The many species of prehistoric Late Cretaceous fauna featured in Prehistoric Planet.

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Coasts

Species debuting in the "Coasts" episode.

Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus rex

Adult

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/juvenile_tyrannosaurus.png

Juveniles

A huge North American theropod and the biggest land predator of the time, as well as the most famous dinosaur ever. Appears in "Coasts", "Freshwater", "Swamps" and "North America".

All There in the Manual: The relationship between the two rexes in "Swamps" is not stated in the series, but the soundtrack for the hunt reveals that they are brothers.
Animal Jingoism: Alluded to in "Freshwater", where an old male is shown to have killed a Triceratops offscreen. Played straight in "Swamps", where a pair hunt and bring down an Edmontosaurus.
Behemoth Battle: It's noted that Edmontosaurus, one of T. rex's known prey items, is about as big as T.rex itself is. When the pair of Tyrannosaurus’ take one down in Swamps, the Edmontosaurus puts up a decent fight against one until the second comes in and uses its skull to throw the giant hadrosaur off of its feet.
The Big Guy: Among the tyrannosaurs portrayed in the program, the T. rex is easily the most massive of them all. Its close relative the Tarbosaurus, though still a big animal, is a bit lightly built than it, the Nanuqsaurus is way smaller, and the Qianzhousaurus is not only smaller but also slenderer, especially compared to the bulk of the tyrant lizard king. It's also this for practically every theropod in the program except for the Therizinosaurus and the Deinocheirus.
Children Are Innocent: Subverted. The baby T. rexes appear to act like baby birds with their curiosity, but when they notice the sea turtle hatchlings, they immediately try, although mostly fail, to eat them.
Covered in Scars: The old male from "Freshwater" is noted to be heavily scarred from a lifetime of battles. He's even missing the tip of his tail.
Eats Babies: The babies hunt the sea turtle hatchlings while the father scavenges a dead adult sea turtle.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Tigers. The rexes are portrayed as solitary but social animals, excellent swimmers, and the fathers are actually Good Parents. Also, their mating ritual is somewhat similar to tigers, with the male and female having a brief but tense stand-off before the male decides to go with the peaceful option. The juveniles also sport a black-and-yellow striped downy plumage, though the adults are more of a monochrome dark brown.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: As a harsh reminder that Nature Is Not Nice, the whole family more or less forgets about the hatchling who was eaten by the Mosasaurus.
Giant Equals Invincible: Averted - despite its size, at no point in the series is Tyrannosaurus ever mentioned as being beyond approach. The first episode alone notes that a Mosasaurus could attack a T. rex (though this would still be risky), Freshwater shows that other rexes are still competition, an Edmontosaurus in Swamps managed to get in a few good hits before dying to a pair of rex brothers, and North America reveals that they have a rival for carrion: Quetzalcoatlus.
Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: As with many large dinosaurs, which start life not much larger than baby ostriches, the multi-tonne father absolutely towers over his hatchlings.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: The babies still have a downy coat and get into some mischief on the beach due to their inexperience. The adults only have sparse feathering along their dorsum and are less comedic.
It Can Think: The pair in Swamps come across a herd of Triceratops and Edmontosaurus by a watering hole in broad daylight. As they were looking for a meal, they decide to wait until the cover of night to hunt, where the large herbivores are at a disadvantage. Once night does fall, they split up to encircle the smaller herd of Edmontosaurus, with one Tyrannosaur purposefully stepping on a fallen branch to make the herd nervous, before it ambushes them and drives the herd to its mate.
Know When to Fold 'Em: In "North America", a T. rex is forced to abandon a carcass by a pair of Quetzalcoatlus. The narration points out that this isn't a case of them being stronger (the rex is far more dangerous), but rather them putting on enough of an aggressive display to convince the T. rex that they might be able to do some serious damage ^note before going down, mimicking real-world cases of determined underdog carnivores bullying larger and stronger predators off a kill.
Mighty Roar: Downplayed; the T. rexes aren't constantly roaring like in typical Hollywood depictions, but in "Freshwater", the male and the female do let out an open-mouthed roar at each other before switching to closed-mouthed rumbles. The roar sounds more like an alligator's bellow than the trumpeting roar made famous by Jurassic Park. In "North America", the T. rex lets out a series of similar, hiss-like open-mouthed bellows as it tries to defend its food from the two Quetzalcoatlus.
Missing Mom: The tyrannosaur family in "Coasts" has no mother present. It's implied in "Freshwater" that female tyrannosaurs simply don't participate in child-rearing like their male counterparts do.
The Nose Knows: The species possesses a keen sense of smell that allows them to track prey and carcasses even if they're kilometers away from them. An example of this is shown in "Coasts", where the adult male individual featured in the episode decides to cross the Western Interior Seaway because he detects the smell of a dead turtle on a nearby island.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The male from "Freshwater" appears recovering from a hunt he performed against an adult Triceratops. From the look of the wounds on his leg, it looked like a very fierce battle happened before the herbivore perished.
Old Soldier: The old male from "Freshwater" is a prehistoric variant. He's Covered in Scars of the many battles against the giant armoured herbivores he preys upon (and likely against others of his kind) and even the tip of his tail is missing from a previous fight. The fact he somehow survived for so long with such wounds (the latest from a successful hunt against a Triceratops) is proof of his seniority in the game of life.
Papa Wolf: Downplayed. The T. rex father that appears on "Coasts" takes his chicks to cross the sea to guide them to an island where they can improve their skills as hunters. However, like many animals with precocial young, he's mostly indifferent if some of the weak ones die and doesn't share the dead protostegid sea turtle with his chicks; though this is also to make them search for their own food and not depend on him. When one returns to feed on the carcass after practicing their hunting skills, he doesn't shoo them away.
Prehistoric Monster: Notably defied out of all the tyrannosaurs featured in Season 1. While its older cousins like Nanuqsaurus and Qianzhousaurus are shown hunting their prey (and Tarbosaurus aggressively snaps at a Velociraptor), adult Tyrannosaurus are never depicted hunting, let alone killing, in their segments. Only the babies are shown hunting (and their prey are just tiny turtles) and while a T. rex is shown eating a Triceratops, it is already killed when the segment starts, and the main focus of that segment is him courting a female T. rex with no indication of hostility despite being otherwise rivals. Downplayed in season 2, which highlights Tyrannosaurus's more frightening and aggressive side by showing a pair hunting Edmontosaurus in Swamps while another clashes with a pair of Quetzalcoatlus over an Alamosaurus carcasss in North America. Even then, the former come off as intelligent creatures, relying on stealth and tactics to take down prey, while the one in North America eventually flees after deciding the pterosaurs are too persistent and annoying to deal with. The narration that closes out the "Swamps" segment is also delivered in a more awed and reverent than fearful tone.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: The hatchlings are small, covered in plushy feathers similar to a baby cassowary's, and chirp excitedly to each other.
Stealthy Colossus: Contrary to Hollywood stereotypes, T. rex can move very quietly thanks to their padded feet, which muffles the sound of their movement during a hunt. The only time they ever make a sound is to spook their prey into a blind panic, enabling them to isolate their target from the rest of the herd.
Stock Animal Behavior:
- Defied in Season 1. This is one of the few cases where a T. rex has been shown swimming, and, as the program explains, its hollow bones and powerful legs make him a very competent swimmer. This is also true for modern non-marine animals that are good swimmers despite not possessing any adaptation to aquatic life, such as elephants and ostriches. The behind-the-scenes from "Coasts" is exclusively centered on explaining how the Tyrannosaurus could have been a better swimmer than many would think.
- In "Freshwater", T. rex hunting isn't directly shown, instead featuring the old male courting a female by showing off a red patch on the bottom of his jaw and singing. The female accepts and they nuzzle.
- Played Straight "Swamps", when a pair of T.rexs hunt the giant hadrosaur Edmontosaurus and the entire hunt is caught on camera. Granted, the hunt is depicted realistically without loud roaring and fast charges by a singular giant; but a stealthy ambush with intentional ploys by a pair of hunters.
- Played with in "North America", where a T. rex squabbles with a pair of Quetzalcoatlus over an alamosaur carcass. While T. rex is commonly shown fighting another animal, the other animal in question being an azhdarchid pterosaur is practically unheard of.
Terrifying Tyrannosaur:
- Averted in Season 1. It doesn't fight other predators senselessly if it can avoid a fatal injury (like the Hell Creek mosasaur), doesn't roar constantly, and the paternal behavior depicted by the adult individual in "Coasts" is fairly balanced between that of a competent parent raising its young and that of a self-preserving animal needing its offspring to be self-sufficient.
- Downplayed in Season 2. The ending of "Swamps" shows a pair of T. rex first being cautious of attacking an Edmontosaurus during the day; but then they hunt it down at night, showcasing their stealthy, terrifying prowess and cementing their reputations as the planet's greatest land predators. Then in "North America", a male T. rex chases off a flock of troodontids to scavenge on an Alamosaurus carcass, but then is driven off from it by a pair of very persistent Quetzalcoatlus.
Tough Love: The male Tyrannosaurus in "Coasts" initially shoos his chicks away from the dead adult protostegid so they can learn how to catch their own prey. When one returns to feed on the adult carcass after practicing their hunting skills on the hatchling turtles, he doesn't shoo them away.

Protostegid

An giant sea turtle that lays its eggs on the beaches of the Western Interior Seaway in North America.

Butt-Monkey: The only role of the species is to either serve as T. rex seafood (both the adult turtles and the babies) or be harassed by his chicks, and Attenborough says they are the normal prey item of the mosasaurs that inhabit the Western Interior Seaway.
Dire Beast: Largely resembles a leatherback turtle, but is about four times as heavy.
Graceful in Their Element: On the beach where they lay the eggs, they're slow and easy prey. In the water, however, they appear majestic and graceful.
Monster Munch: They basically appear to show that the T. rex could not only limit its diet to terrestrial animals. It's also mentioned that mosasaurs regularly prey on them.
No Name Given: Its specific genus isn't made clear. It is clearly modeled after Archelon, but that ship sailed ten million years before the events of this show (66 mya), although the show chooses to leave them as an unidentified species.
Prehistoric Animal Analogue: Modelled after Archelon in terms of its size and anatomy, but left unnamed in order to avoid accusations of anachronism.

Tethydraco

Tethydraco regalis

Adult and juveniles

A North African pteranodontid pterosaur that nests on the coasts in huge colonies to rear their young.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They nest in large colonies like gannets.
Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: The adults are Giant Flyers, but the babies are small enough to fit comfortably in a human hand.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The male Tethydraco are larger than the females. Likely based on Pteranodon.
Mama Bear: The females are shown doing most of the child-rearing and they nest on the ground in large flocks to protect them from predators. Handy when there is a Phosphatodraco about.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Males are larger than females and have more prominent crests.
Strong Family Resemblance: Looks basically identical to its older and more famous cousin Pteranodon, including the latter's sexual dimorphism. Granted, we don't know much about its appearance, due to the paucity of its remains.

Phosphatodraco

Phosphatodraco mauritanicus

A medium-sized azhdarchid pterosaur from North Africa that preys on smaller animals, including baby pterosaurs.

Eats Babies: It preys on smaller animals, including baby pterosaurs.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: It prowls through the Tethydraco colony like a marabou stork stalking a shorebird rookery.
Giant Flyer: It's nine feet tall, although it's never actually seen flying.
Lean and Mean: It's tall, lanky, and a predator, stalking the Tethydraco colony for unattended chicks.
The Thing That Would Not Leave: Despite the dangers they pose to the juvenile Tethydraco, they are seemingly unable to drive it off permanently, and it walks around with impunity.
White and Red and Eerie All Over: Has a grayish white color scheme with a red stripe over its eyes. It is also Lean and Mean.

Alcione

Alcione elainus

Small nyctosaurid pterosaurs from North Africa. They hatch from eggs on the cliffs, then fly to the safety of the forests. Appears in "Coasts" (as juveniles) and "Islands" (as an adult).

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Not the babies, but the adults who cameo on the beach a few times have bright blue heads.
Badass Adorable: They run the gauntlet to fly to their safe haven, risking predation in the process, all when they're barely a few hours old.
The Cameo: An adult Alcione makes its first full appearance in the opening scene of "Islands" in season 2, although it is not identified as such.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Based on the adults' color scheme and their behavior of roosting on the beaches with the Tethydraco, they're a blue-footed booby analogue. Their nesting behavior also brings sea turtles to mind.
Hidden Elf Village: They roost in forests as babies for five years, then return to the sea when they reach adulthood.
Parental Abandonment: Unlike Tethydraco, Alcione lays its eggs in seaweed nests on cliffs, then leaves them to their fates.

Barbaridactylus

Barbaridactylus grandis

A North African nyctosaurid pterosaur that lives in coastal zones. The males are bigger and possess a longer crest than the females. Appears in "Coasts" and "Deserts".

Beware the Silly Ones: The massive crests may make the male Barbaridactylus rather funny-looking, but do not be fooled — they're both agile aerial predators and perfectly willing to fight each other to the death for territory rights.
Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Many males are larger than females. They also display a very long crest compared to the stubby one of the females. It's even further complicated by the existence of smaller males which resemble females, allowing them to mate with females without being driven off by larger males.
Brains Versus Brawn: The two male morphs. The more "standard" males are large, aggressive, and often scare off or kill rival males whilst showing off to females with flashy shows of strength and stamina. The "sneaky" males instead take advantage of their resemblance to females as a means to avoid competition and covertly court the larger male's quarry behind his back.
Color-Coded Characters: The males have reddish highlights on their fur and crests while the females have yellow ones. This is noteworthy as it makes the sneaky male stand out — despite looking like a female Barbaridactylus, he still has the reddish coloration of a male.
Darker and Edgier: Compared to most documentary depictions of piscivorous pterosaurs, who usually aren’t shown engaging in violent behavior. These guys, however, are more than happy to murder their rivals and even eat the babies of other pterosaur species.
Death from Above: They normally eat fish, but as the Alcione hatchlings learn the hard way, they can also swoop from above to attack smaller pterosaurs if they feel so inclined.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Notably depicted as having sexual mimicry, in which males look like females to sneak past larger dominant males. Unlike some real-life examples however the "sneaky males" refuse to mate with the dominant ones.
Duel to the Death: The dominant males often fight each other in the sky high above the rocky cliffs. Often, this leads the loser to fall to his death.
Eats Babies: In "Coasts", a few of them come to catch the Alcione hatchlings as they fly their way to the mist forests, killing the majority of them in the process.
Expy: The sneaky male is one to the sneaky male cuttlefish from Blue Planet II, another David Attenborough documentary.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Being long-winged, opportunistic flyers who spend most of their time flying out at sea and have extravagant, flamboyant mating displays brings to mind frigatebirds. The sexual mimicry is also reminiscent of many animals but most notably cuttlefish.
Giant Flyer: They have a seventeen-foot wingspan.
High-Altitude Battle: A large male ruling a precipice spots an intruder attempting to claim the spot, and engaged in a dogfight with him around the high cliffs.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Male Barbaridactylus are depicted as much larger than the females.
Opportunistic Bastard: Downplayed since it's an animal and therefore lacks morality, but in "Coasts", Attenborough explains that they normally feed on fishes, but the sudden swarm of the baby Alcione is an opportunity they just couldn't let pass.
Sinister Silhouettes: When hunting the baby Alcione, the Barbaridactylus are silhouetted against the setting sun, making them look all the more menacing.
Strong Family Resemblance: Looks a lot like a larger version of its older and more famous cousin Nyctosaurus, with the enormous crest sported by the males being inferred from the latter (the skull of Barbaridactylus has so far not been found).

Tuarangisaurus

Tuarangisaurus keyesi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5botnlzda5mditngyxnc00odlklthjngqtymq1m2vhztyznmixxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvyntkymzm0mte_v1.jpg

Mother and calf

A thirty-foot-long elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the southern oceans that feeds out at sea but comes to the coastlines to engage in various activities. Appears in "Coasts" and "Oceans".

Big Brother Instinct: A young Tuarangisaurus risks his life in fending off a Kaikaifilu to protect his pregnant mother and his unborn sibling.
Eat Dirt, Cheap: They swallow stones to act as both ballasts and a means of grinding up their food.
Extremely Protective Child: When the mother Tuarangisaurus is being attacked by a Kaikaifilu, her calf risks his life to distract it to protect her.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They travel in pods and scare off predators like cetaceans.
Fragile Speedster: They can be quite fast when they want, but they're not as powerful as the Kaikaifilu they share the waters with, so they have to be careful to avoid a bite from its powerful jaws. Thankfully, they use numbers to face the mosasaur, driving it away.
Imperiled in Pregnancy: One mother Tuarangisaurus is attacked by a Kaikaifilu mosasaur while pregnant with her second calf, though both fortunately survive.
Scary Teeth: Long, needle-like teeth that protrude out of their mouths help them seize small prey.
True Companions: They travel together in a pod and work together to protect the pregnant female from the predatory mosasaur Kaikaifilu, in a marked contrast to how the Tethydraco seem utterly unfazed by the Phosphatodraco lurking around their own colony.
Zerg Rush: Alone they're no match for the Kaikaifilu, but the entire pod manages to drive the predator away when they all attack it simultaneously.

Mosasaurus

Mosasaurus hoffmanni

A giant marine lizard found in oceans worldwide and the largest predator of its time, even bigger than T. rex. It is also known as "Hoffman's mosasaur". Appears in "Coasts" and "Oceans".

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Downplayed—normally, he's counter-shaded black and white, but during the breeding season, an older male is shown to gain a bright red color.
Behemoth Battle: To the reef fish and shrimp, a pair of the largest carnivores on the planet battling it out around them might as well be a kaiju brawl.
Bait-and-Switch: One approaches a tiny fish menacingly, and as it swims it opens its jaws. Is it trying to eat the fish? No, it's coming to be cleaned by the fish.
The Dreaded: Even Tyrannosaurus rex needs to watch its back around these guys, though it is wise enough not to try and attack a fully grown adult that rivals it in size. They are also able to send whole pods of Tuarangisaurus into retreat, these same pods who were willing to take on Kaikaifilu.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The younger male quickly retreats after the older male overpowers him, not wanting to try his luck anymore.
Lightning Bruiser: A study commissioned by the Prehistoric Planet team showed that while Mosasaurus is a massive predator with all of the strength that this would imply they are also terrifyingly fast. They can use their powerful tails to accelerate up to 3/4ths of their body length in a second and can hit their prey with such force that the impact alone is enough to kill them, as well as launch their colossal body clear out of the water.
Malicious Monitor Lizard: A marine and much bigger variant, being a fully aquatic, gigantic lizard with a forked tongue similar to that of modern monitor lizards (that are relatives of the group), and the face of the animal is clearly modeled after that of a Komodo dragon. Downplayed as it is an animal with no sense of morality, with the older male being perfectly calm and enjoying a cleaning service by reef fish and shrimp. However, the younger male is depicted as somewhat antagonistic, as it attacks the old male without provocation while he was calmly basking in the reef.
Old Master: The one we see is an old male who battles with a younger rival and emerges victorious.
Sea Monster: The biggest predator on the planet, the Mosasaurus is a giant lizard that snacks on practically every creature from the ocean. Though the old male that first appears is initially portrayed in more peaceful activities like letting reef creatures clean him or basking, the violent nature of the species is revealed when the younger male attacks him, and both mosasaurs engage in a fierce fight.
Stealthy Colossus: They manage to be quite sneaky for an animal the size of a humpback whale. One individual is able to use their dark coloration to disguise itself on the sea floor and take the feeding Tuarangisaurus by surprise, killing one of them before it even knew the Mosasaurus was there.

Pycnodont

Pycnodontiformes indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_b885350367fc903ad76f2dd2b4450edb_fd2ccd2c_2048_5.jpg

A small, armored fish that cleans up the teeth and skin of mosasaurs. The real MVP of the episode.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Modelled after boxfishes, which is not an inapt comparison since pycnodonts had similar armored bodies. Their cleaning behavior, on the other hand, is taken from cleaner fish.

Scaphitids

Scaphitidae indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ammonites.png

Ammonites that possess the helix-shaped shells iconic of the group. They live in the deeper waters off the coasts of the world's oceans but come to the shallows to engage in courtship. Appears in "Coasts".

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: On top of their vibrant blue bioluminescence, their shells are orange.
Bioluminescence Is Cool: They use bioluminescence both to snare prey and attract mates. Attenborough specifically comments on how beautiful it is.
Out with a Bang: Similar to most modern cephalopods, after they mate, they die.

Kaikaifilu

Kaikaifilu hervei

A mid-sized mosasaur from the southern oceans that attempts to prey upon the Tuarangisaurus pod.

Know When to Fold 'Em: Gives up on antagonizing the Tuarangisaurus after they team up to drive him away.
Lightning Bruiser: It combines powerful jaws with being a fast and graceful swimmer, making it a deadly predator.
Malicious Monitor Lizard: Unlike the Mosasaurus, the species is portrayed in a slightly negative light as it tries to prey on the vulnerable female Tuarangisaurus. Of course, it's only a predator trying to survive.
Super-Persistent Predator: Zigzagged. Noticeably, it keeps going after the pregnant Tuarangisaurus even after her offspring tries to distract it by acting as bait but quickly goes for the young individual after it keeps pestering it. However, when the entire pod of Tuarangisaurus goes after it, the mosasaur promptly flees, not wanting to get hurt.
Underground Monkey: There's very little distinguishing Kaikaifilu from Mosasaurus other than the stripes on its tail, its smaller size, and living in the South Pacific.

Deserts

Species debuting in the "Deserts" episode.

Dreadnoughtus

Dreadnoughtus schrani

"Let Them Fight"

Enormous sauropods that gather in the deserts of South America to mate. Males possess rows of inflatable sacs down their necks they blow up to impress females.

Behemoth Battle: Imagine reptilian, terrestrial elephant seals but way bigger and heavier and you'll have a good idea of how a Dreadnoughtus fight is. The documentary does an excellent job emphasizing how big and heavy these sauropods are, and the battle between the males is a breathtaking, deadly spectacle.
Death by Falling Over: As mentioned under Square-Cube Law, the immense size of the old bull Dreadnoughtus means when he falls, he shatters most of his bones from the impact and is unable to pull himself up thanks to weighing many tons. The fact that he is exhausted from fighting the rival also leaves him to slowly die alone.
Duel to the Death: Dreadnoughtus are so big and heavy that fighting each other is a guaranteed death sentence for the loser. Most males would not challenge the reigning bull because of this, though this doesn't stop a few young upstarts from doing so.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: The males display to females in leks like grouse, with inflatable gular air sacs like sage grouse, whilst their fighting style is based on giraffes and elephant seals.
Gentle Giant Sauropod: Averted. Males are highly aggressive during the breeding season with brawls sometimes being lethal between all the biting, clawing, and body slams.
Herbivores Are Friendly: A notable aversion — the males are highly aggressive during the breeding season, and the one fight we see between the two is a Duel to the Death.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The huge weight and size of the males are what gives them their strength and power, and a gigantic individual like the old bull from the episode can intimidate his rivals with this alone without the need to engage in a physical confrontation. However, if a physical fight ensues and they are overpowered and fall to the ground, the same weight that once brought them advantage becomes their undoing, as they are so heavy they cannot stand up again. The old bull ends up learning this the hard way after the newcomer male defeats him.
Old Master: An old male is one of the subjects here, though unlike Mosasaurus, things don’t end well for him.
Red Is Violent: The hyper-aggressive males are shown to have bright, reddish heads compared to the gray ones of the more passive females.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Like some species of modern birds, the males have two rows of orange, gular air sacs on their necks that they proudly display to attract the females, who lack them. They also have a more reddish head compared to the duller gray one of the females (which is also true for many birds today).
Square-Cube Law: The Dreadnoughtus's massive size and weight are its greatest strengths and weaknesses. It takes a great amount of energy to even fight each other, and falling to the ground during combat would shatter its body and kill the sauropod. Very few Dreadnoughtus would dare challenge the dominant male for mating rights.

Enantiornitheans

Enantiornithines indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jqojart.png

Seven different unnamed species of extinct birds are represented in "Deserts", "Freshwater", "Forests", and "North America": two Asian ones that are spooked off by an eager Mononykus and a Deinocheirus, one African species spooked by Quetzalcoatlus, one European species spooked by Hatzegopteryx, one in South America spooked by Austroposeidon, one in North America spooked by Triceratops, and others that fly among Dreadnoughtus in South America.

Animals Not to Scale: While most species are sparrow-sized (as expected for most members of the group), the South American and African ones are more ambiguously sized. Judging by the former's comparison to Dreadnoughtus and the latter's to the trees in Quetzalcoatlus habitat they could be on the upmost range of two meters, which in turn would narrow them down to the largest known species like Enantiornis.
Disturbed Doves: This seems to be their main role in the show, being scared off by bigger animals.
Giant Flyer: Possibly the South American and African species if the size estimate above is accurate, though still downplayed and they look small compared to the giant sauropods and pterosaurs. Averted entirely for the tiny remaining species.
No Name Given: They are not identified by species. The South American species likely is the larger Enantiornis or Soroavisaurus, the African species could either be the Maevarano Formation Falcatakely or unnamed pengornithids (since the episode has Malagasy species in South Africa) while the Asian species could be Gobipteryx or Yuornis (or maybe an oddly flight-capable Elsornis) and the European ones Martinavis. Or they could be entirely fictional species.
Toothy Bird: Deliberately vague, with the South American, third episode Asian, African and European species shown too far away to get a good look at its snout and the second episode Asian ones flat out having their face blurred. Many enantiornitheans had teeth, but several Late Cretaceous species like Gobipteryx and Yuornis lost teeth independently from modern birds.

Lizard

Squamata indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nevil_thummar_10_1.jpg

A small desert squamate from Mongolia who hunts carrion flies and is in turn, hunted by the Velociraptor.

No Name Given: It's just called "a lizard", which could mean anything from an agamid to the more exotic polyglyphanodonts that infested the Mesozoic (though unlikely to be the latter because it doesn't chew its food).
Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: It doesn't appear in any promotional material from the documentary despite being the protagonist of the segment where it appears, likely due to it not being as cool as the dinosaurs. Notably, the Velociraptor (who plays a supporting role in the same scene), was given much more prominence in the trailers and promos.
Summon Bigger Fish: An unintentional example. While fleeing from the Velociraptor, it accidentally wakes up the sleeping Tarbosaurus, a much bigger predator.

Tarbosaurus

Tarbosaurus bataar

Asian tyrannosaurs that fill a similar niche to their North American counterparts. Appears in "Deserts" and "Badlands".

Bait-and-Switch: The Tarbosaurus at the watering hole isn't there to hunt. Instead, it just wants a drink.
The Dreaded: Despite ultimately proving itself to be there for mundane reasons, the entire crowd of dinosaurs parts the way and gives the Tarbosaurus a wide berth when it arrives, clearly not wanting to do anything that might provoke an attack. Also shown in "Badlands", where merely sensing the presence of several tarbosaurs is enough to make a herd of multi-tonne sauropods panic (understandably, seeing as they're in a more vulnerable position than the ones at the watering hole in "Deserts").
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: The lion to the T. rex's tiger. They're shown to live in hot, dry conditions and laze around carcasses in large groups, in addition to their entire introductory segment partially serving as a Mythology Gag to a sequence in Africa (also narrated by David Attenborough) which featured a lizard hunting flies amidst a pride of lions. Fittingly, it happens to be the second-largest known tyrannosaurid after Tyrannosaurus itself, much like how lions are the second-largest big cats after tigers. They are also given leopard-like spots, further linking them to big cats.
It Can Think: Judging by their "Badlands" segment, they're clever enough to incite panic in a sauropod herd and then lie in wait for several to injure themselves in the ensuing stampede instead of risking a potentially-dangerous head-on attack.
Predators Are Mean: Intentionally defied. A Tarbosaurus approaches a desert oasis in a threatening manner, but it just arrives to drink water like every other animal. Notably, the herbivores don't act skittish or very interested in its arrival (intentionally, as they realize it's not a threat to them currently), although they do give it a wide berth.
Scavengers Are Scum: Likewise defied. Even though they're introduced scavenging on a dead sauropod, they aren't made out to be "bad" in the slightest.
Terrifying Tyrannosaur: Downplayed. The other dinosaurs at the watering hole are wary whenever the Tarbosaurus shows up, but they will tolerate its presence when it's clear that the Asian tyrannosaur is only out for a drink rather than food. Their depiction in "Badlands" plays it straighter, featuring a segment with a Tarbosaurus pack taking advantage of a sauropod migration through a narrow maze of canyons to ambush the herd. Still played with in that they notably wait for a nemegtosaur to injure itself in its panic and then finish the job offscreen, so they seem more content to avoid injury by letting their reputation precede them than by risking a full-scale attack on the herd.
Underground Monkey: Tarbosaurus is depicted essentially as a Tyrannosaurus with spots and living in a different environment, although it does have an accurately different model with a slimmer build.

Gobi azhdarchid

Azhdarchidae indet.

A massive scavenging pterosaur of an unidentified from the deserts of Mongolia. Appears in "Deserts" and "Badlands" (as a cameo).

Circling Vultures: They behave this way in the Gobi lizard's segment. They are tempted to peck the sauropod carcass, but the presence of the Tarbosaurus detains them from proceeding, so they remain flying in circles waiting for the moment to descend. Luckily for them, once the Velociraptors awaken the tyrannosaurs, they leave and the pterosaurs can finally feed on the corpse.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They are the prehistoric equivalents of vultures, circling in the sky looking for carrion and avoiding combat with stronger carnivores.
Giant Flyer: Appears to be quite big yet has no trouble flying.
No Name Given: Is never given a name in the episode, being identified as a generic pterosaur. It's possible that they might be based on the Mongol Giant.

Velociraptor

Velociraptorine

An iconic Asian dromaeosaur that lives similarly to coyotes as social and opportunistic hunters. Appears in "Deserts", "Freshwater", and "Badlands".

Advertised Extra: The individuals from "Deserts" are heavily promoted in the trailers of the documentary even though the true protagonist of the segment where they appear is a small lizard, with the dromaeosaurs acting as antagonistic side characters.
Anachronism Stew: Invoked. The two known Velociraptor species are only found in the earlier Campanian epoch, not in the Maastrichtian epoch when which every other animal in the show lived. Thus, they most likely didn't coexist with dinosaurs like Tarbosaurus^note. Word of God states that their appearance was based on indeterminate velociraptorine fossils - that may represent additional species of Velociraptor - that are found in various Maastrichtian formations.
Ascended Extra: Plays a relatively minor role in "Deserts" as the predator that attacks the lizards, but becomes the focus of one segment of "Freshwater" where they perform a coordinated attack on a pterosaur colony.
Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Literally, albeit unintentionally. While chasing a lizard, the raptor comes across a Tarbosaurus and continues after the lizard, eventually waking the beast, which proceeds to chase the raptor off.
Bullying a Dragon: See Awakening the Sleeping Giant above
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Invoked. As Word of God has confirmed, it's not actually meant to be a species of the Velociraptor genus (which was likely extinct by the time the series is set) but rather a closely-related and indeterminate velociraptorine. However, the narration calls it Velociraptor anyway due to the genus having name recognition.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Their behavior of hunting prey on cliff ledges is similar to that of snow leopards. Their semi-social, opportunistic behavior, meanwhile, calls to mind coyotes and jackals.
Feathered Fiend: Downplayed; while predatory, they aren't much of a threat to anything bigger than themselves.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Defied. The opening segment of Freshwater showcases how the Velociraptor's feathers make it a more dangerous predator, allowing it to maneuver effectively in difficult terrain and survive dangerous falls.
Made of Iron: The female Velociraptor is a justified example. A fall from a cliff can easily injure or kill any animal, but her feathers allow for a controlled descent while doubling as excellent shock absorbers, allowing her to survive tumbling down the cliffside after the corpse of the young pterosaur she hunted and making off with it without being injured herself.
Noble Bird of Prey: Bearing accurate wings and tail fans, they resemble large, flightless hawks.
Raptor Attack: Averted, they are the most scientifically accurate raptors to date, being small, social, feathered, bird-like dinosaurs that act more like opportunist scavengers than the large, scaly, overly aggressive apex predators of Jurassic Park.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: The baby Velociraptors are almost absurdly precious.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "Freshwater", the female of the pack abandons her male companions after getting her prey.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: The males have slightly more colorful feathers than the females.
Stock Animal Diet: Averted. Despite living in small packs for protection, they never employ their numbers to hunt down large animals as raptors are frequently seen doing in pop culture. Instead, more like coyotes, they realistically chiefly target animals their own size or smaller. Notably, this is one of the few times in a documentary where the Velociraptor doesn't hunt its eternal rival Protoceratops^note.
Terrible Trio: A pack of three Velociraptors hunts pterosaurs on the cliffs in "Freshwater". One is a female who gets her prize, and the other two are males who are left at the mercy of an angry pterosaur flock.

Mononykus

Mononykus olecranus

A tiny insectivorous alvarezsaurid theropod from the deserts of Asia. It possess a single enlarged claw on each hand that it uses to break into termite nests.

Cute Owl: The species has the same light brown and white colour schemes and has a similar head disc as modern barn owls, and is plenty cute. This is based on fossil evidence that suggests alvarezsaurs had an exceptional sense of hearing and likely had facial discs.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: It's visually themed after a barn owl, and has a similar facial disc, though its insectivorous diet and Overly-Long Tongue suggest an anteater or perhaps a woodpecker. Finally, its build and habitat suggest a roadrunner.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Downplayed. Unlike the Velociraptor, Mononykus is more comical in her hunt for insects due to being unfamiliar with the wet season environment - Attenborough even gives a comically exasperated "Oh dear" at her antics. But the creature's appearance is more cute than goofy, being more or less a toothy bird with winged claws and a tail.
Hook Hand: A biological variant. Like others of her kind, the arms of the Mononykus are merely stubby hooked claws. They are ideal for scraping away wood and dirt to access the insects that she preys on.
Overly-Long Tongue: When the female finds a nest of termites in a dead tree, she uses her long tongue to reach the insects. The tongue is described to be twice as long as her head.

Barsboldia

Barsboldia sicinskii

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_00d6cd11f6b3cf17fa03600f5b0e6c26_978c9901_1280.png

A desert-dwelling hadrosaur from Asia that follow sources of water in large herds.

Crossing the Desert: They can cross the desert without drinking water for days.
Social Ornithopod: They travel through the desert in herds and tolerate other species in the watering hole.

The Mongolian Titan

Titanosauria indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mongoltitan.PNG

Enormous Asian titanosaurs of an unknown species that dwarf all other dinosaurs in their environment. Appears in "Deserts" and "Badlands".

The Big Guy: Easily the biggest of the animals that come to the watering hole. At 70 tons, it is also the biggest animal to appear in season 1^note, outweighing the Dreadnoughtus and implied to be bigger than the Austroposeidon. They're explicitly stated to be one of the largest animals to have ever walked the Earth.
Gentle Giant Sauropod: Far larger than even the other sauropods, they tolerate the presence of other dinosaurs fine.
Only Known by Their Nickname: On account of not having a proper scientific name, as the only scientific evidence of their existence is enormous footprints far larger than those of any sauropod known from the region.

Secernosaurus

Secernosaurus koerneri

Small, extremophile hadrosaurs from South America that use the stars to navigate the inhospitable gypsum deserts they inhabit.

Boring, but Practical: They aren’t especially big, don’t have any big weapons or special characteristics, and don’t even have the fancy crests some hadrosaurs have, being basically an average hadrosaur. However, they are the only creatures able to survive in the gypsum desert thanks to their adaptations, something no other animal can do.
Crossing the Desert: They are desert wanderers that are far more adept at this than most.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Their adaptation to desert life, together with their social structure, suggest camels.
Social Ornithopod: They roam the desert in herds, with the elder individuals guiding the rest.

Freshwater

Species debuting in the "Freshwater" episode.

Asian azhdarchid

Azhdarchidae indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asianpterosaur.PNG

Juveniles of an unidentified species of Asian azhdarchid that takes refuge from predators in huge canyons with waterfalls. Appears in "Freshwater" and "Swamps".

Ambiguously Related: They're possibly meant to be juveniles of the giant unnamed azhdarchids seen in "Deserts", since they are shown living alongside contemporary animals and in the same region, but it's never specifically mentioned.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They roost on cliffs in a colony like seabirds.
Hidden Elf Village: The canyons where they live make it impossible for predators to reach them, giving them a safe place to live. Only the most skilled of the Velociraptor can pose a threat to them.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The sound from the waterfalls of the canyons where they refuge hides the sound of the Velociraptor trio, which makes it easier for them to sneak.
No Name Given: Is never given a name in the episode, being identified as a generic pterosaur. Darren Naish at least claims they're young azhdarchids, possibly the juveniles of the previous episode's species.
Zerg Rush: When threatened, they attack their enemies in large numbers.

Deinocheirus

Deinocheirus mirificus

A large omnivorous ornithomimosaur theropod native to the swamps of Asia, and one of the strangest looking dinosaurs to have ever existed.

The Big Guy: David mentions that it's taller than Tyrannosaurus. In Real Life, it would be taller compared to a modern giraffe and its contemporary Therizinosaurus, making Deinocheirus the second tallest theropod. Only Gigantoraptor would be taller.
Creepily Long Arms: It has huge arms, over 8 feet long, tipped with claws at least 8 inches in length. Despite its enormous size, it still can't scratch itself everywhere on its giant body, so it instead rubs its body on a dead tree to get to places it can't reach. Notably, for many years up until the early mid 2010s, everything that was known from Deinocheirus was only its giant arms.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Is depicted as a large shaggy herbivore that wades in swamps to eat water plants, much like a moose.
Gentle Giant: All this massive theropod does in the show is peacefully graze in a swamp and have a big scratch when flies keep biting it.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: It's a powerful and huge omnivore, but it does play this trope straight. It's depicted as a voracious plant-eater whose main conflict in the episode is a swarm of blood-sucking flies, which it tries and successfully itches away by rubbing its body on a dead tree, with ironically dramatic music playing as it does so. After warding off the flies, it poops out the plant food it ate into the water.
Mix-and-Match Critters: The best way to describe this dinosaur would be a cross between an ostrich, a camel, a bear, and a duck.
Vegetarian Carnivore: Downplayed. It's an omnivore, though it's only depicted here as eating soft wet plants. The real animal would have also included fish in its diet.
Wolverine Claws: Not to the same degree as Therizinosaurus, but 8 inches minimum is nothing to scoff at.

Quetzalcoatlus

Quetzalcoatlus northropi

A large North American azhdarchid pterosaur that travels far from home each year to deposit its eggs in its nesting grounds: the swamps of South Africa. Appears in "Freshwater" and "North America".

Beak Attack: The beaks from their huge heads are their greatest weapon, and they know how to use them very well.
Behemoth Battle:
- In "Freshwater", the main female and the older one engage in a fight after the former discovers that the latter is destroying her nest and eating her eggs. It eventually ends with the older female retreating, but only three of the twelve eggs of the main female survive.
- In "North America", a pair of Quetzalcoatlus go up against a T. rex to fight for an Alamosaurus carcass. The Quetzalcoatlus tag-teaming to confuse and peck at the T. rex ends up winning them the meal.
Bittersweet Ending: The main female we follow in the episode manages to drive off the rival female, however, by that time, most of her eggs have been destroyed and/or eaten, leaving only three. She will watch over them until they hatch, but by that moment, she will leave them to their own device and the chicks will have to live by themselves.
Evil Egg Eater: Females are shown to eat the eggs of rival females so their own babies don't have to compete with them. In this case, the older female is depicted as the antagonist to the main female who worked so hard to find and build a nest here on the island.
Giant Flyer: With a thirty-foot wingspan, it's one of the MOST giant of giant flyers.
Glass Cannon: Much lighter and frailer than Tyrannosaurus, but its beak can inflict serious injury with one peck and its much faster and more agile than the lumbering theropod. This quality is made even greater when a second Quetzalcoatlus appears on the scene, and their attacks prove too much for T. rex to tolerate.
Mama Bear: Females will fiercely defend their nests and eggs, though they don't stick around after the young have hatched.
Misplaced Wildlife: Quetzalcoatlus is depicted in South Africa... when they are famously known solely from North America and are most associated with Texas in the south. One must wonder why they didn't use the more obscure genus Arambourgiania, which actually was native to Africa (albeit in the north of it). However, it should be taken in mind that the Quetzalcoatlus in the show is not a permanent African resident and only came to the southern hemisphere swamps migrating due to them being their nesting grounds (with only females present in the zone), as scientists believe azhdarchids could be able to take long-distance migrations lasting weeks. Another individual makes a very brief appearance in a segment taking place in South America, looking at a pod of elasmosaurs swimming up a river.
- Averted in "North America", which places Quetzalcoatlus northropi in its proper environment alongside Alamosaurus and T. rex.
Monstrous Cannibalism: Females of the species don't think twice about eating the eggs of other females if that means they can get rid of potential rivals for their own offspring. That way they kill two birds with one stone: not only do they erase competition for their chicks, but also get a nutritious meal too.
Parental Abandonment: Zigzagged. Females will protect their nest fiercely from other rivals, but after the babies hatch, she will leave them to their own.
The Rival: "North America" reveals it as one to T. rex, with the implication that the two genera regularly come to blows over scavenging privileges.

Masiakasaurus

Masiakasaurus knopfleri

Adult (with an unfortunate crab)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fthd_3cveaaitmm.jpg

Juveniles

A small noasaurid theropod from Madagascar that preys on a variety of small animals, from mammals to crustaceans. Appears in "Freshwater", "Islands", and "Swamps".

Bait-and-Switch: In "Swamps", after both of its previous appearances in "Freshwater" and "Islands" resulting in individuals being eaten by a Beelzebufo and a Madtsoia respectively, it's set up to be eaten again by another Beezlebufo. Except this time the Beelzebufo decides to drive it off as the giant frog is trying to attract a mate instead. ^note
Butt-Monkey: In both of its appearances in "Freshwater" and "Islands", it's only there to get eaten by something else. A Beelzebufo for the juveniles in the former, and Madtsoia for an adult in the latter.
Chasing a Butterfly: A baby Masiakasaurus pursues a crab to improve its hunting skills, only to be eaten by a Beelzebufo.
Eats Babies: One in "Islands" prepares to invade an Adalatherium burrow and eat the pups inside, only to be foiled by a Madtsoia hiding nearby.
Mama Bear: After a hungry Beelzebufo devoured one of her three offspring, the female Masiakasaurus stands between the remaining two and the giant amphibian.
Scary Teeth: Masiakasaurus has distinct needle-like, forward-facing teeth that are ideal for seizing small prey. In the program, however, they seem to be mostly covered up by their lips.
Throw the Dog a Bone: While still getting intimidated by the Beelzebufo in "Swamps", it manages to escape with its life compared with the appearances of the species in "Freshwater" and "Islands".

Beelzebufo

Beelzebufo ampinga

A huge carnivorous toad from Madagascar able to swallow dinosaur hatchlings in a single gulp. Appears in "Freshwater" and "Swamps".

Amphibian at Large: One of the largest toads that have ever existed. It is big enough to prey on small dinosaurs.
Ascended Extra: While making a really small (but notorious) appearance in "Freshwater", in "Swamps" a male is a protagonist in a segment where he's forced to flee from his swamp by a group of Rapetosaurus, forcing him to find a new one by travelling among the giants.
Eats Babies: It eats one of the Masiakasaurus babies, then slinks back into the river.
Meaningful Name: Beelzebufo, as David notes, means "devil toad", and fittingly, it's a large, predatory toad.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Though it'd been previously shown as a terrifying predator, with Attenborough pointing out its status as one of the largest toads in history and able to devour small dinosaurs in a single gulp, its spotlight appearance in "Swamps" shows that "small" is the key word there. Beelzebufo was certainly big, but it was big by the standards of frogs and toads—only about 20cm long, with some modern frog species matching or surpassing it. When a group of Rapetosaurus show up, a male Beelzebufo has no recourse but to hop for cover and wait for them to go away.
Swallowed Whole: This giant toad has a mouth so large, that it could easily swallow a small dinosaur in a single gulp. A baby Masiakasaurus finds out the hard way.

South American elasmosaur

Elasmosauridae indet.

A large South American elasmosaurid plesiosaur of an unidentified species that frequents estuaries in search of fishes.

Misplaced Wildlife: An habitat-based case, and also a defied one. The elasmosaurs are a marine species, but they can be seen in the South American estuary hunting for fish. However, given how the plesiosaur behavior from this documentary is based on that of dolphins and other cetaceans (that are also marine species that can be found in estuaries), their presence there is not a strange event. There are also several freshwater plesiosaurs, including unnamed elasmosaurs in Canada, but the species shown here are explicitly marine/estuarine.
No Name Given: The species is never named in the program, being called a generic elasmosaur during its runtime. It's possible given the location and time that it's either Kawanectes or an indeterminate elasmosaurid from the La Colonia Formation.
Underground Monkey: A viewer might not see this elasmosaurid as any different from Tuarangisaurus other than their respective habitats.

Ice Worlds

Species debuting in the "Ice Worlds" episode.

Dromaeosaurus

Dromaeosaurus albertensis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fthrzjwxwaylf68.jpg

A medium-sized dromaeosaur inhabiting far-northern America. It gathers in packs to hunt herds of migrating hadrosaurs at the end of winter.

Combat Pragmatist: Rather than trying to directly take down a hadrosaur as a pack, they simply spook the herd to stampede across the river and let the cold rapids do the work for them.
It Can Think: They're smart enough to deliberately provoke their victims into stampeding through a river so they can feed on the ones who drown.
Noble Bird of Prey: Like the Velociraptor, they are effectively large, flightless eagles or falcons, though their feathers are iridescent blue like a magpie's.
No Name Given: No genus name is given since the fossil evidence of dromaeosaurs in the Prince Creek Formation amounts to little more than isolated teeth. Ironically, the taxon closest to it in terms of size, age, and proxy is Atrociraptor, who appears in the following episode. It appears to be modeled after Dromaeosaurus, however.
Stock Animal Behavior: Subverted. The dromaeosaurs do hunt in packs here and target the large hadrosaurs as their prey. But instead of leaping onto one hadrosaur and then using their sickle-like claws to cut their prey open, as depicted in older dinosaur media, the dromaeosaurs simply scare the herd to stampede through a dangerous frozen river, then search for any hadrosaur killed in the wake to feast. The sequence even begins with a dromaeosaur leaping to catch a flying insect like a cat.

Hadrosaurs

Edmontosaurus annectens and Hadrosauridae indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edmontosaurus_regalis_2022.png

Large, duck-billed dinosaurs that travel in herds. Widely successful, their group can be found all over the world. They distinctly lack a crest. The North American species that appear throughout the series are identified as Edmontosaurus. Appear in "Ice Worlds", "Forests", and "Swamps".

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Their undersides are brown, but their tops are green or red. The males also have bright green and yellow marks on their snouts.
Animal Stampede: When the dromaeosaur pack spooks them, they stampede across an icy river, and at least one drowns.
Aquatic Hadrosaurs: Downplayed. They will swim across rivers to avoid predators but will look for an appropriate place to ford first.
The Generic Guy: Common enough to be seen at opposite ends of the world and the narrator doesn't even mention what group of hadrosaurs they are.
Mama Bear: Adult females will protect their young from predators and rescue them from freezing waters.
Monster Munch: A juvenile Edmontosaurus drowns in a river crossing and is eaten by a pack of dromaeosaurs in "Ice Worlds", while an adult Edmontosaurus is killed and eaten by a pair of Tyrannosaurus in "Swamps".
No Name Given: No specific name is given for them, unlike other hadrosaurs. The North American ones are eventually named Edmontosaurus in "Forests". The Antarctic ones are not specified, likely because they are based on an unnamed fragmentary taxon.
Palette Swap: The Edmontosaurus have stripes with green and red splotches. The hadrosaurs in Antarctica are wholly pink with little visible difference in anatomy.
Social Ornithopod: They travel and care for their young in herds.

Ornithomimus

Ornithomimus velox

Omnivorous ostrich-like North American theropods of the ornithomimosaur clade. The males build nests on sand islands in preparation for the mating season. Appears in "Ice Worlds" and "North America".

Expy: The nest-thieving Ornithomimus is no doubt based on the male Adélie penguin from Frozen Planet who constantly steals rocks from his rival's nest whenever it's unattended. One could almost hear Sir David Attenborough saying "So some Ornithomimus turn to a life of crime."
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Have similar nest-building behavior to penguins.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Befitting something that looks like an ostrich, their segment is comedic as a late-arriving male tries to build a nest by discreetly stealing materials from other males, one stick at a time.
Misplaced Wildlife: It’s not known from Alaska (neither are any ornithomimids, other than a potential metatarsal), though it did coexist with Edmontosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus further south in Alberta, and since the latter are known from Alaska, hypothetically, Ornithomimus could have been the same.
Stock Animal Behavior: Averted. Like penguins, Ornithomimus males construct nests in anticipation of the arrival of females to their breeding grounds, rather than stealing eggs like in older dinosaur media. Amusingly, one Ornithomimus does allude to the old stereotype by stealing materials from a rival's nest, which is what some modern bird species would do. Also, in a twist of irony, a pair of hadrosaurs, which are the most common victims of their egg-thievery in older media, are presented here as a potential threat to the Ornithomimus nest (the narrator suggests they would eat the branches the nest is made of). They also aren't shown running, at least not for long distances and time.

Olorotitan

Olorotitan arharensis

Large, crested hadrosaurs that live in the Eurasian wilderness. They migrate to volcanic valleys to lay their eggs in the geothermally heated soil.

Parental Abandonment: They will abandon any juvenile that has grown too weak to keep up with the herd.
Social Ornithopod: They travel and care for their offspring in herds, though they are willing to leave the weak ones behind.
Stock Animal Behavior: As hadrosaurs, they are depicted raising their young in communal nesting grounds, but the main deviation is where. They choose the warm soil of a volcanic field to incubate their eggs and eat horsetails that grow in the fertile ash.

Troodontid

Troodontidae indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ngpszb39auju_ek563efzj3x67hlueoqxvcbdze_ogm.png

A smaller-sized North American theropod that uses its intelligence to great effect during forest fires.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: It uses fire to flush out potential prey like a black kite.
Handy Mouth: It bites onto a flaming branch to put it in an area where it will grow bigger.
It Can Think: One of the most intelligent dinosaurs, it can intentionally spread fire to flush out prey.
Noble Bird of Prey: Like the other small theropods, the troodontid is fully modeled with feathers and a crest like that of a harpy eagle or a secretarybird.
No Name Given: No specific name is given for it, likely because Maastrichtian troodontid fossils from North America are very fragmentary. Oddly enough, despite the setting, it's not the giant troodontid of Prince Creek, as it's described as just 6 feet long.^note

Cimolodon

Cimolodon sp.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oavxcpd.png

An unidentified mammal hunted by troodontids in the fire they spread. Confirmed to be the multituberculate Cimolodon in a tweet.

Meek Mesozoic Mammal: An Alaskan troodontid is shown using fire to smoke out a number of these, and it easily captures and kills one of them.
Monster Munch: Its only role in the show is to be eaten by a troodontid.
No Name Given: The creature isn't given a name in its brief screen time. But it is confirmed to be Cimolodon, an atypically huge one.
Rodents of Unusual Size: Not a rodent (belongs to a group of synapsids known as multituberculates), but it is modeled after marmots and ground squirrels^note and looks massive compared to the troodontid hunting it. It is also much larger than real-life Cimolodon.
Vegetarian Carnivore: Implied; it is modeled after terrestrial herbivorous rodents like marmots but the real Cimolodon falls on the carnivorous side in studies on the multituberculate diet.

Antarctopelta

Antarctopelta oliveroi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fhqkouyxkaexd8s.jpg

Small ankylosaurs that thrived in Antarctica, which had a temperate climate during their time. The juveniles live in same-age groups and need to find shelter for the winter.

Beware My Stinger Tail: Their tails are armed with spikes that can act as defensive weapons.^note
Tough Armored Dinosaur: Subverted. While well-equipped to defend itself, the Antarctopelta is a juvenile and is more in danger from the approaching winter.

Pachyrhinosaurus

Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum

An Alaskan ceratopsian whose main characteristic is the lack of a nasal horn. It lives in herds in the same zone as the Nanuqsaurus, acting as the latter's main prey item.

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: They have splotches of red and green, particularly on the head and frill, while juveniles have blue frills.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: To muskox. If the Nanuqsaurus are the grey wolves of prehistoric Alaska, then the Pachyrhinosaurus are the muskox they hunt. It helps that both Pachyrhinosaurus and muskox often butt heads for dominance.
Mama Bear / Papa Wolf: The adults form a defensive circle around their young.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Although the narration never draws attention to it, males are depicted with speculative porcupine-like quills, which the females lack.
Stock Animal Behavior: Adult females and males will form a defensive circle around their young to shield them from predators.
Temper-Ceratops: Although Pachyrhinosaurus are quite docile, they will use their thick and armored heads to ram predators and potential rivals.

Nanuqsaurus

Nanuqsaurus hoglundi

A medium-sized Alaskan tyrannosaur living in a colder environment than the rest of the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs as the apex predator of the Arctic region. It normally hunts in packs. Appears in "Ice Worlds" and "North America".

Anachronistic Animal: A downplayed and admittedly pedantic example, but still ultimately present. While the timing of its segment in "Ice Worlds" is left ambiguous, its "North America" segment is explicitly stated to take place 66 million years ago (at the very end of the Maastrichtian). Nanuqsaurus fossils are only known from the middle Maastrichtian (around 70-68 million years ago), making it likely that it already went extinct before the end^note.
Disappeared Dad: The Nanuqsaurus family in "North America" has no father present. It's subtly implied that female Nanuqsaurus raise their young by themselves, with the males not participate in childrearing.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: If the larger tyrannosaurs are big cats, these guys are wolves. Their shaggy feathers give them the appearance of reptilian grey wolves, and they hunt in packs to bring down larger prey. Their presence is even signaled by howl-like roars.
Good Parents: The mother Nanuqsaurus in "North America"
Super-Persistent Predator: Downplayed, as their persistence hunting is an actual strategy used by real-life animals. While the Nanuqsaurus aren't mindlessly attacking the Pachyrhinosaurus herd, they are willing to engage them in a long standoff during a harsh blizzard, biding their time and only attacking when they sense weakness. As the narrator puts it, these confrontations can last for days.
Terrifying Tyrannosaur: Despite being smaller than their more famous cousins, the Nanuqsaurus are given the most aggressive depictions of tyrannosaurs featured in the show, being highly persistent predators that hunt in packs in even the worst of the blizzard. Notably, they are the only tyrannosaurs alongside Qianzhousaurus to be shown hunting and killing their prey in the first season.

Forests

Species debuting in the "Forests" episode.

Austroposeidon

Austroposeidon magnificus

Enormous South American sauropods that knock down trees to get to their leaves. Appears in "Freshwater" (as a cameo) and "Forests".

Ascended Extra: Briefly appears in "Freshwater", standing by the river and looking at the swimming elasmosaurs, before getting its own segment in "Forests".
Gentle Giant Sauropod: They are peaceful creatures who use their great size to clear the forests of tall trees.

Triceratops

Triceratops horridus

A famous North American ceratopsian recognizable for its three facial horns. It lived in the same time and place as the Tyrannosaurus, being a frequent prey of the theropod. Appears in "Freshwater" (as a dead body cameo), "Forests", "Swamps" (as a cameo), and "North America".

Ascended Extra: It plays a dead body cameo in "Freshwater" before getting its own segment in "Forests".
The Cameo: A dead one appears in "Freshwater", having been killed in a battle against an old male Tyrannosaurus. A herd of them also shows up at the watering hole in "Swamps" just before the T. rex hunting segment.
Curb-Stomp Battle: The dueling males in "North America" is a decidedly one-sided affair in favor of the older male, whose brow horns are not only longer and thicker than his younger opponent, he outweighs the younger male by four tons and has far more fighting experience.
Dented Iron: The old male Triceratops in "North America" is covered in scars that mark him as an experienced combatant, including a snapped brow horn, a broken epijugal horn, and a chunk of frill missing.
Eat Dirt, Cheap: A plot point. They eat poisonous plants but counteract the poison by eating clay.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They eat clay to neutralize toxins like parrots and they venture into caves to find mineral deposits like African elephants.
Horn Attack: Triceratops can use their horns as deadly melee weapons. A battle between two male Triceratops occurs in "North America".
Monster Munch: The "Freshwater" Triceratops, which serves as lunch for the old male Tyrannosaurus that killed it.
Old Master: An older, battle-scarred male is one of the two main players in "North America's" Triceratops segment. Unsurprisingly, he curb-stomps his younger rival.
"Ray of Hope" Ending: In the "North America" episode, the young male's perfect horns are ruined by older male during a fight, ensuring that he will not have any chance of attracting females in the current mating season. But David Attenborough notes that this may have been a blessing for next mating season since the young male's horns will heal and this time, it will have attractive battle scars to impress females of his fighting experience.
Strong and Skilled: David Attenborough notes that the older male Triceratops in "North America" knows how to use his superior size and strength against his younger, inexperienced and relatively smaller opponent when fighting during the Triceratop's mating season.
Stronger with Age: Triceratops are depicted as continuing to grow larger as they age, with a thirty year-old male weighing over ten tons and with massive brow horns, on top of the experience to use his strength effectively in battle.
Temper-Ceratops: Before it died in the jaws of the old male Tyrannosaurus, the Triceratops in "Freshwater" was able to give him a few scrapes with its horns. Subverted in "Forests" where a whole herd of them venture into a cave simply to feed on its clay deposit to neutralize the toxins of the poisonous plants they eat, with no aggression at all.
- Played straight in season 2, with "North America" highlighting the aggressive intraspecific interactions of male Triceratops during their mating season.

Carnotaurus

Carnotaurus sastrei

Let him show you the dance of his people

Large South American abelisaurid theropods with horns on their heads and near-vestigial arms. Males clear sections of the forest to display for females.

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The male Carnotaurus has bright blue scales on the undersides of his arms.
Did Not Get the Girl: Despite his flamboyant mating dance, the male Carnotaurus is unable to court the female that he attracted.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: The mating dance of the Carnotaurus is similar to that of bowerbirds.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: The male has red scales and bright blue arms, while the female is a grayish green.

Corythoraptor

Corythoraptor jacobsi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/web_capture_10_5_2023_221648_maxsblogosauruscomfileswordpresscom_8.jpeg

An Asian oviraptorid theropod that lives in flocks and feeds on ginkgo nuts. Appears in "Forests" and "Badlands".

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Their feathers are a very eye-catching shade of blue.
Irony: They are part of the Oviraptoridae family, literally named after Oviraptor aka "Egg Thief", and yet they are the ones defending their nests from egg-thieving dromeosaurids.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Their bright blue colouration and tall crests, being shown eating fruits, and having males guard the eggs all make them resemble cassowaries, both in appearance and behaviour, although they differ by being social rather than solitary.
Misplaced Wildlife: "Badlands" depicts them living in Mongolia's Barun Goyot Formation, where Kuru kulla is known from. While several species of oviraptorosaur are known from that location, Corythoraptor itself is only known from the Nanxiong Formation of Southern China (depicted in "Forests").
Monster Munch: Shown here to be prey for the female Qianzhousaurus.
Papa Wolf: Males will fiercely defend their nests from egg-thieves like the dromeosaurid Kuru kulla in Badlands, and for additional protection, they build their nests in small colonies and will help other males chase off any would-be predators.

Qianzhousaurus

Qianzhousaurus sinensis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_0700.jpg

A medium-sized tyrannosaur that dwells in the forests of East Asia, hunting dinosaurs such as Corythoraptor.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Being a medium-sized, striped, East Asian ambush predator brings a South China tiger to mind.
Super-Persistent Predator: Downplayed. The female Qianzhousaurus does not persistently chase the Corythoraptor for too long after her initial failure in ambushing them, but as the wind rises soon after, she makes a second attempt that ends with a successful kill.

Atrociraptor

Atrociraptor marshalli

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ce3.jpg

A small dromaeosaurid from North America clever enough to use smoke to rid itself of parasites.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Corvids are known to use smoke to delouse themselves.
Handy Mouth: It uses its mouth to pick up a burning stick.
It Can Think: It knows how to use smoke to get rid of parasites.
Noble Bird of Prey: The Atrociraptor has a coat of brown feathers patterned after a golden eagle.

Anodontosaurus

Anodontosaurus lambei

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prehistoric_planet_adontosaurus.png

A club-tailed armored dinosaur from North America, recognizable by its pointed tail club.

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The ankylosaur is a lovely shade of jade.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Subverted. Although its tail is armed with a fearsome-looking club, it does not use it to intimidate the Atrociraptor.
Eat Dirt, Cheap: The ankylosaur munches on some charcoal to neutralize the toxins in the plants it eats.
No Name Given: [[Invoked]]. It is not formally named in the episode, only referred to as an ankylosaur, but Word of God clarifies its identity, and its species is obvious given its distinct pronged tail club and coexisting with Atrociraptor and Edmontosaurus.

Therizinosaurus

Therizinosaurus cheloniformis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_a89368c78922c7442b30a1f97bafa041_d480261a_2048.jpg

Juveniles

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Adult

A large, long-necked, herbivorous theropod from Asia and the namesake of the therizinosaurid group it belongs to. It bears large claws on its long, robust arms. Appears in "Deserts" (as a cameo) and "Forests".

Always a Bigger Fish: While young Therizinosaurus are no match for the bees, they are saved when an adult Therizinosaurus walks by and swats the beehive with ease, unbothered by the bee stings. A reminder to the youngsters of their potential if they survive to adulthood.
Ascended Extra: It plays a background role in "Deserts", but gets its own segment in "Forests", where we follow three youngsters trying to find food in the night.
Creepily Long Arms: Along with Deinocheirus, it has the longest arms of any bipedal animal to have ever lived, at around 8 feet long (2.5 meters).
Early-Bird Cameo: The Therizinosaurus is among the many background dinosaurs gathering at the watering hole in "Deserts", but is not identified in that episode. It is given a proper introduction from David Attenborough in the episode "Forests".
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Is depicted as a large, shaggy forest omnivore with a taste for honey, making it similar to a bear.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Played straight with the three young Therizinosaurus, who are shown to be very clumsy trying to get honey from a beehive and end up getting comically stung for their troubles, despite having feathers for protection. In contrast, their adult counterpart defies this as their feathered coat is impenetrable to the bee stings, and they easily swat the hive from the tree with their mighty claws.
Mix-and-Match Creatures: Looks like a combination between a goose and a bear.
Wolverine Claws: Naturally, they bear their iconic enormous, scythe-shaped hand claws, from which they get their name.

Zalmoxes

Zalmoxes robustus

Small European iguanodontid ornithopods and among the last of their group alive by the end of the Cretaceous. They are much smaller than others of their group on account of being island dwarfs. Appears in "Forests" and "Islands".

Adam and Eve Plot: A male and female Zalmoxes are shown rafting in "Islands", with the narration stating they could be the start of a new species if the raft makes it to an uninhabited island.
Last of His Kind: They are pointed out to be "the last of a very ancient dinosaur lineage", the rhabdodontomorph iguanodonts, which were prolific in the Early Cretaceous, but are only found on both Hateg Island and Ibero-Amorica^noteWhich will form France and Iberia by the Maastrichtian when the show takes place.
Monster Munch: Juveniles are shown here to be prey for the Hatzegopteryx.
Social Ornithopod: They scurry through the forests in herds.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After being shown as little much than a snack for the Hatzegopteryx in "Forests", they're given they're own segment in "Islands" where a male manages to escape the attack of a mosasaur in a drifting small raft of vegetation and meet a female who seems interested in him. Both are used as an example of what the arrival of foreign species to islands can lead to, with the narration mentioning than if they manage to arrive to a new island their descendants may turn into a different species.
Uncertain Doom: In "Islands", a pair of them are stuck on a floating raft of vegetable drifting out to sea. The narration is optimistic in that they could land on an island, but of course often times the rafts don't.

Hatzegopteryx

Hatzegopteryx thambema

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hatzegopteryzx.jpg

A massive azhdarchid pterosaur from Europe and one of the largest flying animals to have ever lived. It flies from island to island in search of prey, such as small dinosaurs. Appears in "Forests" and "Islands".

Bait-and-Switch: In 'Islands', after the main male manages to drive away the younger intruder, he realizes that the female he was courting has suddenly vanished. When he assumes that she got bored of him and left, the female suddenly appears from the vegetation of the small island and shows she watched the fight and got impressed by the strength of the older male against his opponent, ending up mating with him.
Beak Attack: It uses its huge beak to catch its prey.
Behemoth Battle: The climax of "Islands" involve a short but intense fight between the older male who acts as the protagonist of the segment and the younger newcomer male who tries to take the female he was courting for himself, that the main male ends up winning with ease.
Disappeared Dad: Lampshaded. After the male mates with the female, Attenborough notes that this is the only contribution the male will give to fatherhood. From here, the mother and young are on their own (and it's subtly implied that the male will continue trying to attract more females after the current one has left).
Eats Babies: Snatches a juvenile Zalmoxes in its introduction. A flock of them are shown hunting the younger Tethyshadros in "Islands" once the larger adults manage to give them the slip in the trees.
Giant Flyer: It's explicitly noted as being the heaviest animal to have ever flown.
It Can Think: As shown when they hunt the Tethyhadros, they are smart enough to flush out prey co-operatively.
Lightning Bruiser: As the hunting sequence in Islands shows, it can move deceptively fast even on land and is considered an apex predator of the European archipelago, being able to easily take down relatively large prey items.
Riding into the Sunset: It launches off the beach and takes flight towards the sunset in the last scene of the "Forests" episode and by extension season one.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Males have a significantly larger crest than females, which they use in courtship displays when attempting to mate with females.

Telmatosaurus

Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus

Medium-sized European hadrosauromorph that is likely shrunken in size compared to its larger, more derived relatives elsewhere due to insular dwarfism.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They visit the beach to lick salt like several species of ungulates.
Social Ornithopod: They roam the forests in herds.

European Sauropod

Titanosauria indet.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_24053.jpg

European sauropods of an unidentified species that are smaller than their relatives due to the phenomenon of insular dwarfism.

Gentle Giant Sauropod: Less giant than most, but otherwise fit the bill. They are peaceful creatures that visit the beach to renew family bonds and make new ones.
No Name Given: They are not given a species name, although being featured alongside other Hateg Island dinosaurs narrows it down to Magyarosaurus or Paludititan.

Islands

Species debuting in the "Islands" episode.

Prognathodon

Prognathodon spp.

An unidentified species of large mosasaur that stalks a Zalmoxes stranded during a rafting event. Confirmed to be Prognathodon in a tweet.

No Name Given: Is only referred to as a "mosasaur". One could easily mistake it for the Mosasaurus of the previous season and "Oceans".

Tethyshadros

Tethyshadros insularis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8638.jpeg

An adult Tethyshadros with two juveniles.

A small European hadrosauromorph distinguished by its serrated beak, used for shredding plants. Like Telmatosaurus, it is likely smaller than its mainland counterparts due to insular dwarfism.

Anachronistic Animal: Tethyshadros is from the Campanian (approximately 81-80 million years ago) rather than the Maastrichtian.^note
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: One of the calves hiding among the saplings makes a run for it, alerting the Hatzegopteryx of its location.

Simosuchus

Simosuchus clarki

A small, pug-snouted, mostly terrestrial, plant-eating notosuchian crocodylomorph from Madagascar, which like today was an island full of unusual animals.

David vs. Goliath: Downplayed. When the female Majungasaurus ambushed the group of Simosuchus, an unlucky male was unable to make it to the nearby burrows before being nearly caught by the larger abelisaurid, so he instead rebuffs it with aggressive kicks and back charges. It only ends up distracting the Majungasaurus, but does so long enough for a nearby burrow to open up for the male to escape into.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Being a small social burrower, it's effectively a reptilian prairie dog.
Paper Tiger: One Simosuchus is able to intimidate a much larger Majungasaurus with hissing, kicks, and mock charges long enough for it to escape down a burrow.

Majungasaurus

Majungasaurus crenatissimus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8661.png

A medium-sized abelisaurid theropod from Madagascar and the apex predator of the island.

Super-Persistent Predator: Justified with the old half-blind female, whose condition is explicitly stated to make hunting difficult for her and so she's extremely hungry. As a result, she only gives up on pursuing the male Simosuchus after he burrows too deeply for her to follow.
Uncertain Doom: The individual shown has debilitating injuries that make it difficult for her to hunt, and she is close to starvation by the time she attempts to predate the Simosuchus. She fails that too, leaving her fate ambiguous.

Adalatherium

Adalatherium hui

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_7890.jpeg

A gondwanatherian mammal from Madagascar. Being roughly the size of a badger, it's one of the larger mammals of the Dinosaur Age.

Bait-and-Switch: Introduced approaching a clutch of eggs, as though about to play straight the common trope of small prehistoric mammals feeding on dinosaur eggs, only for the narration to clarify those are her eggs.
Disappeared Dad: The father of the Adalatherium family is nowhere to be found. It's possible only females rear their young, as with many mammals today.
Meek Mesozoic Mammal: They are prey for animals larger than them, particularly dinosaurs and snakes. If their burrow gets disturbed, their immediate reaction is to gather their families and leave to find a new home.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon seeing the Madtsoia attack and kill the Masiakasaurus that threatened the burrow, the mother Adalatherium decides that it's no longer safe for her offspring to be raised there and leads them all out to a new home together.
Stock Animal Diet: Defied - while the adult female is set up to eat a set of eggs as is often the case with Mesozoic mammals, it turns out this clutch is hers. She actually eats seeds and nuts.
Whale Egg: They are mammals that lay eggs like monotremes. This is justified in that egg-laying mammals were common during the Mesozoic Era, with live-bearing mammals being relatively recent.

Madtsoia

Madtsoia madagascariensis

A giant basal madtsoiid snake from Madagascar. At 25 feet long, this powerful constrictor is certainly big enough to kill and eat small dinosaurs.

Accidental Hero: It kills the Masiakasaurus which was threatening the Adalatherium nest, although, as an animal with no sense of morality, it was only because the dinosaur was prey.
Always a Bigger Fish: The Masiakasaurus, presented as a threatening predator to the Adalatherium, is killed and eaten by the much larger constrictor.
Animals Not to Scale: Downplayed. An isolated specimen suggests that M. madagascariensis could get as long as 26 feet (8 m), but most other existing fossils support an average length closer to 17 feet (5 m) and so the 25-foot-long individual in the episode is definitely pushing the maximum size range of the species.
Bait-and-Switch: Initially, it appeared as if it was hunting the female Adalatherium herself or hunting one of the cubs inside her burrow. Instead, it ends up hunting a Masiakasaurus that had been inspecting the female Adalatherium's former burrows.
Chekhov's Gunman: A closeup of its eye is seen during the nighttime sequence of predators prowling around the Adalatherium burrow, but it only becomes important much later in the segment.
Snakes Are Sinister: Downplayed. While on one hand it's in a foreboding sight, it does act as an Accidental Hero to the Adalatherium by eating a maraudering Masiakasaurus, and like every creature in the seriers is only trying to survive.

Imperobator

Imperobator antarcticus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_7898.jpeg

A large paravian theropod that lives on islands off the coast of Antarctica. It congregates in packs to catch prey and to find warmth.

Zerg Rush: A pack of three hunt down the Morrosaurus. Attenborough notes that while Morrosaurus is faster, the Imperobator have numbers on their side.

Morrosaurus

Morrosaurus antarcticus

An elasmarian ornithopod from the islands around Antarctica that is predated upon by Imperobator.

Fragile Speedster: It's faster than its predators, but it still needs to tread carefully against them, as they can overpower it with superior numbers.
Social Ornithopod: Surprisingly averted in a series that otherwise plays this straight. It seems to be alone when it's startled by the Imperobator pack.

Badlands

Species debuting in the "Badlands" episode.

Isisaurus

Isisaurus colberti

A sauropod from India, which in their time is an island dominated by volcanic wastelands. Females migrate into the heart of these hellish badlands to lay their eggs in the volcanic soil.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Their red and black coloration fits perfectly an animal that lives near to volcanic zones.
Cruel and Unusual Death: One of the hatchling Isisaurus falls into a volcanic mud trap.
The Determinator: Both the mothers and the babies are this — the former traveling long distances through perilous landscapes to nest, the latter doing the same to escape said perilous landscapes and find their way to their herds.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They bury their eggs in volcanic soil to incubate them like Galapagos land iguanas and some megapodes.
Parental Abandonment: Zig-zagged. The mother Isisaurus leave their eggs in a volcano, but also leave food for them in their droppings and plants that germinated through said droppings. It's noted that when they're old enough, the young may someday reunite with their mothers in the herds.

Nemegtosaurus

Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis

Sauropods that gather in herds. Being smaller than the colossal Mongolian Titan, they are preyed upon by Tarbosaurus. Appears in "Deserts" (as a cameo) and "Badlands".

Always a Bigger Fish: Of the non-lethal variety. Huge as they are, they are dwarfed by other sauropods.
Ascended Extra: Appears as a nameless background animal in "Deserts", but is given more prominence in "Badlands", where it is also identified by name.
Early-Bird Cameo: Like Tarchia and Therizinosaurus, they first appear as backgrounds dinosaurs in the watering hole scene of "Deserts", but are given more extensive focus in later episodes.
Gentle Giant Sauropod: They tolerate the presence of other dinosaurs.
No Name Given: Never identified by the narrator as Nemegtosaurus in "Deserts"; they just serve as background animals in the watering hole scene.

Prenocephale

Prenocephale prenes

A small pachycephalosaur from Asia that congregates in small herds, often under the feet of larger dinosaurs to avoid predators.

Bullying a Dragon: When one of the juvenile Tarchia joins the small pack of Prenocephale at the canyon oasis, they try to drive off the ankylosaur with calls and nipping at its more vulnerable underside. The Tarchia responds by slapping its clubbed tail against the sand, reminding the Prenocephale that it's a lot bigger than they are. David Attenborough even comments how the little pachycephalosaurs are little more than an annoyance.
Cruel and Unusual Death: One gets kicked off of a cliff by a Velociraptor during the canyon hunting scene in Badlands. Somewhat justified, as the Velociraptors couldn't hunt the Prenocephale that were traveling with the herd of Nemegtosaurus and Mongolian titanosaurs without risk of being crushed underfoot, so they had to wait for the Prenocephale to escape up the canyon's cliffside when fleeing from a pair of Tarbosaurus that were actually hunting the larger sauropods.

Kuru

Kuru kulla

An Asian dromaeosaur related to Velociraptor that comes out at night to feed on the eggs of nesting dinosaurs.

Anachronistic Animal: A very minor example. It's shown interacting with Corythoraptor, but Kuru is only known from the Early Maastrichtian, while Corythoraptor is from the Late Maastrichtian, a difference of about four million years.
Evil Egg Eater: Subverted. It's initially presented in an antagonistic role for the nesting Corythoraptors by stealing the eggs of the less attentive fathers and promptly getting chased off, but needless to say it's not malicious and is simply a predator looking for food. Additionally, we later get to see its more nurturing side as a doting parent.
Hidden Depths: After showing displaying itself as a sneaky, cowardly egg thief to the Corythoraptors, the Kuru is revealed to a parent of its own, trying to feed its young with the egg it has stolen.
Underground Monkey: Appears very similar to the Velociraptor, with the only obvious differences being behavioural (namely its nocturnal habits and specialized nest-raiding behaviour). Notably, they're both closely-related dromaeosaurs within the Velociraptorinae subfamily.

Tarchia

Tarchia kielanae

Mid-sized Asian ankylosaurs masterfully adapted for life in the nearly inhospitable wastelands they call home. Appears in "Deserts" (as a cameo) and "Badlands".

Ascended Extra: Long after making a cameo in "Deserts", Tarchia was revealed as the first animal to be confirmed to be in Season 2 and gets its own segment in "Badlands".
Beware My Stinger Tail: The clubs at the end of their tails are formidable weapons.
Early-Bird Cameo: Before its proper appearance in "Badlands", some of them can be briefly seen in the background during the watering hole segment in 'Deserts'.
No Name Given: Never identified by the narrator as Tarchia in "Deserts"; they just serve as background animals in the watering hole scene.
Out of Focus: Compared to all the other dinosaurs at the watering hole, they receive little to no focus or even any close-up shots. This changes in Season 2, where they get a focus segment.
Thicker Than Water: Though the brothers often bully each other at the time to share food, when one of them is confronted by an adult, bigger Tarchia, the other brother appears to support their brother and help him against the rival. This makes the older male to retreat and allow the youngsters to be in his territory.
Tough Armored Dinosaur: Downplayed. They are not hostile towards other dinosaurs and do make way for the Tarbosaurus when it shows up without wanting a confrontation. Played straight with the Tarchia brothers from "Badlands" who are not afraid to stand for themselves whether they're up against pestering Prenocephale or an older rival.

Rajasaurus

Rajasaurus narmadensis

An abelisaurid theropod from India. They venture into the volcanic wastelands of their home to prey on newly hatched Isisaurus making their way to greener pastures.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Their red and black coloration fits perfectly an animal that lives near to volcanic zones.
Eats Babies: When the Isisaurus babies hatch, the Rajasaurus take their chance to eat them.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Downplayed as they're not evil, but the Rajasaurus are dangerous predators with a red and black color scheme.

Swamps

Species debuting in the "Swamps" episode.

Shamosuchus

Shamosuchus djadochtaensis

A mid-sized neosuchian crocodylomorph from the wetlands of Asia. Although its not especially closely related to modern crocodiles, it's very similar in both appearance and lifestyle.

Eats Babies: Par for the course for any predator in the series, they catch some of the hatchling azhdarchids.
Informed Species: [[Invoked]]. Although identified as Shamosuchus, its larger size, more conventionally crocodile-like appearance, and the fact Shamosuchus is a Campanian genus, strongly suggest it's supposed to be Paralligator, which is often synonymized with the former. Indeed, it was later confirmed by Word of God that they are indeed supposed to be Paralligator.
Never Smile at a Crocodile: It closely resembles a modern-day crocodile, of which it is a relative, and serves as a danger for the hatchling azhdarchids.

Austroraptor

Austroraptor cabazai

A giant unenlagiine dromeosaurid from South America. Its long, narrow snout and crocodile-like teeth betray it as primarily being a fish-eater.

Dark Horse Victory: The young Austroraptor tries to get a fish, but it keeps failing because its older, stronger conspecifics chase it away. Eventually it finds two Austroraptor adults so engaged in a fight over a fish that they don't notive when the young one sneaks in and steals the fish for itself.
Dire Beast: It's introduced as a relative of the more well-known Velociraptor, but is stated to be much, much larger.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Their behavior is modeled after North American grizzlies fishing during a salmon run. Their long snouts and piscivorous diet also bring to mind the spinosaurids, which have gone extinct by the timeframe Prehistoric Planet takes place in.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Adults of the species are shown to be extremely aggressive with trespassers of their feeding grounds and react with violence to those who dare to cross into their territory. The main plot of the segment deals with a young individual trying to take food while avoiding the wrath of the older dromaeosaurs.

Rapetosaurus

Rapetosaurus krausei

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A herd of Rapetosaurus

A large sauropod from Madagascar. Herds of these enormous animals enjoy wallowing in the mud flats that appear following the seasonal rains.

Gentle Giant Sauropod: They only trouble the Beelzebufo by accident. When one of them notices the frog, it curiously inspects it before being spooked off by the devil toad's threat display despite the fact that the comparatively diminutive amphibian is virtually incapable of harming the sauropod.

Pachycephalosaurus

Pachycephalosaurus spinifer

The largest and most famous of the pachycephalosaurs, as well as the namesake of the group. Native to North America, they use their iconic thick, domed skulls to fight each other in headbutting contests.

Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The males are surprisingly vibrant in colouration, sporting verdant forest green scales peppered with black spots and stripes, crimson head domes, and yellow underbellies with orange highlights around the throat. Averted by the females, who are a more uniform pale yellow-brown.
Don't Celebrate Just Yet: The young male Pachycephalosaurus should have made sure his rival didn't have a second wind in him before assuming his victory.
The Exile: The younger male Pachycephalosaurus ends up expelled from the herd.
Failed a Spot Check: The younger male Pachycephalosaurus doesn't notice the older male getting back up to continue the fight until it's too late.
Headbutting Pachy: They fight with their domed heads.
Victorious Roar: Exploited. The younger Pachycephalosaurus thinks he's beaten the older male in their duel and calls out to the surrounding harem of females. The older male uses this to his advantage by dealing a much heavier blow and visibly injuring the younger challenger.

Oceans

Species debuting in the "Oceans" episode.

Phosphorosaurus

Phosphorosaurus ortelibi

A small mosasaur found in the oceans of the northern hemisphere. Although a tiddler compared to some of the leviathans in its family, its large eyes make it a highly efficient nighttime hunter.

Hesperornis

Hesperornis rossicus

A hesperonithine bird found in shallow seas across the northern hemisphere. While it can't fly, its streamlined body and powerful legs make it an excellent swimmer, helping it to catch fish with its toothy beak.

Anachronistic Animal: Downplayed. The last definitive Hesperornis remains come from the late Campanian (several million years before the setting of the series), but hesperornithid fossils uncovered in Russia and dated to the early Maastrichtian are tentatively assigned to the genus by some experts.
Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: It's an actual bird, but the scene it appears in starts out coming off as somewhat comedic, complete with silly-sounding music. The Xiphactinus' arrival changes this.
Hidden Depths: Despite its somewhat goofy appearance, it’s an incredible swimmer and agile enough to evade and escape the faster Xiphactinus.
Mix-and-Match Critters: It resembles a cross between a loon and a penguin but is man-sized and with a beak full of sharp teeth.

Xiphactinus

Xiphactinus audax

An ichthyodectid fish found throughout the world's oceans. Rivaling a modern-day great white shark in size, this swift and powerful predator possesses a rapacious appetite for anything it can fit down its gullet.

Big Eater: Xiphactinus is willing to eat anything. From small baitfish, to Hesperornis, to even other Xiphactinus.
Fiendish Fish: A giant carnivorous fish with a ravenous appetite.
Hazardous Water: Like the mosasaurs, it emphasizes how dangerous the Late Cretaceous oceans were.
Mix-and-Match Critters: It has a head akin to a goliath tiger fish but the streamlined and torpedo-like body of a sailfish (minus the sail), giving it both a fierce bite and incredible speed.
Monstrous Cannibalism: They won't hesitate to eat their own kind if they run out of other prey.
Shark Fin of Doom: A rare non-shark example.

Nostoceras

Nostoceras sp.

A widely distributed ammonite with an incredibly bizarre shell composed of a helix spire ending in a U-turn that faces the animal towards its own shell. Owing to its awkward form, it tends to live close to the seafloor.

Bizarre Alien Locomotion: The babies propel themselves along to escape the tidepools by basically clustering together and pushing themselves along until they fall into the water.

Pyroraptor

Pyroraptor olympius

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A juvenile Pyroraptor.

A European dromaeosaur that ventures to the beaches of its island home to opportunistically scavenge on dead ammonites.

Eats Babies: A rare case of babies eating other babies.
Palette Swap: They're identical to the baby Kuru in the previous episode, although the young of closely related animals are often very similar in appearance, and the actual appearance of Pyroraptor is almost totally unknown, so it's not necessarily implausible.

Baculites

Baculites vertebralis

An ammonite found worldwide that possesses a long, tusk-shaped shell. It does not move around very much, instead floating just above the seabed to feed on plankton and tiny fish.

Diplomoceras

Diplomoceras sp.

An ammonite with an extremely long shell shaped like a giant paperclip. They are far from the fastest of their kind, but can live for over 200 years.

Our Monsters Are Weird: It's shaped like a giant paperclip. Yes, this was a real animal that actually existed.

Morturneria

Morturneria seymourensis

An elasmosaurid plesiosaur that inhabits the southern hemisphere. Pods of these animals migrate to Antarctica during the summer months to sift food from the nutrient-rich mud using their highly specialized teeth.

Eat Dirt, Cheap: They consume mud from the sea floor specifically to sieve out the many tiny animals contained within it, which is a job their teeth are specialized for.

North America

Species debuting in the episode "North America"

Alamosaurus

Alamosaurus sanjuanensis

A giant sauropod from North America and the only known species inhabiting the continent during the Late Cretaceous, making it the largest living land animal in North America at the time.

The Big Guy: As David Attenborough points out, it's the biggest land animal in North America. At a staggering 80 tons, it's also the biggest animal yet featured in the program (outweighing the Mongol Titan by a full 10 tons).
Giant Equals Invincible: Their sheer size makes adults of the species immune to predation, even by a predator as formidable as T. rex.
Life Will Kill You: A particularly old male stands out for being the only creature in the series (aside from the scaphitids) to die of old age, because adults are so big they can't be threatened by predators.
Peaceful in Death: When the old male passes, he just slowly lies down as if he has made peace with his fate.
Plot-Triggering Death: The story of its segment focuses on the corpse of a recently-dead Alamosaurus being fought over by scavengers.

Pectinodon

Pectinodon bakkeri

Adult and juveniles

A troodontid theropod from North America. These small hunters are highly intelligent creatures that opportunistically feed on anything they can find, from carcasses to insects to birds.

It Can Think: As fitting for troodontids. The babies quickly figure out that running into the swarm of brine flies with their mouths open is the most effective way to catch them.
Missing Mom: The Pectinodon family has no mother present. This may suggest that only males rear their young.

Globidens

Globidens alabamaensis

A medium-sized mosasaur found in oceans worldwide. It possesses round, blunted teeth specially adapted for crushing the shells of ammonites.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Its behaviour resembles a grizzly bear during a salmon run, although completely underwater and substituting fish for ammonites.
Malicious Monitor Lizard: It's shown to have a lizard's forked tongue and is an aggressive hunter of its ammonite prey, attacking more than it actually eats.

Sphenodiscus

Sphenodiscus sp.

An ammonite possessing the familiar helix-shaped shell of the group, albeit laterally flattened for moving quickly. Females migrate from deeper waters to lay their eggs in shallow, rocky coves. Appears in "Oceans" (as a cameo) and "North America".

Early-Bird Cameo: Several appear in the background of the ammonite sequences of "Oceans", but are unidentified and could be easily mistaken for the scaphitids from the previous season.
Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They basically act like salmon on a salmon run, complete with a grizzly bear equivalent hunting them, although migrating from deep ocean to shallow ocean, rather than from ocean to river.
Monster Munch: Downplayed. Several of them serve the classic role of ammonites being portrayed as food for mosasaurs, but most of them survive and lay their eggs.
Parental Abandonment: The mothers leave their eggs behind after laying them.

Styginetta

"Styginetta lofgreni"^note

A relative of modern-day ducks and geese with proportions similar to a flamingo. Flocks of these waterfowl gather in toxic saline lakes to feed on brine flies.

Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: They're relatives of ducks, but look and act like flamingos.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They essentially resemble miniature flamingoes with goose-like heads.

Characters / Prehistoric Planet

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Coasts

Tyrannosaurus rex

Protostegid

Tethydraco regalis

Phosphatodraco mauritanicus

Alcione elainus

Barbaridactylus grandis

Tuarangisaurus keyesi

Mosasaurus hoffmanni

Pycnodontiformes indet.

Scaphitidae indet.

Kaikaifilu hervei

Deserts

Dreadnoughtus schrani

Enantiornithines indet.

Squamata indet.

Tarbosaurus bataar

Azhdarchidae indet.

Velociraptorine

Mononykus olecranus

Barsboldia sicinskii

Titanosauria indet.

Secernosaurus koerneri

Freshwater

Azhdarchidae indet.

Deinocheirus mirificus

Quetzalcoatlus northropi

Masiakasaurus knopfleri

Beelzebufo ampinga

Elasmosauridae indet.

Ice Worlds

Dromaeosaurus albertensis

Edmontosaurus annectens and Hadrosauridae indet.

Ornithomimus velox

Olorotitan arharensis

Troodontidae indet.

Cimolodon sp.

Antarctopelta oliveroi

Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum

Nanuqsaurus hoglundi

Forests

Austroposeidon magnificus

Triceratops horridus

Carnotaurus sastrei

Corythoraptor jacobsi

Qianzhousaurus sinensis

Atrociraptor marshalli

Anodontosaurus lambei

Therizinosaurus cheloniformis

Zalmoxes robustus

Hatzegopteryx thambema

Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus

Titanosauria indet.

Islands

Prognathodon spp.

Tethyshadros insularis

Simosuchus clarki

Majungasaurus crenatissimus

Adalatherium hui

Madtsoia madagascariensis

Imperobator antarcticus

Morrosaurus antarcticus

Badlands

Isisaurus colberti

Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis

Prenocephale prenes

Kuru kulla

Tarchia kielanae

Rajasaurus narmadensis

Swamps

Shamosuchus djadochtaensis

Austroraptor cabazai

Rapetosaurus krausei

Pachycephalosaurus spinifer

Oceans

Phosphorosaurus ortelibi

Hesperornis rossicus

Xiphactinus audax

"Styginetta lofgreni"^note