Bone Diggers: Australia's Lost Marsupials

Playing like a paleontologist's episode of CSI: Australia, this typically captivating NOVA entry focuses on the discovery of the perfectly preserved remains of one of the most fascinating creatures from prehistoric Australia. When countless bones are uncovered inside a remote cave's sprawling network of caverns, a small band of daring paleontologists converge on the site to protect it from poachers who sell fossil remains on the lucrative black market. Once inside, their wildest expectations are exceeded when they find a complete, fully preserved skeleton of a Thylacoleo carnifex, a fearsome meat-eating marsupial lion that dominated the plains of prehistoric Australia, boasting the most powerful bite of any mammal, living or extinct. Combining computer-animated imagery with expert testimony, Bone Diggers looks at Thylacoleo and other animals that roamed Australia during the Ice Age (a million-plus years ago), including giant kangaroos, wombats "the size of hippos," and a horned tortoise "as big as a Volkswagen." But Thylacoleo was by far the most fearsome predator, and the program follows the intriguing process of scanning the delicate bones into a computer, after which anatomical experts add flesh, muscle, tendons, and fur (with markings and coloration the result of educated guesswork) to digitally recreate a "living" Thylacoleo. Going a step further, Bone Diggers also examines dominant theories about how these prehistoric Australian creatures may have perished (hint: early humankind probably had a hand in it). DVD extras include printable materials for educators. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Shannon)