Extinct (2001 TV series)
Encyclopedia
Extinct was a Channel 4
TV series, that originally aired in late 2001. There were 6 episodes.
In this episode it recounts how the dodo
became extinct. It starts with the introduction of people on the island of Mauritius
. Animals are soon introduced that make life harder for the already endangered dodos. The settlers even tried to eat a dodo, but it was too chewy and tasted horrible.
IThe episode explains how the dodo bred as well and re-creates a flock of them eating fruit
and snail
s, however, overhunting and competition with pigs, macaques, rats, and dogs finally destroyed the dodo for good.
2. Sabre Tooth Cat (Also known as Smilodon
)
The episode starts at the La Brea Tar Pits
in California
. Hundreds of bones from Sabre Tooth Cats and other animals are shown and the process of how they became stuck in the tar
is explained. The program then describes how life was for the Sabre Tooth Cat in the ice age
. It explains how the climate warmed up and the woodland
forests that the Sabre Tooth depended on for cover when stalking prey disappeared. It shows a mother Sabre Tooth trying to hunt for her two cubs, but fails due to the open spaces and more numerous bison
herds. Starving, she abandons her cubs and goes for the easiest prey, dead animals in the tar pit. Her hunger overpowers her sense of caution and drives her to the edge of the black abyss...
3. The Great Auk
This episode talks about the tragedy of the Great Auk
, a puffin
-like sea bird killed by Europeans.
4. The Irish Elk
The Irish Elk (also known as Megaloceros
) was hunted to extinction by early man. This episode describes how overhunting and climate change killed this wonderful creature.
5. The Mammoth
The mammoth
is one of the most well known extinct creatures, it is an icon of extinction and yet it is partially our fault it is gone. The episode describes how disease and overhunting killed a whole family of mammoths in Toquila, Mexico
. The family was buried in a mass grave and ranged from babies to adults. The end of the ice age was also a huge reason they became extinct. Lush ice age grasses began to be less common and the pine trees that were growing didn't have enough nutrients to sustain a mammoth's huge appetite. Thus, they were partially starved into extinction.
6. The Tasmanian Tiger
Perhaps the saddest extinction of all, this depressing episode tells the story of how one gunshot in Wilfrid Batty's gun not only ended the life of one of the last Tasmanian tigers but sounded the death knell for the entire species. The program covers basic anatomy of the tiger and shows it hunting in the wild. It also shows actual footage of the animal in zoo
s. It explains that the tiger's disappearance was due to the bounty system in which the government paid everyone who killed a tiger 1 pound, and due to disease that engulfed the species. When it was realized that the animal was becoming extinct, there was a mad rush to catch every last one and put it in a zoo. Most zoo specimens died by the 1930s. The last tiger ever seen was a male named "Ben" in Hobart Zoo. Ironically there were two final twists to the tale. Ben wasn't a male tiger and in September 1936 she died, however she had enjoyed her last 59 days as a protected species.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
TV series, that originally aired in late 2001. There were 6 episodes.
Episodes
1. DodoIn this episode it recounts how the dodo
Dodo
The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....
became extinct. It starts with the introduction of people on the island of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. Animals are soon introduced that make life harder for the already endangered dodos. The settlers even tried to eat a dodo, but it was too chewy and tasted horrible.
IThe episode explains how the dodo bred as well and re-creates a flock of them eating fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, however, overhunting and competition with pigs, macaques, rats, and dogs finally destroyed the dodo for good.
2. Sabre Tooth Cat (Also known as Smilodon
Smilodon
Smilodon , often called a saber-toothed cat or saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodonts. This saber-toothed cat was endemic to North America and South America, living from near the beginning through the very end of the Pleistocene epoch .-Etymology:The nickname "saber-tooth" refers...
)
The episode starts at the La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits
The La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed, in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Asphaltum or tar has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with water...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Hundreds of bones from Sabre Tooth Cats and other animals are shown and the process of how they became stuck in the tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
is explained. The program then describes how life was for the Sabre Tooth Cat in the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. It explains how the climate warmed up and the woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
forests that the Sabre Tooth depended on for cover when stalking prey disappeared. It shows a mother Sabre Tooth trying to hunt for her two cubs, but fails due to the open spaces and more numerous bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
herds. Starving, she abandons her cubs and goes for the easiest prey, dead animals in the tar pit. Her hunger overpowers her sense of caution and drives her to the edge of the black abyss...
3. The Great Auk
This episode talks about the tragedy of the Great Auk
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
, a puffin
Puffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
-like sea bird killed by Europeans.
4. The Irish Elk
The Irish Elk (also known as Megaloceros
Megaloceros
The deer of the genus Megaloceros - ; see also Lister - were found throughout Eurasia from the late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene, and were important herbivores during the Ice Ages. The largest species, M...
) was hunted to extinction by early man. This episode describes how overhunting and climate change killed this wonderful creature.
5. The Mammoth
The mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
is one of the most well known extinct creatures, it is an icon of extinction and yet it is partially our fault it is gone. The episode describes how disease and overhunting killed a whole family of mammoths in Toquila, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The family was buried in a mass grave and ranged from babies to adults. The end of the ice age was also a huge reason they became extinct. Lush ice age grasses began to be less common and the pine trees that were growing didn't have enough nutrients to sustain a mammoth's huge appetite. Thus, they were partially starved into extinction.
6. The Tasmanian Tiger
Perhaps the saddest extinction of all, this depressing episode tells the story of how one gunshot in Wilfrid Batty's gun not only ended the life of one of the last Tasmanian tigers but sounded the death knell for the entire species. The program covers basic anatomy of the tiger and shows it hunting in the wild. It also shows actual footage of the animal in zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
s. It explains that the tiger's disappearance was due to the bounty system in which the government paid everyone who killed a tiger 1 pound, and due to disease that engulfed the species. When it was realized that the animal was becoming extinct, there was a mad rush to catch every last one and put it in a zoo. Most zoo specimens died by the 1930s. The last tiger ever seen was a male named "Ben" in Hobart Zoo. Ironically there were two final twists to the tale. Ben wasn't a male tiger and in September 1936 she died, however she had enjoyed her last 59 days as a protected species.