Biodiversity

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

VIDEO REVIEW: WALKING WITH MONSTERS

Four-metre long sea scorpions, ferocious ten-foot long mammals with dog-like skulls, mega-spiders the size of a human head… These are not fantasy creatures, but just some of the animals that actually roamed the earth before the age of the dinosaurs…

From the maker of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts comes this epic and entertaining new exploration of the evolutionary battle which raged on our planet for billions of years – a war between the most strange, savage and successful animals ever to walk the earth.

State-of-the-art technology and scientific research enables us to witness, with incredible realism, an array of weird, wonderful and terrifying creatures. From early life where we meet the sea monster Anomalocaris, we watch the Hynerpeton – the first amphibian – develop and struggle to avoid the attacks of the giant five-metre long fish Hyneria. Evolution on land produces more bizarre beasts like the sail-backed, super-predator, the Dimetrodon; the half-reptile, half-mammal Gorgonopsid and the Euparkeria, a tiny reptile whose descendants will one day become dinosaurs.

Through Walking with Monsters we can witness the early story of life and discover how humans owe our existence to monsters more strange than we could ever have imagined.

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

VIDEO REVIEW: WALKING WITH BEASTS

The demise of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, did not leave the world empty.  A succession of extraordinary creatures has since come and gone, leading to our own ancestors, and yet we know virtually nothing about them.  These bizarre beasts were some of the most fascinating creatures ever to have inhabited our planet.

 

The award-winning team that brought us Walking with Dinosaurs now explores the rise of the mammals.  The latest scientific findings, advanced computer graphics and strong natural history stories are combined as we return to the sights and sounds of extinct worlds – this time full of life you hardly knew existed.

 

Walking with Beasts takes you on a journey through time to distant worlds: from the hottest, wettest climate the earth has ever known to the coldest – the Ice Age.  See the early forerunners of the whale (walking!), avoid the carnivorous pig the size of a rhino, and pity the horse the size of a cat, eaten by a bird the height of a man!  And we humans are not safe either – mighty sabre-toothed cats with teeth the size of carving knives have a taste for our own ancestors!

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za

 

VIDEO REVIEW: WALKING WITH DINOSAURS

Imagine you could witness a prehistoric sunset – imagine you are watching insectivorous pterosaurs chase moths in the moist evening air and bull triceratops lock horns over a young female.  This is no longer a dream.

 

Walking with Dinosaurs makes that distant world as real and natural as images from today’s Serengeti.  Tracing the 160 million-year history of dinosaurs, from their first appearance to their abrupt demise, this series marks a watershed in television imagery.  Classic natural history techniques, leading edge computer technology and animatronics combined with the latest scientific findings, recreate the sights and sounds of an endlessly fascinating era.  Walking with Dinosaurs brings to life the mystery and excitement of the age when these reptiles roamed the planet.

Dr Richard Knight
Co-ordinator: National Information Society Learnerships - Ecological Informatics
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
University of the Western Cape
Private Bag X17
Bellville 7535

Phone 27 + 21 + 959 3940
Fax 27 + 21 + 959 1237

Email Rknight@uwc.ac.za

Web http://nisl.uwc.ac.za