Dinopithecus

New Giants: Promotional image for Planet Dinosaur. Image source. Ngl, I actually forgot just how the beginning of this episode goes. So I can say that when you see this segment for the first time, you might get an impression that the Argentinosaurus hatchling is going to be faced with a couple of opportunistic predators right after birth, only to be saved (intentionally or not) from a marauding Skorpiovenator at the last minute by an adult. You know, as if it were the protagonist of our story. Nope. The Skorpiovenator is even more brutal than you’d expect. It doesn’t just swallow the hatchling down, it literally slams it onto the ground and instantly kills it, undoubtedly breaking bones. Well, the adults do come shortly after. The hind feet look like they could use larger and more curved claws (this is the general pedal claw shape for sauropods, with only one exception I can think of). The stated size (both body length and mass) seems about right. The overall body shape, though

Fight for Life: Promotional image for Planet Dinosaur. Image source. Okay, so at least this episode sticks to one time period just like “Lost World”, although it looks at two separate ecosystems, one terrestrial, one marine. No idea how accurately the ammonites are modeled. Sorry, not an invertebrate specialist. It’s to my understanding that we now believe that at least some plesiosaurs had small vertical tail flukes. Not anywhere near as big as mosasaur or ichthyosaur tail flukes, of course, but I guess they would have provided an extra bit of thrust. So unless you’ve been living under a rock this whole time, Predator X is now known to us as Pliosaurus funkei. The documentary puts its size at >15 meters in length and 45 tonnes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the early gigantic size estimates were based on its flippers. We later learned that Pliosaurus just had enormous flippers for its size, and modern estimates put it somewhere between 8 and 9 meters in total body