Nigel's first sighting are two juvenile Parasaurolophus. These tall, crested herbivores, though large, are harmless, unlike the two Albertosaurus who are in close pursuit! Albertosaurus is a ferocious hunter and predecessor to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, which comes 10 million years later. Smaller and lighter than T. Rex, Albertosaurus are fast and dangerous - they chase Nigel's jeep at over 38 miles per hour!
Nigel believes that, just like today's Australian crocodiles, Deinosuchus makes forays into the open ocean. He continues his search in the lagoon, which today is Big Bend National Park, south west Texas, where many of Deinosuchus fossilised remains have been found. So just like the flying reptile pterosaur Nyctosaurus, Nigel takes to the sky to get a better view.
He finds his target, and a short cut through the forest introduces him to another reptile he's always wanted to meet: a Troodon formosus. These are meat eaters and they were one of the first American dinosaurs ever to be described.
Having finally found the massive reptile, the team try to get it back to Prehistoric Park and Nigel ends up as the bait!
In Time...
During the Late Cretaceous Period, 75 million years ago, Texas was on the coast of a vast inland sea. Fringed by dense swamps it was the perfect habitat for a giant crocodile and the many other dinosaurs that roamed the area.
Making The Episode
Travelling over 10,000 miles to the other side of the world for this final episode, the freshwater lakes of Fraser Island, Australia, provided the setting for recreating the shorelines of ancient Texas. Taking along a 3m long head-and-shoulder model of Deinosuchus, this episode was shot back-to-back with episode 3 in New Zealand - a solid two month block of filming!
