View source for Whale Killer

{{Quote|The giant whales have arrived! Forget the gentle filter feeders of the 21st century. These days, every whale is a killer.|'''Narrator'''}}
{{Infobox episode
|image = WhaleKiller.png
|series = ''[[Walking with Beasts]]''
|no. = 2
|animals = ''[[Basilosaurus]]''<br>''[[Dorudon]]''<br>''[[Moeritherium]]''<br>''[[Apidium]]''<br>''[[Andrewsarchus]]''<br>''[[Embolotherium]]''
|run = 22 November 2001
|previous = ''[[New Dawn]]''
|next = ''[[Land of Giants (Walking with Beasts)|Land of Giants]]''}}
'''Whale Killer''' is the second episode of '''Walking with Beasts''' series. It takes place at the end of the '''[[Eocene]]'''-start of the '''[[Oligocene]]''' epochs. This is a time of an extinction event so unlike the previous episode, which was featured on the beginning of mammal evolution in general, the episode shows extinction of many first (archaic) mammal families instead.

==Episode Summary==
===Open Sea===
This episode introduces ''[[Basilosaurus]]'', an ancient type of [[Whales|whale]] (Archaeoceti). ''Basilosaurus'' became the new king of the ocean after the giant [[Marine Reptiles|marine reptiles]] of the [[Mesozoic]] died out alongside the dinosaurs (see '''[[Cruel Sea]]'''). It was much bigger than the sharks it shared the ocean with, and it regularly ate the sharks. However, ''Basilosaurus'' was still less advanced than the modern species of whale; it still had rear flippers (that helped it during the mating) and lacked the blubber and the 'melon' organ of the modern cetaceans, so it couldn't "sing" - instead it emitted high-pitched sounds.

At the same time, this program depicted the beginning of 'climate chaos' - a relatively minor extinction event between Eocene and Oligocene, also known as "The Great Cut".

===Open Land===
On land mammals too have become big and huge. This episode featured brontotheres (''[[Embolotherium]]'') and ''[[Andrewsarchus]]'', a mammal that was considered to be a [[Mesonychidae|Mesonychid]] when '''Whale Killer''' was aired, but now is considered to be a closer relative to the [[Entelodont]]s. Both were much bigger than the land mammals featured in '''[[New Dawn]]''' episode, but their brains were still small and their behavior - primitive. They were the first true mammal rulers of the land and most of them would die out during "The Great Cut".

===Mangrove Swamps===
[[File:WWB_Moeritherium.jpg|thumb|264px]]
As the El Nino continues and the extinction event is beginning, the female ''Basilosaurus'' is forced to 
change her hunting ground from open seas to mangrove swamps (the future [[Sahara]] desert). There she encounters small sharks, ''[[Apidium]]'', and ''[[Moeritherium]]''. A shark eats an ''Apidium'' but is too small to attack ''Moeritherium''. The female ''Basilosaurus'' attack a ''Moeritherium'' but she miscalculates the tides' height and runs aground. Eventually, she manages to escape, but the ''Moeritherium'' is long gone.
===Open Land===
''Embolotherium'' continue to strive, but a high percentage of their calves is being still-born. Two ''Andrewsarchus'' steal such a calf, but begin to fight over it in order to determine which of them gets to eat it first. The calf's mother decides that the calf is alive and fights off the ''Andrewsarchus'' - for a time. (Note that in book version the ''Andrewsarchus'' managed to steal the calf and eat it instead.)
===Open Sea===
The female ''Basilosaurus'' discovers a lagoon where a smaller species of ancient whale called ''[[Dorudon]]'' are beginning to calf. At first the smaller whales use their numbers' advantage to chase away the giant, but the female ''Basilosaurus'' eventually returns and begins to hunt and devour ''Dorudon'' calves - and this time the adults can't stop her.

Several months later ''Basilosaurus'' gives birth to her own calf, but the episode ends saying that both the mother and child are doomed to perish - but whales as a group will survive.
==Organisms==
====36 Million Years Ago (Tethys Sea)====
*''[[Basilosaurus]]''
*''[[Physogaleus]]'' (identified simply as a shark)

====36 Million Years Ago (Pakistan)====
*''[[Embolotherium]]'' (identified simply as a brontothere)
*''[[Andrewsarchus]]''
*''[[Puppigerus]]'' (live acted by sea turtle) 
*[[Vulture]]
====36 Million Years Ago (Sahara Desert, Egypt)====
*''[[Basilosaurus]]''
*[[Mangrove Trees]]
*''[[Apidium]]''
*''[[Moeritherium]]''
*''[[Physogaleus]]'' (identified simply as a shark)
*[[Violinist crab]]
*''[[Dorudon]]''

== Trivia ==

* Some shots are reused in a rerelease of [[Death of a Dynasty]].

==Gallery==
===Promotional Images===
<gallery>
Promo Basilosaurus.jpg|''[[Basilosaurus]]'' swimming through water.
WWBBook Physogaleus.jpg|''Basilosaurus'' grabbing a shark in mid-air.
Evi dorudon large.jpg
Basi.png|Two ''Basilosaurus'' mating.
Basilosaurus large.jpg
Evi moeritherium large.jpg|''[[Moeritherium]]'' on a tropical beach.
moeritheriumprofile.jpg|''Moeritherium'' side view profile.
Evi brontothere large.jpg|Two ''[[Embolotherium]]'' fighting.
Evi apidium large.jpg
AndrewsarchusPromotion.jpg|Two ''Andrewsarchus'' fighting over a dead ''Embolotherium'' calf.
WWB Moeritherium.jpg|A swimming Moeritherium
</gallery>
===Screenshots===
<gallery>
WWB1x2 BasilosaurusHarassedByDorudon.jpg
</gallery>

==Broadcast==
===Original airdate===
*22 November 2001 20.30 BBC One
===Repeats===
*25 November 2001 16.30 BBC One
*26 February 2003 19.00 BBC Four
*25 November 2006 20.00 BBC Three

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=1&order=asc&q=Walking+with+beasts&media=tv&yf=1999#search
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