By April MacIntyre Nov 14, 2009, 20:37 GMT
Discovery has brought back the dinosaurs for viewers to see in vivid recreation.
The four-part special premieres on Discovery Channel with double-stacked episodes Sunday, December 6 at 8PM E/P, and concludes Sunday, December 13 at 8PM E/P.
For the first time in 65 million years, you can visualize what might have been as Discovery producers use modern imaging technology enabling us to see deep inside the body of a dinosaur, revealing the secrets of these ultimate prehistoric survival machines.
Combining cinematic photo-real 3D graphics and leading-edge anatomy and paleontology, this series peels back the skin, muscles and bones to show how they survived in such a violent world.
Clash of the Dinosaurs reveals some surprising insights into how these creatures "worked."
Carnivore Tyrannosaurus Rex could grow to be 18 feet tall and over 40 feet long, with jaws designed to tear flesh to shreds. While it had a killer reputation, the T-Rex is actually thought to have had a large brain capable of complex behaviors, especially when it came to parental care.
It is thought to have been one of the most nurturing of all dinosaur parents, spending months caring for its eggs and defending its nest to help ensure the survival of its offspring.
For plant-eaters, protecting themselves against the carnivores meant evolving into some of the most well-armored animals in history. Herbivores of the Cretaceous period were built to take on the biggest teeth and sharpest claws nature has ever produced.
But one herbivore was specifically designed to kill.
The Ankylosaurus, at 30 feet long and four tons, had a tanklike body with three layers of armor and a head so well protected by thick bone that not even an adult female T-Rex could inflict a deadly bite.
Even its eyelids were made of bone. The Ankylosaurus also had a powerful offensive weapon - a tail that could snap more than 45 degrees in either direction with a bony mass at the end, like a built-in sledgehammer. It could pack a punch powerful enough to shatter the leg bones of almost any predator that existed.
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