least I got it done. But to keep me from constantly struggling for ideas, I'll you guys post your ideas in the comments below, like any cool dino facts for me to add or story plot ideas (and before you start suggesting me to mention Pangaea in the next episode I already planned to mention it in the next episode anyways ).

And yes, the Herrerasaurus in the main picture above was based on the Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World app design, and its feathers was based on 's Herrerasaurus fanart trefrex.deviantart.com/art/Wal… (which its color scheme was also based on the Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World app like mine, do not worry, I asked him permission first if I could do something similar to his work first) while the Saurosuchus was drawn completely from scratch. Feel free to also critique this episode, like point out any inaccuracies I might have not noticed so I can fix them..


Herrerasaurus design based on Walking with Dinosaurs and 's Herrerasaurus fanart trefrex.deviantart.com/art/Wal….

The Mesozoic World series and artwork are owned by me.