Earth, a breathtaking planet
that has supported life for billions of years.
But it can be a challenging and cruel home.
From the beginning, creatures have had to be tough to survive.
Mass extinctions wiped out entire species.
From super volcanoes to an asteroid apocalypse.
From megafloods to a frozen planet strangled by darkness
With every disaster, there was suffering,
but each time life returned...
even stronger.
Witness the heart and the hope of our planet.
Travel back in time to see how life fights back...
and wins.
252 million years ago.
At this time all our planet’s continents are fused together
in one giant landmass that stretches from pole to pole.
It is called, Pangaea.
Its climate is a blistering 20 degrees hotter than today
and its vast heartlands are dominated by endless deserts.
Life clings on here but it is not an easy existence.
And something is about to happen
that will make it everything
much worse.
Not all of Pangaea is barren.
Towards both poles
the temperatures are cooler and forests grow.
Conifers cover these northern hills.
And, beneath their branches life thrives.
A young Gorgonopsian...
on a mission...
to irritate his brother.
Oh well, how about a sneak attack on his mother.
These Gorgons are early, distant relatives of mammals...
and, long before the dinosaurs,
this is what an apex predator looks like.
In this world, the only thing a Gorgon fears...
is another Gorgon.
Bigger than a tiger, this alpha bears the battle scars
from years of defending his position
as leader of this family.
He has fathered generations of young Gorgons
with this group of three different mothers.
In this overheated world,
he has led his family up from the baking plains
to find food and shade among these foothills.
But now, he smells trouble.
Skulking in the shadows a lone, younger male.
These are his woods.
Males will fight to the death for the right to mate.
This one is waiting to see
if the old alpha shows any signs of weakness.
Not all creatures in these northern forests
survive by being aggressive.
Some, like this burrowing Elph, have to rely on their wits.
Playing dead is one trick.
It’s a good performance...
if he can just hold on...
Too late.
Our young Gorgon has run straight into a giant.
A whole herd of them...
Scutosaurus.
Growing over 10 feet long and weighing over a tone,
these bulky plant eaters are reptiles
and some of the largest creatures on Earth.
They’re slow,
but with creatures this size he could easily be crushed.
His frantic mum has only now realized he’s missing.
As long as they remain calm our little guy should be safe.
But, across the plains below, trouble is brewing.
The herd can sense it and a thunderstorm.
And they are getting restless.
Up here in the mountains, lightning strikes are common.
None of which is good news for our youngster.
252 million years before
modern humans walked the Earth,
all the continents are fused
as one giant landmass called Pangea.
It is a dry desolate place,
except at the poles
where lush conifer forests grow.
Here a sudden storm has spooked a herd of giant Scutosaurus.
Caught in the middle is our young Gorgon.
One wrong step and he will be crushed to death.
His panicked mom needs to find him.
She spots him and her every instinct is
to save her son at all cost.
Our mother succeeded in protecting her little one.
But, in doing so, she made the ultimate sacrifice.
He doesn’t want to leave her side.
But his father’s call echoes through the forest.
The old alpha leads the family away from the panicked herd.
After the storm, the sun sets and the sky flares
a spectacular blood red.
It’s an ominous sign.
Not far from our Gorgon family the forces of nature are
about to put on a show that will bring all life to its knees.
The mighty continent of Pangaea,
the world’s single landmass that has shaped life
for almost 50 million years
is being torn apart.
A vast system of rifts is reshaping the landscape.
Over thousands of years pulses of volcanic activity
have produced enough lava
to cover the entire United States
in molten rock half a mile deep.
Now, all the side to the rift
is ramping up for its biggest eruption yet.
Emissions from these volcanoes are already having
a profound effect on life.
The vast amounts of carbon dioxide being pumped out
are sending atmospheric temperatures soaring and forcing
animals like our Gorgon family to take extreme measures.
The rising heat is driving our alpha
to keep migrating higher.
For every 1,000 feet higher he leads his family,
the temperature drops almost four degrees.
It isn’t just the heat that threatens them.
Gases from the volcanoes are destroying the Ozone layer,
and this father wears the damage of
too much UV radiation on his back.
Eventually our family of Gorgons reach somewhere
higher and cooler to rest.
But unlike the heat, one threat has followed them up here.
One that is focused exclusively on our protective father.
The desperate lone rival has been shadowing his every step
waiting for the right time to strike.
Dawn breaks across the northern hills
on the hot dry continent of Pangea.
The one giant landmass on our planet.
Volcanic activity is making an already
stifling world even hotter.
To find cooler temperatures
our Gorgon family has climbed higher into the hills.
They wake in unfamiliar surroundings
and they are starving.
None have eaten in days...
But just when they need it most, a small meal appears.
This should be no contest for our hungry alpha.
But this little creature isn’t playing fair, he can climb.
And just to rub it in...
These little climbers are Suminia.
They are among the first vertebrates
to take to the trees.
Living up here requires good balance,
coordination and hands that can grasp.
All of which can be put to the test by a playful game
of steal the cone.
However, these ancient conifer groves
are no longer a sanctuary for the Suminia.
The trees are secreting resin.
This is what they do when they’re under severe stress.
You’d think this dry, overheated world
could use a fresh rain fall to cool it all down.
But rain is the problem.
All the volcanic eruptions have poisoned the air
and turned the rain into acid.
This strips the leaves of nutrients,
and poisons the soil.
The forests are dying.
The tank-like Scutosaurus have nowhere to hide.
And the acid rain is burning their eyes.
Nearby, the lone younger male is also in distress.
He’s had to abandon his long pursuit
of the alpha to find shelter.
But there is no escape.
The burning acid rain is a telltale sign
that the northern rift volcanoes are becoming even more active.
Across the vast lava fields, new fissures have appeared.
The ground itself is on fire.
Molten rock has ignited giant swathes of coal beneath
the surface across almost half a million square miles.
There is more coal burning here than during the whole
of the industrial revolution.
Deserts are expanding.
Seas are dying.
There is no place on Earth to hide from this catastrophe.
In the desert heart of Pangaea
temperatures are now a lethal 140 degrees.
From this ever-expanding death zone,
any life that can is now migrating away.
Moving at night, to avoid the heat of the day,
herds of Scutosaurus try to escape
toward the cooler polar regions.
Weeks pass...
the days are brutal and sweltering.
Herds arrive on the baking plains.
Just below the forested foothills
where our Gorgon family is taking shelter.
As the blistering sun rises,
they all jockey for the same thing...
Shade.
With their survival depending on it,
competition for space is intense.
As the shadows move throughout the day,
these clumsy animals jostle to stay with them.
This is not good news for the locals.
Elph are tough, little animals
that survive on the baking plains by burrowing.
But now the bulky Scutosaurus
are about to trample all over their underground homes.
252 million years ago...
and the Earth’s equatorial regions have become so hot
they cannot support life.
Animals that can, like these Scutosaurus,
are migrating away towards
cooler temperatures at the poles.
But even here they have to take refuge
in the shade during the day.
Beneath their feet, Elph live in tunnels.
And these migrants are not welcomed by the locals.
Now, the sun is driving the shadows,
and the Scutosaurus herd,
closer to their homes.
The tiny locals can see
unless they do something,
they are in danger of being crushed...
And the Scutosaurus soon learn...
...Never to underestimate an angry Elph.
In the forested hills above...
our Gorgon father continues to lead
his starving family higher in search of cooler air.
They are struggling.
Across the world, oxygen levels are dropping
and, although it’s getting cooler as they climb,
the lack of oxygen means they are exhausted.
Then, the starving alpha picks up the scent of blood.
Gorgons have long skulls with huge jaws
that carry six-inch canines.
But their real superpower
is their extraordinary sense of smell
which allows them to track prey from miles away.
Somewhere, an animal is wounded,
and for his family’s sake he needs to find it.
Frustratingly, another Gorgon has gotten there first.
Worse, it is the lone male.
It’s clear he won’t give up his prize...
...Without a fight.
The two desperate predators
must face off against each other
This confrontation has been a long time coming.
Then, suddenly...
...Clouds of insects fill the air.
Only one thing can cause insects to behave like this...
An earthquake.
The Gorgons must flee for their lives.
But nothing can save them from what’s coming next.
As the ancient supercontinent, Pangaea,
continues to tear apart...
vast cracks in the Earth’s crust erupt on a staggering scale...
relentlessly pumping even more of carbon dioxide,
methane, and other deadly gases into the atmosphere.
This supercharges a global apocalypse.
Temperatures skyrocket.
In the hills, our old alpha continues to run from the heat.
He has led his family so far.
But the problem with migrating higher
is eventually, you run out of road.
And waiting for him on the summit...
is his old friend...
...The lone male.
Even as their world is falling apart around them,
their biological need to be the alpha still conquers all.
Our planet is on fire.
The northern rift volcanoes have erupted...
spewing over a million cubic miles of lava
across the continent...
and igniting the largest coal deposits in the world.
While the world burns around them,
our rival Gorgons finally face off.
And this time, there is no backing down.
The lone male may be younger and more agile...
but the alpha is the more experienced fighter.
Exhausted and badly wounded,
the old alpha has won.
He leads his family on,
but there is nowhere left to go.
Their world is doomed and even he can’t save them.
Eventually, the northern eruptions
will go on to release more than 700 times
more carbon dioxide
than humans have produced in our entire history.
This extinction event is the worst assault on life
our planet has ever known.
90% of all species on Earth are wiped out.
While this catastrophe makes life impossible for most...
a stubborn few species manage to survive.
Close relatives of Elph are among these survivors.
By burrowing and hibernating
their kind withstand everything the volcanoes
can throw at them and find ways to endure.
This single event changes
the entire direction of evolution,
as the few survivors go on to establish
all the animal dynasties we know today.
After 100,000 years the volcanoes grow cold...
but the world remains a toxic wasteland.
The atmosphere still has carbon dioxide levels
five times those of today.
Millions of years pass,
and slowly, our wonderous planet heals.
Helped by the most lowly of the survivors...
fungi, bacteria
and photosynthetic algae.
These tiny life forms flourish in
the carbon rich atmosphere
and steadily consume the excessive greenhouse gases.
Earth finally begins to cool.
10 million years later,
free of its poisonous volcanic legacy,
Earth is renewed.
Our planet can once again support
a rich array of habitats.
In this empty paradise,
life begins to reclaim every corner of the planet...
sparking an extraordinary explosion in evolution.
10 million years have passed
since the giant northern eruptions fell silent.
It’s taken this long for the seas and forests
to fully recover...
and they are teeming with life.
On the shores of a shallow sea,
the sand stirs.
Eggs, laid months ago, are hatching.
It is a baby Cyamodus...
a new type of hard-shelled reptile
that has taken to a life in the sea.
They lay their eggs in the sand
to protect them from marine predators.
But these days there are predators everywhere.
A female Dongusuchus.
She’s a new type of feathered reptile.
She is being watched
by another Dongusuchus.
A male.
He’s not looking for lunch, he’s looking...
for a lunch date.
With his bright plumage and cool moves,
he’s hoping to impress her.
She’s not sure, yet.
But he’s got more moves.
New types of gliding reptiles
called proto-Pterosaurs, head for the sand.
The beach is getting busy.
But our guy is not giving up on his mating dance.
Time to pull out all the stops.
Well, someone really didn’t like his dancing.
Cymbospondylus.
A new type of giant marine reptile...
that will come to dominate the seas
for the next 157 million years.
In the forests and mountains,
in the water and in the air
it is the reptiles that have seized the moment.
If there is one point in the history of life on Earth
that sums up its limitless resilience...
this is it.
Only two hundred years ago
Earth had some of the lowest carbon dioxide levels
that have ever existed.
But since the Industrial Revolution
they have risen by over 50 percent.
Compared with the history of life on Earth,
today’s levels of carbon dioxide are still not high...
but it is the speed of the change
that is challenging all living things.
Recently, action has been taken.
In the next few years, emissions could stop rising...
but the extra greenhouse gases
will remain in our atmosphere for decades,
possibly even centuries.
If these levels are to drop,
the key will lie in our planet’s ability
to absorb carbon dioxide.
In our peat bogs and sea grass meadows...
oceans and forests.
Nature already has the best tools
to turn the tide on greenhouse gases.
Protecting and bolstering these habitats
is the next great challenge
in the fight against global warming.
♪ I see trees of green ♪
♪ Red roses too ♪
♪ I see watch bloom ♪
♪ For me and you ♪
♪ And I think to myself ♪
♪ What a wonderful world ♪
♪ Yes, I think to myself ♪
♪ What a wonderful world ♪