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Eighty million years ago,

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disaster came to a world
ruled by dinosaurs.

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It came in waves of
and and wind

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that buried
every creature alive.

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For eons,
the dinosaurs lay entombed

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in a place that would
one day be called

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the Gobi Desert
in a country named Mongolia.

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Among the dead

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was one of the strangest
dinosaurs that ever lived.

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It was called Oviraptor.

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It was swift, smart, lethal.

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Now, only bones
tell us about its life.

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And the vicious
world it lived in.

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The bones have given us

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a glimpse of those
ancient times.

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A dim reflection of life
before history.

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But there is more
to the story... still hidden

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in the vast emptiness
of the Gobi.

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Now an ambitious expedition

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is traveling to
that distant desert

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to uncover the secrets
of the Oviraptor"s world.

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They don"t exactly
look like scientists.

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Often, they"re mistaken
for each other.

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But Mike Novacek leads
the expedition,

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along with colleague
Mark Norell.

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They could be taken
for surfers;

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but they"re from

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the American Museum
of Natural History -

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scientists piecing together
an ancient jigsaw puzzle

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of evolution and extinction.

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To me it"s so
obviously important,

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l"m so emotionally
bound up in this.

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I can"t imagine why
a knowledge of our history of

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where we come from isn"t
important to human experience.

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Could you imagine
what it would be like

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to live in the late
20th century

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and not know that extinction
actually existed?

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There"s also just
this sense of discovery.

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I mean,
every bone that we find

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tells us something about
how the world

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was 80 millions years ago,
which is... pretty neat.

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Just having a sense of history
of what the planet was like

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and what the planet
has gone through,

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I think, just increases
our appreciation

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for our own existence.

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Mike and Mark are about to journey

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to the sun scorched badlands of the Gobi.

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It"s a desolate area -

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a half million dusty
square miles of sand, scrub,

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and redrock cliffs.

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But it"s a paleontologist"s
version of heaven.

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For this is where
the Oviraptors lived and died

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and lay untouched
in the earth for millennia.

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Then, in 1922, one of the
most famous scientific

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expeditions in history
wound its way toward

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Mongolia"s dinosaur graveyard

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lts leader was a charismatic

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and...
ontroversial explorer

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named Roy Chapman Andrews.

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Like Mark and Mike,
he came from the

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American Museum
of Natural History.

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But Andrews was an
incurable publicity hound -

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and a scientific cowboy.

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Where his paleontologist
used a camel-hair brush,

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Andrews hacked away with
a pick ax.

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But he found one of the

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richest dinosaur boneyards
in the world.

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He returned with a spectacular
collection of fossils...

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and a library
of stunning film images.

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But in the 1920s,

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Communists seized power
in Mongolia.

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The open door to the West
slammed shut.

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For the next 65 years,

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the fabulous fossil fields
of the Gobi

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were forbidden territory.

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Now, everything"s changed.

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Only token symbols
of Russia"s domination remain.

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Finally,
Western scientists can return.

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We don"t want those onions?

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They rot.
They rot in two days.

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Mark and Mike were among

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the first scientists
allowed in.

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They"re now back
for their sixth expedition

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with the Mongolian Academy
of Sciences.

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Three kilos?

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Three kilos.

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They have just enough supplies
for a short month,

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and a long way to go...
retracing Andrews" footsteps

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on their way to
one of the richest

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concentrations of fossils
in the world -

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a place called Ukhaa Tolgod.

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Over a vast span of time,

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Ukhaa Tolgod
was ruled by dinosaurs.

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Dinosaur history
can be thought of

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as a great empire
that lasted

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a few hundred million years.

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That"s a significant
slice of the history of life.

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Imagine that time,

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from the moment the dinosaurs
appeared till now,

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is a single day.

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At midnight,
dinosaurs first walked earth.

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They"re flourishing at noon.

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They don"t go extinct
until five in the afternoon.

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Time passes.

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The first modern man
finally appears

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a minute and a half
before midnight.

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All of our recorded history
takes three and a half seconds

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In the Gobi, time seems to
have stood still.

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The Gobi is such a big place

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and it basically has no life
support system.

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We really have to bring
everything with us.

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So all our food,
all our fuel

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which we"re carrying in
a fuel tanker,

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all our supplies
have to be treated like we"re

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actually exploring
a polar region.

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In such a vast area,
success is never certain.

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Even getting there
can be a nightmare.

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Roy Chapman Andrews

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thought he"d solved
the problem in the "20s,

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with a new piece of
technology.

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When it was announced
that we were to attempt

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a scientific exploration
of the Gobi Desert

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with a fleet of motor cars,

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men said that
we were little less than fools.

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Only camels had been used
in that country.

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We had 40 men,
eight motor cars

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and 150 camels
to carry supplies.

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It was the biggest land
scientific expedition

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ever to leave
the United States.

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Roy Chapman Andrews.

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From China,
Andrews headed northwest.

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He left Peking,
then crossed over the border

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and drove deep into
the parched heart

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of outer Mongolia.

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Mongolia, a land of painted
deserts dancing in mirage.

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Mongolia, a land of mystery,
of paradox and promise!

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A thirsty land.
A land of desolation!

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Gazelles, wild asses,
and wolves ranged

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the marching sands.

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Few explorers had been there
and they brought back tales

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of thirst, cold, and hunger.

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But Andrews found
one more thing... mud.

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Our average speed was
only four miles an hour.

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Rocks, ravines, washouts,
and ditches

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followed one another
in rapid succession.

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One might imagine that the
roads have gotten better.

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They have not.

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And even modern jeeps
aren"t built

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for a desert like the Gobi.

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We have an electrical problem
and we don"t know what it is.

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It"s not a very complicated
wiring plan.

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It"s a Russian jeep.

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It"s not like a Japanese
or an American car.

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They"re up and running.

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But next,
it"s a truck"s turn.

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Piston, huh?

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We think it"s piston
number six.

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A critical breakdown could
have severe consequences.

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End of the expedition,
if not the end of our lives.

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Maybe we"ll make it.
Oh, God.

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With the nearest gas station
some 500 miles away,

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and time already
getting tight,

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things will have to go
smoothly from now on.

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Oh, we"re having
some mechanical problems.

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We think it"s a fuel pump.
But we"re not sure.

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This could be way bad.

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Seems to me I got this thing
in there

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without doing
the twisty deal.

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Maybe we"ll tow it
or abandon it.

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Abandon it.
Get on with it.

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We can"t stay here
more than a day.

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After more than
12 breakdowns,

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the vehicles all decide to
run at the same time.

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As they enter the dusty
dinosaur fields of the Gobi,

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they"re traveling a long way
backwards in time.

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Dinosaurs first appeared
some 230 million years ago,

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in a world
with a different face.

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The creatures were thriving
100 million years later,

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as South America
and Africa split apart.

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About 75 million years ago,
in the late Cretaceous period,

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dinosaurs began to disappear...
leaving only bones behind.

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Their bones were more
motionless than the continents

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Then in the 1920s,
Roy Chapman Andrews

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came to a remote place
in the Gobi Desert

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he would name
the Flaming Cliffs.

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It was a likely-
looking place.

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There appear to be medieval
castles with spires and turrets

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brick-red in
the evening light,

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colossal gateways,
walls and ramparts.

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A labyrinth of ravines
and gorges studded

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with fossil bones
make a paradise

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for the paleontologist.

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Without a doubt
there were hundreds of bones

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lying just beneath
the surface.

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But where?

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If only my eyes
could pierce that

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baffling surface
and get a glimpse

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of what lay concealed!

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Within minutes,
they were finding fossils.

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Andrews and his team

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had stumbled onto the mother
lode of dinosaur bones.

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They discovered the remains of
some 200 different animals,

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many of them completely
new species.

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The fossils revealed a world

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that Andrews found alien
and terrifying.

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Dinosaurs were
the sort of creatures

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you might think of as
inhabiting another planet

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or the kind you dream of
in a bad nightmare.

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It was an image our culture
nourished for generations.

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Dinosaurs were fierce,

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monstrous...
and not all that bright.

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Many of the new ideas
about dinosaurs

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are coming from the amazing
boneyard called Ukhaa Tolgod.

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The team discovered the site
three years ago.

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Now, to get to the dinosaurs,

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all they have to do...
is find it again.

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The maps in general are pretty
lousy for the Gobi Desert.

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The towns on those maps
are myths in many cases.

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We don"t even pay
any attention to

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any of the roads
marked on those maps.

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They"re completely wrong.

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Even a satellite tracking
system doesn"t always help.

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So the satellite
may know where you are

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00:16:28,787 --> 00:16:31,153
but the road you need
may be in a

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completely
different direction

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so the roads here are
very confusing.

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There are no signs and many
of them lead nowhere.

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We"re gonna go like this.

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We"re a little off course.
We"re not really lost.

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We"re just a bit off course.

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So we"ve gotta go
this-away and that-away.

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At times, you have to go in
circles to move forward.

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Roy Chapman Andrews too spent
more than a few days

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wandering the Gobi.

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But in the end,

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he blundered into a discovery
that stunned the world.

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A member of his expedition
literally stumbled across

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a critical link in the great
chain of being.

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On July 13,
George Olsen reported

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that he had found
some fossil eggs.

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We did not take
his story very seriously.

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Nevertheless,

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we were all curious enough
to go with him

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to inspect his find.

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There could be no mistake.

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Our paleontologist
finally said,

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00:17:53,372 --> 00:17:56,273
"Gentlemen,
there is no doubt about it.

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You are looking at the first
dinosaur egg ever found."

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The discovery made Roy Chapman
Andrews a national hero.

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00:18:12,858 --> 00:18:16,021
But the eggs were not alone.

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Lying above the nest
was a bizarre skeleton -

252
00:18:21,934 --> 00:18:25,631
a bird-like dinosaur
unknown to man.

253
00:18:25,671 --> 00:18:28,834
It had apparently been
caught in the act of murder -

254
00:18:28,874 --> 00:18:31,035
stealing the eggs.

255
00:18:31,076 --> 00:18:35,035
So it was forever cursed
with the name Oviraptor -

256
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,243
Latin for "egg thief."

257
00:18:38,817 --> 00:18:39,841
It would be years

258
00:18:39,885 --> 00:18:42,513
before we discovered
the strange truth

259
00:18:42,554 --> 00:18:45,990
about the animal called
Oviraptor.

260
00:18:59,972 --> 00:19:02,270
In the late "20s,
the winds of change

261
00:19:02,307 --> 00:19:04,935
blew fiercely over
the great dinosaur

262
00:19:04,977 --> 00:19:07,070
fields of Mongolia.

263
00:19:08,180 --> 00:19:10,273
That"s when
Roy Chapman Andrews

264
00:19:10,315 --> 00:19:16,345
was forced to leave
the Gobi forever.

265
00:19:16,388 --> 00:19:19,551
We are more than ever convinced
that Central Asia

266
00:19:19,591 --> 00:19:23,027
was a paleontology
Garden of Eden.

267
00:19:23,061 --> 00:19:28,363
Still, we have shown the way,
have broken trail as it were.

268
00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,632
Later, others will reap
a rich harvest.

269
00:19:45,484 --> 00:19:46,508
Decades later,

270
00:19:46,552 --> 00:19:48,383
Mark and Mike are
hoping to find

271
00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:53,722
the treasures that Andrews
left untouched in the sand.

272
00:19:56,962 --> 00:20:00,125
After more than a week
in the blistering Gobi,

273
00:20:00,165 --> 00:20:06,536
they finally reach their goal:
The brown hills of Ukhaa Tolgod

274
00:20:17,783 --> 00:20:19,341
With all the delays,

275
00:20:19,384 --> 00:20:22,547
they"ve only got
two weeks to work.

276
00:20:22,588 --> 00:20:23,350
This is the place

277
00:20:23,388 --> 00:20:25,481
where they"ve pinned
all their hopes.

278
00:20:25,524 --> 00:20:27,890
With luck,
a year of shifting sands has

279
00:20:27,926 --> 00:20:30,554
exposed more bones.

280
00:20:30,596 --> 00:20:34,828
But even here,
there are no guarantees.

281
00:20:34,866 --> 00:20:38,302
It is possible to fail
in the Gobi.

282
00:20:38,337 --> 00:20:41,773
It"s a huge area,
a huge tract of land,

283
00:20:41,807 --> 00:20:43,104
there are lots of rocks.

284
00:20:43,141 --> 00:20:45,507
But they don"t all
contain fossils.

285
00:20:45,544 --> 00:20:47,637
You can drive to
what looks like the most

286
00:20:47,679 --> 00:20:51,638
tantalizing set of badlands
you could possibly imagine

287
00:20:51,683 --> 00:20:54,584
and not find one
scrap of bone.

288
00:20:58,090 --> 00:21:00,456
It"s a treasure hunt in a way

289
00:21:00,492 --> 00:21:04,986
and it is sort of like finding
a needle in a haystack.

290
00:21:10,102 --> 00:21:11,660
But on this day,

291
00:21:11,703 --> 00:21:15,139
Discovery
and elation are immediate.

292
00:21:15,173 --> 00:21:16,470
Oh, I see it.

293
00:21:16,508 --> 00:21:21,571
Oh, wonderful.

294
00:21:21,613 --> 00:21:22,910
Jeez.

295
00:21:22,948 --> 00:21:23,437
That"s nice.

296
00:21:23,482 --> 00:21:26,383
Back to lizard

297
00:21:26,418 --> 00:21:27,180
The side of a skull here.

298
00:21:27,219 --> 00:21:27,947
The teeth sticking out.

299
00:21:27,986 --> 00:21:29,817
You can see these teeth,
yeah.

300
00:21:29,855 --> 00:21:32,756
Each one of these is a socket
for a tooth.

301
00:21:33,325 --> 00:21:35,156
Pretty big.

302
00:21:35,193 --> 00:21:36,854
This is a hand claw.

303
00:21:36,895 --> 00:21:39,796
Has this big thing
right here on it...

304
00:21:39,831 --> 00:21:44,029
it"s the hand of an Oviraptor.
About medium size.

305
00:21:44,069 --> 00:21:45,900
They"ve hit the jackpot:

306
00:21:45,937 --> 00:21:49,100
Among their first finds
are Oviraptors -

307
00:21:49,141 --> 00:21:58,448
the creature Andrews knew as
"egg thief."

308
00:21:58,483 --> 00:22:00,041
Considering that the Oviraptor
is one of the rarest dinosaurs

309
00:22:00,085 --> 00:22:02,713
in the world and there"s
only been a handful

310
00:22:02,754 --> 00:22:05,382
of specimens found before
we discovered this place

311
00:22:05,424 --> 00:22:06,721
where we"ve found 25.

312
00:22:06,758 --> 00:22:08,851
I mean,
today we found at least five

313
00:22:08,894 --> 00:22:10,452
just in the first 20 minutes.

314
00:22:10,495 --> 00:22:13,760
This is really not
what paleontology is like,

315
00:22:13,799 --> 00:22:15,096
most of the time.

316
00:22:15,133 --> 00:22:18,899
You don"t go finding 12
skeletons in a half an hour.

317
00:22:18,937 --> 00:22:19,869
There"s another
one right there, too.

318
00:22:19,905 --> 00:22:21,202
Yup.

319
00:22:21,239 --> 00:22:26,336
Each one of these
little mounds of little white flecks sticking out...

320
00:22:26,378 --> 00:22:31,179
that"s the eroded rubble of
parts of big dinosaur skeletons

321
00:22:31,216 --> 00:22:40,420
One, two, three, four
four skeletons right here.

322
00:22:40,459 --> 00:22:42,051
This is going to be
a really good specimen.

323
00:22:42,094 --> 00:22:45,291
This is part of
a shoulder right here.

324
00:22:45,330 --> 00:22:48,788
Let me see.

325
00:22:49,901 --> 00:22:50,697
This looks,
is looking like a tail.

326
00:22:50,736 --> 00:22:55,196
That"s the tail and part of
the pelvic girdle here

327
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,640
and the tail shooting
straight out.

328
00:22:57,676 --> 00:22:59,268
This is nice.

329
00:22:59,311 --> 00:23:02,769
I mean, what we"re seeing
here is just awful.

330
00:23:02,814 --> 00:23:04,372
I mean,
all these poor dinosaurs

331
00:23:04,416 --> 00:23:06,816
and other creatures...
mammals and vertebrates -

332
00:23:06,852 --> 00:23:09,514
buried alive possibly
and skeletons littering

333
00:23:09,554 --> 00:23:11,681
the surface like some
battlefield.

334
00:23:11,723 --> 00:23:17,355
But it"s great for us
"cause we thrive on carnage.

335
00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:19,296
We don"t have enough tape.

336
00:23:20,132 --> 00:23:23,329
We oughta count
everything here.

337
00:23:23,368 --> 00:23:26,030
Once, scores of dinosaurs
walked the sands

338
00:23:26,071 --> 00:23:31,202
of Ukhaa Tolgod
moving toward a tragic destiny.

339
00:23:31,243 --> 00:23:34,735
I think this was an oasis
80 million years ago.

340
00:23:41,586 --> 00:23:45,044
Huge numbers of dinosaurs
and other vertebrates

341
00:23:45,090 --> 00:23:48,287
congregating around
maybe some water.

342
00:23:56,735 --> 00:23:58,600
And on occasions,

343
00:23:58,637 --> 00:24:01,037
not just one event
but on several occasions,

344
00:24:01,072 --> 00:24:04,803
these animals were buried
in these sands.

345
00:24:05,644 --> 00:24:09,102
We"d have to imagine
an enormous sandstorm,

346
00:24:09,147 --> 00:24:11,012
an enormous force
bearing down

347
00:24:11,049 --> 00:24:14,246
on these creatures
for such a disaster.

348
00:24:14,820 --> 00:24:17,288
Some of the dinosaurs almost
look like they"re trying

349
00:24:17,322 --> 00:24:18,619
to swim to the surface,

350
00:24:18,657 --> 00:24:21,592
much like a skier
in an avalanche caught,

351
00:24:21,626 --> 00:24:24,595
in some cases,
in their struggle

352
00:24:24,629 --> 00:24:27,598
to get out of this
sand avalanche,

353
00:24:27,632 --> 00:24:30,032
or great wall of sand,
that engulfed them.

354
00:24:30,068 --> 00:24:32,730
Perhaps
they suffocated in the sand.

355
00:24:36,274 --> 00:24:39,732
Hey, I just swept there.

356
00:24:39,778 --> 00:24:41,609
You"ve made it
all dirty again.

357
00:24:41,646 --> 00:24:44,308
I take pride in my work.

358
00:24:44,349 --> 00:24:47,546
Next year we"ll bring some
dust busters.

359
00:24:48,153 --> 00:24:50,053
The prehistoric sandstorms

360
00:24:50,088 --> 00:24:54,081
buried dinosaurs
at every stage of life.

361
00:24:57,095 --> 00:24:59,222
And on their first
expedition here,

362
00:24:59,264 --> 00:25:02,995
Mark and Mike made an
unprecedented discovery:

363
00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:10,566
A nest with eggs and inside
one was an embryo -

364
00:25:10,609 --> 00:25:13,806
the embryo of an Oviraptor,

365
00:25:13,845 --> 00:25:17,303
like a dinosaur
on the half shell.

366
00:25:20,852 --> 00:25:24,583
Here was the vicious
carnivore, the "egg thief,"

367
00:25:24,623 --> 00:25:28,150
just a tiny baby
about to hatch.

368
00:25:35,233 --> 00:25:37,326
It was an important discovery -

369
00:25:37,369 --> 00:25:39,564
a secret moment
in the very beginning

370
00:25:39,604 --> 00:25:42,801
of this strange
dinosaur"s life.

371
00:25:45,977 --> 00:25:46,466
This year,

372
00:25:46,511 --> 00:25:48,672
they"re hoping to
find out more

373
00:25:48,713 --> 00:25:51,648
about the Oviraptor
and its fate.

374
00:26:06,865 --> 00:26:10,392
There"s growing excitement
on the far side of the ridge.

375
00:26:10,435 --> 00:26:11,459
They think they"ve found

376
00:26:11,503 --> 00:26:13,937
a completely
new kind of dinosaur,

377
00:26:13,972 --> 00:26:17,169
a relative of the Oviraptor,
and it may shed light on

378
00:26:17,208 --> 00:26:20,939
what ultimately happened to
the dinosaurs.

379
00:26:20,979 --> 00:26:23,379
We have no idea what this is.

380
00:26:23,415 --> 00:26:24,973
It"s a really big animal.

381
00:26:25,016 --> 00:26:27,143
It might be something new.

382
00:26:29,087 --> 00:26:30,645
This specimen
has a lot of important

383
00:26:30,689 --> 00:26:32,020
implications that go beyond

384
00:26:32,057 --> 00:26:34,150
just being a really
beautiful object.

385
00:26:34,192 --> 00:26:36,319
So it"s exactly

386
00:26:36,361 --> 00:26:41,230
what we wanted to find...
we hope.

387
00:26:42,367 --> 00:26:44,767
The skeleton is
what"s important.

388
00:26:44,803 --> 00:26:47,772
Mark and Mike believe that
these bones may help prove

389
00:26:47,806 --> 00:26:49,671
an exciting theory -

390
00:26:49,708 --> 00:26:53,166
that some dinosaurs
actually evolved.

391
00:26:53,211 --> 00:26:57,204
They evolved into creatures
that are still alive today.

392
00:26:57,816 --> 00:27:00,785
The bones tell the story.

393
00:27:02,187 --> 00:27:04,018
There are uncanny similarities

394
00:27:04,055 --> 00:27:07,786
in the skeletons of
certain dinosaurs -

395
00:27:08,126 --> 00:27:16,226
like these and modern birds.

396
00:27:18,970 --> 00:27:20,267
Almost without doubt,

397
00:27:20,305 --> 00:27:24,332
they shared
a close common ancestor.

398
00:27:25,176 --> 00:27:27,838
And each new find
may help prove

399
00:27:27,879 --> 00:27:31,610
that dinosaurs
did not really go extinct,

400
00:27:31,650 --> 00:27:36,246
that birds, in fact,
are dinosaurs.

401
00:27:43,628 --> 00:27:45,220
Dinosaurs need to be thought

402
00:27:45,263 --> 00:27:47,094
of as incredibly
successful animals

403
00:27:47,132 --> 00:27:48,724
that exist with us today.

404
00:27:48,767 --> 00:27:50,894
We just call them birds.

405
00:27:52,003 --> 00:27:55,734
Our skies are filled
with dinosaurs.

406
00:28:04,482 --> 00:28:05,506
It"s a bad metaphor

407
00:28:05,550 --> 00:28:07,745
to use to call something
like dinosaur-like,

408
00:28:07,786 --> 00:28:10,812
you know... just
because it"s old,

409
00:28:10,855 --> 00:28:12,720
obsolete, ugly,
stupid, and slow.

410
00:28:12,757 --> 00:28:14,622
I mean, that"s not what these
animals are all about.

411
00:28:14,659 --> 00:28:17,025
I mean, it"s like the swifts
flying around here and things

412
00:28:17,062 --> 00:28:20,054
I mean,
they"re a type of dinosaur.

413
00:28:20,098 --> 00:28:21,963
And that they"re
still with us now.

414
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,093
And the closest relative
to birds

415
00:28:24,135 --> 00:28:26,262
is these small carnivorous
dinosaurs

416
00:28:26,304 --> 00:28:28,704
we"ve collected
in these red rocks.

417
00:28:33,878 --> 00:28:37,075
At day"s end, hopes are
high that this new find

418
00:28:37,115 --> 00:28:43,020
will help connect the dots
between dinosaurs and birds.

419
00:28:44,389 --> 00:28:47,654
The feeling of anticipation
is palpable,

420
00:28:47,692 --> 00:28:51,150
if not always exactly in key.

421
00:29:09,114 --> 00:29:11,514
First thing in the morning,
they"re back at the site.

422
00:29:11,549 --> 00:29:16,179
So, we hope we got something
we can identify eventually.

423
00:29:16,221 --> 00:29:17,779
Mike, work on that.

424
00:29:17,822 --> 00:29:22,259
Kill that beetle,
while you"re at it.

425
00:29:22,293 --> 00:29:27,128
As they pry the rock open,
they sense trouble.

426
00:29:33,404 --> 00:29:34,462
Look at that.

427
00:29:34,506 --> 00:29:35,530
Yeah.

428
00:29:35,573 --> 00:29:37,165
I don"t know what that is.

429
00:29:37,208 --> 00:29:43,147
Bunch of... maybe.
L"m afraid to say.

430
00:29:43,181 --> 00:29:45,308
Could it be a theropod,
maybe?

431
00:29:45,350 --> 00:29:46,112
No.

432
00:29:46,151 --> 00:29:47,482
Well, it could be, but...

433
00:29:47,519 --> 00:29:49,919
It"s not known to science.

434
00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:51,251
I think what we"re lookin" at

435
00:29:51,289 --> 00:29:53,314
is that there"s a dead
theropod right there.

436
00:29:53,358 --> 00:29:59,593
It"s gone and we"re
excavating an ankylosaur.

437
00:29:59,631 --> 00:30:01,189
And the ankylosaurs

438
00:30:01,232 --> 00:30:04,429
are among the most common
dinosaurs around.

439
00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:07,131
It"s not a
new dinosaur at all.

440
00:30:07,172 --> 00:30:10,369
It"s not even
related to birds.

441
00:30:10,408 --> 00:30:13,673
L"m sure that
this is an ankylosaur.

442
00:30:15,046 --> 00:30:17,446
You want us to just go away?

443
00:30:21,853 --> 00:30:25,584
What they want to do now
is give up.

444
00:30:36,167 --> 00:30:38,294
Today, the dinosaur hunters

445
00:30:38,336 --> 00:30:40,998
have tracked down
approximately zilch.

446
00:30:41,039 --> 00:30:45,305
Well, you win
a few and you lose a few.

447
00:30:45,343 --> 00:30:47,811
That"s just...
I don"t feel too good right now

448
00:30:47,846 --> 00:30:49,404
l"m tired.

449
00:30:52,684 --> 00:30:54,276
They"ve spent
two fruitless days

450
00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:57,288
working in the
blistering heat.

451
00:30:57,322 --> 00:30:59,790
But tomorrow will
be another day -

452
00:30:59,824 --> 00:31:02,952
with any luck, a better one.

453
00:31:07,866 --> 00:31:13,236
Instead, nature decides
to add insult to injury.

454
00:31:37,128 --> 00:31:43,363
As Mongolian would say,
"Ich boro." lt"s raining.

455
00:31:43,935 --> 00:31:45,129
Sounds like l"m bored.

456
00:31:45,169 --> 00:31:47,262
Yeah,
it sounds like l"m bored.

457
00:32:09,193 --> 00:32:11,821
The sun burns off
the disappointment.

458
00:32:11,863 --> 00:32:15,560
It"s a new day and a new dig.

459
00:32:17,735 --> 00:32:20,363
This find is not
a new species.

460
00:32:20,405 --> 00:32:22,771
It"s not related to birds.

461
00:32:22,807 --> 00:32:24,900
And it"s not an Oviraptor.

462
00:32:24,943 --> 00:32:28,902
But it probably was
the Oviraptor"s prey.

463
00:32:28,947 --> 00:32:32,383
It"s an animal called
Protoceratops.

464
00:32:32,417 --> 00:32:35,045
They called these guys
the cows of the Cretaceous.

465
00:32:35,086 --> 00:32:36,246
They were sort of everywhere.

466
00:32:36,287 --> 00:32:37,584
They roamed around,
they think,

467
00:32:37,622 --> 00:32:38,919
maybe in herds.

468
00:32:38,957 --> 00:32:40,515
It"s full of spikes.

469
00:32:40,558 --> 00:32:45,860
We actually call it Spikey
now.

470
00:32:48,566 --> 00:32:50,966
We"ve sort of bonded
with this one.

471
00:32:51,002 --> 00:32:53,368
These are the eyes
and the snout.

472
00:32:53,404 --> 00:32:55,235
So we"re looking at
the skull from the top.

473
00:32:55,273 --> 00:32:57,104
These are... cheek spikes

474
00:32:57,141 --> 00:33:02,977
and the frill covering
the neck here.

475
00:33:09,420 --> 00:33:13,117
Protoceratops was a bizarre
dinosaur,

476
00:33:13,157 --> 00:33:16,854
a hog-sized animal
with a beak like a parrot"s,

477
00:33:16,894 --> 00:33:21,388
a strict vegetarian
that grazed the ancient Gobi.

478
00:33:23,301 --> 00:33:26,464
Around its head was
an elaborate shield,

479
00:33:26,504 --> 00:33:30,463
but the shield didn"t protect
it from its enemies.

480
00:33:36,647 --> 00:33:40,344
Enemies like the Oviraptor.

481
00:33:44,922 --> 00:33:45,946
And that"s exactly

482
00:33:45,990 --> 00:33:49,426
what the team digs up next...
Oviraptors.

483
00:33:49,460 --> 00:33:52,088
A pair of them
lying so close together

484
00:33:52,130 --> 00:33:56,089
they seem to describe
an ancient romance.

485
00:33:56,667 --> 00:33:57,964
Yeah,
we"re kind of fond of them.

486
00:33:58,002 --> 00:34:03,565
We"re trying to figure out
what names to give them.

487
00:34:03,608 --> 00:34:05,974
Ozzie and Harriet.
Romeo and Juliet.

488
00:34:06,010 --> 00:34:08,638
Batman and Robin.

489
00:34:08,946 --> 00:34:10,777
Well, we have a hypothesis
they were holding hands

490
00:34:10,815 --> 00:34:12,646
and they were sort of
reaching for each other

491
00:34:12,683 --> 00:34:14,514
across the miles.

492
00:34:14,819 --> 00:34:16,650
The star-crossed Oviraptors

493
00:34:16,687 --> 00:34:20,646
are given the permanent
nicknames of Romeo and Juliet.

494
00:34:20,691 --> 00:34:24,388
We have one hand
just down here.

495
00:34:24,429 --> 00:34:26,522
This is the other one.

496
00:34:26,564 --> 00:34:29,465
Christa now is gluing
another hand.

497
00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:32,128
And this is, of course,

498
00:34:32,170 --> 00:34:36,129
the neck coming up
and the head and the hip bone.

499
00:34:36,174 --> 00:34:40,133
And over here we have a claw.

500
00:34:40,178 --> 00:34:43,875
It"s a long hard process
to excavate the past.

501
00:34:43,915 --> 00:34:46,008
But they"ve done it before.

502
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,550
Over the last few years,

503
00:34:50,588 --> 00:34:55,082
they"ve uncovered a world
of almost preposterous beings.

504
00:35:09,273 --> 00:35:12,709
Some are related to birds.

505
00:35:15,413 --> 00:35:18,314
Others are even
related to us.

506
00:35:19,684 --> 00:35:21,777
Our tiny ancestors -

507
00:35:21,819 --> 00:35:26,051
mammals that lived
alongside the Oviraptors.

508
00:35:28,226 --> 00:35:30,854
Most of these mammals
were small,

509
00:35:30,895 --> 00:35:34,058
like early mice and shrews.

510
00:35:34,098 --> 00:35:35,656
But these insignificant
creatures

511
00:35:35,700 --> 00:35:38,601
gradually evolved
into all the mammals

512
00:35:38,636 --> 00:35:41,799
of our world - the cats,
the aardvarks,

513
00:35:41,839 --> 00:35:45,536
the whales
and even human beings.

514
00:35:56,254 --> 00:35:58,347
But sometimes evolution...

515
00:35:58,389 --> 00:36:02,621
has to take a back seat
to hygiene.

516
00:36:03,461 --> 00:36:06,362
We don"t have much water here,

517
00:36:06,397 --> 00:36:09,025
so it"s kind of hard to
get things clean.

518
00:36:09,066 --> 00:36:10,897
I thought
I packed more shorts.

519
00:36:10,935 --> 00:36:15,702
For some reason, I messed up.

520
00:36:15,740 --> 00:36:18,641
L"ve got these on delicate.

521
00:36:19,744 --> 00:36:24,511
Yeah, personal grooming is
a passion of the camp here.

522
00:36:24,815 --> 00:36:27,443
The team spends a lot of time
making sure

523
00:36:27,485 --> 00:36:29,851
that they"re groomed,

524
00:36:29,887 --> 00:36:32,788
looking their best
at all times,

525
00:36:33,291 --> 00:36:34,849
because you never know.

526
00:36:34,892 --> 00:36:36,450
There may be some
formal affairs

527
00:36:36,494 --> 00:36:40,988
in a nearby village that
you might need to attend.

528
00:36:45,303 --> 00:36:47,669
There are only
a few days left.

529
00:36:47,705 --> 00:36:51,402
It"s time for the second
act of Romeo and Juliet:

530
00:36:51,442 --> 00:36:53,000
The Oviraptors await

531
00:36:53,044 --> 00:36:55,945
a sheltering shroud
of rags and plaster.

532
00:36:55,980 --> 00:36:57,538
They"re now
in the skillful hands

533
00:36:57,582 --> 00:37:00,016
of preparator Amy Davidson.

534
00:37:00,051 --> 00:37:01,018
I love skeletons.

535
00:37:01,052 --> 00:37:04,488
I actually never was that
into dinosaurs as a kid,

536
00:37:04,522 --> 00:37:05,819
but l"ve always loved bones.

537
00:37:05,856 --> 00:37:09,292
And I have a background
as a sculptor

538
00:37:09,327 --> 00:37:11,420
and l"ve always admired

539
00:37:11,462 --> 00:37:13,828
the skeleton that
we all have inside us.

540
00:37:13,864 --> 00:37:16,492
It"s some of the most
beautiful sculpture on earth.

541
00:37:16,534 --> 00:37:21,028
And these fossil skeletons
look almost as well preserved

542
00:37:21,072 --> 00:37:23,165
as yesterday"s camel skeleton

543
00:37:23,207 --> 00:37:25,937
But they are a dinosaur.

544
00:37:27,044 --> 00:37:29,945
These fossils are forever.

545
00:37:33,718 --> 00:37:36,619
It almost lasted forever.

546
00:37:36,654 --> 00:37:41,148
For 80 million years,
Romeo and Juliet lay together

547
00:37:41,192 --> 00:37:44,628
reaching toward
each other in death.

548
00:37:50,001 --> 00:37:52,094
What were they like in life?

549
00:37:52,136 --> 00:37:53,433
Did they hunt together?

550
00:37:53,471 --> 00:37:55,029
Share food with each other?

551
00:37:55,072 --> 00:37:57,700
Fight with each other?

552
00:37:59,076 --> 00:38:03,035
Or was this love
among the Oviraptors?

553
00:38:13,224 --> 00:38:16,125
Scientists may never know
for certain

554
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,323
if the bird-like Oviraptors
fell in love.

555
00:38:19,363 --> 00:38:21,991
But now there"s a new find
that digs even deeper

556
00:38:22,033 --> 00:38:24,934
into the private lives of
the dinosaurs -

557
00:38:24,969 --> 00:38:27,870
a place paleontologists
usually enter

558
00:38:27,905 --> 00:38:30,533
only in their best dreams.

559
00:38:30,574 --> 00:38:32,667
Oh, yeah, it"s farther down.

560
00:38:34,045 --> 00:38:37,481
They"ve discovered
another Oviraptor.

561
00:38:39,383 --> 00:38:45,219
And then, in the dirt below
the skeleton... eggs,

562
00:38:45,256 --> 00:38:47,622
an entire nest.

563
00:38:54,065 --> 00:38:56,431
How many eggs now revealed?

564
00:38:56,467 --> 00:39:02,565
Uh, one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine.

565
00:39:02,606 --> 00:39:04,699
And then three
over there... twelve.

566
00:39:05,543 --> 00:39:09,240
Twelve eggs. All right.

567
00:39:11,349 --> 00:39:13,977
Another one
coming out right here.

568
00:39:14,819 --> 00:39:16,650
It"s really
a great fossil find

569
00:39:16,687 --> 00:39:18,746
because it"s one of
the rare instances

570
00:39:18,789 --> 00:39:20,882
where we can capture
a little bit of behavior

571
00:39:20,925 --> 00:39:23,291
that"s 80 million years old.

572
00:39:23,594 --> 00:39:26,495
Here we have
a sort of day in the life

573
00:39:26,530 --> 00:39:29,693
of or the death of a creature
of a dinosaur...

574
00:39:29,734 --> 00:39:33,966
in association with something
it did during its life.

575
00:39:34,004 --> 00:39:36,632
This one was fossilized where
it dropped and

576
00:39:36,674 --> 00:39:39,575
it happened to drop right
on top of its own nest.

577
00:39:40,678 --> 00:39:43,579
She didn"t just drop there.

578
00:39:43,614 --> 00:39:47,573
The good mother Oviraptor
was sitting on the nest.

579
00:39:48,419 --> 00:39:52,913
They probably brought food
to their nest, as birds do.

580
00:39:54,291 --> 00:39:56,919
And the good mother
tended her eggs.

581
00:39:56,961 --> 00:40:00,920
Like a bird,
she prodded them into a circle

582
00:40:01,499 --> 00:40:06,527
The fearsome carnivore
of the Gobi was parenting.

583
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:13,476
So the story of the dinosaur
named "egg thief"

584
00:40:13,511 --> 00:40:15,604
has finally come full circle.

585
00:40:15,646 --> 00:40:18,012
The Oviraptors
watched over their eggs

586
00:40:18,048 --> 00:40:20,414
and took care of the nest.

587
00:40:20,451 --> 00:40:22,009
Now, they will never be seen

588
00:40:22,052 --> 00:40:25,215
as simply nightmare
creatures again.

589
00:40:29,794 --> 00:40:33,753
The dig has been everything
the team could hope for.

590
00:40:33,798 --> 00:40:36,164
But to see what
they"ve really got,

591
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,293
they have to get
all the fossils safely

592
00:40:38,335 --> 00:40:39,893
out of the ground,

593
00:40:39,937 --> 00:40:42,030
and then take them
on a trip exactly

594
00:40:42,072 --> 00:40:45,235
halfway around the world.

595
00:40:48,746 --> 00:40:52,978
She athed in plaster,
Romeo and Juliet are now heavy

596
00:40:53,017 --> 00:40:58,580
but dangerously delicate... like Rice Krispies
wrapped in concrete.

597
00:41:00,057 --> 00:41:00,751
No, no.

598
00:41:00,791 --> 00:41:01,553
That way.

599
00:41:01,592 --> 00:41:02,616
Okay, okay.

600
00:41:02,660 --> 00:41:03,684
Sorry.

601
00:41:03,727 --> 00:41:04,557
I thought you were going to
push backwards.

602
00:41:04,595 --> 00:41:05,357
Perfect.

603
00:41:05,396 --> 00:41:06,420
It"s beautiful, Amy.

604
00:41:06,464 --> 00:41:07,761
More, more, more, more, more.

605
00:41:07,798 --> 00:41:08,560
It"s beautiful.

606
00:41:08,599 --> 00:41:09,964
More, more, more, more.

607
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:11,558
Okay.

608
00:41:11,602 --> 00:41:12,899
Nothing came out.

609
00:41:12,937 --> 00:41:13,961
All right, Amy.

610
00:41:14,004 --> 00:41:16,097
So far, so good.

611
00:41:16,407 --> 00:41:19,308
Now they have to convince
the good mother Oviraptor

612
00:41:19,343 --> 00:41:23,040
to come down from her
hillside perch.

613
00:41:27,351 --> 00:41:31,310
It"s like moving
a grand piano off a cliff.

614
00:41:45,503 --> 00:41:49,462
Romeo and Juliet
prove just as stubborn.

615
00:42:04,455 --> 00:42:06,286
L"m happy.

616
00:42:08,893 --> 00:42:12,590
Just drive slowly, please?

617
00:42:17,434 --> 00:42:21,928
Lt"s not there yet.
It could get lost in the mail.

618
00:42:27,311 --> 00:42:29,939
They do get lost in the mail.

619
00:42:29,980 --> 00:42:31,538
The good mother Oviraptor

620
00:42:31,582 --> 00:42:35,541
and Romeo and Juliet
are trucked east.

621
00:42:35,586 --> 00:42:43,015
And then, they disappear...
lost, somewhere in China.

622
00:42:54,805 --> 00:42:57,968
After four months bound up
in Chinese red tape,

623
00:42:58,008 --> 00:43:00,374
the dinosaur fossils
finally make it

624
00:43:00,411 --> 00:43:03,039
to their destination...

625
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:07,574
the American Museum of
Natural History in New York.

626
00:43:12,423 --> 00:43:15,051
The first arrival is Juliet.

627
00:43:15,092 --> 00:43:18,789
She"s headed for Amy"s lab,
where, if all goes well,

628
00:43:18,829 --> 00:43:21,195
they"ll find out
what ancient secrets

629
00:43:21,231 --> 00:43:24,132
lie beneath the recent coat
of plaster.

630
00:43:24,168 --> 00:43:26,261
L"m really glad this is here.
This is great

631
00:43:26,303 --> 00:43:29,739
From the summer in the Gobi to

632
00:43:29,773 --> 00:43:32,139
the winter in New York City.

633
00:43:36,981 --> 00:43:40,940
Juliet is now a seasoned
world traveler.

634
00:43:43,821 --> 00:43:46,722
After 80 million
years of repose

635
00:43:46,757 --> 00:43:49,658
She, s the new kid
on the block.

636
00:44:14,151 --> 00:44:16,244
There"s a lot of questions
at this point.

637
00:44:16,286 --> 00:44:17,583
There could be
anything in here.

638
00:44:17,621 --> 00:44:19,987
I have a feeling
that this one"s going

639
00:44:20,024 --> 00:44:22,356
to be a nice skeleton -
this is my guess -

640
00:44:22,393 --> 00:44:26,352
a nice skeleton,
hopefully with a skull,

641
00:44:26,397 --> 00:44:27,159
all laid out.

642
00:44:27,197 --> 00:44:31,964
It"s pretty fun.
And it"s all mine.

643
00:44:48,552 --> 00:44:50,645
It"s a tricky business...
millimeters

644
00:44:50,688 --> 00:44:53,054
make all the difference.

645
00:44:54,425 --> 00:44:56,518
Yeah, this is good.

646
00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:57,322
L"m really glad

647
00:44:57,361 --> 00:45:00,524
I didn"t saw through a bone
in the process.

648
00:45:01,899 --> 00:45:03,457
It"s weird.

649
00:45:03,500 --> 00:45:06,128
It"s just opening
this little window

650
00:45:06,170 --> 00:45:11,198
into this world I was living
last summer.

651
00:45:12,309 --> 00:45:14,402
Yeah, this looks good.

652
00:45:20,851 --> 00:45:23,752
After all this work,
they still don"t know

653
00:45:23,787 --> 00:45:26,153
if Juliet is an
important specimen,

654
00:45:26,190 --> 00:45:30,957
whether her skeleton is
perfect or a total ruin.

655
00:45:33,130 --> 00:45:34,961
This is great.

656
00:45:34,998 --> 00:45:40,300
L"m really psyched,
"cause this is the skull.

657
00:45:40,337 --> 00:45:44,831
It does have a skull.
We"re really, really happy.

658
00:45:47,544 --> 00:45:50,445
I like, you know,
working late at night.

659
00:45:50,481 --> 00:45:51,778
It"s really hard to
go home because...

660
00:45:51,815 --> 00:45:54,716
I just look at it and say,
"I can"t believe this."

661
00:45:54,752 --> 00:45:56,845
Lt"s traveled
80 million years

662
00:45:56,887 --> 00:45:59,515
and halfway around the world
and it"s sitting here

663
00:45:59,556 --> 00:46:03,515
and, you know,
it"s a dinosaur.

664
00:46:05,162 --> 00:46:07,255
Working late?

665
00:46:07,297 --> 00:46:08,321
Yeah.

666
00:46:08,365 --> 00:46:09,923
And it"s so beautiful.

667
00:46:09,967 --> 00:46:11,525
The more I work on it,

668
00:46:11,568 --> 00:46:17,404
the more you see
this natural sculpture.

669
00:46:17,441 --> 00:46:19,807
My work just sort
of disappears

670
00:46:19,843 --> 00:46:23,279
and this beautiful thing
comes out of the rock.

671
00:46:29,586 --> 00:46:32,214
The process takes weeks.

672
00:46:41,598 --> 00:46:46,092
Finally, Juliet is revealed
in all her splendor.

673
00:46:46,136 --> 00:46:49,037
She"s everything
they"ve been hoping for,

674
00:46:49,072 --> 00:46:52,439
perhaps the most perfect
specimen ever found -

675
00:46:52,476 --> 00:46:54,842
a dinosaur for the ages.

676
00:46:55,946 --> 00:46:56,970
It"s a beautiful fossil.

677
00:46:57,014 --> 00:46:58,311
In fact, I mean,

678
00:46:58,348 --> 00:47:00,714
that I think that
this is probably

679
00:47:00,751 --> 00:47:04,346
the best prepared
and the best preserved

680
00:47:04,388 --> 00:47:07,551
Oviraptor that"s
yet been worked on from

681
00:47:07,591 --> 00:47:10,492
our expedition -
or even anywhere in the world

682
00:47:11,161 --> 00:47:12,992
I think we"re going to
have the,

683
00:47:13,030 --> 00:47:14,327
to be able to relish
in the fruits

684
00:47:14,364 --> 00:47:17,527
of last summer
for many years to come.

685
00:47:18,101 --> 00:47:20,729
It makes you wonder
what"s still out there.

686
00:47:22,639 --> 00:47:25,267
She"s more than a pretty face

687
00:47:25,309 --> 00:47:27,402
These bones
will help us trace

688
00:47:27,444 --> 00:47:30,607
the evolution of dinosaurs
into birds.

689
00:47:30,647 --> 00:47:33,810
Meanwhile,
Juliet makes a scientist dream

690
00:47:33,851 --> 00:47:37,287
about the world
she left behind.

691
00:47:38,388 --> 00:47:41,824
I think what fascinates me is
the broad picture.

692
00:47:41,859 --> 00:47:42,621
What was it like

693
00:47:42,659 --> 00:47:45,560
if you were flying in a little
Piper Cub over that area,

694
00:47:45,596 --> 00:47:48,759
like some of the bush pilots
do over the Serengeti?

695
00:47:48,799 --> 00:47:50,096
What would it look like then -

696
00:47:50,133 --> 00:47:51,691
all those dinosaurs and the

697
00:47:51,735 --> 00:47:55,171
mammals and the lizards...
and the Gobi?

698
00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:00,002
After six long summers,

699
00:48:00,043 --> 00:48:02,637
Mark and Mike have uncovered
the hidden secrets

700
00:48:02,679 --> 00:48:08,777
of the Gobi... making Juliet"s
world feel almost real.

701
00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:12,783
You could picture a lake
perhaps and some cliffs

702
00:48:12,823 --> 00:48:15,189
and a bunch of Oviraptors
on a cliff

703
00:48:15,225 --> 00:48:19,457
like a colony of seabirds,
perhaps.

704
00:48:26,436 --> 00:48:29,667
And a bunch of these
tanklike ankylosaurs

705
00:48:29,706 --> 00:48:33,142
lumbering around
near the pond

706
00:48:35,579 --> 00:48:37,945
and perhaps
a herd of Protoceratops

707
00:48:37,981 --> 00:48:39,278
wandering through.

708
00:48:39,316 --> 00:48:43,275
And every once in a while
a vicious Velociraptor

709
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,483
coming over the hill
to nab something.

710
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,892
And we can imagine
the Oviraptors:

711
00:48:59,937 --> 00:49:02,235
Romeo and Juliet,
hunting together,

712
00:49:02,272 --> 00:49:05,435
and the good mother,
minding her eggs.

713
00:49:21,224 --> 00:49:23,283
Unnoticed in its
low station

714
00:49:23,327 --> 00:49:25,420
is our own ancestor,

715
00:49:25,462 --> 00:49:27,828
a tiny tense creature
lost among

716
00:49:27,864 --> 00:49:31,561
the powerful beings
of the ancient Gobi.

717
00:50:00,697 --> 00:50:01,721
In the end,

718
00:50:01,765 --> 00:50:05,201
they would all disappear
from the face of the earth -

719
00:50:05,235 --> 00:50:09,467
along with most of the
creatures of their world.

720
00:51:11,168 --> 00:51:13,261
From our perspective,
of course,

721
00:51:13,303 --> 00:51:19,139
this mass extinction event
is not a big problem

722
00:51:19,176 --> 00:51:21,269
because we"re part of
the group

723
00:51:21,311 --> 00:51:23,677
that survived
and started evolving into bats

724
00:51:23,713 --> 00:51:29,276
and large hoofed animals and
lions and tigers and bears...

725
00:51:29,319 --> 00:51:32,482
and ultimately humans.

726
00:51:34,658 --> 00:51:37,559
Ultimately, humans,
like the Oviraptors,

727
00:51:37,594 --> 00:51:39,960
and most of
the dinosaur kingdom,

728
00:51:39,996 --> 00:51:45,024
may not be able to count on
permanent residence on earth.

729
00:51:45,869 --> 00:51:48,497
Every species that"s
ever lived

730
00:51:48,538 --> 00:51:51,974
Has become extinct
or will become extinct.

731
00:51:52,008 --> 00:51:54,636
And whether extinction
is due to

732
00:51:54,678 --> 00:51:57,044
the total decimation
of our population

733
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:59,446
or whether it"s due to
the evolution of

734
00:51:59,483 --> 00:52:02,111
that species into
another species,

735
00:52:02,152 --> 00:52:05,315
nevertheless, everybody
becomes extinct eventually.

736
00:52:05,355 --> 00:52:08,256
So in that view,
we"ve had it.

737
00:52:09,359 --> 00:52:12,260
Some species lived
and then died out:

738
00:52:12,295 --> 00:52:15,458
A story like any other story.

739
00:52:15,499 --> 00:52:19,458
Others evolved,
changed and lived on.

740
00:52:19,503 --> 00:52:22,404
So perhaps a message about
our own future

741
00:52:22,439 --> 00:52:26,398
is encoded in these silent
remnants of the past.

742
00:52:29,112 --> 00:52:31,205
The only real knowledge
we have of our distant

743
00:52:31,248 --> 00:52:34,945
biological past
is from the fossil record.

744
00:52:34,985 --> 00:52:37,886
And it gives us
a sense of who we are

745
00:52:37,921 --> 00:52:39,218
and where we sit in the world

746
00:52:39,256 --> 00:52:42,157
and what that world
might become.

747
00:52:44,594 --> 00:52:47,757
Time is the hardest
rock to pierce,

748
00:52:47,797 --> 00:52:51,233
and the story of life,
with its infinite changes,

749
00:52:51,268 --> 00:52:54,431
is the greatest mystery
we have.

750
00:52:55,272 --> 00:52:58,708
But the expedition
has been blessed with luck.

751
00:52:58,742 --> 00:53:02,178
They"ve gazed into the past
and brought the violent

752
00:53:02,212 --> 00:53:04,840
and tender world
of the Oviraptor

753
00:53:04,881 --> 00:53:08,044
that much closer to our own.