| “ | This far south, the first day of spring lasts only a few minutes; But it triggers the start of an astonishing story of survival through the polar year. | ” |
– Kenneth Branaugh | ||
| Spirits of the Ice Forest | ||||||||||||
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| Previous episode Giant of the Skies |
Following episode Death of a Dynasty | |||||||||||
Spirits of the Ice Forest is the fifth episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, set in the middle Cretaceous epoch, roughly 106 MYA.
Full synopsis
This episode focuses on a flock of Leaellynasaura who are trying to survive the freezing winter and breed in the summer. The episode runs from end of winter to the next end of winter. At the beginning a female Koolasuchus eats a male Leaellynasaura which had died in the winter. During the summer a female dwarf allosaur hunts a male Leaellynasaura and a young Muttaburrasaurus. The Leaellynasaura usually escape, but during the noise and trampling and confusion caused by the Muttaburrasaurus migrating away north for the winter, the allosaur catches and eats the matriarch of the Leaellynasaura herd. A Koolasuchus is also on the hunt for the Leaellynasaura but the dinosaurs are too fast for the giant amphibians to catch even in the water. The episode ends in winter, as the Leaellynasaura have to settle down for another semi-hibernation period.
Creatures
106 Million Years Ago (Victoria, Australia)
- Leaellynasaura
- Koolasuchus
- Dwarf Pteranodon
- Australovenator (Identified as Polar Allosaur)
- Muttaburrasaurus
- Giant Weta
- Tuatara
- Steropodon
Trivia
- This episode is also known as Spirits of the Silent Forests.
- The Brachiosaurus Music From Time Of The Titans is Used For The Arrival Of The Muttaburrsarus.
Broadcast
Original airdate
- 1 November 1999 20.30 BBC One
Repeats
- 2 November 1999 18.30 BBC Choice
- 6 November 1999 20.00 BBC Choice
- 7 November 1999 16.25 BBC One
- 7 November 1999 19.30 BBC Choice
- 4 December 1999 9.50 BBC Knowledge
- 26 August 2000 19.05 BBC One
- 5 February 2003 19.00 BBC Four
- 16 March 2004 2.15 BBC One
- 28 October 2006 20.00 BBC Three