Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives is a 1989 four-part BBC documentary series concerning the discovery of fossils. It is written and presented by David Attenborough, produced by Mike Salisbury, and was originally broadcast in April 1989. It was made in between the second and third instalments of Attenborough's "Life" series: The Living Planet and The Trials of Life, respectively. The study of rocks and their ancient secrets was something of a boyhood passion for David Attenborough. In these programmes, his enthusiasm for the subject is undiminished. With the help of expert palaeontologists, fossil hunters and (for the time) modern animation techniques, Attenborough attempts to show how life evolved in Earth's distant past. To do so, he travels the globe to visit the world's most famous fossil sites.

Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives
2004 DVD box cover by 2 Entertain
Genre	Documentary television
Written by	David Attenborough
Presented by	David Attenborough
Theme music composer	Terry Oldfield
Composer	Terry Oldfield
Country of origin	England
Original languages	English, Spanish
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producer	Mike Salisbury
Cinematography	Graham Frake
Editor	Colin Cradock
Camera setup	Stephen Bolwell, Jim Harris
Production companies	BBC Bristol, TBS
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	23 April (1989-04-23) – 14 May 1989 (1989-05-14)
Related
The First Eden (1987) The Trials of Life (1990)

Release

2 Entertain published the series on DVD (catalog number BBCDVD1466) on 27 September 2004.

List of episodes

No.	Title	Original release date
1	"Magic in the Rocks"	23 April 1989 (1989-04-23)
A picture of prehistoric life emerges, as Attenborough unearths several major clues in the form of fossilised remains that were undiscovered for millennia.
2	"Putting Flesh on Bone"	30 April 1989 (1989-04-30)
Attenborough explores vanished lives of prehistoric creatures and using the latest evidence, scientists reconstruct a pterodactyl in the form of a model aircraft—to see if such a beast could indeed have flown. Animals Ichthyosaurs Arthropleura (identifided as giant millipede) Trilobites Pterosaurs Pteranodon Quetzalcoatlus
3	"Dinosaur"	7 May 1989 (1989-05-07)
Attenborough visits several museums of natural history. With the aid of dinosaur skeletons, he demonstrates how they existed in real life, and speculates about the reasons for their sudden demise. Animals Giraffatitan (identified as Brachiosaurus) Seismosaurus (identified as Diplodocus) Stegosaurus Allosaurus Hadrosaurs Triceratops Tyrannosaurus Ornithomimus Struthiomimus Apatosaurus Brontosaurus
4	"The Rare Glimpses"	14 May 1989 (1989-05-14)
Four famous locations that have the most suitable conditions for fossilisation are explored. Not only are common animals preserved, but also plants and other, seldom-seen creatures. Locations Burgess Shale Solnhofen Limestone Messel Pit La Brea Tar Pits Animals Trilobite Anomalocaris Archaeopteryx Propalaeotherium Leptictidium Pholidocercus Columbian mammoth Hagerman horse Paramylodon Smilodon Dire wolf Steppe bison American lion

External links

• Lost Worlds Vanished Lives at the British Film Institute
• Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives at IMDb