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National Geographic’s new giant-screen film “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric
Adventure,” brings to life the extraordinary marine reptiles of the
dinosaur age on the world’s biggest screens. From the giraffe-necked Styxosaurus
and 20-foot “bulldog” fish Xiphactinus
to the T-Rex of the ocean —
the 40-foot super-predator Tylosaurus —
these wondrous beasts defy imagination.
The
film, narrated by Tony Award-winning actor Liev Schreiber and with an original
score by longtime musical collaborators Richard Evans, David Rhodes and Peter
Gabriel, takes audiences on a remarkable journey into the relatively
unexplored world of the “other dinosaurs,” those reptiles that lived
beneath the water. Funded in part through a grant from the National Science
Foundation, the film delivers to the giant screen the fascinating science
behind what we know, and a vision of history’s grandest ocean creatures.
The Cretaceous world was very different from the Earth we
know. Eighty million years ago, places such as
Kansas
were at the bottom of a great inland sea that divided
North America
in two. A warmer climate meant more of the globe was submerged — Europe was
just a smattering of islands, much of Asia was underwater and a shallow ocean
engulfed nearly all of
Australia
. On this sodden sphere, cold-blooded seagoing reptiles flourished, and as
these ocean giants died, their skeletons were left in locations that are now
high and dry.
The film
follows a family of Dolichorhynchops,
also known informally as “Dollies,” as they traverse ancient waters
populated with saber-toothed fish, prehistoric sharks and giant squid. On their
journey the Dollies encounter other extraordinary sea creatures: lizard-like
reptiles called Platecarpus that
swallowed their prey whole like snakes; Styxosaurus
with necks nearly 20 feet long and paddle-like fins as large as an adult human;
and at the top of the food chain, the monstrous Tylosaurus,
a predator with no enemies.
“Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure” is a remarkable
visual journey that also educates audiences on the “How do we know that?”
side of paleontology. Do scientists need full skeletons to learn about these
creatures? Not always, as we learn from shark teeth found throughout the central
United States
, proof that these modern-day hunters were thriving during the age of dinosaurs
when
Kansas
was at the bottom of the sea. How do we know what these creatures ate, and what
pursued them? The shapes of jaws and teeth provide dietary clues, and
occasionally paleontologists are lucky enough to discover bones of one species
inside the remains of another. In fact, one fossilized Xiphactinus,
a 17-foot-long predatory fish, was found with an entire 6-foot fish inside —
swallowed whole.
From
fossil digs to larger-than-life visions of predatory chases in shallow seas, the
film immerses audiences in a rarely explored environment during the dinosaur
age. Merging ultra-high-resolution 3-D graphics with National Geographic’s
trademark authenticity, compelling imagery and powerful storytelling, the film
is a perfect combination of subject and medium: ancient leviathans of the deep
brought to life in the world’s biggest film format.
Click
here for a link the the official Sea Monsters 3D web site.
Click
here for a link to the Educator's Page for Sea Monsters 3D.
A group of
Xiphactinus, the largest bony fish of the Late Cretaceous ear, peruses the ocean
in search of food. Xiphactinus were able to swallow prey up to half their
length. (c)2007 NGHT Inc
A Tylosaurus, the 40-foot super predator often
called the "T-Rex of the ocean," blasts through the surface of the
water, having narrowly missed its prey. (C)2007 NGHT, Inc
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