| This is a transcript of the Chased by Dinosaurs episode "The Giant Claw". |
| Please do not edit this transcript unless you have a copy of the episode to transcribe from, or have spotted an obvious spelling mistake. |
Intro[]
Nigel Marven (narration): I am zoologist and adventurer Nigel Marvin. For years I’ve crisscrossed the globe in search of the most dangerous animals alive today. But just imagine a prehistoric safari. My dream is to meet the largest and most extraordinary creatures that have ever lived. To travel back in time and walk with dinosaurs.
TITLES
Story[]
Nigel Marven (narration): So, this was the start of my prehistoric safari. My adventure into the world of dinosaurs, but I wasn't here to just sightsee, I had a mystery to solve.
Nigel Marven: Look at this. This is the claw of Tyrannosaurus rex, the most notorious flesh-eater ever known. So, if this is the claw of T. rex, what is this? A 28-inch claw, when it was first discovered by palaeontologists in the 1950s, it was so extraordinary, they thought it was the rib of a giant turtle. But later it was found that it was attached to ten-foot arms, the longest arms of any creature ever found, and palaeontologists called the creature Therizinosaurus or the "scythe lizard".
Nigel Marven: Hey! What the heck was that?
Nigel Marven (narration): This was it, my first dinosaur encounter. My tent had been flattened by a gigantic herbivore called Saurolophus. At 40 feet long, the biggest plant-eater in the area. There was something very unusual about these creatures, that I wanted to get on camera. But first I had to get very, very close.
Nigel Marven: This is the biggest herbivore I’ve ever seen. She must be nearly eight tons; she must have to pack in so much vegetation. That's what makes duckbills special, they're one of the few dinosaurs that can actually chew. No dinosaurs can move their jaws like we can, but what the duckbills do, they've got a battery of teeth, there can be over 2,000 teeth in that mouth, and they slam the lower jaw into the upper jaw. The bones distort and they grind the vegetation, between that battery of teeth. These are fabulous animals… I don't believe it! Dinosaur snot. Thank you.
Nigel Marven: That was a terrific start to the expedition. Even though those brilliant duckbills actually trashed my tent. But this of course is the reason I’m here. The best guess by scientists is, this belongs to a kind of theropod dinosaur. That's the dynasty of dinosaurs that includes all the carnivorous ones. And just imagine a predator with claws like this. And I’m in just the right place to find the owner of that giant claw. This is the Nemegt Desert, and I’m on the eastern side of the giant continent of Laurasia, in the Late Cretaceous, that's 75 million years ago. In the 21st century, the arrangement of continents is very different, and where I am now, will be present-day Mongolia. I don't know if I’m going to find "Claws", I don't know what I’m going to see, but whatever happens, this is going to be a cracking adventure.
Nigel Marven: A nesting colony of Protoceratops. These were so common in the Nemegt Desert, 75 million years ago, some palaeontologists call these "the sheep of the Cretaceous". Although these are little vegetarians, they're about seven feet long, they've got really powerful beaks, and by the look of them, a bite from one of those could snap an arm or a leg.
Nigel Marven: Those jaws are really formidable, but I’ve got to get through the nesting colony, and over to the other side, there's some lush rainforest there, and that may be the home of "the Giant Claw". But to do it, I’m going to take a calculated risk. The dinosaurs’ closest relatives, the birds and the crocodilians, they can see well in colour, and if I use this, the Protoceratops may be deflected away from me, and they'll follow the flag. So, let's see if it works.
Nigel Marven: What? Oh, close one.
Crewmember: Behind you Nigel!
Nigel Marven: Come on.
Crewmember: Oh, my lord.
Nigel Marven: This area of the Nemegt Desert is called a productive dune system. These great big dunes, and then sandwiched in between, this verdant rainforest. It's windy here, you can see the sand grains whipping off the top. These dunes are marching, so every now and then, the forests are swamped and then eventually, a new forest grows, so there's always new growth here for dinosaurs. And this is the first forest I’ve found, and hopefully down there, there's big carnivorous dinosaurs.
Nigel Marven: This is a perfect dinosaur forest, there’s cycads, ferns, and these conifers, some of them can soar 200 feet into the air.
Nigel Marven: I keep getting glimpses of fast-moving dinosaurs in the vegetation along this creek, and I think it's a pack of hunting Velociraptors. I don't know what they're hunting yet.
Nigel Marven (narration): I soon found out my hunch was right, moving through the trees, there were six or seven Velociraptors.
Nigel Marven: They're six feet long and they're pretty lethal predators, but they're not interested in me. I think they're stalking bigger prey, and I’m gonna try to follow them.
Nigel Marven: There's their prey. That's what they've been after. A big male Protoceratops, he's badly wounded already. If I circle round, if I’m careful, I should be able to get right next to the kill.
Nigel Marven (narration): As I got closer, I saw how the Velociraptors, used those lethal claws on their toes.
Nigel Marven: This reminds me of a pack of African Hunting Dogs in action. They attack persistently, and for both the Velociraptors and the dogs, the end result is the same - the prey dies from loss of blood and exhaustion. The Protoceratops is dead now. They're not paying any attention to me. They're totally focused on feeding. I’ve done this with tigers, around the kill, so I think I can move closer. Predators are often at risk when they tackle much larger prey, and the Protoceratops fought back. There's a Velociraptor over there with a broken arm, must have been snapped by the Protoceratops beak. I’ve pushed this far enough now. It's dangerous here, in this dense forest, and they may start paying attention to me. It's time to go.
Nigel Marven (narration): It was getting late and I needed to find a safe place to set up camp. The forest was teeming with strange animals, but not all as exotic as dinosaurs.
Nigel Marven: There we are, a really familiar face. Scorpions were around 200 million years before the first dinosaur, and of course they're still around in the 21st century. So, they've been on the Earth for a staggering 400 million years. I’ve got one of these as a pet at home, so I’m going to keep this one as a little reminder. Come on then.
Nigel Marven (narration): As darkness closed in, I began to feel just a little anxious. Unfortunately, there was nowhere else to go but my tent. This was certainly not gonna be a quiet night.
Crewmember: Nigel!
Nigel Marven: What is…
Nigel Marven: Thank goodness for that. I’ve seen these in my book. They're called Mononykus. They can't be more than about six feet long, and they feed mainly on insects, so they shouldn't be after me.
Nigel Marven (narration): Instead, I decided to go after them and catch my first dinosaur.
Crewmember: Over there.
Nigel Marven: They’re flipping fast. I’ve got one at last. He’s struggling a bit. Calm down, calm down. He may be an insect-eater but there's some razor-sharp teeth in there. I’ve got my fingers at the base of the jaw, just like with a venomous snake. But if I can get, there, that should calm him down, keep the eyes covered. And this is what I caught him for, as near as dammit, feathers! You think reptiles have all got scales, maybe these are just raggedy scales. You can see why palaeontologists think these therapod dinosaurs, that's the carnivorous line, why they're in the same lineage as the birds. This is like a giant chicken or something.
Nigel Marven (narration): It was an amazing moment, wrestling with a dinosaur. But I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
Nigel Marven: Away you go. Argh, look at that. I’ve either spiked myself or, stupidly put my finger on one of those teeth.
Nigel Marven (narration): The next morning, I checked on my scorpion.
Nigel Marven: Argh!
Crewmember: They’ve eaten it, Nigel.
Nigel Marven: Ahh, go on.
Nigel Marven: There's lots of dinosaur distractions, but I’ve seen no evidence at all "the Giant Claw". Perhaps this habitat is just too dense, perhaps there's not enough herbivores for it to prey on. I’ve got a long way to go, but if I can get through there, maybe there's some more open habitat on the other side.
Nigel Marven: I came out of the dense forest to this scrubbier habitat and I found our first real clue. I think this is the nest of "the Giant Claw". It's been broken into, there’s monitor lizards here, fossils have been found, and monitors in Africa, they break into crocodile nests. Perhaps that's what's happened here. But look, at what I found inside, this must be the embryo of Therizinosaurus, "the Giant Claw". Even as a little baby, inside the shell, you can see the claws there at the front of the body. But if this is a nest site, it's really curious, because look at this. This is herbivore dung, it's not carnivore dung. Look inside there. There's pine needles, bits of cycad, smells like a herbivore, and I can't understand why this is all scattered around here. Around the nest site of "the Giant Claw", which, which must be a predator?
Nigel Marven (narration): I’d been tracking for almost two days, yet I wasn't any nearer to understanding my quarry. There was nothing else, but to continue my search through this extraordinary land.
Nigel Marven: This is dangerous. There is a huge predator over there. It must be a Tarbosaurus. That's the Asian cousin Tyrannosaurus rex. On any safari you want to see the top predator, but I’m not keen on this. This is so huge, 40 feet long. The wind's blowing towards us and that's good. He's coming towards us, quick. He’s got really good hearing, turn that off, quick.
Nigel Marven: Tarbosaurus, scary, but a thrill. It's the biggest carnivore around here, because they stand tall, stand vertically, tiny limbs at the front, help balance that massive head, with that huge skull and those massive teeth for making devastating bites into prey and pulling out chunks of flesh. I am never gonna forget that view.
Nigel Marven (narration): It was time to change my tactics. Across the scrubland were several large freshwater lakes. Instead of searching for "Claws" I’d wait for him to come to me.
Nigel Marven: This is beautiful. On any safari, you look for the waterhole. They're a magnet for animals, and on a dinosaur safari it's no different. And this must be the best chance for me to find evidence of "the Giant Claw".
Nigel Marven: The thing about waterholes being a magnet for wildlife, the predators know that too. In Africa, lions wait for zebras coming to drink, this could be a Tarbosaurus coming down waiting for larger prey. So, we have really got to watch our step here.
Nigel Marven: Look what I found, a claw, I think it's a Therizinosaurus, and there is a whole skeleton. Let's see what else I can find. Let's have a look. There we go. That's pretty heavy.
Nigel Marven: Look at the size of it. I’m six foot two and it actually, dwarfs me, and this is just the front leg. And to be truthful, I’m actually a little nervous about meeting a creature with claws like this, they must be for disembowelling prey. But the more I get closer to the mystery of Therizinosaurus, the more I get confused. Look at these.
Nigel Marven (narration): I found these amongst the bones, they're not the teeth of a meat-eater, they're leaf shaped and serrated. That suggests they're designed for slicing through vegetation.
Nigel Marven: And earlier, when I found the nest, there was also that herbivorous dung there, so I just don't know what's going on with this amazing creature.
Nigel Marven: Velociraptors! And they're paying attention to us.
Crewmember: Nigel!
Nigel Marven: Come on, they’re gaining.
Nigel Marven: I’ve got an idea, which may work. This is a bicycle horn I bought from home, and let's see what happens. Just as I thought, Velociraptors, like most animals, they don't like loud noises. Are you okay? Do you want a hand with yours?
Nigel Marven: Can you hear that? There's a terrific kerfuffle and I think it’s by the lake.
Nigel Marven: Shhh! It’s a Tarbosaurus, get down.
Nigel Marven: What, is that? I don't believe it, at last, there’s "Claws", Therizinosaurus. I could never have even imagined anything like that. Tiny head and those great claws at the front. It is the oddest of dinosaurs. Tarbosaurus, he's noticed too. Normally big predators avoid each other, but it looks like there could be a clash, and we better get undercover.
Nigel Marven (narration): It was an awesome fight, but Tarbosaurus eventually backed down, and I got a chance to sneak out and observe the Therizinosaurus. I was in for a surprise, a whole herd of them appeared from the forest and started browsing on the trees.
Nigel Marven: Now everything adds up. Those teeth scattered in the skeleton, they were the teeth of a herbivore, the dung crammed with plant vegetation at the nest site. Therizinosaurus, it's a plant-eater not a predator. Look at them now. They're using those giant claws to drag leaves towards their mouths. Those great long necks for reaching up for vegetation, and those pot-bellies, those are great fermentation chambers for the tons of vegetation they have to eat.
Nigel Marven: I want to get really close, but of course, herbivores of this size, they're not safe. But hopefully, because of my smell, I smell like a mammal, I won't be attacked. The only mammals around at this time, there's really, really small rat-like mammals, so they shouldn't be threatened by me.
Nigel Marven (narration): At least that was the theory. As far as I could see those huge claws weren't for killing things, although they clearly discouraged that huge Tarbosaurus, In fact, these seem quite gentle creatures, and this gave me an idea. Something that would bring my quest for "the Giant Claw" to a natural end.
Nigel Marven: They seem completely oblivious, even if I speak quite loudly. So, I’m gonna go even closer, and see if I can touch one.