# Prehistoric Planet, a new WWD-style dinosaur documentary



## LukeSnywalker (Apr 24, 2022)

Sharing this on here because I figured some of you might be interested.

For 5 nights from May 23rd to May 27th, a new series called Prehistoric Planet is being released on Apple TV+. It features some of the most up-to-date and realistic depictions of dinosaurs we've ever seen in media and it's got some serious names behind it: it's directed by Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book and Lion King remakes and The Mandalorian), scored by Hans Zimmer, and narrated by the one and only David Attenborough. It's also produced by the BBC Natural History Unit (who created documentaries like Planet Earth), it's animated by MPC and Jellyfish Pictures, and it features many of the most important figures in paleontology and paleoart as consultants. This is like the love child of the entire paleo community and it looks _amazing_.

Here's the official trailer, it's already nearing 4 million views:


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## Fallowfox (Apr 24, 2022)

Is there any source for depictions of inflatable soft structures in sauropod necks?

I feel interpretations about coloured signalling on vestigial theropod arms are also maybe a bit out-there. 






Coloured signalling in dinosaurs feels like something that is very likely, given evidence in some small-bodied theropods for striking melanosome patterns along their tails. 
I'm not aware of any reason to expect this particular example though and maybe it would have been more convincing to show one for which evidence does exist?


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## LukeSnywalker (Apr 25, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> Is there any source for depictions of inflatable soft structures in sauropod necks?
> 
> I feel interpretations about coloured signalling on vestigial theropod arms are also maybe a bit out-there.
> 
> ...


Yeah, both of these examples are pretty speculative. There is evidence that sauropod skeletons were highly pneumatic though, so there's legitimate reason to believe they may have had some sort of inflatable structure attached. Darren Naish was a consultant for this show and he advocates heavily for some healthy speculation in paleoart (see his book _All Yesterdays_) so he and some other paleoartists probably had influence here.


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## Fallowfox (Apr 25, 2022)

LukeSnywalker said:


> Yeah, both of these examples are pretty speculative. There is evidence that sauropod skeletons were highly pneumatic though, so there's legitimate reason to believe they may have had some sort of inflatable structure attached. Darren Naish was a consultant for this show and he advocates heavily for some healthy speculation in paleoart (see his book _All Yesterdays_) so he and some other paleoartists probably had influence here.



I guess it is particularly difficult to speculate about some aspects of ecology when you're dealing with animals that don't necessarily have modern ecological analogues, like giant crested pterosaurs or sauropods. I would personally have inferred that crests on ceratopsian dinosaurs were colourful, or that infant theropod dinosaurs had bright juvenile markings like some chicks do. 

I do like the portrayal of dinosaurs in snow, since there's good evidence that some environments in the mesozoic had continental climates and many dinosaurs were probably warm blooded or gigantothermal. 

Something else I have been wondering about is the portrayal of infant dinosaurs. There should be 'allometric' shape changes compared to the adult forms, but my eye is not keen enough to notice whether that has been done. It is a shame I don't have apple tv so I'm not going to be seeing this documentary, lol.


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## Miles Marsalis (Apr 25, 2022)

I might watch it, though I'd prefer @Fallowfox 's commentary to go with it, lol, since I'm not that familiar with paleontology. I'm curious about it too since the guy who wrote _All Yesterdays_ is attached to the project; I remember liking the book.


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## PLEASE DELETE ACCOUNT (Apr 25, 2022)

I have not seen it yet but am excited.

The original Walking with Dinosaurs by the BBC was my Second DVD purchase, and I enjoyed the at the time very realistic 3d models, and speculation on dinos being a little bit more colorful and animated than we assumed for hundreds of years. Plenty of healthy speculation - making for a fun and entertaining while being educational watch.

AS far as soft tissues, very little remains actually exist to really confirm how much of their biology may have functioned, other than some SWAG (systematic, Wild Ass, Guess) based on birds, and larger reptiles. ( WWD had numerous artistic choices by the consulting biologist that have no support in the fossil record such as urination and pheromone marking)


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## Fallowfox (Apr 26, 2022)

Christine Vulpes said:


> I have not seen it yet but am excited.
> 
> The original Walking with Dinosaurs by the BBC was my Second DVD purchase, and I enjoyed the at the time very realistic 3d models, and speculation on dinos being a little bit more colorful and animated than we assumed for hundreds of years. Plenty of healthy speculation - making for a fun and entertaining while being educational watch.
> 
> AS far as soft tissues, very little remains actually exist to really confirm how much of their biology may have functioned, other than some SWAG (systematic, Wild Ass, Guess) based on birds, and larger reptiles. ( WWD had numerous artistic choices by the consulting biologist that have no support in the fossil record such as urination and pheromone marking)


For Pterosaurs a paper was published in Nature recently featuring a Solnhoffen limestone fossil with preserved wings and foot-webs. 









						Quadrupedal water launch capability demonstrated in small Late Jurassic pterosaurs - Scientific Reports
					

Pterosaurs thrived in and around water for 160 + million years but their take-off from water is poorly understood. A purportedly low floating position and forward centre of gravity barred pterosaurs from a bird-like bipedal running launch. Quadrupedal water launch similar to extant water-feeding...




					www.nature.com


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