The 'Trilogy of Life': 'Walking with Dinosaurs' Quiz

Answer: Coelophysis

Lightweight, agile and merciless, Coelophysis was among one of the earliest forms of dinosaur. At 3 meters long, it had an elongated skull for catching small prey like fish and amphibians. In 'New Blood', we follow the life of a female Coelophysis trying to survive the dry season. With food and water being scarce, she goes on to find the burrow of a family of Cynodonts, a missing link to reptiles and mammals, even being forced to cannibalize on her kind.

Answer: Postosuchus

Postosuchus was a six meters long carnivorous archosaur, while resembling a crocodile, it had longer hind limbs and short forelimbs. This made it much taller than your average alligator or croc. In 'New Blood', a female Postosuchus showed her dominance in the land, until an injury handicaps her hind legs. Eventually it took its toll on her, and died from exhaustion. This led her corpse to be a buffet for a flock of Coelophysis.

After months of drought, the rain came in full force, and desert was transformed to lush scrubland once more. The Cynodonts, who were almost victim to the Coelophysis, had dug a new home, but their descendants would be relegated in the background as small species. As for the dinosaurs, they would start the greatest reign on Earth. While the female Coelophysis survived the drought, she is promptly chased off by a massive herd of Plateosaurus. Dinosaurs were about to get larger than life.

Answer: Diplodocus

Diplodocus, whose name means 'double beam', is one of the longest of dinosaurs, estimated to grow up to 30 meters in length, and weigh as much as 100 tonnes. In 'Time of the Titans', this creche of youngsters does their best to survive in the forests, hiding from predators like Ornitholestes, who hunts small forest dwelling animals. Eventually the years go by, and as they get larger, so does their enemies.

Answer: Allosaurus

Allosaurus would constantly hound the Sauropodlets, all the way up to adulthood. These predators are intended to tackle prey even larger than they are, with their speed, agility and most of all, power in their bite and claws. A female Diplodocus who survived her ordeals had one final test. Mating season was over, and things were calm, but as she was the smallest in the herd due to immaturity, a pair of Allosaurs targeted her, and managed to deeply wound her, but she was saved by a larger adult Diplodocus.

The Sauropods continued to reign in the Jurassic. Along with Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus grazed the trees to tower over every other creature. The armoured Stegosaurus guards his territory with his spiked tail, and living on the Diplodocus' backs was the tiny pterosaur called Anurognathus. However, nature had its own plans, and it involved the oceans.

Answer: Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon took the role of the top predator for this episode, snapping a pregnant Ophthalmosaurus in half with its jaws as the sharks looked on in horror. Liopleurodon was depicted being over 25 meters, though recent fossils only show it can go only at 7 meters at best.

'Cruel Sea' also followed the birthing rituals of the fish-like Ophthalmosaurus, following a small group of pups who live in the shallow waters to grow and gain the skills needed to live in the open oceans. This culminated to a massive storm so strong that corals could be smashed to pieces. While the baby Opthalmosaurs survived the storm, the Liopleurodon didn't, getting beached up and unable to move due to its weight. The old male would then be eaten by the scavenging dinosaur Eustreptospondylus.

Answer: Ornithocheirus

In the show, the Ornithocheirus is depicted as an old male who travels the globe looking for food. Starting from the cliffs of Brazil, he flies up to North America before making the massive migration to Europe, in the island of Cantabria which is the bedrock of what will one day become Spain. In his journey, he spots the magnificent dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, from grazing herbivores like Iguanodon and their armoured companion Polacanthus, to the swift and cunning Utahraptors.

But as fate had for him, his return home was met with a violent reaction from his kind. Expecting to land in the middle of the flock during mating season, he is instead driven off by the other males, forcing him to land on a faraway beach with little chance to attract a mate. Eventually, heat exhaustion and lack of food would kill him.

Answer: Antarctica

In the time of dinosaurs, Antarctica was covered in lush forest of conifers and ferns with no trace of any ice caps. Instead, Antarctica had seasons, you would either get hot summers under the midnight sun, or cold winters in total darkness. Dinosaurs in this region are adapted to this life, one of them being tiny two legged herbivore Leaellynasaura. We follow a clan as they build their nests for their next generation, and cope with the extremes of temperature in this frosty landscape.

Also migrating from the North are a huge herd of Muttaburrasaurus, who come for the vegetation of Antarctica. But along with them, another danger in the form of a polar Allosaur appears, and he would deal a major setback to the Leaellynasaura clan by eating their lead female before the cold winter. Fortunately, the clan would survive and find a new leader to continue their own survival.

Answer: Amphibian

Koolasuchus was an ancient giant amphibian, at five to six meters long and weighing half a ton, it was a lethal ambush predator that lived and hunted like a crocodile. Most amphibians of his kind went extinct about 100 millions years before the Cretaceous due to competition with crocodiles, but Koolasuchus clung on to life thanks to the frigid polar waters, which crocs couldn't adapt to.

Koolasuchus were first spotted by the Leaellynasaura sentry coming out of the water, making its way to its summer home in another lake about 200 meters away. While a short distance, Koolasuchus had tiny legs, thus making the journey a hassle as it needs to support so much weight.

Answer: Tyrannosaurus

Undoubtedly the most famous dinosaur in the world, Tyrannosaurus stood above the competition, at six meters tall and 13 meters long, it is designed to tear apart large dinosaurs with its massive jaws. Just unfortunate that they came at a time when the Earth is choking in volcanic activity.

In 'Death of a Dynasty', we follow a female Tyrannosaurus as she looks for a mate. Eventually she would find a male suitor, and she successfully lays a clutch of eggs, fending off raiders like the tiny mammal Didelphodon, who specialises in stealing dinosaur eggs in this ash wilderness.

Answer: Ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus weighed in at seven tonnes, and was covered in tough boney slits all over its upper body, head and even a tail with a club at the end of it. This tail club would be the weapon that downs the mother Tyrannosaurus as she defends her two pups from the plant eater. She limps away and eventually dies, but she won't be alone. Other dinosaurs around her will meet the same fate, as a giant comet crashes onto Earth.

It hit the Gulf of Mexico, and wreaked havoc across the globe. This is the end of the age of dinosaurs.