Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia
Encyclopedia
Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia is a 2007 film about life in the Early Cretaceous
, Patagonia
. It features paleontologist Rodolfo Coria
and his work, with Donald Sutherland
acting as main narrator.
. The narrator explains that a massive comet
will arrive to mark the end of dinosaurs, before taking us back to the Late Jurassic
, circa 150 million years ago. From the announced end of the dinosaurs, this time travel serves the purpose of introducing us the biggest creatures to have ever lived on Earth
.
We are first introduced to the ocean life of the Late Jurassic
period. The first of these is an ichthyosaur
, a prehistoric creature resembling a dolphin, with several individuals shown hunting, before one is shown escaping from a Liopleurodon
. The movie then takes us to the Early Cretaceous
, approximately 80 million years ago.
From this point on, the narrative alternatingly takes us between the work of Rodolfo Coria
and the Early Cretaceous
. Of all the species of dinosaur
s featured, two receive the most focus: the Argentinosaurus
and the Giganotosaurus
. The reason for this focus is easily explained by the fact that those two species are Coria's most important discovery. Of these species, the narrator presents two individuals Strong One (an Argentinosaurus) and Long Tooth (a Giganotosaurus).
Strong One is first shown among an Argentinosaurus nest with hatchling
s venturing out. The narrator announces that if Strong One survives, he will grow to become one of the largest creatures the Earth has ever known. Then, depicting just how precarious life was, a Unenlagia
arrives and steals an egg, which it runs off with to feast on elsewhere. At this point, we travel back to the present day in order to witness Rodolfo Coria's discovery of Argentinosaurus. The narrator explains that Coria owns his own museum
, the Museo Carmen Funes
(the museum is featured in the movie as we see Rodolfo Coria in his museum with one of his daughters, as he shows her casts of Argentinosaurus and Giganotosaurus skeletons). We see Coria as he arrives at a digging site with his daughters, where he and his team work on digging out an enormous backbone
, which one scientist declares larger than any other bone he had seen. They discover that the bone belonged to a large sauropod. They named it Argentinosaurus, meaning "Argentinian Lizard".
Following this, we are shown the discovery of a large theropod. Coria emerges from his car and takes a picture of a dinosaur footprint
, then he explains that they found more giant bones first thought to belong to another sauropod, but they were later found out to belong to a new theropod dinosaur they named Giganotosaurus
, meaning "Giant Southern Lizard". This leads to a new narrative jump through time, bringing us back to the Early Cretaceous
. Unlike the previously featured Argentinosaurus nest, which was left unprotected, a female
giganotosaur is shown guarding its nest from an Unenlagia. The narrator announces that this parental care was only common to theropods. The female manages to drive the threat away, but only one hatchling giganotosaur hatches: "Long Tooth".
The story features both individuals as they grown, highlighting the differences and similarities between both. Strong One as a juvenile is already able to eat from the tops of the trees. Meanwhile, Long Tooth hasn't had much of a growth spurt and is hunting insect
s. She even eats some vegetation at this age, but as she develops into an adult
, plant
s will be wiped out from the menu. A familiar face by now, an Unenlagia the narrator calls Sharp Feather, appears to devour an insect Long Tooth had been chasing and she drives it off a cliff. The narrator then explains that even though Sharp Feather had feather
s and resembled a bird
, it could not fly.
Rodolfo Coria also intervenes to answer a number of questions about the two species, among which weither the Giganotosaurus hunted in packs (yes, they did). The narrator explains that they came to this conclusion from research around the site where the Giganotosaurus was discovered, where several Mapusaurus
were also found. The viewers are then witness to one of these hunting parties, as we go back to 80 million B.C. to see Long Tooth fully-grown. She now lives in a pack and is stalking the Argentinosaurus herd. The victim chosen is Strong One and he gets wounded, but stands back and stops the Giganotosaurus pack from hunting. Long Tooth gets killed in the process and, displaying the cruelty of life, is eaten by the rest of her pack.
The movie then comes full circle, as it goes back to the Late Cretaceous
we were shown in the introduction, more precisely in North America
where we are introduced to the Quetzalcoatlus
, a pterosaur capable of flight with wings of a diameter of over 12 meters. As announced, the end of the dinosaurs comes to be and the comet crashes on Earth, killing a Tyrannosaurus Rex on screen. The after effects of the crash are explained through a scene featuring the changing scenery as a small pack of sauropods progresses through the land. Eventually, as snow starts to fall and the trees are shown to be bare, one individual collapses and the viewer understands that this is the end of all dinosaurs.
The movie also covers various theories regarding the Origin of Birds, explaining that some dinosaurs have evolved to become the birds that we know today.
museum Maison Hamel-Bruneau featured an exhibition displaying models created for the purpose of the movie, several fossils (including dinosaur cranium molds) and clips from the movie. The exhibition served to display the bridge between the work of paleontologists and the creation of a 3D movie featuring digitally created dinosaurs.
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
, Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
. It features paleontologist Rodolfo Coria
Rodolfo Coria
Dr. Rodolfo Coria is an Argentine paleontologist.He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of the Argentinosaurus in 1993, and the Giganotosaurus , in 1996 among other landmark South American dinosaurs...
and his work, with Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
acting as main narrator.
Story
The movie opens on a scene from approximately 65 million years ago, in the Late CretaceousLate Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
. The narrator explains that a massive comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
will arrive to mark the end of dinosaurs, before taking us back to the Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.2 ± 4.0 to 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago , which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age...
, circa 150 million years ago. From the announced end of the dinosaurs, this time travel serves the purpose of introducing us the biggest creatures to have ever lived on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
We are first introduced to the ocean life of the Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.2 ± 4.0 to 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago , which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age...
period. The first of these is an ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...
, a prehistoric creature resembling a dolphin, with several individuals shown hunting, before one is shown escaping from a Liopleurodon
Liopleurodon
Liopleurodon is a genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs. Two species of Liopleurodon lived during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic Period , while the third, L. rossicus, lived during the Late Jurassic...
. The movie then takes us to the Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
, approximately 80 million years ago.
From this point on, the narrative alternatingly takes us between the work of Rodolfo Coria
Rodolfo Coria
Dr. Rodolfo Coria is an Argentine paleontologist.He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of the Argentinosaurus in 1993, and the Giganotosaurus , in 1996 among other landmark South American dinosaurs...
and the Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
. Of all the species of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s featured, two receive the most focus: the Argentinosaurus
Argentinosaurus
Argentinosaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur first discovered by Guillermo Heredia in Argentina. The generic name refers to the country in which it was discovered...
and the Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
. The reason for this focus is easily explained by the fact that those two species are Coria's most important discovery. Of these species, the narrator presents two individuals Strong One (an Argentinosaurus) and Long Tooth (a Giganotosaurus).
Strong One is first shown among an Argentinosaurus nest with hatchling
Hatchling
In oviparous biology, a hatchling is the newborn of animals that develop and emerge from within hard-shell eggs. The offspring of birds are often hatched naked and with their eyes closed. The hatchling relies totally on its parents for feeding and warmth. Hatchlings precede nestlings in the chick's...
s venturing out. The narrator announces that if Strong One survives, he will grow to become one of the largest creatures the Earth has ever known. Then, depicting just how precarious life was, a Unenlagia
Unenlagia
Unenlagia is a genus of, possibly dromaeosaurid, theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina....
arrives and steals an egg, which it runs off with to feast on elsewhere. At this point, we travel back to the present day in order to witness Rodolfo Coria's discovery of Argentinosaurus. The narrator explains that Coria owns his own museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
, the Museo Carmen Funes
Museo Carmen Funes
Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, or, the Carmen Funes Municipal Museum, is a museum of paleontology in Plaza Huincul, Neuquén Province, Argentina...
(the museum is featured in the movie as we see Rodolfo Coria in his museum with one of his daughters, as he shows her casts of Argentinosaurus and Giganotosaurus skeletons). We see Coria as he arrives at a digging site with his daughters, where he and his team work on digging out an enormous backbone
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
, which one scientist declares larger than any other bone he had seen. They discover that the bone belonged to a large sauropod. They named it Argentinosaurus, meaning "Argentinian Lizard".
Following this, we are shown the discovery of a large theropod. Coria emerges from his car and takes a picture of a dinosaur footprint
Footprint
Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes...
, then he explains that they found more giant bones first thought to belong to another sauropod, but they were later found out to belong to a new theropod dinosaur they named Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
, meaning "Giant Southern Lizard". This leads to a new narrative jump through time, bringing us back to the Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
. Unlike the previously featured Argentinosaurus nest, which was left unprotected, a female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
giganotosaur is shown guarding its nest from an Unenlagia. The narrator announces that this parental care was only common to theropods. The female manages to drive the threat away, but only one hatchling giganotosaur hatches: "Long Tooth".
The story features both individuals as they grown, highlighting the differences and similarities between both. Strong One as a juvenile is already able to eat from the tops of the trees. Meanwhile, Long Tooth hasn't had much of a growth spurt and is hunting insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s. She even eats some vegetation at this age, but as she develops into an adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....
, plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s will be wiped out from the menu. A familiar face by now, an Unenlagia the narrator calls Sharp Feather, appears to devour an insect Long Tooth had been chasing and she drives it off a cliff. The narrator then explains that even though Sharp Feather had feather
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s and resembled a bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
, it could not fly.
Rodolfo Coria also intervenes to answer a number of questions about the two species, among which weither the Giganotosaurus hunted in packs (yes, they did). The narrator explains that they came to this conclusion from research around the site where the Giganotosaurus was discovered, where several Mapusaurus
Mapusaurus
Mapusaurus was a giant carnosaurian dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of what is now Argentina. It was similar in size to its close relative Giganotosaurus, with the largest known individuals estimated as over in length and weighing approximately...
were also found. The viewers are then witness to one of these hunting parties, as we go back to 80 million B.C. to see Long Tooth fully-grown. She now lives in a pack and is stalking the Argentinosaurus herd. The victim chosen is Strong One and he gets wounded, but stands back and stops the Giganotosaurus pack from hunting. Long Tooth gets killed in the process and, displaying the cruelty of life, is eaten by the rest of her pack.
The movie then comes full circle, as it goes back to the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
we were shown in the introduction, more precisely in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
where we are introduced to the Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
, a pterosaur capable of flight with wings of a diameter of over 12 meters. As announced, the end of the dinosaurs comes to be and the comet crashes on Earth, killing a Tyrannosaurus Rex on screen. The after effects of the crash are explained through a scene featuring the changing scenery as a small pack of sauropods progresses through the land. Eventually, as snow starts to fall and the trees are shown to be bare, one individual collapses and the viewer understands that this is the end of all dinosaurs.
The movie also covers various theories regarding the Origin of Birds, explaining that some dinosaurs have evolved to become the birds that we know today.
Featured dinosaur species
- ArgentinosaurusArgentinosaurusArgentinosaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur first discovered by Guillermo Heredia in Argentina. The generic name refers to the country in which it was discovered...
- GiganotosaurusGiganotosaurusGiganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
- UnenlagiaUnenlagiaUnenlagia is a genus of, possibly dromaeosaurid, theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina....
(Identified usually as simply "raptors")
- AnabisetiaAnabisetiaAnabisetia is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of Patagonia, South America. It was a small bipedal herbivore, almost seven feet long....
- LiopleurodonLiopleurodonLiopleurodon is a genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Pliosauroidea, a clade of short-necked plesiosaurs. Two species of Liopleurodon lived during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic Period , while the third, L. rossicus, lived during the Late Jurassic...
- QuetzalcoatlusQuetzalcoatlusQuetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
- AnhangueraAnhanguera (pterosaur)Anhanguera is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Lower-Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil, with referred specimens found in the Upper Chalk Formation and Cambridge Greensand of the UK...
- PterodaustroPterodaustroPterodaustro is a genus of Cretaceous pterodactyloid pterosaur from South America, which lived 105 million years ago.-Naming:The genus was named in 1969 by José Bonaparte as an as yet undescribed nomen nudum. The first description followed in 1970, making the name valid, the type species being...
- OphthalmosaurusOphthalmosaurusOphthalmosaurus is an ichthyosaur of the Middle to Late Jurassic period , named for its extremely large eyes. It had a graceful 6 metre long dolphin-shaped body, and its almost toothless jaw was well adapted for catching squid...
(Identified only by the general family name of ichthyosaurs") - Tyrannosaurus rex (unidentified)
Popular culture
In 2009, the Quebec CityQuebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
museum Maison Hamel-Bruneau featured an exhibition displaying models created for the purpose of the movie, several fossils (including dinosaur cranium molds) and clips from the movie. The exhibition served to display the bridge between the work of paleontologists and the creation of a 3D movie featuring digitally created dinosaurs.