The Future is Wild
Encyclopedia
The Future Is Wild (often shortened to F.I.W.) was a 2002 seven-part documentary
television miniseries
. Based on research and interviews with several scientists, the miniseries shows how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens became extinct
; the Discovery Channel
broadcast changed this outlook by stating the human race had completely migrated from the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on Earth. The show was played out in the form of a nature documentary.
The miniseries was released with a companion book written by geologist Dougal Dixon
, the author of several "anthropologies/zoologies of the future" (such as After Man: A Zoology of the Future
), in conjunction with natural history
television producer Jo Adams. For a time in 2005, a theme park based on this program was opened in Japan. In 2008, a special on the Discovery Channel about the development of the video game Spore
was combined with airings of The Future Is Wild.
A film version of the series was picked up by Warner Bros.
and giant seabird
s roam the beaches and carnivorous
bat
s rule the skies. In the scenario, ice
sheets extended to as far south as Paris
in the northern hemisphere and as far north as Buenos Aires
in the southern hemisphere. The Amazon Rainforest
s dried up and opened into grassland
s. The North America
n plains became cold desert
. Africa
collided with Europe
and closed off the Mediterranean Sea
again. With no water to replace it in the dry climate, the Mediterranean dried out into a salt flat dotted with brine lakes, as it has been in the past
. Most of Europe became frozen tundra
. The part of Africa east of the African Rift Valley has broken off of Africa. Asia
has dried up and is now mountainous. The once dry area of Central America
has now been transformed into warm dry tropical forests. Australia
has moved north and collided with eastern Indonesia
.
es coming onto land and enormous tortoise
s. Much of the land is flooded by shallow seas. The surrounding land has become brackish swamps. Antarctica has drifted towards the tropics and is covered with trees, as it was 300 million years before. Australia has collided with North America and Asia, forcing up an enormous, 10-kilometre-high mountain plateau taller than the modern Himalayas. Greenland
has been reduced to a small, temperate island. While low lying land is warm shallow seas, cold deep ocean trenches form. Africa's Sahara Desert has once again become rich grasslands as it was millions of years ago.
The world in the episodes describing a possible scenario 200 million years from now is recovering from a mass extinction caused by a flood basalt
eruption almost as large in size as the one that created the Siberian Traps
. Fish
have taken to the skies, squid
to the forests and the world's largest desert ever is filled with strange worms and insects. All the continents have collided into one another and fused into a single supercontinent
, a second Pangaea
. Due to one single current system and one large global ocean, deadly hurricanes, called hypercanes, smother the coastlines of the continent all year long. The northwestern side of Pangaea II, drenched with an endless supply of rain
, has become a temperate forest. Mountains resting at the end of the coast block most of the rain's moisture from reaching a long line of scrubby rainshadow deserts
. The very center of the continent does not receive rain at all and has become barren plantless desert. At this time most of the vertebrate
life forms such as Mammals, Reptiles, Birds and Amphibians are extinct, leaving fish, insects, worm
s and mollusks to populate the Earth.
.
, ZDF
of Germany, ORF
of Austria, Mediaset
of Italy, and Animal Planet
and Discovery Channels Inc
of the United States.
The BBC intended that the miniseries would repeat the success it had with Walking With Dinosaurs
, its prehistoric documentary series which attracted 17 million viewers in 1999. The program used computer-generated imagery
to show the possible future of life on Earth
. The 13-part series was produced in four years by independent producer John Adams, who conceptualised it in 1997.
ZDF Enterprises sold the television rights of the series to 18 markets, namely, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Venezuela.
Both the DVD singles and the 3-DVD set are available for DVD regions one and two. Although the singles are available for region four, the 3-DVD set is not. Magna Pacific
, the company contracted to market the Future is Wild series to Australasia
, originally planned to release the 3-DVD set in May. When asked in December 2005, the Executive Director of Magna Pacific stated, "We have this scheduled for a May release." However, when asked again in August 2006, the National Marketing Manager of Magna Pacific announced, "Unfortunately the 3-DVD set of Future is Wild has been withdrawn from release, but the singles will continue to be available, yet plans for the release of the 3-DVD set have been placed on hold with no future date set at this stage."
in 2006 and remains on sale. It is designed to fit in with international school curricula including science, mathematics, geography and history.
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
. Based on research and interviews with several scientists, the miniseries shows how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens became extinct
Human extinction
Human extinction is the end of the human species. Various scenarios have been discussed in science, popular culture, and religion . The scope of this article is existential risks. Humans are very widespread on the Earth, and live in communities which are capable of some kind of basic survival in...
; the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
broadcast changed this outlook by stating the human race had completely migrated from the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on Earth. The show was played out in the form of a nature documentary.
The miniseries was released with a companion book written by geologist Dougal Dixon
Dougal Dixon
-Biography:Dixon studied geology and palaeontology at the University of St. Andrews and is best known for his illustrated works of speculative fiction, which largely concern "zoologies of the future": his own visions of how human beings and animals might evolve in millions of years' time...
, the author of several "anthropologies/zoologies of the future" (such as After Man: A Zoology of the Future
After Man: A Zoology of the Future
After Man: A Zoology of the Future is a 1981 book by the Scottish geologist and author, Dougal Dixon. In it, he presents his hypothesis on how the fauna and geography could change 50 million years from now.-Geography of the future:...
), in conjunction with natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
television producer Jo Adams. For a time in 2005, a theme park based on this program was opened in Japan. In 2008, a special on the Discovery Channel about the development of the video game Spore
Spore (2008 video game)
Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as Spore...
was combined with airings of The Future Is Wild.
A film version of the series was picked up by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
5 million years' time
The episodes describe a potential view of the world after an ice ageIce 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...
and giant seabird
Seabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s roam the beaches and carnivorous
Carnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s rule the skies. In the scenario, ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
sheets extended to as far south as Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the northern hemisphere and as far north as Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in the southern hemisphere. The Amazon Rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
s dried up and opened into grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s. The North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n plains became cold desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
. Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
collided with Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and closed off the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
again. With no water to replace it in the dry climate, the Mediterranean dried out into a salt flat dotted with brine lakes, as it has been in the past
Messinian salinity crisis
The Messinian Salinity Crisis, also referred to as the Messinian Event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event, was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partly or nearly complete desiccation throughout the latter part of the Messinian age of the Miocene...
. Most of Europe became frozen tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
. The part of Africa east of the African Rift Valley has broken off of Africa. Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
has dried up and is now mountainous. The once dry area of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
has now been transformed into warm dry tropical forests. Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
has moved north and collided with eastern Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Hypothesized species
- Babookari, a ground-living New World monkeyNew World monkeyNew World monkeys are the five families of primates that are found in Central and South America: Callitrichidae, Cebidae, Aotidae, Pitheciidae, and Atelidae. The five families are ranked together as the Platyrrhini parvorder and the Ceboidea superfamily, which are essentially synonymous since...
, descended from the present-day UakariUakariUakari is the common name for the New World monkeys of the genus Cacajao. Both the English and scientific names are believed to have originated from indigenous languages....
. - Brine fliesEphydridaeEphydridae is a family of insects in the order Diptera.Shore flies are tiny flies that can be found near seashores or at smaller inland waters, such as ponds...
, flies that thrive on hypersaline water, the very same species alive today. - Carakiller, a giant, flightless bird of preyBird of preyBirds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
, descended from the present-day CaracaraCaracaraCaracaras are birds of prey in the family Falconidae. They are traditionally placed in the subfamily Polyborinae, but are sometimes considered part of their own subfamily, Caracarinae, or members of the true falcon subfamily, Falconinae...
. - Cryptile, a frilled Lizard that inhabits salt flats and has a sticky frillNeck frillNeck frill is the popular term for the relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles with either a bony support such as those present on the skulls of dinosaurs of the suborder Marginocephalia or a cartilaginous one as in the Frill-necked Lizard...
for catching fliesFließFließ is a municipality in the Landeck district and is located5 km south of Landeck on the upper course of the Inn River. It has 9 hamlets and was already populated at the roman age; the village itself was founded around the 6th century. After a conflagration in 1933 Fließ was restored more...
. - Deathgleaner, a giant, carnivorous batBatBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
. - Gannetwhale, a large, flightless, sealPinnipedPinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
-like seabirdSeabirdSeabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
, descended from the present-day GannetGannetGannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
. - Rattleback, an armoured, turtleTurtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
-like rodentRodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
, descended from the present-day AgoutiAgoutiAgouti refers to a number of species of rodents as well as a number of genes affecting coat coloration in several different animals. Agouti fur contains a pattern of pigmentation in which individual hairs have several bands of light and dark pigment with black tips.* When referring to a rodent,...
. There are two species, one in the southern grasslands, and the other in the northern deserts. - Gryken, a slender terrestrial Mustelid, descended from the present-day Pine MartenPine MartenThe European Pine Marten , known most commonly as the pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as Pineten, baum marten, or sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. It...
. - Scrofa, a long-legged, rock-dwelling wild boar descendant.
- Shagrat, a giant, CapybaraCapybaraThe capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
-like rodent which lives in herdHerdHerd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...
s and migrates with the seasonSeasonA season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
s in northern EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, descended from the present-day marmotMarmotThe marmots are a genus, Marmota, of squirrels. There are 14 species in this genus.Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Eurasian steppes, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in...
. - Snowstalker, a large, white, saber-toothed Mustelid, descended from the present-day wolverineWolverineThe wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
. - SpinkSpinkSpink may refer to:* Chaffinch, a small bird in the finch family* Spink , a fictional species* Spinka * Spink, brand name of an anti-spill device produced by Dreamfarm-People:* Alfred H. Spink, sportswriter...
, a small, moleMole (animal)Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
-like, burrowing birdBirdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
, descended from the present-day quailQuailQuail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
.
100 million years' time
The world in a scenario placed 100 million years after the present is much hotter than the present. Other changes involve octopusOctopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
es coming onto land and enormous tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
s. Much of the land is flooded by shallow seas. The surrounding land has become brackish swamps. Antarctica has drifted towards the tropics and is covered with trees, as it was 300 million years before. Australia has collided with North America and Asia, forcing up an enormous, 10-kilometre-high mountain plateau taller than the modern Himalayas. Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
has been reduced to a small, temperate island. While low lying land is warm shallow seas, cold deep ocean trenches form. Africa's Sahara Desert has once again become rich grasslands as it was millions of years ago.
Hypothesized species
- Falconfly, a giant, predatory waspWaspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
, descended from the sand waspSand waspThe Bembicini, or Sand wasps, are a large tribe of crabronid wasps, comprising 20 genera. Bembicines are predators on various groups of insects. The type of prey captured tends to be rather consistent within each genus, with flies being the most common type of prey taken...
. - Grass Tree, a species of plantPlantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
in the Great Plateau that is harvested by Silver Spiders to feed the Poggles, descended from bambooBambooBamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
. - Great Blue Windrunner, a giant, blue, four-winged bird: its legs have flight feathers on and can act as gliding surfaces, descended from the present-day craneCrane (bird)Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
. - Lurkfish, a giant, big-mouthed, electric fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
. - Ocean Phantom, a giant Portuguese Man o' WarPortuguese Man o' WarThe Portuguese Man o' War , also known as the Portuguese man-of-war, man-of-war, or bluebottle, is a jelly-like marine invertebrate of the family Physaliidae...
descendant. - Poggle, the last mammalMammalMammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
, living inside mountains. - Reef Glider, a giant, swimming sea slugSea slugSea slug is a common name used for several different groups of saltwater snails that either lack a shell or have only an internal shell, in other words this name is used for various lineages of marine gastropod mollusks that are either not conchiferous or appear not to be.The phrase "sea slug" is...
. - Roachcutter, a swift species of Flutterbird.
- Silver Spider, a large colonial spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
. - Spindle Trooper, a giant sea spiderSea spiderSea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. There are over 1300 known species, ranging in size from to over in some deep...
. They live in Ocean Phantoms, which they defend against enemies. - Spitfire Bird, a species of Flutterbird which shoots acidic flowerFlowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
nectar from its nostrils as a defence. - False Spitfire Bird, a Flutterbird species that mimics the Spitfire Bird to frighten off predators like the Falconfly.
- Spitfire Beetle, a cooperative, predatory beetleBeetleColeoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
which preys on Spitfire Birds. - Spitfire Tree, a flowering treeTreeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
that makes two chemicals collected by the Spitfire Birds, which in the process pollinates the tree. - Swampus, a semi-terrestrial, brackish swampSwampA swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
-dwelling octopusOctopusThe octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
. - Toraton, a giant tortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
, grows to 120 tonTonThe ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s.
200 million years' time
Flood basalt
A flood basalt or trap basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that coats large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Flood basalts have occurred on continental scales in prehistory, creating great plateaus and mountain ranges...
eruption almost as large in size as the one that created the Siberian Traps
Siberian Traps
The Siberian Traps form a large region of volcanic rock, known as a large igneous province, in the Russian region of Siberia. The massive eruptive event which formed the traps, one of the largest known volcanic events of the last 500 million years of Earth's geological history, continued for...
. Fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
have taken to the skies, squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
to the forests and the world's largest desert ever is filled with strange worms and insects. All the continents have collided into one another and fused into a single supercontinent
Supercontinent
In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.-History:...
, a second Pangaea
Novopangaea
Novopangea is a possible future supercontinent, postulated by Roy Livermore, now at the University of Cambridge, in the late 1990s, assuming closure of the Pacific, docking of Australia with eastern Asia, and northward motion of Antarctica...
. Due to one single current system and one large global ocean, deadly hurricanes, called hypercanes, smother the coastlines of the continent all year long. The northwestern side of Pangaea II, drenched with an endless supply of rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
, has become a temperate forest. Mountains resting at the end of the coast block most of the rain's moisture from reaching a long line of scrubby rainshadow deserts
Rain shadow
A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...
. The very center of the continent does not receive rain at all and has become barren plantless desert. At this time most of the vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
life forms such as Mammals, Reptiles, Birds and Amphibians are extinct, leaving fish, insects, worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s and mollusks to populate the Earth.
Hypothesized species
- Bumblebeetle, a fast-flying beetle which lives and breeds inside the carcasses of dead Ocean Flish.
- Deathbottle, a carnivorous plant, residing in the Rainshadow Desert.
- Desert Hopper, a hopping snailSnailSnail 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...
with a modified single foot. - Forest Flish, a small, forestForestA forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
-dwelling, hummingbirdHummingbirdHummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
-like fish that no longer lives in the oceans, but instead flies like birds. - Ocean Flish, another type of Flish that relies on the ocean more than the Forest Flish.
- Garden Worm, an algae-filled wormWormThe term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
that feeds only on sunlight. - Megasquid, a 5 meter high, 8 ton, omnivorous, terrestrial squidSquidSquid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
. Its 8 arms have evolved into walking legs like an elephant's. It uses its two long tentacles for feeding. - Rainbow squid, a 25 meter long, gentle, oceanOceanAn ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
-going squid. - Sharkopath, a bioluminescentBioluminescenceBioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...
pack-hunting sharkSharkSharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
. - Silverswimmer, fish-sized neotenousNeotenyNeoteny , also called juvenilization , is one of the two ways by which paedomorphism can arise. Paedomorphism is the retention by adults of traits previously seen only in juveniles, and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological development of an...
CrustaceanCrustaceanCrustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s. - Slickribbon, a caveCaveA cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
-dwelling, 1 meter long, predatory worm with a striking resemblance to OpabiniaOpabiniaOpabinia is an animal genus found in Cambrian fossil deposits. Its sole species, Opabinia regalis, is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described; 3 specimens of Opabinia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed,...
of the early CambrianCambrianThe Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
. - Slithersucker, a large, predatory slime mold.
- Squibbon, a terrestrial tree branch-swinging squid. Relatively intelligent; the likeliest ancestor for future sapient life.
- Terabyte, a colonial termiteTermiteTermites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
descendant that has become highly specialized. - Gloomworm, a primitive-looking, bacteriaBacteriaBacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
-eating worm.
Episodes
Although there are presumably many millions of different species around at each point in the future, each episode generally focuses on just one food chainFood chain
A food web depicts feeding connections in an ecological community. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs...
.
- Welcome to the Future (a brief summary of the coming episodes)
- Return of the Ice (5 million years time, in the new frozen wastes of EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
) - The Vanished Sea (5 million years time, in the Mediterranean salt desert)
- Prairies of Amazonia (5 million years time, in the grasslands where the Amazon RainforestAmazon RainforestThe Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
once existed) - Cold Kansas Desert (5 million years time, in North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
) - Waterland (100 million years time, in the swamps of BengalBengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
) - Flooded World (100 million years time, in the shallow seas)
- Tropical Antarctica (100 million years time, in an Antarctica which is now on the equatorEquatorAn equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
) - The Great Plateau (100 million years time, at the spot where Asia, North America and Australia have collided)
- The Endless Desert (200 million years time, in the vast desertDesertA desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
of central Pangaea II) - The Global Ocean (200 million years time, in, the oceanOceanAn ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
of the world) - Graveyard Desert (200 million years time, in a rainshadow desert)
- The Tentacled Forest (200 million years time, in the rainforestRainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
) - The Future Is Wild and the Making of Spore (a special on the Discovery Channel about the development of the video game Spore was combined with airings of The Future is Wild.)
Production
The Future is Wild is a £5-million co-production of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), French-German channel ArteArte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
of Germany, ORF
ORF (broadcaster)
Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...
of Austria, Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
of Italy, and Animal Planet
Animal Planet
Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...
and Discovery Channels Inc
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
of the United States.
The BBC intended that the miniseries would repeat the success it had with Walking With Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television miniseries that was produced by BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the United Kingdom, in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Branagh's voice replaced with that...
, its prehistoric documentary series which attracted 17 million viewers in 1999. The program used computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
to show the possible future of life on Earth
Life on Earth
Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough is a television natural history series made by the BBC in association with Warner Bros. and Reiner Moritz Productions...
. The 13-part series was produced in four years by independent producer John Adams, who conceptualised it in 1997.
Scientists involved
Scientists involved in the project include the following:- R McNeill Alexander, zoologist
- Leticia Aviles, evolutionary biologist
- Phillip Currie, paleontologist and paleoornithologist (the study of prehistoric birds)
- Dougal DixonDougal Dixon-Biography:Dixon studied geology and palaeontology at the University of St. Andrews and is best known for his illustrated works of speculative fiction, which largely concern "zoologies of the future": his own visions of how human beings and animals might evolve in millions of years' time...
, geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using... - Richard ForteyRichard ForteyRichard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...
, paleontologist - William GillyWilliam GillyWilliam F. Gilly is a biologist specializing in the study of cephalopods. He was involved with the television special The Future is Wild.Gilly received a BSE from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis...
, cell biologist, developmental biologist and marine biologist - Stephen HarrisStephen HarrisStephen Harris may refer to:* Stephen Harris , British painter* Stephen Harris , British record producer* Stephen Harris, musician, also known as Kid Chaos and Haggis...
, mammalogist - Kurt M. Kotrschal, zoologist
- Mike Linley, herpetologist
- Roy Livermore, palaeogeographer
- R. McNeill Alexander, specialist in biomechanicsBiomechanicsBiomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems, such as humans, animals, plants, organs, and cells. Perhaps one of the best definitions was provided by Herbert Hatze in 1974: "Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of...
- Karl J. NiklasKarl J. NiklasKarl J. Niklas is the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Cornell University. He is best known for his work on plant biomechanics, allometry, and functional morphology, and for his long-standing contributions to understanding plant evolutionary biology, particularly...
, botanist - Stephen Palumbi, marine biologist
- Jeremy Rayner, zoologist
- Stephen SparksSteve Sparks (volcanologist)Robert Stephen John Sparks, FRS, CBE , is Chaning Wills Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. He is one of the world's leading volcanologists and has been widely recognised for his work in this field.-Career:Steve Sparks is a graduate of Imperial...
, geologist - Bruce H. Tiffney, palaeobotanist
- Paul Valdes, paleoclimatologistPaleoclimatologyPaleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses a variety of proxy methods from the Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within rocks, sediments, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells and microfossils; it then...
Distribution
The Future is Wild doubled the previous ratings record for the Animal Planet channel when it was aired in the United States. The series was shown on BBC2 in autumn 2004.ZDF Enterprises sold the television rights of the series to 18 markets, namely, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Venezuela.
DVD release
The series was released on three DVDs. The first DVD in the series includes episodes 1–5, the second includes episodes 6–9, and the third includes episodes 10–13. The three DVDs have also been released together as a set.Both the DVD singles and the 3-DVD set are available for DVD regions one and two. Although the singles are available for region four, the 3-DVD set is not. Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific is a leading independent film and home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand...
, the company contracted to market the Future is Wild series to Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, originally planned to release the 3-DVD set in May. When asked in December 2005, the Executive Director of Magna Pacific stated, "We have this scheduled for a May release." However, when asked again in August 2006, the National Marketing Manager of Magna Pacific announced, "Unfortunately the 3-DVD set of Future is Wild has been withdrawn from release, but the singles will continue to be available, yet plans for the release of the 3-DVD set have been placed on hold with no future date set at this stage."
CD-ROM
An educational CD-ROM entitled 'The Future Is Wild' was produced by Sherston SoftwareSherston Software
Sherston Software, also known as Sherston Publishing Group is a British software publisher, producing educational games. Set up by two teachers, Bill and Lou Bonham, in 1983, they started making their first games for the BBC Micro...
in 2006 and remains on sale. It is designed to fit in with international school curricula including science, mathematics, geography and history.
See also
- Future EvolutionFuture EvolutionFuture Evolution is a book written by paleontologist Peter Ward and illustrated by Alexis Rockman. He addresses his own opinion of future evolution and compares it with Dougal Dixon's After Man: A Zoology of the Future and H. G. Wells's The Time Machine.According to Ward, humanity may exist for a...
- Human extinctionHuman extinctionHuman extinction is the end of the human species. Various scenarios have been discussed in science, popular culture, and religion . The scope of this article is existential risks. Humans are very widespread on the Earth, and live in communities which are capable of some kind of basic survival in...
- Life After PeopleLife After PeopleLife After People is a television documentary series where scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth might be like if humanity no longer existed, as well as the impact humanity's disappearance might have on the environment and the artificial aspects of civilization...
- The World Without UsThe World Without UsThe World Without Us is a non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared, written by American journalist Alan Weisman and published by St. Martin's Thomas Dunne Books. It is a book-length expansion of Weisman's own February 2005 Discover...
- After Man: A Zoology of the FutureAfter Man: A Zoology of the FutureAfter Man: A Zoology of the Future is a 1981 book by the Scottish geologist and author, Dougal Dixon. In it, he presents his hypothesis on how the fauna and geography could change 50 million years from now.-Geography of the future:...
- Man After Man: An Anthropology of the FutureMan After Man: An Anthropology of the FutureMan After Man: An Anthropology of the Future is a speculative book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by Philip Hood. The theme of the book is a science fiction body horror exploration of the possibilities of the future evolution of humans...
- Last and First MenLast and First MenLast and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen...