Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur

Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur depicts the discovery in southern Argentina of a new species of titanosaur, a type of long-necked plant-eating sauropod, not named in the programme but later scientifically described as Patagotitan mayorum in 2017.

After excavation, the bones were stabilised with wet toilet paper and plaster of Paris, before being transported out of the site on a specially constructed road.

They were then 3D-scanned by an international team of skeleton builders, and a life-size replica was made in Toronto, Canada, using fibreglass cast in computer-cut polystyrene moulds.

(Dr Pol explains that Titanosaur skulls rarely survive as they were very delicate bones with light sutures).

Attenborough struggles to walk without stepping on dinosaur eggs, and discusses the site with one of its discoverers, Dr Luis Chiappe.

At the Museo Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Neuquén Province, they look at a fossil egg from the site with mineralised baby dinosaur skin.

At Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, England, Professor John Hutchinson looks at the gait of elephants, the largest living land animals, to see if they can shed light on how the titanosaur might have moved.

Ben Garrod joins the team in Argentina to help work out how the skeleton would have walked, and Komodo dragons illustrate how the titanosaur might have used its tail.

Also at Whipsnade Zoo, Attenborough looks at how the long neck of giraffes would allow them to graze on foliage high in trees.

[11] The programme won the Jury's Special Prize at the 2016 Wildscreen Panda Awards, where it was praised for "its “epic scale, compelling storytelling and restrained but excellently judged use of CGI”.