DVD BBC Life On Earth Disc 3: The Rise of the Mammals (1979)

BBC Life On Earth Disc 3: The Rise of the Mammals (1979)

Small four-legged furry animals scurried around the feet of the later dinosaurs and when the great reptiles suddenly died out, the descendants of these tiny creatures filled the vacancies. These were the first mammals. Two that survive - the platypus and the echidna - have warm furry bodies but still, like reptiles, lay eggs. Other, in the southern hemisphere, nurtured their young in pouches on their bellies.

Peter's DVD rating: 4.0 stars

David Attenborough explores the rise of the mammals. He habit of not naming some organisms becomes really annoying on this one that takes about 4 minutes of film time: "the smallest marsupial of all... there are two dozen kinds of these mouse-sized marsupials... film a birth for the first time...". OK, what is this interesting animal called? Probably a Planigale? But he doesn't tell us. A mistake is the map showing the southern continents about 60 million years ago when the Southern Beech (and marsupials) evolved: the continents of Africa and South America should not be joined; they had started to separate back in the Jurassic, and were quite far apart by late Cretaceous. Indeed the Southern Beech is not found in Africa. Attenborough gives a more detailed account of the mammals in his series Life of Mammals more than 20 years later.

1:30	Australia: Platypus produces milk but has no nipples	3:55	Echidna	6:45	Dimetrodon had fins to absorb solar heat and simple teeth
9:10	Virginia Opossum has nipples in pouch	11:50	South America: Bare-tailed Woolly Opossum ?	12:20	Yapok swims to catch fish
12:40	Murine Mouse Opossum ? feed at night on small invertebrates and lizards	13:10	Shrew Opossum (Rat Opossum) has no pouch (Andes)	13:35	Patagonia: Southern Beech grew over great land mass of the Southern continents
18:05	Australia: Planigale ?	18:40	Planigale birthing	21:45	Quoll
22:15	Marsupial Mouse	22:30	Tasmanian Devil feeds on carrion	23:40	Extinct Thylacine looks like a wolf
24:20	Numbat eats ants and termites like a Pangolin	24:30	Sugar Glider glides among Eucalyptus	26:05	Koala
28:55	Wombat	27:25	Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat ?	27:50	Bandicoot
28:15	Honey Possum gathers nectar using tongue with a brush	28:35	Potoroo	29:30	Pademelon
29:50	Agile Wallaby	30:00	Tree Kangaroo (New Guinea)	30:55	Naracoorte Caves, Australia: Extinct Giant Short-faced Kangaroo skull
33:20	Giant Wombat ? skull	33:40	Marsupial Lion skull	34:35	Red Kangaroo
39:00	Red Kangaroo birthing	47:00	Solenodon has placenta	47:50	Rabbit birthing
48:30	Wildebeest calf	48:40	Harp Seal pup

1:30 Platypus	3:55 Echidna	6:45 Dimetrodon
9:10 Virginia Opossum	11:50 Bare-tailed Woolly Opossum ?	12:20 Yapok
12:40 Murine Mouse Opossum ?	13:10 Shrew Opossum	13:35 Southern Beech
13:35 Southern continents	18:05 Planigale ?	18:40 Planigale birthing
21:45 Quoll	22:15 Marsupial Mouse	22:30 Tasmanian Devil
23:40 Thylacine	24:20 Numbat	24:30 Sugar Glider
26:05 Koala	28:55 Wombat	27:25 Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat ?
27:50 Bandicoot	28:15 Honey Possum	28:35 Potoroo
29:30 Pademelon	29:50 Agile Wallaby	30:00 Tree Kangaroo
30:55 Giant Short-faced Kangaroo skull	33:20 Giant Wombat ? skull	33:40 Marsupial Lion skull
34:35 Red Kangaroo	39:00 Red Kangaroo birthing	47:00 Solenodon
47:50 Rabbit birthing	48:30 Wildebeest calf	48:40 Harp Seal pup


Index	Jan 14, 2006	Peter Chen