Few days can be said to radically change history, but one of them was certainly the extinction event 66 million years ago, when an asteroid hit the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out the dinosaurs and 75 percent of all life on earth. Filmmaker Sarah Holt’s PBS-aired NOVA documentary describes the day when the seven-and-a-half mile wide asteroid traveling at 40,000 miles per hour hit the Earth with the force of 10 billion Hiroshima bombs. The space rock bored some 20 miles into the Earth's crust, causing shock waves, hurricane force winds, tremendous heat, and wildfires. Anything within roughly 600 miles of the impact zone was vaporized, and huge amounts of rock and water were displaced into the atmosphere. No remnants of the asteroid survived, but scientists have found evidence of the impact from something known as the "K-T boundary" in the Earth's crust, above which no fossils of dinosaurs are found. Dinosaurs had ruled the Earth for millions of years, reaching the far corners of the planet, and growing to incredible sizes (as much as the length of three city buses). But they were no match for the heat, dust, soot, and toxic fumes that blanketed Earth, which darkened the world and caused mass plant extinctions and starvation. Here, viewers see scientists investigating the impact site—known as the "Chicxulub crater"—where they obtain core samples from the crater's peak ring that was formed when rock and debris rained back down to the ground. The extinction of dinosaurs cleared the way for the evolution of small mammals and, ultimately, humans. However, reflecting the widespread belief that birds descended from dinosaurs, a scientist here notes that perhaps the days of the dinosaurs never really ended. Full of eye-opening research, this documentary will appeal to both students and dinosaur buffs. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)
The Day the Dinosaurs Died
(2017) 60 min. DVD: $24.99 ($54.99 w/PPR). PBS Video. SDH captioned. ISBN: 978-1-5317-0357-8. Volume 33, Issue 4
The Day the Dinosaurs Died
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: