The inexperienced hunter hatzegopteryx accidentally dropped its prey. The baby tethyshadros fall to where its mother is desperately trying to catch it.
Tethyshadros is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from Italy. Its name references the Tethys Sea, a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era of which the Mediterranean Sea is a remnant. Tethyshadros was relatively small for a hadrosaur, at about 4.5 m in length, and weighing around 500 kg. As a hadrosaur, Tethyshadros was a beaked animal with a hand formed into a fleshy pad and three-toed feet. The beak was unique in its snowplow-like shape, which was pointed, and serrated rather than smooth.
I love how well the Tethyshadros' camouflage mimics their surroundings. The very shapes of the conifers around them are in the patterns on their skin, and it's a beautiful design.
proportionally theyre quite goofy looking but conceptually. the giant azhdarchids are so fucking scary like what do you mean these fucking things were the size of planes and cld probably kill a person with one well aimed peck
study of a screenshot from Prehistoric Planet: a male Hatzegopteryx tries to impress a female with a spread of branches and a recent kill - a juvenile Tethyshadros
Do you think there are any dinosaurs that theoretically would make for good pets?
Depends on what they are being used for!
Large herbivores, absolutely not. Parasaurs would break your eardrum without even being aggressive, and considering large herbivores like modern day elephants, buffalo, or hippos, I wouldn't trust anything that is built for combat like Stegosaurus, Triceratops or Ankylosaurs.
Large carnivores are also a probably not. Anything bigger than a utahraptor is likely to see us as prey rather than a threat or even worth allying with. We would be worth more to them as food rather than a hunting partner.
Now, smaller dinosaurs have some serious opportunities here. Like modern birds, smaller species like Archaeopteryx, Anchiornis, Microraptor or even Velociraptor would find great benefit on a steady diet and a safe place to live. Unlike what Jurassic Park says, Velociraptors were not much bigger than a turkey, and I already have geese at home bigger than that so why couldnt we keep Velos? They could theoretically be great companions, guards, or pest control.
An interesting consideration would be smaller herbivores. For example, take Tethyshadros - a hadrosaur that didnt get much bigger than a cow. We could probably keep them in herds much the same as cattle, though without knowing exactly how they lived there's no way of knowing agricultural benefit. Albertadromeus is another small herbivore that would be a viable candidate for pet life, but not probably your sit down and cuddle type.
Predatory species, as ironic as it is, make easier close bond companions compared to prey species. You would probably have a better bet with small theropods than anything else, due to the similarities to modern birds. Again, this is all just thoughts from me personally - if anyone has other ideas or counter-arguments, please share!
Based on Tethyshadros, the funny italian hadrosaur from Prehistoric planet basically, its also based on sheep for reasons that are more obvious in the final form
Tethysungma, the Frozen Hoof Pokémon
Rock/Ice
Same inspirations as before, but its also based on the specific visual of a mountain being so tall it touches the clouds, which is why I gave it sheep-like covering, I also made it look like a unicorn, because why not.
Islands was a good start to Prehistoric Planet Season 2!
Kind of surprised we didn't start with Hatzegopteryx, kind of like a Season end to Season beginning transition. Zalmoxes was a nice way to start though. Wonder what that pterosaur was at the start? Also yeah, animals hop on rafts like that all the time. It's one way they can spread to new places.
Tethyshadros vs Hatzegopteryx was probably my favourite of the Europe segments, always nice to see the creepy giant giraffe storks in action. Should mention that Tethyshadros was found to be from earlier than the Maastrichtian stage so technically dated, but oh well. If this news somehow was able to drop earlier so it could inform the show, I could see this segment actually playing out pretty much the same. They already have Telmatosaurus models from last season, so yeah.
Was excited to see Simosuchus! Strange, unique crocodilian relative that is portrayed like it's a gopher. The injured Majungasaurus was a nice touch, trying to hunt smaller prey than often depicted doing.
Favourite segment was the Adalatheium one. Loved getting a Mesozoic mammal with the spotlight, also the babies seem to be live action rodents as the stand ins? Huh. Also nicely connected to the larger ecosystem. Like, we got the Majungasaurus, but also Masiakasaurus tried to hunt the cubs, only for itself to be hunted by a Madtsoia. Also seeing how Adalatherium be shown with familiar mammal traits but unique ones as well because it's Gondwanatherian and not close to any modern species.
Imperobator segment wasn't bad but still the weakest, just a theropod hunting ornithopod segment without much special. To be fair though, we don't know much about the species depicted (especially Imperobator, whose classification is just "Paravian"). Also, at least the Morrosaurus doesn't end up like small ornithopods in other documentaries and existed just to be theropod food, lol.
Hatzeg mating sequence had a lot spoiled and also I was at my limit with the internet but it was still cool to see the full thing! Nice continuity with the Tethyshadros being the prey the male shows, though I wish they explained how his crest and stuff got more colourful.
I think I can guess how it works, but still some clarification in the narration would've been nice. But yeah, was a cool final segment, even if I kind of wanted more based on the Season 1 episode structure. XP
Also can't help but wonder if Magyarosaurus or Paludititan were considered in any concept stages for the episode - I think to really show the strangeness of island dwarfism, seeing small Hateg sauropods would've sold that well.