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Walking With Dinosaurs BBC 6 - Death Of A Dynasty (part 1)
A clip of Death of a Dynasty, an episode set in Hell Creek.
Hell Creek is a famous fossil formation in North America. Stretching across the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, it is one of the best studied geological formations in the world.
Paleoenvironment[]
During the final millennia of the Maastrichtian stage, Hell Creek was part of the island continent of Laramidia on the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea that divided North America throughout much of the Cretaceous period but was beginning to diminish by this time. The climate of the region was warm, humid, and subtropical. A large diversity of flowering plants, ferns, and conifers ensured an abundance of large herbivorous dinosaurs such as Edmontosaurus and Triceratops (the former of which accounted for 20% of all Hell Creek dinosaurs and the latter 40%). The dominant predator of Hell Creek was the most famous dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex. Accounting for 24% of all the dinosaurs excavated from the formation, Tyrannosaurus was surprisingly even more common than Edmontosaurus as the second most abundant taxon after Triceratops. The clays, mudstones, and sandstones deposited in the area suggests that Hell Creek largely consisted of swamp, floodplain, estuarine, and coastal plain habitats.
In Walking with Dinosaurs[]
A Torosaurus herd in Hell Creek.
New Blood[]
Hell Creek is briefly seen at the beginning of the episode, when two Tyrannosaurus are seen fighting. In the meantime, some of the Dinosaurs of the region are introduced while the narrator mentions to the viewers the characteristics that they will get to know in the environment, its residents and in the series itself as well as discovering the dynamic threats that have brought these majestic animals to the brink of extinction.
Death of a Dynasty[]
Hell Creek is the featured setting of the episode. It is depicted as a volcanic wasteland with a poisonous atmosphere, little plant life, and a dying diversity of fauna.
In Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs[]
King of Dragons[]
Hell Creek is featured as the main setting of the game's final chapter. Unlike its depiction in the original documentary, Hell Creek is depicted as a lush, green paradise with a thriving ecosystem. However, a volcanic eruption later destroys much of the greenery and the surrounding landscape, turning it into a apocalyptic wasteland.
Fauna[]
- Tyrannosaurus
- Triceratops
- Torosaurus
- Ankylosaurus
- Dromeosaurus
- Quetzalcoatlus
- Anatotitan (reclassified as Edmontosaurus)
- Thescelosaurus
- Butterfly
- Deinosuchus (reclassified as Thoracosaurus)
- Dinilysia
- Lizard
- Purgatorius
- Didelphodon
- Gypsonictops
- Meniscoessus
- Pachycephalosaurus (wonderbook)
- Alexornis (wonderbook)
Inaccuracies[]
- In Death of a Dynasty its said Hell Creek is a deadly land dominated by the volcanos.
Errors[]
- In Death of a Dynasty, it's said that Hell Creek is a deadly volcanic wasteland. In truth, it was a thriving ecosystem filled with forests and saw little volcanic activity.
- This was later rectified in Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs.
Trivia[]
- Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs had the most accurate depiction of Hell Creek in the series.
Gallery[]
