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| “ | But something is about to spoil their lunch; something nastier, hungrier, and three times bigger: Carcharodontosaurs. | ” |
— The narrator builds up the entrance of the predators
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A group of unnamed carcharodontosaurs appear in "Alpha's Egg" as antagonists. Their exact genus has been known to be Aerosteon riocoloradense.
In Dinosaur Planet[]
"Alpha's Egg"[]
Two individuals serve as the secondary antagonists of the second episode, "Alpha's Egg". Both measuring around 40 feet long and by far the top predators of their time and ecosystem, one individual is brown-colored, and the other whiteish-grey. It is likely that they are a mated pair, with the brown one being male and the grey one female.
Near the beginning of the episode, Dragonfly and his mate stumble across a dead Saltasaurus, and they decide to scavenge from it. Little do they know, a pair of carcharodontosaurs (possibly Aerosteon) are returning to the kill. The massive brown male approaches the two Aucasaurus and lets out a loud, anger-filled roar, causing them to back off. The brown carcharodontosaur eventually forces the Aucasaurs to leave, and turns back to its mate so they can feast.
Later in the episode, the carcharodontosaurs emerge from the trees and onto a field, where the Saltasaurus herd are making their way to the nesting grounds. Alpha is lagging dangerously behind because of her injured leg, so she has to pick up the pace. The carcharodontosaurs make a u-turn to the back of the herd, and stroll towards whoever is in the back in order to kill them without much effort, as the predators are larger than their prey. Alpha manages to outpace an older female, and is safe. However, the old Saltasaurus is not so lucky, and is killed with a crushing bite from the male carcharodontosaur. The two apex predators drag the saltasaur back towards the trees, and feast.
Possible genera[]
Because it is not possible to tell whether the narrator meant "carcharodontosaurs" as plural or to refer to the family Carcharodontosauridae, the exact genus of the carcharodontosaurs that appear in the episode is unknown. There are some genera that may be possible candidates.
- The Dinosaur Viewer "brain game" on Cosmeo.com for Dinosaur Planet identified the carcharodontosaurs as Carcharodontosaurus. However, all the information was related to the genus in Africa, making the source unreliable.
- However, Greg Paul, author and palaeontological advisor for the show, identified Carcharodontosaurus as a species of Giganotosaurus in his book, "Greg Paul's Dinosaurs: A Field Guide". Because of this identification in the book, it is possible that the intention from Paul was to have the carcharodontosaurs be considered Carcharodontosaurus carolinii for the episode. However, it is unconfirmed if he made this decision during Dinosaur Planet's production.
- Another likely candidate is the megaraptoran theropod Aerosteon, which lived in the exact time and place as both Saltasaurus and Aucasaurus. The reason for this is that in the early 2000s, when Dinosaur Planet was in production, palaeontologists believed the remains of Aerosteon (which had not been named at the time) belonged to a large carcharodontosaurid genus. It is very likely that the producers of the show decided to add in an as of yet unnamed carcharodontosaur into Alpha's Egg based on the remains that had been found. This has actually been the case. So, the Dinosaur Planet Carcharodontosaurs are actually Aerosteon riocoloradense.
- They could also be Megaraptor, which also lived at the time, though this one was believed to be a dromaeosaur at first. They could also be Tratayenia, a megaraptoran discovered in 2018.
Errors[]
- The Carcharodontosaurs are depicted as very slow-moving, when it was more likely that they would have been able to chase prey. Although the Saltasaurs they were hunting were even slower and were easier for them to catch.
- The brown Carcharodontosaur crushes the neck of the old female Saltasaurus, something that was likely impossible for it to do. In reality, Carcharodontosaurs would have delivered very weak bites that instead would've caused significant blood-loss, causing the prey to bleed to death. But since the Carcharodontosaurs are based on megaraptorans, they should be kicking their prey with their legs and slashing it with their hands, as megaraptorans likely killed their prey by kicking and slashing.
- The position of the Carcharodontosaurs' hands is incorrect. They should be facing each other, not downwards.
- The skull of the dinosaurs appears to be skin wrapped, it would only look like this if the creature was starving to death.
- Carcharodontosaurs could not roar but instead make infrasonic rumbles, coos, booms and hoots like some living birds. They could also produce sounds with their mouths closed. This wasn’t known at the time of production, however.
Trivia[]
- The Carcharodontosaurs make penguin honks, tiger snarls, lion roars, and elephant trumpets, something that the Daspletosaurus of the show also use. These sounds were positively received.
- They are the only dinosaurs in the episode to have an original model while the rest are re-used models from other episodes.
- In the 2012 South Korean film Tarbosaurus: The Mightiest Ever, Patch, his wife, and his mother use the same sounds as the Daspletosaurus from "Little Das' Hunt".
- The T. rex (named Tyra) that appears in the 2012 computer-animated Korean film Dino Time uses the same sound effects as the Carcharodontosaurs from "Alpha's Egg", as well as the Aucasaurus and used supergator from 2007 film
- The Saltasaur killed later in the episode is actually the same one from the beginning that Dragonfly and his mate scavenge from.
- They are the largest dinosaur in the series.
- They have similar color schemes to the Aucasaurs.
Gallery[]
Audio[]