"Mysteries at the Museum" Dinosaurs: Special

1 00:00:01,250 --> 00:00:04,020 ¶ 2 00:00:04,020 --> 00:00:06,160 I'm investigating our planet's oldest 3 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:08,590 and greatest mystery -- the dinosaurs. 4 00:00:08,590 --> 00:00:10,030 [ Roars ] 5 00:00:11,700 --> 00:00:12,760 [ Roars ] 6 00:00:14,330 --> 00:00:15,630 [ Roars ] 7 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:20,570 It's not until you get this kind of perspective 8 00:00:20,570 --> 00:00:22,570 that you get any sense 9 00:00:22,570 --> 00:00:24,880 of the devastation that happened. 10 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,640 Scientists have been studying dinosaurs for centuries. 11 00:00:27,650 --> 00:00:29,950 And their fossilized remains have drawn people 12 00:00:29,950 --> 00:00:32,650 to museums around the world for generations. 13 00:00:36,460 --> 00:00:40,420 But what do we really know about dinosaurs? 14 00:00:40,430 --> 00:00:41,630 Ooh! 15 00:00:41,630 --> 00:00:44,130 I'm on a quest to breathe life into the bones 16 00:00:44,130 --> 00:00:48,700 of these amazing creatures, to discover what lives they led 17 00:00:48,700 --> 00:00:51,130 when they were living, breathing beasts. 18 00:00:51,140 --> 00:00:52,740 It's one thing to talk about this stuff. 19 00:00:52,740 --> 00:00:54,370 It's a whole nother thing to do it. 20 00:00:54,370 --> 00:00:56,440 [ Hisses ] 21 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:57,910 I'm Don Wildman. 22 00:00:57,910 --> 00:01:01,110 I've explored the world's greatest mysteries, 23 00:01:01,110 --> 00:01:03,610 examined rare artifacts and epic monuments. 24 00:01:03,620 --> 00:01:05,020 That's amazing. 25 00:01:05,020 --> 00:01:06,750 Now I'm digging deeper 26 00:01:06,750 --> 00:01:10,420 into some of the most perplexing and famous cases in history. 27 00:01:10,420 --> 00:01:12,860 My goal -- to get closer to the truth. 28 00:01:12,860 --> 00:01:16,090 It's a totally alien environment down there. 29 00:01:16,090 --> 00:01:20,930 This is "Mysteries at the Museum: Dinosaurs." 30 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:30,070 ¶ 31 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,010 With their awe-inspiring size, 32 00:01:33,010 --> 00:01:36,850 otherworldly appearance and unpronounceable names, 33 00:01:36,850 --> 00:01:39,780 dinosaurs captivate our imagination. 34 00:01:39,790 --> 00:01:41,350 But for many of us, 35 00:01:41,350 --> 00:01:43,320 our understanding about dinosaurs 36 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,660 ends somewhere around elementary school. 37 00:01:45,660 --> 00:01:48,460 And while you may not think much has changed since then, 38 00:01:48,460 --> 00:01:51,360 the mystery of dinosaurs is constantly evolving, 39 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,600 with new clues being discovered almost every day. 40 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,730 I mean, how much do we really know about them? 41 00:01:56,740 --> 00:01:59,470 Where do they come from? What were they like? 42 00:01:59,470 --> 00:02:01,140 Why did they disappear? 43 00:02:01,140 --> 00:02:03,110 And could they ever come back? 44 00:02:03,110 --> 00:02:05,310 [ Roars ] 45 00:02:05,310 --> 00:02:08,280 If you're investigating dinosaurs, 46 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,010 it's important to understand a couple things. 47 00:02:11,020 --> 00:02:12,320 Humans have been around 48 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,520 for less than a quarter of a million years. 49 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:19,220 But dinosaurs first appeared about 230 million years ago. 50 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:22,630 And they ruled the planet for a very long time -- 51 00:02:22,630 --> 00:02:26,760 165 million years, to be exact. 52 00:02:26,770 --> 00:02:28,500 Dinosaurs are so old 53 00:02:28,500 --> 00:02:31,130 that the only tangible thing we know about them 54 00:02:31,140 --> 00:02:35,470 comes from fossilized remains dug up from the ground. 55 00:02:35,470 --> 00:02:39,340 So when trying to unravel the mystery of dinosaurs, 56 00:02:39,340 --> 00:02:42,710 it's their fossils that hold the key. 57 00:02:42,710 --> 00:02:45,280 I'm driving through Grand Staircase National Monument 58 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,950 here in southern Utah, on my way to an active fossil dig. 59 00:02:48,950 --> 00:02:51,490 Utah is one of the best places in the world 60 00:02:51,490 --> 00:02:53,590 to find dinosaur fossils. 61 00:02:53,590 --> 00:02:57,690 Cavernous red canyons and great expanses of exposed rock 62 00:02:57,700 --> 00:03:00,300 offer a tantalizing glimpse into the past. 63 00:03:00,300 --> 00:03:04,500 For many dinosaur experts and enthusiasts, 64 00:03:04,500 --> 00:03:07,940 this is the dinosaur heartland. 65 00:03:07,940 --> 00:03:09,340 I'm joining a fossil dig 66 00:03:09,340 --> 00:03:12,440 in one of the most remote parts of Grand Staircase, 67 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,250 an area called the Kaiparowits Plateau. 68 00:03:18,650 --> 00:03:20,320 The dig is being overseen 69 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,020 by the monument's resident paleontologist, 70 00:03:23,020 --> 00:03:24,720 Dr. Alan Titus. 71 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,160 Three years ago, Alan discovered the fossilized remains 72 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,660 of a truly remarkable creature. 73 00:03:30,660 --> 00:03:32,630 What's the dinosaur that's here? 74 00:03:32,630 --> 00:03:34,060 There's not one single dinosaur. 75 00:03:34,070 --> 00:03:35,670 But it's mostly Tyrannosaur material. 76 00:03:35,670 --> 00:03:36,830 No way! Oh, yeah. 77 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,940 The apex predator for the late Cretaceous. 78 00:03:39,940 --> 00:03:43,610 Tyrannosaurs include arguably the most iconic dinosaur 79 00:03:43,610 --> 00:03:46,280 of all time, the T. rex. 80 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,240 Measuring up to 40 feet long, 81 00:03:48,250 --> 00:03:52,620 T. rex had giant jaws lined with 9-inch teeth, 82 00:03:52,620 --> 00:03:54,620 making it one of the most fearsome predators 83 00:03:54,620 --> 00:03:57,420 to have ever walked the Earth. 84 00:03:57,420 --> 00:04:00,220 It's not common to find a Tyrannosaurus rex. 85 00:04:00,230 --> 00:04:01,320 Incredibly rare. Really? 86 00:04:01,330 --> 00:04:04,260 In fact, this site may be the biggest find 87 00:04:04,260 --> 00:04:05,460 of my entire career. 88 00:04:05,460 --> 00:04:06,830 Congratulations. Ah. 89 00:04:06,830 --> 00:04:09,630 Can I see the bones? Yeah. Let's go take a look. 90 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,840 What is this? I mean, tell me what I'm looking at here. 91 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,210 We're actually looking at multiple elements 92 00:04:16,210 --> 00:04:17,610 from different animals. 93 00:04:17,610 --> 00:04:20,880 This is actually the left side of a face of an adult. 94 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:22,510 You've got something over -- this is the... 95 00:04:22,510 --> 00:04:23,550 Yep. The replica. 96 00:04:23,550 --> 00:04:25,980 Can I bring it over? Yeah. 97 00:04:25,980 --> 00:04:28,120 This helps me a lot... 98 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:29,650 Yeah. Understand. 99 00:04:29,660 --> 00:04:30,950 I can put it right here? Sure. 100 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,290 Yeah, let's just set that right down there. 101 00:04:32,290 --> 00:04:34,960 So, we're basically looking at this right there. 102 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,500 Yes, so, this triangular bone right here matches up 103 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:41,430 with this triangle projection up here. 104 00:04:41,430 --> 00:04:42,470 Huh. 105 00:04:42,470 --> 00:04:44,230 This scabby knob matches up 106 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,000 with these ornaments on top of the eye. 107 00:04:47,010 --> 00:04:48,770 And then, as we move forward, 108 00:04:48,770 --> 00:04:50,710 we would expect to encounter the upper jaw 109 00:04:50,710 --> 00:04:51,880 filled with teeth. 110 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:53,540 And that's exactly what we have here. 111 00:04:53,550 --> 00:04:54,640 This was a big animal. 112 00:04:54,650 --> 00:04:55,750 This is movie-quality. 113 00:04:55,750 --> 00:04:58,280 Yeah, at least 30 feet long. 114 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:01,280 Alan's in the process of removing the Tyrannosaur's skull 115 00:05:01,290 --> 00:05:05,090 so he can transport it back to his lab for further analysis. 116 00:05:05,090 --> 00:05:07,260 Where should I do this without damaging? 117 00:05:07,260 --> 00:05:09,460 What we're trying to do is excavate a trough 118 00:05:09,460 --> 00:05:10,690 between these two elements 119 00:05:10,700 --> 00:05:12,160 so I can make this block reasonable. 120 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,970 So, yeah, if you can just come in at a fairly low angle 121 00:05:15,970 --> 00:05:17,330 and, uh, get those... 122 00:05:17,340 --> 00:05:18,940 There you go. Oh, there you go. 123 00:05:18,940 --> 00:05:19,940 So that's... Beautiful. 124 00:05:19,940 --> 00:05:21,140 Yep. That was very satisfying. 125 00:05:21,140 --> 00:05:22,210 So, bit by bit... 126 00:05:22,210 --> 00:05:23,270 Bit by bit. 127 00:05:25,010 --> 00:05:28,310 The T. rex was one of the last dinosaurs on Earth 128 00:05:28,310 --> 00:05:32,450 before they disappeared 65 million years ago. 129 00:05:32,450 --> 00:05:35,590 So, this is pretty late in the dinosaur age, yes? Mm-hmm. 130 00:05:35,590 --> 00:05:38,050 We're looking at the swan song of the dinosaurs 131 00:05:38,060 --> 00:05:40,960 about 10 million years before they ultimately go extinct. 132 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,430 When do they begin? 133 00:05:42,430 --> 00:05:43,730 Well, that takes us all the way back 134 00:05:43,730 --> 00:05:45,560 to 230 million years ago, 135 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,060 in the wake of the largest catastrophe 136 00:05:48,070 --> 00:05:50,370 that Earth has ever experienced. 137 00:05:50,370 --> 00:05:53,200 Over 230 million years ago, 138 00:05:53,210 --> 00:05:55,970 almost all life on Earth was wiped out 139 00:05:55,970 --> 00:05:57,770 in one of the most dramatic events 140 00:05:57,780 --> 00:05:59,710 in the history of the planet. 141 00:05:59,710 --> 00:06:03,050 Some of the few survivors were primitive reptiles. 142 00:06:03,050 --> 00:06:06,120 And they would evolve into dinosaurs. 143 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:07,450 At the time, 144 00:06:07,450 --> 00:06:10,590 the continents were concentrated into one giant landmass 145 00:06:10,590 --> 00:06:14,090 mostly covered in desert called Pangea. 146 00:06:14,090 --> 00:06:17,990 Over millions of years, Pangea slowly drifted apart. 147 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,360 As it did, the temperatures dropped. 148 00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:21,900 Plant life grew. 149 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:24,470 And the dinosaurs thrived. 150 00:06:24,470 --> 00:06:26,800 It's then that many of the iconic creatures 151 00:06:26,810 --> 00:06:30,310 that we remember from childhood appeared, 152 00:06:30,310 --> 00:06:33,380 gigantic beasts, like the Stegosaurus 153 00:06:33,380 --> 00:06:37,980 that was the size of a bus and weighed close to 5 tons. 154 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:41,080 The dinosaurs ruled the Earth for millions of years, 155 00:06:41,090 --> 00:06:44,290 during which time the continents continued to break up. 156 00:06:44,290 --> 00:06:45,520 It explains why, today, 157 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,160 we find fossils all over the world, 158 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,230 even in unexpected parts, like the Antarctic. 159 00:06:52,230 --> 00:06:54,460 The dig on the Kaiparowits Plateau 160 00:06:54,470 --> 00:06:57,630 is just one of several that Alan is involved in. 161 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,370 Many of the fossils weigh over 500 pounds. 162 00:07:01,370 --> 00:07:03,440 So Alan uses a helicopter 163 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,410 to bring them to an accessible staging point. 164 00:07:06,410 --> 00:07:07,540 So this is cool. 165 00:07:07,550 --> 00:07:09,850 These are fossils brought in from another site 166 00:07:09,850 --> 00:07:12,780 about 12 miles away, lots of dust. 167 00:07:12,780 --> 00:07:14,980 And they're actually dropping them right into that truck, 168 00:07:14,990 --> 00:07:17,390 hundreds of pounds from a Hadrosaurus? 169 00:07:17,390 --> 00:07:19,560 Hadrosaurus. Yeah, Hadrosaur. 170 00:07:21,390 --> 00:07:24,260 The fossils have to be wrapped in plaster jackets 171 00:07:24,260 --> 00:07:26,900 to protect them during transport. 172 00:07:26,900 --> 00:07:30,930 Got three major jacketed bones here. 173 00:07:30,940 --> 00:07:33,440 It's a big load. 174 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:35,310 So, you think dinosaur science is over? 175 00:07:35,310 --> 00:07:36,810 It ain't. 176 00:07:36,810 --> 00:07:39,610 They're bringing these things in from all over the place now. 177 00:07:39,610 --> 00:07:40,940 That's incredible. 178 00:07:42,780 --> 00:07:44,350 WILDMAN: It's so exciting, you know. 179 00:07:44,350 --> 00:07:48,080 This guy is going off to pick up another load from so far away. 180 00:07:48,090 --> 00:07:49,290 And look at these. I mean, 181 00:07:49,290 --> 00:07:51,150 this was the second load we brought in. 182 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,790 Just all of these major bones. 183 00:07:53,790 --> 00:07:57,130 But from the same animal are all the smaller pieces. 184 00:07:57,130 --> 00:08:00,500 I mean, this reads right on it -- "cervical vertebrae." 185 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:02,070 It's just such an exciting thing 186 00:08:02,070 --> 00:08:04,100 that you're still finding so much. 187 00:08:04,100 --> 00:08:06,170 Oh, yeah. And there's a chance 188 00:08:06,170 --> 00:08:08,140 that this animal could actually be new to science. 189 00:08:08,140 --> 00:08:09,240 Really? Yeah. 190 00:08:10,740 --> 00:08:12,280 We can do it. Oh! Man. 191 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:14,280 That's a heavy load. That's heavy, son. 192 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,850 Alan will take these fossils back to his lab, 193 00:08:16,850 --> 00:08:19,150 where he'll begin the painstaking process 194 00:08:19,150 --> 00:08:21,180 of piecing them back together. 195 00:08:23,590 --> 00:08:27,360 When Alan found the T. rex site here at Grand Staircase, 196 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,230 he was so surprised, he named it Rainbows and Unicorns. 197 00:08:31,230 --> 00:08:33,160 And as we were packing up to leave, 198 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,370 something remarkable happened. 199 00:08:37,370 --> 00:08:40,640 It seemed like a good omen for the journey ahead. 200 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,510 So much of what we know about dinosaurs 201 00:08:43,510 --> 00:08:45,640 comes from studying their fossils. 202 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,140 But as we try to learn more about their behavior, 203 00:08:48,150 --> 00:08:49,950 put flesh to the bone, 204 00:08:49,950 --> 00:08:53,880 there are other avenues to explore. 205 00:08:53,890 --> 00:08:56,250 Ruling our planet as the dominant species 206 00:08:56,250 --> 00:08:57,590 for millions of years, 207 00:08:57,590 --> 00:09:00,690 dinosaurs include some of the largest creatures 208 00:09:00,690 --> 00:09:02,190 to ever inhabit Earth 209 00:09:02,190 --> 00:09:04,460 and some of the most ferocious. 210 00:09:04,460 --> 00:09:07,630 Three of the most terrifying were Utahraptor, 211 00:09:07,630 --> 00:09:10,370 that had a 9-inch retractable toe claw 212 00:09:10,370 --> 00:09:13,100 that it used to stab its prey... 213 00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:16,470 Spinosaurus, that, at over 50 feet long, 214 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:20,280 was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever... 215 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,480 and the one that everyone knows, the T. rex, 216 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,420 that had a 4-foot-long jaw 217 00:09:25,420 --> 00:09:28,450 designed for maximum bone-crushing action. 218 00:09:32,220 --> 00:09:33,990 There's no question that an encounter 219 00:09:33,990 --> 00:09:36,860 with a Tyrannosaurus rex would be terrifying. 220 00:09:36,860 --> 00:09:38,290 But I want to investigate 221 00:09:38,300 --> 00:09:41,000 just how terrifying that would really be. 222 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,070 To do that, I need to get up close and personal 223 00:09:44,070 --> 00:09:46,400 with one of its distant relatives. 224 00:09:48,010 --> 00:09:51,310 This is gonna have to be snappy. 225 00:09:51,310 --> 00:09:52,410 MOORE: All right, boys. 226 00:09:52,410 --> 00:09:54,080 [ Grunting ] 227 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:55,410 This thing is massive. 228 00:09:58,020 --> 00:10:00,720 ¶ 229 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,350 I'm investigating the mystery of the dinosaurs. 230 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,790 Where does our understanding of them come from? 231 00:10:05,790 --> 00:10:07,320 And what were they like? 232 00:10:07,330 --> 00:10:09,660 [ Roaring ] 233 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,030 When people picture dinosaurs, 234 00:10:13,030 --> 00:10:16,270 they often imagine fearsome predators, like the T. rex. 235 00:10:16,270 --> 00:10:17,800 [ Roars ] 236 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,000 But how do you figure out the power of a creature 237 00:10:20,010 --> 00:10:23,270 that's been dead for 65 million years? 238 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,310 By studying the power of its closest 239 00:10:25,310 --> 00:10:29,180 living descendant on Earth -- the alligator. 240 00:10:29,180 --> 00:10:32,180 Which brings me to a swampy sanctuary 241 00:10:32,180 --> 00:10:36,020 in Summerdale, Alabama, called Alligator Alley. 242 00:10:36,020 --> 00:10:38,820 It's open year-round and has elevated boardwalks 243 00:10:38,820 --> 00:10:42,290 so visitors can get an up-close view of hundreds of alligators 244 00:10:42,290 --> 00:10:44,530 in their natural environment. 245 00:10:44,530 --> 00:10:45,560 Sweet. 246 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:47,160 Hello, big boy. 247 00:10:47,170 --> 00:10:48,970 Come here often? 248 00:10:48,970 --> 00:10:51,700 That's a big alligator. 249 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:53,700 I'm here to meet Greg Erickson, 250 00:10:53,710 --> 00:10:57,340 a paleobiologist from Florida State University. 251 00:10:57,340 --> 00:10:59,810 Greg studies alligators and dinosaurs. 252 00:10:59,810 --> 00:11:02,280 [ Roars ] 253 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:03,650 Boy, when you look at this guy, 254 00:11:03,650 --> 00:11:05,350 I mean, it's almost like you're looking -- 255 00:11:05,350 --> 00:11:06,650 Look at that, man. 256 00:11:06,650 --> 00:11:08,320 Like, you're looking at a dinosaur. 257 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,550 ERICKSON: They're not dinosaurs, but they're closely related. 258 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:12,720 Some of the anatomy and behavior of this animal 259 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:14,860 is pretty much what dinosaurs were doing. 260 00:11:14,860 --> 00:11:16,260 It's really fascinating. 261 00:11:16,260 --> 00:11:18,960 I mean, they're one of the few things on Earth at this time 262 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,330 that you can really reach back, just by looking at them, 263 00:11:21,330 --> 00:11:23,330 reach back through millions of years 264 00:11:23,340 --> 00:11:24,900 and have a sense of what it was really like. 265 00:11:24,900 --> 00:11:26,600 Yeah, yeah, and not only that, 266 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,240 Tyrannosaurus rex walked among crocodilians 267 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:30,910 and alligators back in its day, too. 268 00:11:30,910 --> 00:11:34,480 So we're seeing the same thing they were seeing, so to speak. 269 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,610 I've teamed up with Greg for a very specific reason. 270 00:11:37,620 --> 00:11:40,320 One of the T. rex's most fearsome attributes 271 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:41,720 was its bite. 272 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,090 And because alligators are closely related, 273 00:11:44,090 --> 00:11:46,790 Greg hopes that by studying their bite, 274 00:11:46,790 --> 00:11:51,090 he can calculate how powerful a T. rex's would have been. 275 00:11:51,100 --> 00:11:53,800 So, fair to say if we tested the bite force 276 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,870 of that alligator, or an alligator, 277 00:11:56,870 --> 00:11:58,740 it will bring me closer to understanding 278 00:11:58,740 --> 00:12:00,600 how ferocious a T. rex really was. 279 00:12:00,610 --> 00:12:03,370 Yeah, this is about as close as you're gonna get to the real deal. 280 00:12:03,380 --> 00:12:06,080 This is a powerful killing machine, just like T. rex. 281 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,980 But this guy's small, compared to some of the big ones here. 282 00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:10,910 Yeah, this is a small alligator. [ Laughs ] 283 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,920 All right, let's get us one of the big ones. 284 00:12:16,790 --> 00:12:19,790 An alligator might look different from a T. rex. 285 00:12:19,790 --> 00:12:22,430 But it has similar muscles in its jaw, 286 00:12:22,430 --> 00:12:24,290 which make it a good test case. 287 00:12:24,300 --> 00:12:28,660 But with males reaching 15 feet and weighing hundreds of pounds, 288 00:12:28,670 --> 00:12:31,330 Greg and his team aren't taking any chances. 289 00:12:31,340 --> 00:12:33,640 So before starting the experiment, 290 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,440 we go over a game plan with park owner Wes Moore. 291 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,380 MOORE: All right, guys, the alligator we've picked out 292 00:12:39,380 --> 00:12:41,210 that we're gonna snare today is Fat Albert. 293 00:12:41,210 --> 00:12:44,210 Fat Albert is 12 feet. He weighs about 600 pounds. 294 00:12:44,220 --> 00:12:45,480 I'm gonna go over. 295 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:47,080 I'm gonna get that rope around his neck. 296 00:12:47,090 --> 00:12:49,750 As soon as I cinch it tight, I'm gonna scream for help. 297 00:12:49,750 --> 00:12:52,390 I need everybody running over there as fast as they can 298 00:12:52,390 --> 00:12:54,190 because if y'all don't make it there, 299 00:12:54,190 --> 00:12:56,290 I'm going in with him. Yeah. 300 00:12:56,290 --> 00:12:59,030 Greg's gonna be on the point. Just do what he tells you. 301 00:12:59,030 --> 00:13:00,500 The important thing is just, everybody, 302 00:13:00,500 --> 00:13:02,300 let's be safe and do their job. 303 00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:04,100 This is dangerous, isn't it? Very dangerous. 304 00:13:04,100 --> 00:13:06,200 All right, good. I got it. 305 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,070 WILDMAN: Fat Albert tops 12 feet and weighs more than 500 pounds. 306 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:12,410 This is crazy. 307 00:13:12,410 --> 00:13:14,540 But think about a T. rex. 308 00:13:14,550 --> 00:13:16,310 Standing at 40 feet, 309 00:13:16,310 --> 00:13:19,880 they could eat 500 pounds of meat in one bite. 310 00:13:23,690 --> 00:13:25,590 Am I coming with you guys? 311 00:13:29,060 --> 00:13:31,860 Look. He's got him lassoed up. 312 00:13:31,860 --> 00:13:32,930 MOORE: All right, boys. 313 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,900 [ Grunting ] 314 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:41,400 There we go. 315 00:13:41,410 --> 00:13:45,210 WILDMAN: Now, Greg and Wes wrangle these alligators all the time. 316 00:13:45,210 --> 00:13:47,480 But when examining and testing them, 317 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,480 they need to take every precaution to remain safe. 318 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:52,780 This thing is massive! 319 00:13:52,780 --> 00:13:56,890 Wow, you just automatically get this understanding 320 00:13:56,890 --> 00:14:00,090 of how massive this animal really is. 321 00:14:00,090 --> 00:14:01,590 And pissed. 322 00:14:01,590 --> 00:14:03,660 MOORE: One, two, three, go. 323 00:14:03,660 --> 00:14:06,660 [ Grunting ] 324 00:14:06,660 --> 00:14:08,530 One, two, three. 325 00:14:08,530 --> 00:14:10,200 [ Grunting ] 326 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,100 One, two, three. 327 00:14:12,100 --> 00:14:13,500 [ Grunting ] 328 00:14:13,510 --> 00:14:15,240 One, two, three. 329 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:16,670 [ Grunting ] 330 00:14:16,670 --> 00:14:19,340 WILDMAN: Wow. He is just pissed off. 331 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:20,880 Unbelievable. 332 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,280 That is a prehistoric beast tied up. 333 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:25,280 All right. 334 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,350 Did this go as we expected it to? 335 00:14:27,350 --> 00:14:28,950 So far. Okay, good. 336 00:14:28,950 --> 00:14:30,620 So far, so good. Safe? We're safe? 337 00:14:30,620 --> 00:14:33,690 Yeah, so far, so good. 338 00:14:33,690 --> 00:14:35,090 I mean, I just have to take a moment 339 00:14:35,090 --> 00:14:36,430 just to appreciate this thing. 340 00:14:36,430 --> 00:14:38,390 It is a beautiful creature. 341 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,600 And you see, automatically, the dinosaur aspect of this. 342 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,330 ERICKSON: Oh, yeah. Incredible. 343 00:14:43,330 --> 00:14:44,970 Want to see what it can do for bite force? 344 00:14:44,970 --> 00:14:45,970 Yes. Let's test it. 345 00:14:45,970 --> 00:14:46,970 Let's do it. 346 00:14:48,910 --> 00:14:50,370 WILDMAN: Is he cinched down plenty? 347 00:14:50,380 --> 00:14:51,970 You'll be the second to know. I'll be the first. 348 00:14:51,980 --> 00:14:54,180 [ Chuckling ] Okay, good. 349 00:14:54,180 --> 00:14:55,980 Hang on, Albert. 350 00:14:55,980 --> 00:14:57,050 Hang on. 351 00:14:57,050 --> 00:14:58,450 Oh [bleep]. 352 00:14:58,450 --> 00:15:01,250 That tail whapped me right in the ankle. 353 00:15:01,250 --> 00:15:02,350 Didn't feel good. 354 00:15:02,350 --> 00:15:03,490 Whoa! 355 00:15:04,820 --> 00:15:06,520 We're gonna cut this tape. 356 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:08,520 That jaw's gonna go wide open. 357 00:15:08,530 --> 00:15:10,230 And we're gonna put in the bite meter. 358 00:15:10,230 --> 00:15:11,890 It's one thing to talk about this stuff. 359 00:15:11,900 --> 00:15:14,260 It's a whole nother thing to do it. 360 00:15:14,270 --> 00:15:15,630 If this thing goes, I am running. 361 00:15:15,630 --> 00:15:18,300 [ Hissing ] 362 00:15:18,300 --> 00:15:20,570 Right here, just hold it real steady. 363 00:15:20,570 --> 00:15:21,800 Okay. 364 00:15:21,810 --> 00:15:23,510 And I'll tell you to reset. Give me a reading. 365 00:15:23,510 --> 00:15:25,110 It should be like 0-0-6. 366 00:15:25,110 --> 00:15:26,340 Here we go. 367 00:15:32,850 --> 00:15:34,250 All right. So the tape's off. 368 00:15:34,250 --> 00:15:36,450 Reset. Reset, push in? 369 00:15:36,450 --> 00:15:37,890 Yep. All right. 370 00:15:37,890 --> 00:15:39,290 [ Hissing ] 371 00:15:39,290 --> 00:15:42,190 All right. Go ahead and move up and hold the head. 372 00:15:42,190 --> 00:15:43,190 You ready, Wes? 373 00:15:43,190 --> 00:15:45,160 Yeah. I got him. 374 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:46,360 Oh, geez! 375 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:47,900 Wow, there it goes. 376 00:15:51,470 --> 00:15:52,970 What was it? 377 00:15:52,970 --> 00:15:54,140 2,431 pounds. 378 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:55,140 Wow! 379 00:15:55,140 --> 00:15:58,710 2,431 pounds! 380 00:15:58,710 --> 00:15:59,780 [ Hissing ] 381 00:15:59,780 --> 00:16:01,610 Unbelievable. Over a ton of bite force. 382 00:16:01,610 --> 00:16:03,410 You can see those pterygoid muscles right there 383 00:16:03,410 --> 00:16:06,320 in particular just clenching, just like that. 384 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:07,550 I'm very scared of this thing. 385 00:16:07,550 --> 00:16:08,720 You're kind of jumpy now. 386 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,450 Yeah. I'm a little jumpy. 387 00:16:10,460 --> 00:16:11,650 MOORE: Oh, you're gonna sit right here next. 388 00:16:11,660 --> 00:16:12,920 Oh, am I? Okay. Yes, you are. 389 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,190 Oh. Well, let's get on with that. 390 00:16:14,190 --> 00:16:15,560 That tail is what I'm afraid of. 391 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:17,390 That's all right. 392 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:18,390 Okay, I'm a little... 393 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:19,500 You don't want to lean forward, 394 00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:21,130 because he can bring his head back. 395 00:16:21,130 --> 00:16:22,470 Don't lean forward? Don't lean forward. 396 00:16:22,470 --> 00:16:23,430 Yeah, exactly. 397 00:16:23,430 --> 00:16:24,730 You ready? Yep. 398 00:16:24,740 --> 00:16:26,100 Oh, man. Feel it? 399 00:16:26,100 --> 00:16:28,140 Yeah, yeah. You can just feel this muscle, 400 00:16:28,140 --> 00:16:29,970 which just looks like fat, right? 401 00:16:29,970 --> 00:16:32,410 But it's actually all muscle in there. 402 00:16:32,410 --> 00:16:33,910 And it just tightens, like that. 403 00:16:33,910 --> 00:16:35,310 That's where all the power comes from. 404 00:16:35,310 --> 00:16:36,910 You can feel it contract. Yeah. 405 00:16:36,910 --> 00:16:38,550 So, I'm gonna try to get my meter back. 406 00:16:38,550 --> 00:16:39,720 Yes, there -- 407 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,150 Uh-oh. You lost the leather. 408 00:16:42,150 --> 00:16:44,550 He's like, "Well, at least I get a meal out of this. 409 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,120 Okay. This guy's really moving. 410 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:47,260 All right. 411 00:16:47,260 --> 00:16:48,390 Calm down. 412 00:16:48,390 --> 00:16:50,030 Calm down. You got it. 413 00:16:50,030 --> 00:16:51,590 Thanks. That's my souvenir. 414 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,300 So Greg and Wes are gonna let him go now. 415 00:16:59,970 --> 00:17:01,270 I'm a little worried about them right now. 416 00:17:01,270 --> 00:17:02,270 Ready? Hang on. 417 00:17:08,380 --> 00:17:11,110 But look how small he looks now in that water. 418 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:12,450 All the while, understand 419 00:17:12,450 --> 00:17:16,420 how overwhelmingly powerful that eating machine is. 420 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,720 The alligator is one of the top predators around today. 421 00:17:21,730 --> 00:17:25,590 But how does its bite force compare to the T. rex? 422 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:26,900 [ Roars ] 423 00:17:28,980 --> 00:17:31,520 ¶ 424 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,020 WILDMAN: Dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years. 425 00:17:35,020 --> 00:17:36,990 [ Grunts ] There we go. 426 00:17:36,990 --> 00:17:40,560 I'm on a mission to investigate science happening today 427 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,130 that helps tell their story. 428 00:17:42,130 --> 00:17:43,600 This thing is massive. 429 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,800 The T. rex is one of the most fearsome dinosaurs imaginable. 430 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:49,740 And it shares several similarities 431 00:17:49,740 --> 00:17:54,110 with another top predator alive today -- the alligator. 432 00:17:54,110 --> 00:17:55,810 ERICKSON: Oh, geez. 433 00:17:55,810 --> 00:17:57,710 2,431 pounds. 434 00:17:57,710 --> 00:17:59,810 Wow. Over a ton of bite force. 435 00:18:04,290 --> 00:18:06,420 Knowing the bite force of the alligator, 436 00:18:06,420 --> 00:18:09,860 Greg can now calculate the power of a T. rex. 437 00:18:09,860 --> 00:18:12,390 Now, from a total layman's standpoint, 438 00:18:12,390 --> 00:18:14,460 these are two very different-looking skulls. 439 00:18:14,460 --> 00:18:16,960 Well, there's actually quite a few similarities 440 00:18:16,970 --> 00:18:18,230 between this skull and that skull. 441 00:18:18,230 --> 00:18:19,400 For instance, you look right here, 442 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,070 these are the adductor tunnels. 443 00:18:21,070 --> 00:18:23,300 And you see the muscle scarring going around here. 444 00:18:23,310 --> 00:18:24,470 Mm-hmm. We see the same thing 445 00:18:24,470 --> 00:18:26,440 on the Tyrannosaurus rex skull right here. 446 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:28,680 What do you mean by "muscle scarring"? 447 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,080 Well, muscle scars 448 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,150 are where the muscles actually attach onto the bones. 449 00:18:32,150 --> 00:18:34,680 They have to pull on something, have some leverage, essentially. 450 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,120 You can see that in a fossil? 451 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:37,350 Yes, absolutely. Okay. 452 00:18:37,350 --> 00:18:39,190 So, by establishing the relationship 453 00:18:39,190 --> 00:18:41,790 anatomically between these two skulls, 454 00:18:41,790 --> 00:18:44,320 you can also do a lot of creative math 455 00:18:44,330 --> 00:18:46,460 and figure out what the bite force is on this, 456 00:18:46,460 --> 00:18:48,430 based on what you found out through the alligator. 457 00:18:48,430 --> 00:18:51,630 Yep. This is our time machine right here. 458 00:18:51,630 --> 00:18:54,700 What we've done is, we'll dissect alligators 459 00:18:54,700 --> 00:18:58,270 and look at the muscle patterns, essentially the fibers 460 00:18:58,270 --> 00:19:00,810 and see how those muscles contracted, essentially. 461 00:19:00,810 --> 00:19:04,040 We figured out what forces each of those muscles generate. 462 00:19:04,050 --> 00:19:05,080 Wow, you have gotten down 463 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,950 to such specifics with this study. 464 00:19:06,950 --> 00:19:08,150 It's unbelievable. Yeah. 465 00:19:08,150 --> 00:19:09,550 And you can see each of the muscles here. 466 00:19:09,550 --> 00:19:11,180 We have their trajectories all figured out. 467 00:19:11,190 --> 00:19:14,190 And we see those same scars on Tyrannosaurus rex. 468 00:19:14,190 --> 00:19:16,620 Okay. And from that, voilà, 469 00:19:16,630 --> 00:19:19,330 we basically muscle up a Tyrannosaurus rex 470 00:19:19,330 --> 00:19:20,660 for the first time. 471 00:19:20,660 --> 00:19:23,260 And, lo and behold, we determine what its bite force was. 472 00:19:23,270 --> 00:19:25,800 That's fascinating. So, we tested that animal. 473 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,370 And it bit down, what, about 2,500 pounds. Yes. 474 00:19:28,370 --> 00:19:31,710 So what's the guess on what T. rex can bite? 475 00:19:31,710 --> 00:19:32,970 About five times that. 476 00:19:32,980 --> 00:19:34,540 [ Roars ] 477 00:19:34,540 --> 00:19:36,210 A big alligator, like we tested, 478 00:19:36,210 --> 00:19:37,540 if you were bitten by that animal, 479 00:19:37,550 --> 00:19:39,880 it's essentially like getting in between those jaws 480 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:41,820 and having a car set on top of the jaws. 481 00:19:41,820 --> 00:19:42,980 Okay. 482 00:19:42,990 --> 00:19:46,250 T. rex, it's more like the tractor from a semi. 483 00:19:46,250 --> 00:19:47,490 Really? Yeah. 484 00:19:47,490 --> 00:19:49,560 That is one of the ultimate killing machines. 485 00:19:53,860 --> 00:19:56,860 The first dinosaur fossil was mounted in a museum 486 00:19:56,870 --> 00:19:59,030 less than 200 years ago. 487 00:19:59,030 --> 00:20:00,770 What we understand about dinosaurs 488 00:20:00,770 --> 00:20:02,400 has changed dramatically since then. 489 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,310 In fact, it's changing every day. 490 00:20:05,310 --> 00:20:07,440 What that means is that many of the things 491 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,940 you learned about dinosaurs during grade school 492 00:20:09,950 --> 00:20:11,910 are now completely out of date. 493 00:20:11,910 --> 00:20:13,350 They weren't all stupid. 494 00:20:13,350 --> 00:20:15,820 They didn't bring extinction upon themselves. 495 00:20:15,820 --> 00:20:19,990 And they didn't all inhabit the Earth at the same time. 496 00:20:19,990 --> 00:20:23,390 But of all the misconceptions surrounding dinosaurs, 497 00:20:23,390 --> 00:20:25,560 there's one that you may not know 498 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,030 that will blow your mind. 499 00:20:28,030 --> 00:20:30,900 To explain it, I'm headed to the heart of dinosaur country 500 00:20:30,900 --> 00:20:34,900 to meet up with science writer Brian Switek. 501 00:20:34,900 --> 00:20:37,800 Brian is so passionate about dinosaurs, 502 00:20:37,810 --> 00:20:39,770 a few years ago, he moved to Utah 503 00:20:39,780 --> 00:20:42,780 to be closer to their fossilized remains. 504 00:20:42,780 --> 00:20:44,010 And he's kindly offered 505 00:20:44,010 --> 00:20:46,980 to show me some of the local dinosaur sites. 506 00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:48,980 I mean, there's a whole drive you can do throughout here. 507 00:20:48,980 --> 00:20:50,120 That's right. Yeah, yeah. 508 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:51,180 I mean, we're doing part of it now 509 00:20:51,190 --> 00:20:52,550 so that the Dinosaur Diamond 510 00:20:52,550 --> 00:20:54,220 that connects Dinosaur National Monument 511 00:20:54,220 --> 00:20:55,390 to western Colorado 512 00:20:55,390 --> 00:20:57,920 to places like Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. 513 00:20:57,930 --> 00:21:00,230 The Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway 514 00:21:00,230 --> 00:21:03,660 is a 512-mile-long drive around Utah 515 00:21:03,670 --> 00:21:07,900 that takes in many of the state's dinosaur attractions. 516 00:21:07,900 --> 00:21:10,170 Brian and I begin in Vernal, 517 00:21:10,170 --> 00:21:12,540 a town so obsessed with dinosaurs, 518 00:21:12,540 --> 00:21:16,140 they have a pink mascot called Dinah. 519 00:21:16,140 --> 00:21:19,280 We visit the Utah Field House of National History, 520 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:20,750 one of the best places in the state 521 00:21:20,750 --> 00:21:23,220 to see dinosaur fossils, 522 00:21:23,220 --> 00:21:27,650 and grab a dinosaur-inspired ale at the Vernal Brewing Company. 523 00:21:27,660 --> 00:21:29,120 What's this stuff? 524 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:30,690 Well, this is Allosaurus Amber Ale. 525 00:21:30,690 --> 00:21:33,460 It's made by my friends here at the Vernal Brewing Company. 526 00:21:33,460 --> 00:21:34,760 Everything's paleo here, isn't it? 527 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:35,930 Yep. Everything's dinosaur. 528 00:21:35,930 --> 00:21:37,660 Everything's paleo, as it should be. 529 00:21:39,670 --> 00:21:44,240 But our ultimate destination lies 15 miles outside of town, 530 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,140 at Dinosaur National Monument. 531 00:21:47,140 --> 00:21:49,980 The park covers 300 square miles 532 00:21:49,980 --> 00:21:52,650 of mountains, rivers and canyons. 533 00:21:52,650 --> 00:21:55,920 And at its heart is the Carnegie Quarry, 534 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,950 one of the most concentrated fossil sites in the world. 535 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,090 The quarry settled a debate that raged for years 536 00:22:03,090 --> 00:22:04,490 about the true identity 537 00:22:04,490 --> 00:22:07,690 of one of the most iconic dinosaurs of all time, 538 00:22:07,700 --> 00:22:10,400 known to most people as the Brontosaurus. 539 00:22:12,100 --> 00:22:14,170 You ready for this? 540 00:22:14,170 --> 00:22:16,970 Whoa! Incredible! 541 00:22:16,970 --> 00:22:18,710 That is amazing. 542 00:22:18,710 --> 00:22:21,470 So, I'm just seeing a conglomeration 543 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,640 of dinosaur bones still in place. 544 00:22:24,650 --> 00:22:27,310 The mass of bones on display here 545 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,950 was created 149 million years ago, 546 00:22:30,950 --> 00:22:34,690 when scores of dinosaurs died after a severe drought. 547 00:22:34,690 --> 00:22:38,830 When the rains finally came, their bones were washed here, 548 00:22:38,830 --> 00:22:40,060 coming together to create 549 00:22:40,060 --> 00:22:43,130 what scientists call a Jurassic logjam. 550 00:22:44,470 --> 00:22:48,130 Brian has arranged for park paleontologist Dan Chure 551 00:22:48,140 --> 00:22:51,870 to give me a behind-the-scenes tour of the quarry wall, 552 00:22:51,870 --> 00:22:54,510 not something every visitor gets to do. 553 00:22:54,510 --> 00:22:55,680 CHURE: If we take these steps up... 554 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,980 Oh, this is great. 555 00:22:57,980 --> 00:23:00,880 So cool. 556 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,650 We don't need any kind of special ropes or anything? 557 00:23:03,650 --> 00:23:05,520 No, Just a good sense of balance. 558 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:06,590 [ Chuckling ] All right. 559 00:23:06,590 --> 00:23:07,820 All right, so we're seeing something 560 00:23:07,820 --> 00:23:09,290 that you can't even see from over there. 561 00:23:09,290 --> 00:23:11,790 Right. Once you're up on the quarry face, 562 00:23:11,790 --> 00:23:15,130 you experience the bones in a much more intimate way. 563 00:23:15,130 --> 00:23:17,000 Oh, that's bone. Yep. 564 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,730 Sorry about that. 565 00:23:18,730 --> 00:23:21,800 The quarry was first discovered in 1909 566 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,500 by Earl Douglas, a paleontologist 567 00:23:24,510 --> 00:23:27,240 working for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. 568 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,180 Douglas spotted a few bones protruding from the desert. 569 00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:32,380 But when he began to excavate the site, 570 00:23:32,380 --> 00:23:37,620 he soon realized he'd stumbled upon something momentous. 571 00:23:37,620 --> 00:23:39,220 That's amazing. What a cross section. 572 00:23:39,220 --> 00:23:42,060 So, this is one of the densest parts 573 00:23:42,060 --> 00:23:45,360 in the present-day quarry, where we have lots of bones 574 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:46,830 from different kinds of dinosaurs 575 00:23:46,830 --> 00:23:48,460 that are packed up against one another. 576 00:23:48,460 --> 00:23:51,500 But we can also see parts of skeletons here. 577 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:53,670 I mean, yeah, major parts. 578 00:23:55,300 --> 00:23:59,510 Between 1909 and 1924, Douglas and his team 579 00:23:59,510 --> 00:24:03,480 removed over 700,000 tons of fossilized bone 580 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:04,680 from the quarry. 581 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,480 And much of it was shipped back east 582 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,780 to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. 583 00:24:09,780 --> 00:24:13,390 When the museum decided it had enough fossil material, 584 00:24:13,390 --> 00:24:15,120 it relinquished its claim. 585 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:17,090 But Douglas remained at the quarry, 586 00:24:17,090 --> 00:24:19,830 excavating fossils, casts of which would end up 587 00:24:19,830 --> 00:24:22,630 at other famous institutions around the country, 588 00:24:22,630 --> 00:24:26,400 including the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 589 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,740 Before he died in 1931, 590 00:24:28,740 --> 00:24:31,570 it was Douglas' wish that work stop 591 00:24:31,570 --> 00:24:35,980 and the site be preserved as-is for future visitors. 592 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:38,950 So, how many bones are here? 593 00:24:38,950 --> 00:24:40,480 In the present-day quarry, 594 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,320 we have about 1,500 dinosaur bones 595 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:44,980 that are left in place. 596 00:24:44,990 --> 00:24:46,290 And those are the remains 597 00:24:46,290 --> 00:24:48,720 of probably somewhere around 100 individuals. 598 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,690 So this is, really, 599 00:24:50,690 --> 00:24:54,160 one of the biggest Jurassic dinosaur quarries in the world. 600 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,300 It's a gold rush for paleontologists. 601 00:24:57,300 --> 00:25:00,400 We are gonna step across the top of this bone, 602 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:01,600 but that'll be all right. 603 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,170 Come join me. 604 00:25:03,170 --> 00:25:04,170 Got it. 605 00:25:06,910 --> 00:25:07,910 All right. 606 00:25:07,910 --> 00:25:10,180 So, here, if you look down, 607 00:25:10,180 --> 00:25:12,680 it looks a lot higher than it does from ground level. 608 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,680 This is a bit higher. It's very deceptive. 609 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,180 But look at this. What a payoff. Beautiful. 610 00:25:17,190 --> 00:25:19,450 Here's a neck of a sauropod. 611 00:25:19,450 --> 00:25:21,920 I have never seen anything like this. 612 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,790 And to get this opportunity to be so close is really amazing. 613 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,160 As well as providing countless fossils for museums, 614 00:25:31,170 --> 00:25:33,900 the quarry settled a years-old debate 615 00:25:33,900 --> 00:25:37,470 about the identity of one of the most beloved dinosaurs -- 616 00:25:37,470 --> 00:25:39,040 the Brontosaurus. 617 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,810 Brontosaurus was discovered in Wyoming in 1879 618 00:25:42,810 --> 00:25:45,910 by the famous paleontologist O.C. Marsh. 619 00:25:45,910 --> 00:25:49,120 But in 1903, another scientist, Elmer Riggs, 620 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:51,950 suggested that Marsh's Brontosaurus 621 00:25:51,950 --> 00:25:55,020 wasn't a new dinosaur at all. 622 00:25:55,020 --> 00:25:57,960 Riggs argued that it was an Apatosaurus, 623 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:01,490 a dinosaur found 25 years earlier. 624 00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:05,570 So did the Brontosaurus ever really exist? 625 00:26:05,570 --> 00:26:07,930 ¶ 626 00:26:09,770 --> 00:26:13,010 ¶ 627 00:26:13,010 --> 00:26:15,870 WILDMAN: Since the first dinosaur fossils were found, 628 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,340 our understanding of these magnificent creatures 629 00:26:18,350 --> 00:26:21,380 has altered dramatically. 630 00:26:21,380 --> 00:26:24,780 There are many things about them you may not know. 631 00:26:24,790 --> 00:26:28,950 And one concerns the true identity of the Brontosaurus. 632 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,260 For years, a debate raged 633 00:26:31,260 --> 00:26:34,090 between two well-known paleontologists 634 00:26:34,090 --> 00:26:38,360 about whether the Brontosaurus ever existed at all. 635 00:26:38,370 --> 00:26:40,130 Then, in 1975, 636 00:26:40,130 --> 00:26:44,100 analysis of a skull found at the Carnegie Quarry in Utah 637 00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:47,640 helped scientists settle the matter. 638 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,280 The Brontosaurus never really existed. 639 00:26:51,850 --> 00:26:53,110 Well, this place was the beginning 640 00:26:53,110 --> 00:26:54,610 of the end of Brontosaurus. 641 00:26:54,620 --> 00:26:56,480 Fred Flintstone is gonna be very upset. 642 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:57,950 [ Laughs ] 643 00:26:57,950 --> 00:26:59,120 That's right -- 644 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,420 The beloved Brontosaurus never really existed. 645 00:27:02,420 --> 00:27:03,720 And today, 646 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,860 museums refer to what you may know as the Brontosaurus 647 00:27:06,860 --> 00:27:10,400 by its real name -- the Apatosaurus. 648 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:14,970 The story of dinosaurs is changing all the time. 649 00:27:14,970 --> 00:27:18,100 And one of the biggest mysteries still talked about 650 00:27:18,110 --> 00:27:20,010 is where they went. 651 00:27:20,010 --> 00:27:24,980 We know that dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 165 million years. 652 00:27:24,980 --> 00:27:28,550 But then, suddenly, they disappeared. 653 00:27:28,550 --> 00:27:31,420 So why did the dinosaurs die out? 654 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:37,420 Some thought climate change disrupted their food supply, 655 00:27:37,420 --> 00:27:40,230 while others believe widespread disease 656 00:27:40,230 --> 00:27:43,030 could have triggered their downfall. 657 00:27:43,030 --> 00:27:44,460 Then, in the 1980s, 658 00:27:44,470 --> 00:27:47,730 father and son scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez 659 00:27:47,740 --> 00:27:49,800 made a startling discovery. 660 00:27:51,510 --> 00:27:55,210 While studying 65 million-year-old soil samples, 661 00:27:55,210 --> 00:27:58,180 the pair spotted large quantities of an element 662 00:27:58,180 --> 00:28:01,910 not common in the Earth's crust -- 663 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,920 iridium. 664 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,450 Iridium is a hard, brittle metal. 665 00:28:06,450 --> 00:28:10,490 And one place it is found in abundance is within asteroids. 666 00:28:12,460 --> 00:28:15,630 The conclusion -- that the dinosaur's extinction 667 00:28:15,630 --> 00:28:18,600 was caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth. 668 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:24,670 Shortly after the Alvarez team made their claim, 669 00:28:24,670 --> 00:28:27,270 a massive impact crater was recognized 670 00:28:27,270 --> 00:28:29,880 near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. 671 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,310 One hundred eleven miles wide, 672 00:28:32,310 --> 00:28:34,610 it was named the Chicxulub Crater, 673 00:28:34,620 --> 00:28:36,620 after the village near its center. 674 00:28:38,420 --> 00:28:40,990 According to this relatively recent theory, 675 00:28:40,990 --> 00:28:44,190 the asteroid that drove the dinosaurs to extinction 676 00:28:44,190 --> 00:28:45,690 left a crater. 677 00:28:45,690 --> 00:28:47,660 But it's buried a mile and a half 678 00:28:47,660 --> 00:28:49,130 under the Gulf of Mexico. 679 00:28:49,130 --> 00:28:52,630 So I want to see what such a strike can do 680 00:28:52,630 --> 00:28:56,400 to better understand how it impacted the dinosaurs. 681 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:57,770 So I've come to a place 682 00:28:57,770 --> 00:28:59,970 where an asteroid did strike the Earth. 683 00:28:59,970 --> 00:29:03,440 And let me tell you, it leaves quite an impression. 684 00:29:07,150 --> 00:29:10,950 Wow. Look at that thing. 685 00:29:10,950 --> 00:29:12,580 That is a crater. 686 00:29:12,590 --> 00:29:13,520 Wow. 687 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,120 That's crazy. 688 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,220 Look at that thing. 689 00:29:19,230 --> 00:29:21,490 Meteor Crater in northern Arizona 690 00:29:21,500 --> 00:29:24,760 is one of the best-preserved impact sites on Earth. 691 00:29:24,770 --> 00:29:28,270 It was created approximately 50,000 years ago 692 00:29:28,270 --> 00:29:30,570 when a meteorite slammed into our planet 693 00:29:30,570 --> 00:29:33,410 at almost 40,000 miles per hour. 694 00:29:33,410 --> 00:29:35,010 At that speed, it could have traveled 695 00:29:35,010 --> 00:29:38,410 from New York to Los Angeles in just 4 minutes. 696 00:29:38,410 --> 00:29:40,450 [ Helicopter blades whirring ] 697 00:29:43,820 --> 00:29:45,680 Look at this. Here comes my ride. 698 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,660 The asteroid that made the crater here was huge. 699 00:29:51,660 --> 00:29:54,560 But the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 700 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,360 was more than 100 times larger. 701 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,370 To get any sense of that kind of size, that scope, 702 00:30:00,370 --> 00:30:02,430 the best way is from the air. 703 00:30:04,540 --> 00:30:06,140 Nice. 704 00:30:06,140 --> 00:30:07,370 Gotcha, checking, checky. 705 00:30:07,370 --> 00:30:08,570 PILOT: Yeah, check in. Got you. 706 00:30:08,580 --> 00:30:11,380 Can't wait. Let's go up. Here we go. 707 00:30:11,380 --> 00:30:14,480 We're gonna get a look at this crater from above 708 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,550 the real way to do it, from a 'copter. 709 00:30:22,490 --> 00:30:24,120 You know, people talk about 710 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,360 the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. 711 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,260 And numbers and statistics 712 00:30:28,260 --> 00:30:30,260 and science is all bandied about. 713 00:30:30,260 --> 00:30:33,600 But it's not until you get this kind of perspective 714 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,130 that you get any sense 715 00:30:35,140 --> 00:30:37,870 of the devastation that happened. 716 00:30:37,870 --> 00:30:40,410 The meteorite that struck here in Arizona 717 00:30:40,410 --> 00:30:42,540 was 150 feet in diameter 718 00:30:42,540 --> 00:30:46,450 and made a crater roughly three quarters of a mile wide. 719 00:30:46,450 --> 00:30:48,350 Now compare that to the meteorite 720 00:30:48,350 --> 00:30:51,120 that drove the dinosaurs into extinction. 721 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:55,120 It was 6 miles wide and made a hole in the Earth 722 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,860 over 100 times larger than this one. 723 00:30:57,860 --> 00:30:59,260 I mean, this is small. 724 00:30:59,260 --> 00:31:01,430 This is three quarters of a mile across. 725 00:31:01,430 --> 00:31:03,460 And you see how large it is. 726 00:31:03,460 --> 00:31:06,730 Now, imagine as far as the eye can see, 727 00:31:06,730 --> 00:31:10,100 110 miles across is the Chicxulub Crater. 728 00:31:10,100 --> 00:31:11,800 That's the kind of devastation, 729 00:31:11,810 --> 00:31:14,110 the impact, that created that event. 730 00:31:14,110 --> 00:31:16,140 That's what killed the dinosaurs. 731 00:31:16,140 --> 00:31:17,140 Wow. 732 00:31:19,110 --> 00:31:22,510 NASA says our planet is constantly being bombarded 733 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,820 by objects from outer space. 734 00:31:24,820 --> 00:31:27,790 Most are tiny and burn up as they enter the atmosphere. 735 00:31:27,790 --> 00:31:29,690 But every few thousand years, 736 00:31:29,690 --> 00:31:34,090 we're hit by one large enough to cause significant damage. 737 00:31:40,830 --> 00:31:43,200 Man, this is cool! 738 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:44,500 Wow, man. 739 00:31:44,510 --> 00:31:47,470 I never thought I'd get to do something like this. 740 00:31:47,470 --> 00:31:51,140 Climbing out of the crater here -- wow. 741 00:31:51,150 --> 00:31:56,580 That is an amazingly deep feeling. 742 00:31:56,580 --> 00:31:58,650 Thank you. 743 00:31:58,650 --> 00:32:01,450 The depths to which we go to prove a point. 744 00:32:01,460 --> 00:32:03,920 [ Laughs ] 745 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:08,560 The impact site here is breathtaking. 746 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,900 But 65 million years ago, 747 00:32:10,900 --> 00:32:13,000 our planet was struck by a meteorite 748 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,400 powerful enough to end life in Earth. 749 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,970 So what did that mean for the dinosaurs? 750 00:32:18,970 --> 00:32:21,770 Were they all wiped out in the initial blast? 751 00:32:21,780 --> 00:32:24,540 And if not, how did they eventually die? 752 00:32:26,660 --> 00:32:28,960 ¶ 753 00:32:28,970 --> 00:32:32,530 WILDMAN: Today, most scientists agree that the dinosaurs died out 754 00:32:32,540 --> 00:32:35,040 after a massive meteorite strike. 755 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:37,170 But what does that really mean? 756 00:32:37,170 --> 00:32:38,910 To help me answer that question, 757 00:32:38,910 --> 00:32:41,080 I've arranged to meet Laurence Garvie, 758 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,410 a professor at Arizona State University's 759 00:32:43,410 --> 00:32:46,280 School of Earth and Space Exploration. 760 00:32:48,490 --> 00:32:52,220 Though this is 50,000 years ago, we can discuss 65 million, 761 00:32:52,220 --> 00:32:54,420 when a similar kind of event happened 762 00:32:54,420 --> 00:32:55,660 on a whole nother scale. 763 00:32:55,660 --> 00:32:57,490 Orders of magnitude bigger than this. 764 00:32:57,490 --> 00:32:59,030 I mean, if we look at this crater, 765 00:32:59,030 --> 00:33:01,630 which looks vast from our human perspective, 766 00:33:01,630 --> 00:33:03,500 three quarters of a mile across 767 00:33:03,500 --> 00:33:06,530 caused by an impactor only 150 feet in diameter. 768 00:33:06,540 --> 00:33:07,570 That's all. Okay. 769 00:33:07,570 --> 00:33:11,670 Whereas the impactor that is coincident 770 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:13,110 with the end of the dinosaurs 771 00:33:13,110 --> 00:33:15,840 is thought to have been about 6 miles in diameter. 772 00:33:15,850 --> 00:33:19,780 So, here to the end and seven times further. 773 00:33:19,780 --> 00:33:22,120 So that's just the impactor by itself. 774 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,990 Scientists estimate that a 6-mile-wide meteorite 775 00:33:25,990 --> 00:33:27,560 would have released as much energy 776 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:30,890 as 100 trillion tons of TNT... 777 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:36,500 ...or a billion times more powerful than the atom bombs 778 00:33:36,500 --> 00:33:40,000 that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 779 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,970 Well, something that's almost 6 miles in diameter, 780 00:33:42,970 --> 00:33:44,840 that's a huge volume of rock. 781 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,040 As it hits the ground, 782 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:47,680 not only does it form the crater, 783 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,550 not only does it eject that material from the crater 784 00:33:50,550 --> 00:33:52,010 as dust into the atmosphere, 785 00:33:52,020 --> 00:33:55,120 but much of the impactor itself would have vaporized, as well. 786 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,420 You know, we've seen with a large volcanic eruption, 787 00:33:57,420 --> 00:33:59,720 that dust then slowly goes around the Earth. 788 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:04,390 And this vast amount of dust would slowly encircle the Earth. 789 00:34:04,390 --> 00:34:06,490 And what does dust do? 790 00:34:06,500 --> 00:34:08,530 It stops the sun hitting the ground. 791 00:34:08,530 --> 00:34:10,670 And if the sun doesn't hit the ground, 792 00:34:10,670 --> 00:34:12,570 temperatures plummet. Mm-hmm. 793 00:34:12,570 --> 00:34:15,600 Any animal that was living on plant life, gone. 794 00:34:15,610 --> 00:34:17,670 Those are gone. The carnivores are gone. 795 00:34:17,670 --> 00:34:19,170 Think about Triceratops. 796 00:34:19,180 --> 00:34:23,140 You know, they were very common in our northern U.S. right now. 797 00:34:23,150 --> 00:34:26,650 They would have had to eat vast amounts of vegetation 798 00:34:26,650 --> 00:34:28,750 for these large herds to survive. 799 00:34:28,750 --> 00:34:30,550 But what happens if you get rid of the vegetation 800 00:34:30,550 --> 00:34:31,650 almost overnight? 801 00:34:31,660 --> 00:34:33,150 There's nothing for them to eat. They die. 802 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,220 But onward from there, 803 00:34:36,230 --> 00:34:38,090 it may have created opportunities 804 00:34:38,100 --> 00:34:39,460 for other species to thrive. 805 00:34:39,460 --> 00:34:41,200 Yes, the survivors are the things 806 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,430 that could overcome the environmental changes, 807 00:34:44,430 --> 00:34:46,670 such as small furry mammals. 808 00:34:46,670 --> 00:34:47,740 Us. 809 00:34:47,740 --> 00:34:50,410 We derive from those small furry mammals 810 00:34:50,410 --> 00:34:52,040 that could hide away 811 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,310 and survive the changing environment 812 00:34:54,310 --> 00:34:55,710 and just ride out the change. 813 00:34:55,710 --> 00:34:56,780 Interesting. 814 00:34:56,780 --> 00:34:58,610 I mean, it's also interesting to speculate, 815 00:34:58,620 --> 00:35:00,650 would we be standing here now 816 00:35:00,650 --> 00:35:03,550 if that impact had not have occurred? 817 00:35:03,550 --> 00:35:05,390 So, could something like the asteroid 818 00:35:05,390 --> 00:35:08,020 that created the Chicxulub Crater happen again? 819 00:35:08,030 --> 00:35:10,360 It's not a case of "could." It's "when." 820 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,790 So that's not -- that's not good. 821 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:14,060 But that's why we, as humans, 822 00:35:14,060 --> 00:35:16,000 we don't want to be like the dinosaurs. 823 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,930 Let's say we saw, you know, asteroid the size of the one 824 00:35:18,940 --> 00:35:20,600 that created the Chicxulub Crater 825 00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:21,800 coming towards us. Yeah. 826 00:35:21,810 --> 00:35:23,410 If we looked at its orbit and saw, yeah, 827 00:35:23,410 --> 00:35:26,470 this thing's almost certainly gonna hit us in 20 years' time, 828 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,480 we can get out there, change its orbit, 829 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:29,810 stop it hitting the Earth 830 00:35:29,810 --> 00:35:32,080 and stopping us becoming like the dinosaurs. 831 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:32,810 Ohh. 832 00:35:34,650 --> 00:35:36,550 It's hard to visualize something 833 00:35:36,550 --> 00:35:39,050 with enough power to end life on Earth. 834 00:35:39,060 --> 00:35:40,460 But to help me try, 835 00:35:40,460 --> 00:35:43,460 Laurence has brought along a sample of the actual rock 836 00:35:43,460 --> 00:35:46,390 that landed here 50,000 years ago. 837 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,000 [ Grunting ] It's so dense. 838 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,830 Seriously. Wow. 839 00:35:49,830 --> 00:35:52,030 And this is a tiny, little meteorite. 840 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,240 Well, this is a tiny piece of the one 841 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:57,140 that made the crater here. 842 00:35:57,140 --> 00:35:58,740 I'm not kidding -- I just pulled a muscle 843 00:35:58,740 --> 00:36:00,010 in my sternum on that one. 844 00:36:00,010 --> 00:36:01,140 That's amazing. 845 00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:03,910 So, this actually came from this meteor 846 00:36:03,910 --> 00:36:05,080 that came down here? 847 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,250 This is a tiny, I mean, minuscule fragment 848 00:36:08,250 --> 00:36:10,890 of the one that created this crater. 849 00:36:10,890 --> 00:36:13,320 It's holding this and trying -- 850 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,690 This gives me more of a sense 851 00:36:15,690 --> 00:36:19,430 of how big this asteroid was, how heavy it was 852 00:36:19,430 --> 00:36:21,930 and what kind of impact it had on the Earth. 853 00:36:21,930 --> 00:36:23,030 I mean, that's amazing. 854 00:36:23,030 --> 00:36:24,400 [ Grunts ] 855 00:36:26,540 --> 00:36:29,240 I've discovered where dinosaurs came from 856 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:32,240 and have a better understanding of what they were like. 857 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:36,710 But one question remains -- could they ever come back? 858 00:36:36,710 --> 00:36:38,050 [ Roars ] 859 00:36:40,620 --> 00:36:43,350 ¶ 860 00:36:43,350 --> 00:36:46,490 WILDMAN: Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for millions of years 861 00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:47,820 before they died out. 862 00:36:50,090 --> 00:36:52,490 Their fossilized remains offer a glimpse 863 00:36:52,500 --> 00:36:56,630 of where they came from and the lives they led. 864 00:36:56,630 --> 00:37:00,670 But one question remains -- could they ever come back? 865 00:37:04,540 --> 00:37:07,580 To investigate whether or not dinosaurs could ever return, 866 00:37:07,580 --> 00:37:10,050 I've come to one of the most revered collections 867 00:37:10,050 --> 00:37:11,910 of dinosaur fossils in the world -- 868 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,920 here at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 869 00:37:16,790 --> 00:37:19,720 The museum has millions of items on display. 870 00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:21,990 But for many, the main draw 871 00:37:21,990 --> 00:37:25,390 is the expansive collection of dinosaur fossils. 872 00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:31,500 This is one of only two existing Barosaurus specimens 873 00:37:31,500 --> 00:37:33,740 on display in the entire world. 874 00:37:33,740 --> 00:37:36,200 And it was found on the very cliff face 875 00:37:36,210 --> 00:37:38,570 that I scaled at Carnegie Quarry 876 00:37:38,580 --> 00:37:40,510 in the Dinosaur National Monument. 877 00:37:43,450 --> 00:37:46,920 Most of the fossil collection is housed on the fourth floor, 878 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,920 which is where I've arranged to meet Mark Norell, 879 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,260 curator and chair of the museum's paleontology division. 880 00:37:53,260 --> 00:37:54,290 Hey, Mark. 881 00:37:54,290 --> 00:37:55,490 Hey, Don. How are you? Good to see you. 882 00:37:55,490 --> 00:37:58,090 Wow, I have come to the place 883 00:37:58,100 --> 00:38:00,560 for the evolution of the dinosaur. Yeah. 884 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:04,530 Our understanding of dinosaurs is constantly expanding. 885 00:38:04,540 --> 00:38:06,870 And we're being presented with new information 886 00:38:06,870 --> 00:38:08,400 all the time. 887 00:38:08,410 --> 00:38:10,040 Wow! Look at that. 888 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,870 Just recently, the museum installed the cast 889 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,510 of a 122-foot-long prehistoric giant 890 00:38:16,510 --> 00:38:19,380 dubbed the Titanosaur. 891 00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:22,350 Discovered in Patagonia in 2014, 892 00:38:22,350 --> 00:38:25,950 the species is from the same family as the Apatosaurus. 893 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:30,290 But it's so new, it's yet to be formally named. 894 00:38:30,290 --> 00:38:32,560 Like many of the exhibits on display, 895 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:34,530 the Titanosaur is constructed 896 00:38:34,530 --> 00:38:39,100 from plaster casts of the fossilized bones. 897 00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:43,310 The real ones are kept in a vast repository 898 00:38:43,310 --> 00:38:44,840 in the bowels of the museum. 899 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:46,880 Check this out -- we're going to the Big Bone Room, 900 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,410 which is not open to the public. 901 00:38:48,410 --> 00:38:50,780 This is where they keep the big dinosaur bones 902 00:38:50,780 --> 00:38:52,210 too heavy to display. 903 00:38:54,690 --> 00:38:57,150 Oh. This is great. 904 00:38:57,150 --> 00:38:59,390 Look at this. 905 00:38:59,390 --> 00:39:01,390 My Lord! 906 00:39:01,390 --> 00:39:03,460 So, I'm looking at stuff that's been brought back 907 00:39:03,460 --> 00:39:04,830 in all eras of your museum. 908 00:39:04,830 --> 00:39:08,030 Yeah, some of these go back to the 1890s. 909 00:39:08,030 --> 00:39:10,170 Over the years, the museum has acquired 910 00:39:10,170 --> 00:39:12,270 a vast fossil collection, 911 00:39:12,270 --> 00:39:15,340 only a fraction of which is on display upstairs. 912 00:39:15,340 --> 00:39:17,440 WILDMAN: Wow. It is just magical to see all these. 913 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,340 These are the original bones, yes? 914 00:39:19,340 --> 00:39:21,010 These are the original bones. The fossils. 915 00:39:21,010 --> 00:39:22,840 I recognize this, a jacket. 916 00:39:22,850 --> 00:39:24,480 This is how it comes to you, right? 917 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,350 Those came from Mongolia. Okay. 918 00:39:26,350 --> 00:39:29,020 Many of the fossils have yet to be analyzed, 919 00:39:29,020 --> 00:39:31,620 meaning important discoveries can take place 920 00:39:31,620 --> 00:39:34,420 decades after the expeditions that found them. 921 00:39:34,420 --> 00:39:37,490 They're still in the jackets. This is 1947. 922 00:39:37,490 --> 00:39:38,990 Can I pick this up? Yeah. 923 00:39:41,830 --> 00:39:44,500 One of the biggest finds of recent time 924 00:39:44,500 --> 00:39:47,470 answers the seemingly unthinkable question -- 925 00:39:47,470 --> 00:39:50,340 Could dinosaurs inhabit the Earth again? 926 00:39:50,340 --> 00:39:52,440 This animal was buried in sediments. 927 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:53,810 And it preserved its skin texture. 928 00:39:53,810 --> 00:39:55,410 So it's a dinosaur mummy? 929 00:39:55,410 --> 00:39:56,880 It's a fossil of a dinosaur mummy. 930 00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,010 So, what we're seeing, we can see the skin texture 931 00:39:59,020 --> 00:40:00,680 that the animal had during its lifetime. 932 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:02,080 The interesting thing about it is that 933 00:40:02,090 --> 00:40:04,490 it's not big scales, like on a crocodile. 934 00:40:04,490 --> 00:40:06,090 It's small, little bumps. 935 00:40:06,090 --> 00:40:08,320 So sort of like the skin on the foot of a chicken. 936 00:40:08,330 --> 00:40:10,660 The bumps on the animal's skin 937 00:40:10,660 --> 00:40:13,830 are evidence of a connection between dinosaurs 938 00:40:13,830 --> 00:40:17,070 and another species all too familiar to us today -- 939 00:40:17,070 --> 00:40:18,300 birds. 940 00:40:18,300 --> 00:40:20,300 It's one of the attributes that they share with birds. 941 00:40:20,300 --> 00:40:22,940 And it gives us good evidence that living birds 942 00:40:22,940 --> 00:40:24,910 are actually just a type of living dinosaur. 943 00:40:24,910 --> 00:40:26,840 That's true, isn't it? I mean, that's a fact. 944 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:28,310 That's a fact. 945 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,820 It's strange to picture, but many well-known dinosaurs, 946 00:40:34,820 --> 00:40:37,620 like the Velociraptors and even the T. rex, 947 00:40:37,620 --> 00:40:40,220 most likely had feathers. 948 00:40:40,220 --> 00:40:44,060 And others, like the Oviraptor, tended their eggs in a nest, 949 00:40:44,060 --> 00:40:45,630 just like a bird. 950 00:40:45,630 --> 00:40:46,730 [ Squawks ] 951 00:40:46,730 --> 00:40:48,730 So, that sparrow I see on my porch 952 00:40:48,730 --> 00:40:52,470 building its nest, tending its eggs, 953 00:40:52,470 --> 00:40:53,470 That's a dinosaur. 954 00:40:53,470 --> 00:40:54,700 You're seeing a dinosaur. 955 00:40:54,710 --> 00:40:57,640 And you're seeing it exhibiting behaviors 956 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,110 that evolved in non-avian dinosaurs 957 00:41:00,110 --> 00:41:01,840 long before birds evolved. 958 00:41:01,850 --> 00:41:03,480 Geez. That's incredible. 959 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,950 So, in asking whether dinosaurs could ever make a reappearance, 960 00:41:07,950 --> 00:41:10,020 the truth is... 961 00:41:10,020 --> 00:41:11,490 they never left. 962 00:41:11,490 --> 00:41:13,120 [ Growls ] 963 00:41:15,130 --> 00:41:17,730 Learning that dinosaurs are related to birds 964 00:41:17,730 --> 00:41:20,860 is just one way our knowledge is shifting. 965 00:41:20,860 --> 00:41:22,430 One thing is for sure, though -- 966 00:41:22,430 --> 00:41:25,600 there's more to dinosaurs than a bunch of dusty bones. 967 00:41:27,170 --> 00:41:29,570 These were living, breathing creatures 968 00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:32,440 unlike anything that's wandered the face of this planet 969 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,710 for the last 65 million years. 970 00:41:35,710 --> 00:41:38,010 Dinosaurs lived in our backyards 971 00:41:38,020 --> 00:41:41,180 and left evidence of their existence all around us. 972 00:41:41,180 --> 00:41:42,920 I mean, sure, it starts with the bones. 973 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,450 But there's much more to these mysterious creatures 974 00:41:45,460 --> 00:41:47,490 than just skeletal remains. 975 00:41:47,490 --> 00:41:51,090 The way they lived and died has impacted the world around us 976 00:41:51,090 --> 00:41:53,360 for millions of years. 977 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,630 And that influence continues to this day. 978 00:41:56,630 --> 00:41:59,230 ¶