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[ominous music playing]
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00:00:11,636 --> 00:00:13,304
[Morgan Freeman] It's winter...
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but like none the world has ever known.
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This is a post-apocalyptic winter.
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Sixty-six million years ago,
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and the world has all but been destroyed
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by a cataclysmic event.
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[mournful vocalizing]
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This is the story
of the fall of the dinosaurs...
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and the rise from the ashes
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of the survivors
who would inherit the Earth.
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[squawking]
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[music ends]
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{\an8}[rousing music playing]
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[snarling]
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{\an8}[trilling]
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{\an8}[screeching]
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{\an8}[rousing music continues]
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[growling]
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[wind howling]
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{\an8}[rumbling]
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[rousing music intensifies]
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[music fades]
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{\an8}[mournful vocalizing]
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Our story begins in the Cretaceous period...
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[grunting]
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...on a day that would change
the course of history.
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[gentle music playing]
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For Edmontosaurus in North America,
it's nesting season.
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As usual, this female must tend
to her hungry young...
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[brays]
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[mewling]
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...giving them
the best possible start in life.
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[mewling]
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[adult brays]
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[majestic music playing]
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A thousand kilometers south,
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an adult tyrannosaur...
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[snorts]
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...is teaching her offspring
the art of the hunt.
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But they're a little impatient.
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[snarling]
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[grunting]
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[snorting]
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[roaring]
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The youngsters still have a lot to learn.
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Perhaps they'll have more luck tomorrow.
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[birds tweeting]
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[majestic music continues]
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To the west, a herd of Alamosaurus...
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[bellows]
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...some of the largest dinosaurs
to have ever lived,
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begin their day
as they have for generations,
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enjoying tender pine shoots.
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Below the waves, off the coast of Africa,
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the oceans are bountiful,
bursting with life...
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a realm dominated by huge marine reptiles.
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[majestic music continues]
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Along with the dinosaurs,
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they have ruled planet Earth
for a staggering 150 million years.
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[animals calling]
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[snarling]
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But today will be a day like no other.
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[music ends]
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An asteroid the size of Mount Everest
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is tumbling towards Earth
at 100,000 kilometers per hour.
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Its impact will change the world forever...
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[ominous music playing]
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...unleashing the power
of a billion atomic bombs...
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setting in motion
a devastating chain of events.
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First comes a deadly blast
of thermal radiation.
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[roaring]
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Every living thing
within a thousand kilometers
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is vaporized in a matter of seconds.
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[explosive blast]
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[rumbling, hissing]
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[high-pitched whine]
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[explosive blast]
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The planet's crust
buckles from the impact,
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sending seismic shock waves
around the world.
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00:07:04,549 --> 00:07:06,300
In mere minutes...
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[braying]
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...off-the-scale earthquakes rock the globe.
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[grunting]
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[rumbling]
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[bellowing]
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For the Alamosaurus...
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this is just the beginning.
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[bellows]
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[bellows]
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The earthquakes trigger
a series of giant waves
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that rip through seas and inland lakes.
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[animals calling]
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Huge surges of water
sweep across North America.
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[epic, mournful music playing]
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00:08:13,618 --> 00:08:19,123
The rapidly rising torrent
is impossible to withstand,
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even for the mightiest.
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[bellowing]
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Less than an hour after impact,
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debris ejected into space
is pulled back to Earth by gravity.
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On re-entry, it turns scorching red-hot.
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The super-heated atmosphere
advances like a fiery hell.
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[epic, mournful music continues]
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On the ground, it's like standing
under a 400-degree grill.
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[screeching]
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Animals are slowly cooked alive.
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[screeching]
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[grunting, screeching]
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[infants mewling]
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To make matters worse,
the rock debris starts to rain down.
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[screeching]
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Less than two hours after impact,
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the firestorm of choking dust
has enveloped half the planet.
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It's so hot,
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trees burst into flames.
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The growing inferno
is impossible to escape.
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[grunting]
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[squawking]
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[wind whistling]
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[mournful vocalizing]
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[groaning]
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Nothing can save them now.
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[screeching]
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[mournful vocalizing continues]
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The great reign of the dinosaurs,
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over in a single day.
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[thunder crashing]
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The oceans were just as devastated
as the land.
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Sulfur-rich dust poured down as acid rain.
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Ancient reefs were obliterated.
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The web of life collapsed,
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killing off the great marine reptiles.
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Their bodies provided
a lifeline for scavengers,
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searching out death in the deep.
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Arthropods.
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Sharks.
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Away from the carnage of the asteroid,
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many life-forms survived,
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devouring the immense carcasses...
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feasting on extinction.
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But back on the surface, the picture
couldn't have been more different.
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For years after the impact,
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Earth looked dead.
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[mournful vocalizing resumes]
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The forests,
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the plains...
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the mountains...
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lifeless.
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But as the dust cloud dispersed...
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and the light finally returned...
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it became clear that all was not lost.
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The insects
were some of the first to emerge...
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feeding on the fallen.
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Survivors were protected by burrows...
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cocoons...
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and armored bodies.
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Sheltering below ground...
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some reptiles survived too.
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[intriguing music playing]
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[croaks]
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Beneath the surface
of river deltas and wetlands,
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others were also shielded from the mayhem.
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The amphibians.
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With little food around,
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only small creatures had made it...
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including from our dynasty,
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the mammals.
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They'd inherited a planet
free of dinosaurs.
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Or so it seemed.
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[music fades]
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Against the odds, another group of animals
had also clung on...
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[suspenseful music playing]
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...protected by their very own
life-support capsules.
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Remarkably, inside them
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was a type of dinosaur.
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[chirping]
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[chirping]
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More specifically, an avian dinosaur...
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[chirping]
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otherwise known as the birds.
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Before the apocalypse,
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there had been hundreds of ancient species
living in the trees,
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all wiped out when the forests burned.
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[chirping]
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But a handful of ground-dwelling birds
did make it through.
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00:17:06,316 --> 00:17:10,904
These survivors
were kept warm by feathers...
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00:17:13,574 --> 00:17:17,369
and were self-sufficient
from their first breath...
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able to live on insects and seeds
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and capable of walking within hours.
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Sixty-six million years ago,
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birds had become the last remaining branch
of the dinosaur family tree.
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[chirping]
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00:17:44,354 --> 00:17:46,065
From such humble creatures,
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a great dynasty would rise.
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00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:01,914
But their incredible story first began
long, long before the asteroid.
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The Jurassic.
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[bellows]
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An era of giants.
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[bellowing]
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But this lost world of vertical cliffs
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was shaping a smaller breed of creature.
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-[tense music playing]
-It lived in a dangerous realm.
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[low growling]
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To survive, it had evolved
in an extraordinary new way.
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[squawks]
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00:18:57,052 --> 00:18:59,179
This is Anchiornis.
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[squawks]
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00:19:00,347 --> 00:19:02,891
She's a small, feathered dinosaur...
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[squawks]
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00:19:05,811 --> 00:19:08,981
...with needle-sharp teeth
for hunting insects.
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00:19:12,818 --> 00:19:13,986
[squawking]
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00:19:17,156 --> 00:19:20,075
But she, too, is being hunted.
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00:19:22,953 --> 00:19:24,621
[ominous music playing]
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00:19:26,206 --> 00:19:27,916
[snorting]
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00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,419
A juvenile Sinraptor.
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00:19:31,128 --> 00:19:32,421
[snorts]
217
00:19:33,005 --> 00:19:35,007
[squawking]
218
00:19:35,591 --> 00:19:37,009
And he's hungry.
219
00:19:38,135 --> 00:19:39,219
[squawks]
220
00:19:41,013 --> 00:19:43,015
[ominous music intensifies]
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00:19:45,559 --> 00:19:46,602
[squawks]
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00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,321
[grunts]
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00:20:00,157 --> 00:20:01,116
[squawks]
224
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,202
[dramatic music playing]
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00:20:04,953 --> 00:20:06,663
[screeching]
226
00:20:10,125 --> 00:20:12,878
Anchiornis is slow and clumsy.
227
00:20:14,421 --> 00:20:16,089
[snarling]
228
00:20:22,596 --> 00:20:24,598
[Sinraptor snarling]
229
00:20:27,893 --> 00:20:30,604
The Sinraptor has her cornered.
230
00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:33,649
-[squawks]
-[Sinraptor snarling]
231
00:20:40,239 --> 00:20:41,823
But Anchiornis...
232
00:20:41,907 --> 00:20:43,075
[Sinraptor snarling]
233
00:20:43,659 --> 00:20:45,202
...has run here for a reason.
234
00:20:45,285 --> 00:20:47,496
[tense music playing]
235
00:20:47,579 --> 00:20:49,581
[snarling]
236
00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:53,335
-[screeches]
-[roars]
237
00:20:58,298 --> 00:21:00,300
[stirring music playing]
238
00:21:05,472 --> 00:21:06,974
She can fly.
239
00:21:10,435 --> 00:21:12,980
One small step for a dinosaur,
240
00:21:14,314 --> 00:21:17,693
but one giant leap for life on Earth.
241
00:21:22,239 --> 00:21:27,119
With these early gliders,
a new dynasty was born.
242
00:21:28,829 --> 00:21:30,497
[screeching]
243
00:21:32,374 --> 00:21:37,170
And it was flight that would help
their descendants stay alive
244
00:21:37,796 --> 00:21:41,133
in the era after the asteroid.
245
00:21:42,509 --> 00:21:44,886
[ominous music playing]
246
00:21:47,681 --> 00:21:53,895
Today, there's a place where we can see
how that story may have played out.
247
00:21:59,985 --> 00:22:02,904
It's a harsh, desolate world.
248
00:22:04,614 --> 00:22:10,537
Four thousand meters up,
the Altiplano desert in Chile...
249
00:22:15,417 --> 00:22:18,795
a landscape where almost nothing can live.
250
00:22:21,214 --> 00:22:24,843
But one group of animals
has found a way to survive here.
251
00:22:29,139 --> 00:22:30,432
The birds.
252
00:22:33,060 --> 00:22:36,480
Like those that evolved
after the asteroid...
253
00:22:36,563 --> 00:22:37,689
[trilling]
254
00:22:37,773 --> 00:22:42,361
...flamingos have taken the gliding skills
of the first avian dinosaurs...
255
00:22:43,403 --> 00:22:45,614
[graceful music playing]
256
00:22:45,697 --> 00:22:48,533
...and created a new kind of flight.
257
00:22:50,285 --> 00:22:52,245
[trilling]
258
00:22:52,329 --> 00:22:54,706
A revolution in the air.
259
00:22:56,583 --> 00:23:01,797
Wings that have been modified to flap.
260
00:23:05,801 --> 00:23:08,428
This is powered flight,
261
00:23:09,638 --> 00:23:14,101
and it allows flamingos
to travel in search of food...
262
00:23:17,020 --> 00:23:19,981
just as birds did millions of years ago.
263
00:23:26,446 --> 00:23:31,159
Feathers, that first evolved
to keep dinosaurs warm,
264
00:23:31,743 --> 00:23:35,539
have become specialized
for aerial mastery.
265
00:23:43,964 --> 00:23:46,049
And that's not the only change.
266
00:23:47,384 --> 00:23:50,178
Teeth have been replaced by beaks...
267
00:23:50,262 --> 00:23:51,638
[trilling]
268
00:23:53,390 --> 00:23:55,976
...that allow them to feed on new diets.
269
00:23:57,727 --> 00:24:00,564
But advances in feeding and flight alone
270
00:24:00,647 --> 00:24:05,193
were not enough
to ensure the future of the birds.
271
00:24:09,614 --> 00:24:13,785
They also drew on a rather flamboyant
ancient behavior,
272
00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:20,125
a behavior that ensures
the survival of the fittest.
273
00:24:20,208 --> 00:24:22,210
[lively music playing]
274
00:24:23,086 --> 00:24:24,921
-[trilling]
-Courtship.
275
00:24:29,885 --> 00:24:31,428
For the flamingos,
276
00:24:32,471 --> 00:24:34,264
that means a dance-off...
277
00:24:39,895 --> 00:24:43,231
and it's taken very seriously.
278
00:24:44,941 --> 00:24:47,944
The judges are extremely fussy.
279
00:24:53,617 --> 00:24:55,619
[lively music continues]
280
00:24:58,622 --> 00:25:02,250
And they need to be
to choose the best mates.
281
00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:11,510
Birds had almost been wiped out
with the rest of the dinosaurs.
282
00:25:14,679 --> 00:25:18,016
Instead, thanks to their feathery talents,
283
00:25:18,099 --> 00:25:20,769
they'd have a chance to rise.
284
00:25:22,270 --> 00:25:24,272
[trilling]
285
00:25:29,152 --> 00:25:30,487
[music fades]
286
00:25:30,570 --> 00:25:33,532
But their path would not be easy.
287
00:25:35,575 --> 00:25:37,577
[wind howling]
288
00:25:38,453 --> 00:25:40,789
In the aftermath of the asteroid,
289
00:25:41,289 --> 00:25:46,086
global temperatures plunged
by a staggering 25 degrees.
290
00:25:49,923 --> 00:25:53,176
But thanks to their ability
to survive the cold,
291
00:25:53,260 --> 00:25:56,429
just a few million years after the impact,
292
00:25:57,013 --> 00:25:59,641
the pine forests had returned.
293
00:25:59,724 --> 00:26:01,726
[poignant music playing]
294
00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:10,777
Seeds ensured that the giant conifers
from the days of the dinosaurs
295
00:26:10,860 --> 00:26:12,571
made it through.
296
00:26:15,740 --> 00:26:20,870
The greatest of them all,
reaching over 100 meters into the air,
297
00:26:20,954 --> 00:26:22,622
were the redwoods.
298
00:26:24,749 --> 00:26:27,377
[slow, majestic music playing]
299
00:26:28,378 --> 00:26:30,589
Sheltered beneath the forests
300
00:26:31,172 --> 00:26:33,341
was a group of warm-blooded animals
301
00:26:34,301 --> 00:26:37,178
that had long hidden in the shadows.
302
00:26:46,104 --> 00:26:47,606
The mammals.
303
00:26:49,274 --> 00:26:52,235
At first, they were small creatures,
304
00:26:52,986 --> 00:26:54,321
similar to voles.
305
00:26:55,739 --> 00:27:00,368
With the dinosaurs gone,
they were free to come out in the open.
306
00:27:02,329 --> 00:27:03,872
[ominous music playing]
307
00:27:03,955 --> 00:27:07,792
But just five million years
after the asteroid,
308
00:27:07,876 --> 00:27:12,297
the pine forest became home
to a new breed of creature.
309
00:27:12,380 --> 00:27:14,382
[ominous music continues]
310
00:27:27,729 --> 00:27:31,358
And they still haunt our forests today.
311
00:27:34,069 --> 00:27:35,070
[squeaks]
312
00:27:43,078 --> 00:27:44,371
The owls.
313
00:27:44,454 --> 00:27:46,456
[dramatic music playing]
314
00:27:49,876 --> 00:27:54,547
Birds had turned from mere survivors
into predators.
315
00:27:57,092 --> 00:27:59,552
This is the great gray owl.
316
00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:06,226
She's armed with razor-sharp claws
317
00:28:07,185 --> 00:28:09,437
and even sharper eyesight...
318
00:28:13,191 --> 00:28:16,027
making her deadly on the wing.
319
00:28:18,697 --> 00:28:20,990
[music fades]
320
00:28:21,074 --> 00:28:25,453
Able to fly in near silence,
she listens for prey.
321
00:28:29,374 --> 00:28:31,376
[tense music playing]
322
00:28:39,801 --> 00:28:43,972
For tiny mammals, nowhere is safe.
323
00:29:05,744 --> 00:29:07,287
[music fades]
324
00:29:07,996 --> 00:29:09,497
[vole squeaking]
325
00:29:11,374 --> 00:29:13,376
[squeaking]
326
00:29:14,711 --> 00:29:16,963
-[crunching]
-[squeaking]
327
00:29:29,768 --> 00:29:33,605
While the first owls were menacing
the northern pine forests,
328
00:29:33,688 --> 00:29:38,151
elsewhere, another important habitat
was emerging.
329
00:29:38,234 --> 00:29:40,236
[poignant music playing]
330
00:29:41,237 --> 00:29:47,494
The asteroid had wiped out three-quarters
of all Earth's plant and animal species.
331
00:29:47,577 --> 00:29:49,746
[rumbling]
332
00:29:52,290 --> 00:29:56,419
In the tropics, it took six million years,
333
00:29:58,087 --> 00:30:00,423
but life did eventually return.
334
00:30:04,761 --> 00:30:08,723
However, this time,
it was totally different.
335
00:30:08,807 --> 00:30:10,975
[slow, uplifting music playing]
336
00:30:18,566 --> 00:30:22,946
The revival was powered
by a huge increase...
337
00:30:25,907 --> 00:30:30,370
in the diversity of flowering plants.
338
00:30:36,292 --> 00:30:38,294
[uplifting music intensifies]
339
00:30:39,963 --> 00:30:42,757
Richer than anything that had gone before...
340
00:30:43,341 --> 00:30:45,051
[chirping]
341
00:30:45,134 --> 00:30:46,928
[croaking]
342
00:30:48,179 --> 00:30:50,265
...the tropical rainforests.
343
00:30:59,607 --> 00:31:01,568
This thriving habitat
344
00:31:01,651 --> 00:31:04,821
was built on the close relationship
between flowers
345
00:31:06,281 --> 00:31:08,491
and their insect pollinators.
346
00:31:08,575 --> 00:31:09,742
[buzzing]
347
00:31:18,751 --> 00:31:21,212
But there was a new arrival...
348
00:31:21,296 --> 00:31:23,882
[humming]
349
00:31:23,965 --> 00:31:26,759
...who muscled in on the insect's domain.
350
00:31:27,927 --> 00:31:29,888
[lively music playing]
351
00:31:29,971 --> 00:31:32,432
Using incredible flying skills,
352
00:31:32,932 --> 00:31:35,602
they could navigate
the complex world of the jungle.
353
00:31:37,478 --> 00:31:39,355
They'd become miniature,
354
00:31:40,273 --> 00:31:41,482
granting them access
355
00:31:42,859 --> 00:31:44,944
to the flower's sweet nectar.
356
00:31:47,155 --> 00:31:50,867
And their descendants
are still at it today.
357
00:31:52,243 --> 00:31:53,870
The hummingbirds.
358
00:31:53,953 --> 00:31:55,955
[humming]
359
00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:00,835
To plunder the nectar,
360
00:32:02,003 --> 00:32:05,381
they've evolved
to hover just like insects...
361
00:32:11,220 --> 00:32:13,222
[birds tweeting]
362
00:32:15,892 --> 00:32:19,771
...beating wings at 80 times a second.
363
00:32:23,566 --> 00:32:29,697
Elongated beaks allow them to feed
on a kaleidoscope of different flowers.
364
00:32:33,701 --> 00:32:38,915
The hummingbirds outmaneuver
many of their insect rivals.
365
00:32:44,295 --> 00:32:49,300
But all this activity
comes with a huge thirst for energy.
366
00:32:51,177 --> 00:32:54,847
So the best flowers
are worth fighting for.
367
00:32:54,931 --> 00:32:56,724
[loud humming]
368
00:32:59,978 --> 00:33:01,896
Beaks double as weapons.
369
00:33:19,872 --> 00:33:24,002
But one species of hummingbird
has no need to battle.
370
00:33:25,837 --> 00:33:31,926
It has an extraordinary adaptation
that leaves the competition standing.
371
00:33:34,178 --> 00:33:36,681
Enter the swordbill.
372
00:33:36,764 --> 00:33:38,766
[lively music playing]
373
00:33:39,809 --> 00:33:44,522
He boasts an impressively long appendage.
374
00:33:45,773 --> 00:33:49,277
His beak is like a key in a lock,
375
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,197
so only he can enjoy
the hard-to-reach nectar
376
00:33:53,281 --> 00:33:55,241
of the angel trumpet flower.
377
00:34:02,707 --> 00:34:05,209
In the ages following the apocalypse,
378
00:34:06,044 --> 00:34:10,214
giant dinosaurs may have no longer
roamed the forest,
379
00:34:11,215 --> 00:34:15,053
but their tiny cousins
had recolonized them
380
00:34:15,136 --> 00:34:17,430
in a completely new way.
381
00:34:17,513 --> 00:34:19,307
[humming]
382
00:34:19,849 --> 00:34:21,059
[music ends]
383
00:34:21,142 --> 00:34:25,813
But becoming small wouldn't work
in every part of the planet.
384
00:34:37,617 --> 00:34:39,660
The death of the dinosaurs
385
00:34:39,744 --> 00:34:44,165
had left many of Earth's great habitats
free for the taking.
386
00:34:44,248 --> 00:34:46,709
[animals calling]
387
00:34:46,793 --> 00:34:50,088
None more so than the plains.
388
00:34:52,507 --> 00:34:57,804
And in early South America,
46 million years after the asteroid,
389
00:34:58,429 --> 00:35:00,389
ground-dwelling birds
390
00:35:00,473 --> 00:35:03,476
had the space to evolve
into the deadliest predator...
391
00:35:04,060 --> 00:35:05,770
[shrieking]
392
00:35:05,853 --> 00:35:07,814
...since Tyrannosaurus rex.
393
00:35:11,609 --> 00:35:13,986
Stalking among the glades of palms...
394
00:35:15,613 --> 00:35:16,614
[shrieking]
395
00:35:16,697 --> 00:35:19,242
...it has inherited
the most aggressive traits
396
00:35:19,325 --> 00:35:21,077
from its ancient bloodline.
397
00:35:23,287 --> 00:35:24,872
[shrieking]
398
00:35:27,333 --> 00:35:28,751
[mewling]
399
00:35:28,835 --> 00:35:30,628
[lowing]
400
00:35:30,711 --> 00:35:34,882
In the clearing,
a herd of early mammals graze.
401
00:35:36,551 --> 00:35:37,844
[bleats]
402
00:35:39,262 --> 00:35:43,182
Theosodon, about the size
of a modern-day llama.
403
00:35:46,477 --> 00:35:49,814
An adult female keeps a keen watch.
404
00:35:51,399 --> 00:35:52,984
But she hasn't seen...
405
00:35:58,406 --> 00:35:59,574
the terror bird.
406
00:35:59,657 --> 00:36:01,659
[sinister music playing]
407
00:36:07,665 --> 00:36:12,503
With a head like a pickaxe
and standing two and a half meters tall,
408
00:36:12,587 --> 00:36:15,923
it sacrificed flight for raw power.
409
00:36:20,303 --> 00:36:21,637
[whimpers]
410
00:36:23,306 --> 00:36:25,308
She senses something is wrong.
411
00:36:31,689 --> 00:36:34,317
But the terror bird moves in near silence.
412
00:36:35,276 --> 00:36:36,694
[herd lowing]
413
00:36:37,695 --> 00:36:39,071
[lowing]
414
00:36:55,504 --> 00:36:57,048
[lowing]
415
00:36:58,341 --> 00:37:00,343
[suspenseful music playing]
416
00:37:03,846 --> 00:37:04,931
[trilling]
417
00:37:05,848 --> 00:37:08,017
The hunt is on.
418
00:37:09,769 --> 00:37:13,022
Able to rapidly accelerate
to 50 kilometers an hour...
419
00:37:17,610 --> 00:37:19,237
he's picked out a youngster
420
00:37:20,655 --> 00:37:21,864
trailing behind.
421
00:37:23,115 --> 00:37:24,367
[trilling]
422
00:37:26,535 --> 00:37:28,079
[terror bird trilling]
423
00:37:29,455 --> 00:37:32,083
Using the weight of his giant head,
424
00:37:32,750 --> 00:37:34,919
he's a master at changing direction.
425
00:37:35,002 --> 00:37:37,004
[dramatic music playing]
426
00:37:52,853 --> 00:37:54,188
[herd screeching]
427
00:37:54,272 --> 00:37:55,523
[trilling]
428
00:38:03,114 --> 00:38:05,032
[music fades]
429
00:38:05,116 --> 00:38:06,367
[Theosodon squealing]
430
00:38:11,038 --> 00:38:12,373
[bleats]
431
00:38:15,543 --> 00:38:18,045
[braying]
432
00:38:19,964 --> 00:38:22,967
Time to deliver the final blow.
433
00:38:24,218 --> 00:38:25,219
{\an8}[screeching]
434
00:38:30,182 --> 00:38:34,854
The savage terror birds
now dominated the plains of South America.
435
00:38:36,022 --> 00:38:37,815
[roars]
436
00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:43,612
-[trilling]
-[howling]
437
00:38:43,696 --> 00:38:45,823
But on the other side of the world,
438
00:38:46,824 --> 00:38:51,370
the ever-shifting continents
were writing a new chapter
439
00:38:52,330 --> 00:38:55,041
{\an8}in the story of life.
440
00:38:56,334 --> 00:38:58,794
{\an8}[ethereal vocalizing]
441
00:39:03,174 --> 00:39:07,678
Australia had been heading north
for millions of years.
442
00:39:07,762 --> 00:39:11,349
As it did so,
it created a vast shallow sea.
443
00:39:13,392 --> 00:39:15,478
A new cradle of life.
444
00:39:25,321 --> 00:39:27,323
[ethereal ambient music playing]
445
00:39:34,622 --> 00:39:35,873
Part plant...
446
00:39:37,875 --> 00:39:39,293
part animal...
447
00:39:42,254 --> 00:39:44,590
these are the corals.
448
00:39:48,219 --> 00:39:50,137
Using energy from the Sun,
449
00:39:51,722 --> 00:39:56,102
they formed the largest living structure
our planet has ever seen...
450
00:39:58,896 --> 00:40:00,272
the tropical reefs.
451
00:40:00,356 --> 00:40:02,483
[ethereal music playing]
452
00:40:08,322 --> 00:40:12,118
Fifteen million years ago,
these giant marine cities
453
00:40:12,201 --> 00:40:15,704
offered opportunity
to a wealth of survivors.
454
00:40:21,085 --> 00:40:24,004
From the depths came the sharks.
455
00:40:32,513 --> 00:40:37,977
The reefs also drew in some
of the last remaining marine reptiles...
456
00:40:40,396 --> 00:40:41,814
the turtles.
457
00:40:45,151 --> 00:40:47,695
Within this underwater paradise,
458
00:40:48,362 --> 00:40:51,782
countless new kinds of fish also evolved.
459
00:40:59,582 --> 00:41:04,128
The growing abundance
soon spilled out to the wider ocean...
460
00:41:07,047 --> 00:41:08,340
filling it with life.
461
00:41:10,426 --> 00:41:12,970
And this had not gone unnoticed...
462
00:41:16,182 --> 00:41:18,767
by one relentless dynasty.
463
00:41:18,851 --> 00:41:20,186
[music fades]
464
00:41:21,228 --> 00:41:23,230
[squawking]
465
00:41:27,359 --> 00:41:30,196
Yet again, the birds.
466
00:41:33,157 --> 00:41:36,285
More specifically, seabirds.
467
00:41:36,368 --> 00:41:37,786
[squawking]
468
00:41:38,996 --> 00:41:40,748
Millions of years ago,
469
00:41:40,831 --> 00:41:44,543
they found a spectacular way
to plunder the ocean's bounty...
470
00:41:45,544 --> 00:41:47,546
[majestic music playing]
471
00:41:49,465 --> 00:41:51,425
...with an aerial invasion.
472
00:41:52,718 --> 00:41:54,720
[squawking]
473
00:41:56,347 --> 00:41:58,807
And it's still happening today.
474
00:42:01,018 --> 00:42:03,854
The greatest invaders of them all...
475
00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:05,397
[squawking]
476
00:42:05,481 --> 00:42:06,649
...are the gannets.
477
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,405
Their keen vision means they can spot
a ball of fish a mile away.
478
00:42:15,032 --> 00:42:16,617
[energetic music playing]
479
00:42:16,700 --> 00:42:18,452
Diving from altitude,
480
00:42:18,536 --> 00:42:22,289
they pierce the surface
at close to 90 kilometers an hour.
481
00:42:26,585 --> 00:42:28,754
A specially adapted skull
482
00:42:30,256 --> 00:42:32,049
and retractable wings
483
00:42:33,259 --> 00:42:35,553
turn them into living missiles.
484
00:42:47,231 --> 00:42:48,274
What's more,
485
00:42:49,275 --> 00:42:52,820
gannets can hold their breath
for more than 40 seconds.
486
00:43:09,461 --> 00:43:13,465
These ancient seabirds are master hunters.
487
00:43:21,724 --> 00:43:23,350
Their aerial assault
488
00:43:23,434 --> 00:43:27,396
allows them to compete
with the ocean's greatest predators,
489
00:43:28,856 --> 00:43:30,274
the sharks.
490
00:43:37,406 --> 00:43:41,952
Feeding frenzies like these are still
some of nature's grandest spectacles,
491
00:43:43,370 --> 00:43:46,999
just as they were 15 million years ago.
492
00:43:50,252 --> 00:43:53,088
Dinosaurs never conquered the oceans,
493
00:43:53,964 --> 00:43:57,551
but their avian descendants
finally found a way.
494
00:44:02,598 --> 00:44:04,141
[music fades]
495
00:44:04,224 --> 00:44:06,226
[squawking]
496
00:44:07,102 --> 00:44:09,897
Their conquest of the seas
was so successful,
497
00:44:11,357 --> 00:44:14,943
seabirds established vast colonies
across the planet...
498
00:44:19,490 --> 00:44:24,203
now some of the most incredible gatherings
of life on Earth.
499
00:44:28,916 --> 00:44:33,837
But the birds' triumph over the oceans
was not quite complete.
500
00:44:35,923 --> 00:44:37,466
Their crowning achievement
501
00:44:39,426 --> 00:44:44,014
can best be seen in a world lost in time.
502
00:44:46,767 --> 00:44:48,602
[ominous music playing]
503
00:44:48,686 --> 00:44:50,562
The Galápagos Islands.
504
00:44:54,149 --> 00:44:57,861
These are marine iguanas,
505
00:44:59,113 --> 00:45:02,783
descendants of lizards
that survived the asteroid.
506
00:45:04,660 --> 00:45:08,914
Like most reptiles,
they must bask in the sun to warm up.
507
00:45:12,668 --> 00:45:15,295
But they're not the only sunbathers here.
508
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,053
They're joined by an extraordinary bird.
509
00:45:24,805 --> 00:45:25,931
The penguin.
510
00:45:26,014 --> 00:45:27,099
[squawks]
511
00:45:28,434 --> 00:45:32,312
And this is the Galápagos penguin.
512
00:45:35,941 --> 00:45:42,156
Over tens of millions of years,
its ancestors repurposed their wings,
513
00:45:43,282 --> 00:45:46,952
fine-tuning them
to no longer fly in the air,
514
00:45:48,328 --> 00:45:50,581
but to pull off something remarkable...
515
00:45:56,336 --> 00:45:57,838
beneath the waves.
516
00:46:00,174 --> 00:46:02,593
[serene music playing]
517
00:46:04,052 --> 00:46:05,888
Underwater flight.
518
00:46:10,601 --> 00:46:13,896
Penguins have sublime buoyancy control...
519
00:46:17,191 --> 00:46:21,278
and one of the most streamlined bodies
of any animal,
520
00:46:23,697 --> 00:46:26,992
making them
the world's greatest swimming birds.
521
00:46:32,790 --> 00:46:36,335
Scanning for fish,
it hovers like a hummingbird...
522
00:46:41,173 --> 00:46:42,758
with perfect poise.
523
00:46:51,558 --> 00:46:56,980
In contrast, the cold-blooded iguanas
are slow and sluggish...
524
00:46:59,483 --> 00:47:02,528
restricted to feeding on low-energy kelp...
525
00:47:06,114 --> 00:47:08,909
at the whim of the currents.
526
00:47:14,957 --> 00:47:18,418
The warm-blooded penguins
couldn't be more different...
527
00:47:21,088 --> 00:47:23,131
with their speed and agility...
528
00:47:32,224 --> 00:47:34,351
chasing down fish with ease.
529
00:47:52,452 --> 00:47:53,787
Underwater flight
530
00:47:55,455 --> 00:48:00,210
allowed the penguins to exploit the seas
like never before.
531
00:48:06,425 --> 00:48:08,677
Their strategy has been so successful,
532
00:48:10,012 --> 00:48:14,141
they've colonized all the continents
of the Southern Hemisphere...
533
00:48:14,224 --> 00:48:15,601
[chattering]
534
00:48:18,228 --> 00:48:22,065
...evolving into the 18 different species
we know today.
535
00:48:24,860 --> 00:48:28,906
The final epic chapter for the birds,
536
00:48:28,989 --> 00:48:32,743
a dynasty that was almost wiped out.
537
00:48:38,916 --> 00:48:44,129
But thanks to the few survivors
of the dinosaur family tree,
538
00:48:45,505 --> 00:48:49,426
birds rose from the ashes.
539
00:48:50,010 --> 00:48:52,220
Over 66 million years,
540
00:48:52,804 --> 00:48:56,683
they've reinvented themselves
into a myriad of forms.
541
00:48:56,767 --> 00:48:58,143
[chirping]
542
00:49:00,646 --> 00:49:04,775
Today, 10,000 species strong,
543
00:49:05,317 --> 00:49:09,321
they've found a way to thrive
in almost every corner of the planet.
544
00:49:12,324 --> 00:49:16,203
But they are not the only ones
to have conquered the world.
545
00:49:20,958 --> 00:49:22,334
Not so long ago,
546
00:49:23,585 --> 00:49:27,464
the Americas were still at the mercy
of the terror birds.
547
00:49:27,547 --> 00:49:29,257
[roaring]
548
00:49:30,592 --> 00:49:34,137
But these apex predators
would soon become the prey.
549
00:49:34,638 --> 00:49:36,098
[roaring]
550
00:49:37,349 --> 00:49:40,852
Other survivors of the asteroid
had also been evolving.
551
00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:47,859
No longer in the shadow of the dinosaurs...
552
00:49:47,943 --> 00:49:49,277
[roaring]
553
00:49:50,946 --> 00:49:54,366
...they'd grown bigger and more dangerous.
554
00:49:54,449 --> 00:49:56,034
[snarling]
555
00:49:57,577 --> 00:49:58,912
[screeching]
556
00:50:01,206 --> 00:50:03,208
-[growling]
-[screeching]
557
00:50:04,918 --> 00:50:08,338
It was time for the rise
558
00:50:09,589 --> 00:50:10,674
of the mammals.
559
00:50:10,757 --> 00:50:12,759
[snarling]
560
00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:15,554
[roars]
561
00:50:18,682 --> 00:50:21,518
[rousing music playing]