When a huge meteorite crashed into the earth 66 million years ago and caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs, some of the planet’s tiniest species survived the cataclysm, and—against all odds—eventually became some of the greatest giants to ever roam the earth.
Among them were 13-meter-long snakes and crocodiles, 18-ton rhinos, 16-ton mammoths, and 18-meter-long sharks. Their bodies, which were 18 to 200 times bigger than their modern descendants, completely defied imagination. Still, they came one after the other and ruled over the Earth for 60 million years.
They gradually colonized the lands and the oceans, but eventually disappeared in often-mysterious circumstances. How could they have grown to such sizes? Why did they disappear, and how did later generations of giant animals exist, flourish but also vanish? Could their astonishing size be both the reason why they survived and what also led to their extinction?
From the poles of the planet to the belly of the equator, The Mysteries of the Lost Giants sheds new light on how these giants lived, evolved and died. We’ll ride alongside our team of adventure scientists as they investigate the stories of four giant animals that are still a great mystery to science today: the Titanoboa snake, the Megalodon shark, the giant rhinoceros and the giant sloth.
Genre: Nature and Animals, Science, Documentary
Director: Eric Elléna and Paul-Aurélien Combre
Production: French Connection Films, Berenice Medias Corp., CNRS Images
Year: 2018
Length: 1x 90′, 2 x 52′ and 1 x 55 minutes
Languages : French, English, Spanish
Partners: Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (ISEM), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), École Pratique des Hautes Études, Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Musée des Confluences de Lyon, CNC and Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane.
Broadcasters: France 5 and Servus TV (Austria, Switzerland, Germany), Odisea (Spain-Portugal), CCI (China), Discovery Italy, ZDF Germany, RTP Portugal, ERT Greece, RTV Slovakia, Al Jazeera Middle East, Etilasat Middle East, Harbour Rights South-East Asia, United Media Korea, SVT (Sweden), Mediaset (Italy), Salto (France), Ushuaia TV (France)
English
Français