Segments
These are Prehistoric Planet segments which feature Masiakasaurus.
Freshwater[]
― David Attenborough, Swamps
The fifth segment of Freshwater takes place in Madagascar, where a shallow river, slow in flow due to being broadened, is depositing sediments by the banks. From the shoals of the river, dozens of crabs emerge. Suddenly, some of the crabs are grabbed by a female Masiakasaurus, prompting some of the crabs to scurry back down in the sand or hide under driftwood. One crab, while in her jaws, nips her upper lip, but she just shakes it off & swallows the crab down.
As she continues to hunt crabs, from cover, her three chicks run out to her, and she drops them a dying crab to eat, for they are not yet ready to hunt large crabs. As the three feast on the crab, one of them, made impatient by the greedy tugging of its siblings, decides to pursue food on its own. It eyes a small crab that can be swallowed whole, but just as it ran at the crustacean, it had already retreated under a piece of driftwood, its speed serving as compensation for its small size. As the juvenile continues running across the shoal, poking through the ground and hunting for crabs on its own, its mother tries to call out to it to caution the chick not to stray too far. Still, the juvenile, upon seeing another crab to hunt, runs towards its prey. Suddenly, out of one of the shoal's pools, a large amphibian leaps out, snatching the juvenile from the ground with its tongue, pulling it into its mouth in under a second.
― David Attenborough, Freshwater
Watching in surprise as their sibling is devoured by the Beelzebufo, the two chicks run for their mother and hide behind her as she stares in disbelief at the toad. His hunger satiated for a month, Beelzebufo sinks back down into his pool. With nothing more that can be done about what just happened, the mother Masiakasaurus leaves the shoal with her two surviving offspring.
Islands[]
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Islands, Segment IV |
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Setting
Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar[1] Filming Location Lower Zambezi National Park, Lusaka Province, southeast Zambia[1] |
Setting
Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar[1]
Filming Location
Lower Zambezi National Park, Lusaka Province, southeast Zambia[1]
― David Attenborough, Islands
The fourth segment of Islands takes place in Madagascar, where a mother Adalatherium lies in a burrow, suckled on by her rapidly-growing cubs in the morning. To continue providing milk for them, she herself needs to eat, so she leaves her cubs in the burrow to search for food. Just then, a Masiakasaurus, also seeking food, pokes its narrow head and long neck through holes that could potentially contain a meal. However, just as the Masiakasaurus stalks around the tree roots just outside the burrow, close to discovering the oblivious cubs, a serpentine figure, glimpsed just the night before, lunges at the theropod's throat, subduing its victim with its muscular coils.
― David Attenborough, Islands
Having bore witness to one potential predator kill and feed on another, just outside her burrow, the returning Adalatherium decides that the area has become too unsafe to live in. At night, she moves out of the burrow and sets out for a better place to live in, her ten cubs following close behind. One cub briefly looks back on its old home and finds the Madtsoia just a short distance away, staring back, likely full due to just having consumed the Masiakasaurus. With that, the cub turns away and continues on with its family.
Swamps[]
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Swamps, Segment III |
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Setting
Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar[2] Filming Location Lower Zambezi National Park, Lusaka Province, southeast Zambia[2] |
Setting
Maevarano Formation, Mahajanga Province, Madagascar[2]
Filming Location
Lower Zambezi National Park, Lusaka Province, southeast Zambia[2]
― David Attenborough, Swamps
In the third segment of Swamps, as rains bring back the rivers and marshes of Madagascar, a Masiakasaurus runs across the quenched lands, stopping by a pool of water to drink. Suddenly, seeing an incoming threat, the Masiakasaurus yelps in surprise and fear, running off as a male Beelzebufo drives it away with a guttural bellow. However, the toad is uninterested in eating the small dinosaur, and instead returns to his muddy pool, intent on finding a mate.
Uncovered: What Else Lived Alongside The Dinosaurs?[]
Footage of the juvenile Masiakasaurus being devoured by a Beelzebufo in Freshwater as well as footage of an adult Masiakasaurus being driven away by a Beelzebufo in Swamps are shown in this Uncovered segment to emphasize the role of other animals during the time of dinosaurs, proving that they, too, can prove dangerous to some of them.
Trivia[]
- Dr. Darren Naish, Prehistoric Planet's lead consultant, once revealed a scrapped plan to feature a noasaurid stalking mammals with a plantigrade posture (walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground) like herons sometimes do. This plan never made it to the final animation stage. While this implies that it is not connected to the scene from the fourth segment of Islands (which features a Masiakasaurus hunting for potential prey like Adalatherium cubs), it also is not made clear if this noasaurid is meant to be Masiakasaurus or a different species.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 443: Dinosaurs on Islands. Featuring Prehistoric Planet 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 445: Dinosaurs in Swamps: Featuring Prehistoric Planet 2