The central creature is the sauropod Diplodocus, a long-necked herbivore. It is set in Colorado, which, back then, was filled with giant conifers and, in a time without grass, fern prairies. The second episode jumps forward to the Late- Jurassic period, when dinosaurs have well and truly taken over.

Plateosaurus ('flat lizard') - the biggest dinosaur in the Triassic, and the shape of things to come.

Peteinosaurus ('winged lizard') - an early pterosaur.

Postosuchus (crocodile from post') - the largest 'predator of the Triassic, an ancient archosaur and close relative of the dinosaurs.

Thrinaxodon - a small mammal-like reptile.

Placerias - a 1 ton herbivore armed with short tusks.

Coelophysis ('hollow form') - one of the first dinosaurs a quick, light built hunter.

following the demise of an adult Postosuchus- then the top of the food chain- through attack by a rival as well as various clips detailing the life of a pair of Cycodonts and their desperate bid to raise a family, the episode concludes with the return of the rains, whilst a group of migrating Plateosaurs return to the plain, bringing 'new blood' to the starved landscape. The episode then details the decline of the Archosaurs such as the Placerias, who are gradualy being ousted from the Triassic ecosystem by such large grazers as the Prosauropod plateosaurs. the episode highlights the lives of a group of Coelophysis, a reasonably well - known early Theropod, which is presented as being a relatively adaptable and flexible creature, opportunistic hunter, and occasional cannibal (this assumption is now known to be false, with recent scientific study revealing that what had appeared to be the bones of a younger specimen within that of an adult, were in fact two seperate skeletons that had perished on top of each other, and been compressed into one). This episode, set in the Arizona of the late Triassic, tells of a time when the dinosaur group had yet to gain a sure footing in the mesozoic ecosystem.

produced by director Tim Haines, the series used advanced CGI and animatronic technology, and is now renown as being one of the most accurate prehistoric documentaries made to date. the series intended to show the life and times of these facinating reptiles right from their earliest beginnings in the mid - Triassic, right up to their cataclysmic demise at the end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago. Walking with Dinosaurs was a six-part television series produced by BBC and aired first in the UK in 1999.

Postosuchus walking with dinosaurs