Tarchia Segments

Tarchia4 Appearances
Presence
Deserts (Segment 4) Several adults Badlands (Segment 4) 1 adult male 2 juveniles How Did Ankylosaurs Use Their Tail? Stock footage from Badlands How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big? Stock footage from Deserts

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“ Trudging through a scorching desert, two young Tarchia find relief at an oasis and encounter an adult twice their size, ready to lay claim. ”

― The official Apple TV+ episode synopsis for Badlands

These are Prehistoric Planet segments which feature Tarchia.

Deserts

	Deserts, Segment IV
	Setting Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia Filming Location Namibia, southern Africa

Deserts, Segment IV

Setting
Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Filming Location
Namibia, southern Africa

In the fourth segment of Deserts, several specimens of Tarchia are seen with the other species of dinosaurs, congregating around a temporary oasis in the desert. However, they are not identified or even given a brief moment of focus during this segment.

Badlands

	Badlands, Segment IV
	Setting Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia Filming Location Some places in Saudi Arabia, like Al-'Ula city in the Medina Province and Tabuk City of the Tabuk Region

Badlands, Segment IV

Setting
Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Filming Location
Some places in Saudi Arabia, like Al-'Ula city in the Medina Province and Tabuk City of the Tabuk Region

Two juvenile Tarchia traveling through the badlands of the Nemegt Formation

“ Without water, no animal can survive. Yet, this is home to these young Tarchia. They are desert-living ankylosaurs, heavily-armored, with huge, clubbed tails. Dark patches protect the Tarchias' eyes from the glaring sun. And this is the sound of Tarchia's very own air-conditioning system. Their large nose cools the air as it leaves the body, condensing - and so conserving - valuable water with every breath. It allows them to survive long periods without drinking as they search for a meal. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

In the fourth, penultimate segment of Badlands, two young Tarchia are seen traveling through the desert, under the great heat of the sun. While they are capable of surviving for long periods without water, they are still traveling in search of a meal, and, should they come upon the right place, an oasis, for they may remember the few places where natural springs occur.

Juvenile Tarchia gets into an altercation with some Prenocephale

“ The high temperatures here create scouring winds which carve the rocks into extraordinary shapes. But they also strip the ground of soil. Some plants, however, manage to take root in cracks between the rocks. Any meager mouthful is worth competing for. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

The brothers come up to the entrance of a canyon. One of the Tarchia feeds on a dry patch of vegetation. When the other Tarchia tries to feed on the same plant alongside him, the first Tarchia shoves him aside, forcing him to wander onwards alone to find food for himself. Entering the canyon, he finds an oasis surrounded by seven Prenocephale. Startled and forced to step aside when the ankylosaur walked in to get his drink, the pachycephalosaurs weren't happy. They begun growling and nipping at the intruder in an attempt to force him away, but by simply smashing his tail on the sandy ground, the Tarchia intimidated the smaller creatures into backing off and letting him have his peace.

An adult Tarchia (bottom left) in a standoff against two juveniles

“ In the end, the Prenocephale are little more than annoying. But an adult Tarchia is another matter, especially one almost twice the youngster's weight. It wields a club weighing almost fifty pounds. If this comes to a fight, the juvenile can't win... but reinforcements are on the way. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

As he explores more of the canyon around the oasis, he finds an adult Tarchia sleeping in a cave. Not willing to share the sanctuary he secured for himself, the adult, almost twice the juvenile's weight, stepped out to confront and threaten the juvenile, who, despite standing his ground, seems aware that he is clearly outmatched should the adult decide to get physical with his fifty-pound club. Fortunately, he is reminded that he is not alone. Just then, the juvenile's brother arrives to his aid, ready to face the adult alongside him.

The two juvenile Tarchia drink from the oasis as seven Prenocephale watch them from above

“ The pair are reunited. Now, there are twice as many swinging clubs for the adult to deal with. He decides that, perhaps, there is enough water here for everyone to share. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

Together, the two young Tarchia intimidate the adult, forcing him to leave them be. Realizing that he is now the one who is outmatched, the elder Tarchia backs off and lets them share the oasis he once claimed as his own. With the conflict settled, the pair of juvenile Tarchia drink from the oasis in peace as the seven Prenocephale continue to watch them from atop the rocks on the opposite side of the spring.

Uncovered: How Did Ankylosaurs Use Their Tail?

	How Did Ankylosaurs Use Their Tail?
	Subject The anatomical features, strength, and purpose of ankylosaur tails as weapons for various combat-related purposes. Experts Dr. Susannah Maidment, Professor Paul Barrett, Dr. Darren Naish

How Did Ankylosaurs Use Their Tail?

Subject
The anatomical features, strength, and purpose of ankylosaur tails as weapons for various combat-related purposes.

Experts
Dr. Susannah Maidment, Professor Paul Barrett, Dr. Darren Naish

An ankylosaurid's formidable, clubbed tail is one of the animal's defining traits

“ On numerous occasions within the history of life, animals have evolved specialized structures that only function in combat. These are often quite large and unusual structures like the horns of rhinos, the antlers of deer, the horns of antelope. ”

― Dr. Darren Naish, Lead Scientific Consultant

Footage from the fourth segment of Badlands is used for this Uncovered segment, which is focused on the discussion of ankylosaur tail clubs.

Considered as one of the most bizarre animals to ever exist, with their spikes, plates, and even bony eyelids, the one feature considered as the trait that sets them apart from any animal alive today is their extraordinary tail, for at the end of it are two huge lumps of armor, fused to the final vertebrae of the tail to form a hammer-like structure. When these clubs (like, for example, the club of Anodontosaurus, pointed on both sides, a fossil of which is shown during the segment) were first discovered, they were interpreted as a weapon of sorts. Comparisons with animals alive today, with their massive, unusual structures, powerful muscles, and specialized bones, support the idea that they were used for battle. For ankylosaurs, evidence on the pelvis showed muscles that extended down the tail, attached to the stiffened "handle" of the tail club to allow the tail to swing with such power.

An ankylosaur's clubbed tail, showing the stiffened rods that strengthened the weapon's strikes

“ It's very stiff, it's stiffened by lots of bony rods that run along the length of the tail that would have a lot of force behind it when it was swung from side to side. Some paleontologists have calculated that it could be swung with enough force to devastate a car. ”

― Professor Paul Barrett, Natural History Museum

Given this strength, they could, in theory, break the legs of predators. The new question is whether they used these clubs to also fight each other for reasons such as disputes over territory, mates, and leadership. While Tarchia itself is already known to have suffered pelvic and tail injuries that likely resulted from intraspecific combat (even possessing a tail club that became asymmetrically shaped due to being worn down by repeated usage), a 2022 study appears to have confirmed this, with evidence of injuries among ankylosaurs that proved that they also used their clubs for intraspecific combat.

Uncovered: How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?

	How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?
	Subject The evolutionary means and efficient systems that let sauropods attain their massive sizes. Experts Professor Paul Barrett, Dr. Susannah Maidment

How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?

Subject
The evolutionary means and efficient systems that let sauropods attain their massive sizes.

Experts
Professor Paul Barrett, Dr. Susannah Maidment

Near the end of the Uncovered segment "How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?", stock footage from the fourth segment of Deserts is shown, featuring a Mongolian Titan drinking water alongside a few Mononykus, a herd of Barsboldia, and a Therizinosaurus, with a pair of Tarchia in the background. Although its cameo appearance is not given further elaboration, Tarchia itself could be seen as an example of dinosaurs gaining not only massive body sizes, but also large body features.

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Trivia

Badlands

• The two young Tarchia, stated to be juveniles, appear huge, about half the size of the adult they encounter. This is not without precedent, as, based on Pinacosaurus, an earlier ankylosaur from Mongolia and China, Tarchia may have grown to at least 60% of their adult size without reaching sexual maturity yet. An adult Pinacosaurus is around 5 meters (16 feet) in length, while the holotype specimen is only 3 meters (10 feet) long, still considered a juvenile due to some bones either being fewer in number or still being fused (four of their rear dorsal vertebrae are fused into a "sacral rod").
• Tarchia is the only herbivore in the series to be attacked by another herbivore of a different species (as members of an omnivorous family, Prenocephale still counts as a plant-eater).
  • While Prenocephale is the only herbivore in the series to attack another herbivore of a different species, the same cannot be said for Tarchia, which didn't actually fight back, but instead ended the altercation by scaring them off.
• Had the conflict between the Tarchia came to blows, the fourth segment of Badlands would have been the eighth segment to feature intraspecific combat.

Uncovered: How Did Ankylosaurs Use Their Tail?

• While not given further elaboration, the 2022 study referenced by the end of this segment is almost certainly about the paper surrounding the remains of Zuul crurivastator, the first member of the ankylosaurini tribe known from a complete skull and tail club, as well as the most complete ankylosaurid specimen thus far recovered from North America. The holotype specimen of Zuul is found to have pathological osteoderms focused on the hip region as opposed to being distributed randomly across the body, indicating consistent injuries and attacks to the flanks due to tail club attacks from a rival. This study theorizes that, while ankylosaur tail clubs serve their purpose well as lethal, bone-shattering self-defense weapons against predators, they primarily evolved for combat against other ankylosaurs.