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

Index
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.
1:30Australia: Duckbill 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 11:50South 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) 13:35Patagonia: Southern Beech grew over great land mass of the Southern continents
18:05Australia: Planigale ? 18:40 Planigale birthing 21:45 Quoll
22:15 Marsupial Mouse 22:30 Tasmanian Devil feeds on carrion 23:40Extinct 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) 30:55Naracoorte 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 Blue Wildebeest calf 48:40 Harp Seal pup   
Ornithorhynchus_anatinus.jpg
1:30 Duckbill Platypus
Tachyglossus_aculeatus.jpg
3:55 Echidna
Pelycosauria.jpg
6:45 Dimetrodon
Didelphis_virginiana.jpg
9:10 Virginia Opossum
Caluromys_philander.jpg
11:50 Bare-tailed Woolly Opossum ?
Chironectes_minimus.jpg
12:20 Yapok
Marmosa_murina.jpg
12:40 Murine Mouse Opossum ?
Paucituberculata.jpg
13:10 Shrew Opossum
Nothofagus.jpg
13:35 Southern Beech
Gondwana.JPG
13:35 Southern continents
Planigale.jpg
18:05 Planigale ?
Planigale-birth.jpg
18:40 Planigale birthing
Dasyurus.jpg
21:45 Quoll
Dasyuridae.jpg
22:15 Marsupial Mouse
Sarcophilus_laniarius.jpg
22:30 Tasmanian Devil
Thylacinus_cynocephalus.jpg
23:40 Thylacine
Myrmecobius_fasciatus.jpg
24:20 Numbat
Petaurus_breviceps.jpg
24:30 Sugar Glider
Phascolarctos_cinereus.jpg
26:05 Koala
Vombatus_ursinus.jpg
28:55 Wombat
Lasiorhinus_latifrons.jpg
27:25 Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat ?
Peramelidae.jpg
27:50 Bandicoot
Tarsipes_rostratus.jpg
28:15 Honey Possum
Potorous.jpg
28:35 Potoroo
Thylogale.jpg
29:30 Pademelon
Macropus_agilis.jpg
29:50 Agile Wallaby
Dendrolagus_matschiei.jpg
30:00 Tree Kangaroo
Procoptodon_goliah.jpg
30:55 Giant Short-faced Kangaroo skull
Phascolonus_gigas.jpg
33:20 Giant Wombat ? skull
Thylacoleo_carnifex.jpg
33:40 Marsupial Lion skull
Macropus_rufus.jpg
34:35 Red Kangaroo
Macropus_rufus-birth.jpg
39:00 Red Kangaroo birthing
Solenodon_paradoxus.jpg
47:00 Solenodon
Lagomorpha.jpg
47:50 Rabbit birthing
Connochaetes_taurinus.jpg
48:30 Blue Wildebeest calf
Phoca_groenlandica.jpg
48:40 Harp Seal pup
Index Jan 14, 2006 copyleft Peter Chen