Evolution timelapse - Walking With Monsters, Dinosaurs & Beasts

Travel through the phanerozoic eon - the past 540 million years - in roughly 3 minutes.
Footage from:
Walking With Dinosaurs (1999)
Walking With Beasts (2001)
Walking With Monsters (2005)
All produced by the BBC and Impossible Pictures.
Check out my channel for more edits of paleo media, including videos of Prehistoric Planet.

[@bkjeong4302]

We need a remake of the Trilogy if Life (that keeps the presentation style while removing the elements that were questionable even for their time and incorporating newer research).

[@diepiepew12]

Maybe Prehistoric Planet will give us a reboot of the trilogy.

[@lucasjorqueraramos1438]

And new locations and animals.

[@alexgriffith1001]

Exactly!! an updated version of both science and effects

[@dns0095]

The people who made the Walking with series are working on a new Prehistoric series

[@gamerch3994]

Agreeeddddd

[@james-min8013]

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen with the walking with trilogy

[@EchoFluxVT]

"No Species Lasts Forever" Coelacanth and Horseshoe Crabs: *Hold my beer*

[@PaleoEdits]

Coelacanth and horseshoe crabs are wider clades, not species. There are 4 modern species of horseshoe crabs, none of them lived in the age of dinosaurs.

[@EchoFluxVT]

@@PaleoEdits Its just a joke, i know they are not the same species, i just like that creatures related to their 300 - 500 million years ancestors are still arround and had almost no significant evolution.

[@PaleoEdits]

@@EchoFluxVT If it ain't broke ;)

[@kR-qj7rw]

dont jinx it for them dog

[@hsdinoman2267]

We have since built museums to celebrate the past, and spend decades studying prehistoric lives. And if all this has taught us anything, it is this: no species lasts forever. Kenneth Branagh 2001

[@MrDodo19]

A final line to end a fantastic series. (Even though walking with monsters ended the series)

[@Shark-pj8in]

Let's hope humans last longer. I mean we are the first species to go off the planet

[@Charlie-Charlot]

This is was fantastic, you choose the best moments to illustrate every era without abusing of one creature of Walking with episodes over any other. Simply perfect well done Edit : maybe you could change the title to something more generic let say, like “the evolution Timelapse” or similar in order to gain more visibility and views. Your work deserves to be seen

[@PaleoEdits]

Sure ! Thanks for the feedback :)

[@tinkywinky1238]

I can't state how much I love this. The clips and music gel so wholesomely together that it feels like they were written expressly for one another, yet we know this can't be true. I knew the Trilogy of Life but thanks to you I've discovered this music track and the artist and for that I am also grateful. Thank you! My only regret is not seeing any birds in the montage. Iberomesornis and Phorusrhacos could have appeared on the Cretaceous and Miocene (particularly the latter since they were anachronistically shown in the Pleistocene in the series). Unfortunately I don't remember any good shots of either that weren't shared with other creatures.

[@PaleoEdits]

Thank you for the wonderful comment! And yes, this isn't particularly representative of the entire history of life, just that which was included within the walking with series (which is mainly flashy vertebrates like dinosaurs and what have you). I will probably do another timelapse video someday using shots from more than one source, as well as to include the precambrian.

[@trueanimationfan6542]

Beautiful but sad; the end really gives off the feeling that humans have jumped in and pressed the pause button on Earth's geological history

[@dinoxels]

You make wonderful contributions to this community. I would love to see a PP2 intro WWD styled when it comes out

[@PaleoEdits]

Thank you Dinoxels ^^ Yes, perhaps I could give the WWD intro another go some day. But I have some other ideas for prehistoric planet I want to get to first :)

[@dinoxels]

@@PaleoEdits then do those!

[@the_ballad_of_big_Al_Le_Fan]

Excellent !!!

[@tyrannotherium7873]

God, I love the walking with series

[@planets354]

Amazing...

[@ianmalcolmislasorna]

2:01 Cymbospondylus in Sea Monsters A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy

[@MrDodo19]

Beautiful timeline. Reminds me of the chased by sea monsters timemap.

[@SaidahHonor]

Im finna rewatch the whole franchise

[@fabioduquemartinez9130]

Excelent documentary....

[@josiahpurtee1156]

List of scientific errors in Walking with Monsters: 1. The species of long-tailed Anomalocaris from Cambrian Stage 3 Chengjiang, didn't reach 2 metres (6.5 ft) long, only being 7 centimetres (2.7 in), although that is thought to be become larger, about 50 cm (1.6 ft) long, based on frontal appendage of Anomalocaris saron, which that specimen of Anomalocaris previously belonged. But recent analysis seems to support that it may not have been an Anomalocaris at all, but rather a relative. Also, long-tailed Anomalocaris (Anomalocaris sp. (ELRC 20001)) is no longer considered as A. saron (now called as Houcaris saron), so estimation of large size is incorrect. In fact, no species of Anomalocaris got that big. The closest was a larger species from the later Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Anomalocaris canadensis, which was about 40 cm (1.3 ft) long (including appendages about 65 cm (2.1 ft) long). 2. "Anomalocaris" saron didn't feed on trilobites, rather more soft-bodied creatures. 3. "Anomalocaris" saron wasn't the first-ever apex predator, nor was it the apex predator of its time and place. The larger Omnidens, being 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in length, was the largest Cambrian animal known. Anomalocaris canadensis, however, was the apex predator of the later Burgess Shale from the Miaolingian, though it did not surpass Omnidens in size. 4. In the confrontation between two Anomalocaris, the loser supposedly gets wounded by having its rigid armor split. However, this was based on an old now invalid theory, and it is now known that the only relevant armor on the animal was the tripartite carapace on the head. The cuticle of Anomalocaris is sometimes believed to have been soft and flexible. 5. The Silurian segment of the episode actually doesn't take place in the Silurian. The segment's setting is 418,000,000 years ago in the Early Devonian, while the Silurian actually lasted from 443,800,000-419,200,000 years ago. 6. Brontoscorpio was found in England, not Wales. However, given the geographical proximity of the two places (even during the Silurian) it's still considerable that Brontoscorpio inhabited Wales. 7. Brontoscorpio may have actually molted underwater due to its size. 8. Pterygotus was not the largest arthropod of all time, nor did it reach the sizes mentioned. However, the true holder of the title, Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, could attain closer proportions. It was once regarded as possible that the two genera could be lumped, but that hypothesis was long disregarded even before the program's release. 9. According to the program, scorpions like Brontoscorpio "have no memory at all". However, this may not be true, as most animals have at least some memory. 10. Cephalaspis was not ancestral to tetrapods. At the Late Silurian, the most likely replacement would be the already fully jawed Psarolepis. 11. In the Devonian segment, angelfish can be spotted. One can be seen in the background both when the segment starts and when the Hynerpeton is chased by the Stethacanthus. However, there were no teleosts in the Paleozoic era, much less in the Devonian. However it is still possible to be a primitive actinopterin, a clade of bony fish that includes (beyond teleosts) the holostei and the chondrostei (the latter already present at the Devonian). However, the fish appearing in the shots were likely a mistake. 12. Stethacanthus was likely an ocean-going animal and it wasn't a true shark. 13. Hyneria was smaller than depicted in the episode, attaining lengths of 2.5-3.7 metres (8.2-12.1 ft), as opposed to 5 metres (16.4 ft). 14. The Mesothelae spider in the program was based on Megarachne, which during the show's production was thought to be the largest spider ever to live. However, as production was wrapping up, another specimen of Megarachne was discovered that led to the realization that it was actually a eurypterid, leading to the animal in the program being referred to as a speculative species of giant mesothelae spider (an actual group of extant spiders that existed back in the Carboniferous, but its members only vaguely resembled the one from the program and were nowhere near as large). 15. Proterogyrinus was not an amphibian, though it may have lived an amphibious lifestyle. It was possibly a reptiliomorph. 16. There is no evidence suggesting that Arthropleura had powerful jaws, given the fact that its mouthparts have never been preserved along with the rest of the animal. 17. Arthropleura is now known to be a true millipede rather than a distant relative of them. 18. Arthropleura's ability to rear up is purely speculative, and it might not have been possible in real life. 19. Petrolacosaurus is incorrectly shown evolving into the synapsid Edaphosaurus, when in fact, it was an early diapsid, and could therefore not have been the ancestor of any synapsids. The most basal synapsid, Protoclepsydrops, would have been a more suitable candidate. However, Edaphosaurus were already present 300,000,000 years ago, so their ancestors would still be Edaphosaurus. 20. The Dimetrodon hatchlings are shown with their back sails fully erect, when they probably wouldn't have grown them yet. 21. The skin texture of Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon may be slightly off. It is hypothesized they had scutes on their skin, similar but different to the ones on crocodilians. It's possible they lacked the scales of lepidosaurian reptiles. 22. There is no evidence that Dimetrodon were cannibals, however, this is not impossible. 23. There is no evidence that Dimetrodon eggs would take 7 months to hatch, but we do not have any information on Dimetrodon reproduction whatsoever, so any reconstruction of their reproductive habits will always be speculative until potential future discoveries prove otherwise. 24. Dimetrodon is depicted as living in a desert-like environment, when in fact, Dimetrodon is known to have lived in a swamp-like environment. However, it is still possible that some populations lived in slightly more arid environments than the average. 25. The tops of some Dimetrodon's neural spines could have been exposed bone rather than covered with a full sail, though that is debated. 26. In the programme, Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus are described as "mammal-like reptiles". However, they were not reptiles, as synapsids form a distinct clade within Amniota, which also contains "reptiles". 27. The Gorgonops and the Rhinesuchus are only known from South Africa, yet in Clash of Titans, they are portrayed living with Scutosaurus, which was only found in Siberia. However, the gorgonopsid featured in the program was more likely an Inostrancevia, as it lived at the same time and place as Scutosaurus. Meanwhile, Rhinesuchus is also from South Africa. Although it is named, in the episode, as a labyrinthodont, a rather wide nomination that has been traditionally used to describe the more primitive amphibian or amphibian-like tetrapodomorphs that existed back then, including ichthyostegalians, temnospondyls, etc. The term labyrinthodont has since been disused, as it is ultimately nearly synonymous with the Stegocephalia clade as a whole, and conveniently removes amniotes, lissamphibians, and lepospondyls out of its definition. A more accurate replacement for it could be Konzhukovia, which lived in Russia at the same time the first part of the episode was set in and was a labyrinthodont just like Rhinesuchus. 28. It is possible that gorgonopsids had hair. However, correlations with the MSX2, a gene that is believed to be correlated with the manifestation of the parietal foramen and the distribution of hair in mammals, has been used to determine which extinct synapsids might have been covered in hair. According to studies done in regards to the manifestation of this gene, the mutations that activate the formation of parietal foramen, may be accompanied by the loss of extensive hair distribution, and that correlation has been made in extinct synapsids. Gorgonopsids, therocephalians, and non-probainognathian cynodonts (which include Thrinaxodon and cynognathians) had parietal foramen, suggesting they didn't have an extensive hairy integument. 29. Euparkeria is not an ancestor of the dinosaurs due to it being more basal than the crocodilian-dinosaur split. Probably the most likely ancestor of the dinosaurs at the time would be a basal dinosauromorph, likely quadrupedal. 30. The therocephalians featured in the episode, Euchambersia, would already be extinct 248,000,000 BCE. They lived from 256,000,000 to 252,000,000 BCE A possible replacement would be Moschorhinus, which survived into the Early Triassic. 31. Euparkeria, Euchambersia and Proterosuchus never lived in Antarctica, but instead in South Africa, which was, nevertheless, geographically close to Antarctica. 32. Proterosuchus was not the ancestor of crocodilians due to it being more basal than the crocodilian-dinosaur split.

[@BlackCappedChickadee]

​@@josiahpurtee1156 yeah, I'm the new account. Other one went poof.

[@james-min8013]

No species last forever horseshoe crab: are you sure about that?

[@PaleoEdits]

Well maybe not a specific species of the family 'horseshoe crab', but I get what you're going for ;)

[@Symbiotian]

they may look the same but still would not be genetically same as their ancestors, same goes to Coelacanth

[@isislima8995]

Good!!!

[@ek9509]

Imagine you could travel back in time. To a time long before man…

[@jean-pierremartin7149]

This is splendid But a little bit sad : the planet was beautiful but now, there’s only one thing : humans, everywhere on Earth…

[@Lamacetus]

I absolutely agree, humans broke Earth's balance by playing god

[@penguinagents2015]

Don't worry too much. Once humans are extinct, the planet will eventually return to its former glory.

[@plainsabertooth7828]

The only thing that walking with monsters failed to mention is the giant mushrooms that dominated the landscape in the silurian period.

[@PaleoEdits]

There are probably a lot of interesting stuff WWM failed to mention, but whether prototaxites was a fungus or plant was still debated at time. So perfectly understandable if they didn't include it. It might not either have matched with the formations in which the scenes were based, but I don't know that for sure.

[@plainsabertooth7828]

@@PaleoEdits it's based on the fungus right? And that makes sense, it would be interesting to see how the first vesicular plants came on the scene then the landscape was covered with green algae etc.

[@PaleoEdits]

@@plainsabertooth7828 Yup. As far as TV media goes, I could recommend watching episode 3 of the recent BBC series 'Earth' as it's all about that stuff, and does feature the tree like fungi. I think the series is pretty passionately narrated as well. If you're outside the UK like me, you can use a VPN to watch it. Here's the link: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpwj7x Other than that there are mainly books and articles about flora/fungi evolution. "The Emerald Planet" is a fantastic book on plant evolution. :)

[@plainsabertooth7828]

@@PaleoEdits I'll check it out, honestly the paleozoic era is my favorite anything beyond is okay but been done to death, aka movies like Jurassic park.

[@PaleoEdits]

@@plainsabertooth7828 Well, Jurassic Park is just a blockbuster movie, it's not really trying to teach us anything about the prehistoric world; other than I guess 'life finds a way. But yeah, I love the paleozoic as well. Well, I pretty much find all the "zoics" facinating. That's the advantage of not having a specific favourite group life, or time period. Everything in nature is facinating in it's own right, especially when you dig deeper. Be it insects, dinosaurs, plants or amphibians. Anyways, it looks like we'll be getting some paleozoic in 'Life on our Planet' and 'Surviving Earth'! :) The former is coming out this year.

[@FerrexShelby-ed9hg]

Daedon lived closer to us than tyrannosaurus.

[@LoverDino]

Where did you find WWD footage this high quality?

[@PaleoEdits]

I ripped my own DVD of it.

[@MrDodo19]

​@@PaleoEdits US dvd or UK?

[@PaleoEdits]

@@MrDodo19 I’m in Sweden, same disc region as UK

[@MrDodo19]

@@PaleoEdits I think I have region 1. But I've heard that region 2 walking with dvds have higher quality than region 1 but I really don't mind the difference.

[@PaleoEdits]

@@MrDodo19 It was probably an interlaced DVD format as opposed to progressive. I believe the american release of WWB also censored or pixilated the australopithecus mating scene. I guess they were too human.

[@trilobite3120]

I wish this included some chased by Dinosaurs and sea monsters footage

[@PaleoEdits]

There is one shot from sea monsters. But yeah, maybe I could have used more.

[@shoshanabinyamin]

In the tirassic era the first year of the age of dinosaurs.

[@HolyRomansMegalorasaurusRex]

Before the Dinosaurs

[@daciantalker]

when you think about it it took millions of years for these animals to move according to how fast the timelapse is going. no wonder why evolution is so slow

[@PaleoEdits]

lol

[@meylielprida5952]

U forgot the megalampris scene

[@christhe2dprotogen511]

Walking with lore:

[@BovineBummer]

Scorpions have lasted longer than humans will

[@PaleoEdits]

Probably, yes. But mind you, the scorpion looking animals featured in this video are not scorpions. They're eurypterids, and they've been completely extinct for some 252 million years.

[@Sakura22211]

​@@PaleoEdits What they mean is the scorpion thing at 0:44

[@Sakura22211]

​​@@PaleoEdits And 0:37 were the Eurypterid hunted the Unexpecting Scorpion

[@PaleoEdits]

@@Sakura22211 Ah yes, Brontoscorpio! You're absolutely right.

[@jon989uvxx3]

Yea, nothing lasts forever. We human may go extinct in the future

[@PaleoEdits]

That was very much the message of the ending of Walking With Beasts. It isn't a question of if, but when.

[@JohnSmith-rk7zy]

@@PaleoEdits yeah we can delay it as long as possible, before the heatdeath of the universe, or Jesus comes back.

[@MrDodo19]

​@@JohnSmith-rk7zyindeed. Humanity only evolved 10,000 years ago, it is no surprise that we will indeed go extinct. "But don't worry it probably won't happen in our lifetime." -Kenneth Branagh, 2001

[@MrDodo19]

Oh sorry I meant 200,000 or 300,000 years ago.

[@НиколайПиманов-т1ь]

Надеюсь доистрическая планета не остановиться над пощдним меловым периодам и покажут всю историю земли от палеозоя и эдиакарской биоты до плейстоцена

[@TheMightyN]

No species lasts forever Me: Except when they do.

[@PaleoEdits]

The future evolution of solar luminosity and the heat-death of the universe has entered the chat. Jokes aside, even the superficially unchanging history of horseshoe crabs and what have you are not necessarily of the same species way back when as of today (there multiple species of horseshoe crabs living today that all look pretty much the same). Mutations still happen, immune systems change with new parasites etc. It's highly unlikely that horseshoe crab in the jurassic is of the same species as any of our modern representatives.

[@RandomWelshos]

Before New Extinct species were discovered

[@jaredmn8580]

Earth lore

[@AlecStratmann-nt4ht]

You forgot about ediacaran period the first period ever!

[@PaleoEdits]

Hello, as the title suggests this is a timelapse of the "Walking With..." series, which never covered the Ediacaran. And the Ediacaran isn't the first period, you have the Cryogenian, Tonian etc. before that. And whilst our resolution lowers the further back in time we look, there's still Earth & life history extending beyond these earliest defined periods; then only in the resolution of Eras & Eons. I made another timelapse video on my channel that covers all of life history in roughly 4 minutes. It includes the edicaran biota ;)

[@fatalmortal6028]

YOU ARE WRONG!

[@PacificaBlu22]

What do you mean

[@PaleoEdits]

@@PacificaBlu22 jesus probably

[@BlackCappedChickadee]

Lemme guess, from some creationist? XD

[@MrGreen-fi5sg]

Bullshit

[@MrDodo19]

How?

[@BlackCappedChickadee]

Oh don't give us a lecture of "evolution isn't real jesus created us *bla bla bla*" NAO! Evolution is real, the bible just applies to some religions, not science. I believe in science!

[@MrGreen-fi5sg]

@@BlackCappedChickadee Didn't ask and religions? Only one.

[@MrGreen-fi5sg]

@@BlackCappedChickadee Jesus is the way monkey worshipper.

[@This_birb_is_annoying...]

I know that you would be arguing with a Muslim for hours trying to find out who's God is right