| “ | Last time, we saved a large armored fish from the Devonian seas. This time, we go back 300 million years to a time when giant creepy crawlies ruled the world. At the same time, we will rescue the first ever true vertebrate land lovers; the very first reptiles. | „ |
| — Allen, opening narration | ||
Arthropods of the Swamp is the seventh episode of the first season of Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History.
Synopsis[]
The team travels back in time to the Carboniferous Era, where high oxygen content in the atmosphere has allowed arthropods to once more reach giant sizes. The coal forest is also inhabited by Petrolacosaurus, the world's first reptiles
Plot[]
Allen's goal of bringing living prehistoric animals to the park have been paying off very well as several extinct animals of the water get use to their surroundings. Allen heads to the insect enclosure sees several animals such as modern milipedes crawling on the ground and dragonflies flying near the water and this gave him an idea of what he is going to rescue. Allen head's Joanna's office to informs her that he going back the Late Carboniferous 300 million years ago to rescue some of the largest insects the world has ever seen as he shows photo of rather strange marks in rocks on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. One of the insects Allen informs his boss that he is going to rescue is Arthropleura, a prehistoric millipede that grew as big a man, while other insects that he tell Joanna that he going to bring are giant dragonflies called Meganeura, giant scorpions called Pulmonoscorpius, and giant spiders called Megarachne. Later Allen came across Rebecca while packing their stuff so they rescue the Carboniferous' large arthropods and informs her that during that time reptiles were starting evolve.
The team sets up the portal and opens it to the Carboniferous where Allen and the group drove through and found themselves in a massive swamp on the spot where Scotland will be one day. They see massive extinct plants that look like trees called Lepidodendron all throughout the prehistoric swamp. Rebecca asks Allen arthropods grown to massive sizes during this time and tells her that the oxygen during the Carboniferous is much higher than in the present therefore insects and arachnids were able to grow very large. Sudden Allen spots something crawling through the fern and it revealed to a female Megarachne one of the giant arthropods that they came looking for. The large prehistoric spider was waiting for prey in it's burrow much like a few modern day spiders do.
Near the burrow, the team spots an early species of reptile called Petrolacosaurus hunting for food on the forest floor until the Megarachne erupts from it's burrow and chases the small reptile into a log. The female Megarachne tries to get into the log but is unable to squeeze through due to her armor, however she then goes to the top of the log to get to the Petrolacosaurus and strikes it with her sharp fangs. The team follows the Megarachne who is dragging the Petrcosaurus she killed back to her burrow. The spider than notices that her lair starting to flood which causes her to abanodon the hole so she can find another one as Megarachne cannot dig. Allen and the team follows the prehistoric spider dragging her prey with her while she looks a hole to start a new lair.
While the Megarachne was dragging the dead Petrolacosaurus with her, the spider's prey was then snatched by a Meganeura one of the other giant bugs Allen wants to save. Allen decides to climb up a Lepidodendron so he can find other Meganeura flying in the skies around the swamp. Once he got to the top, Allen got fantastic view of the whole swamp. He then spots another Meganeura flying toward him until he ducks down, the female Meganeura that stole the dead Petrolacosaurus from the Megarachne lands next to Allen and begins to feast on it. Allen then spots a storm coming not too far away which was the reason why water levels of the swamp were rising.
Allen returns to the ground level so he rescue the animals of the swamp. Later when the team heads towards the water, they spot a group of predatory amphibian called Proterogyrinus. Allen explains to Rebecca that amphibians continued to thrive for the last 60 million years ever since the end of the Devonian, but now became powerful predators with devastating pair of jaws. The team opens the portal and rescues a few Proterogyrinus for the park.
After rescuing the prehistoric amphibians, the team continues to follow the female Megarachne so they can rescue her while passing by other holes home to other Megarachne which don't share. Suddenly Allen spots something big crawling through ferns heading toward the spider which caused his dog Caine to bark at it. It was then revealed to be the large milipede they have come to rescue the Arthropleura who reaches up to scare away the Megarachne.
Allen tries to catch the large arthropod but crawls away into the swamp. Later the team continues to follow the female Megarachne until she found a hole which she use for a lair. Allen rescues the female Megarachne and names her Charlotte as they open the portal get her to the park along with prehistoric spiders called Protosolpuga. However several other Megarachne followed the team through the portal but were put into the bug enclosure. Later Allen spots another Petrolacosaurus running through the swamps and manage to rescue it along with some others so they can be brought to the park.
Later that night, the team sets camp as the storm arrives which try to keep themselves dry. Allen watches a large swarm of Meganeura being forced down from the canopy to seek shelter while a few Proterogyrinus erupts from the water trying to eat them. Once the storm stopped later, Allen spots a Pulmonoscorpius which became active following the storm. He tries to grab it but pinches him with it's claws before crawling away.
The next day, Allen goes to rescue Meganeura along the team while carrying a butterfly net. He tries to catch one but fails as the prehistoric dragonfly flew away. Allen eventually tries to use a water pistol which he fills it with detergent and water so he can finally catch a Meganeura. After several fails, Allen finally gets a Meganeura while the team does the same and collects a large swarm for the park. Suddenly he saw something swimming and goes after it. It was revealed to be another prehistoric species of amphibian called Crassigyrinus much to Rebecca surprise.
He gets it along with other Crassigyrinus to the park where they were put into their enclosure. After rescuing the prehistoric amphibians and the Meganeura swarm, the team goes off to rescue Pulmonoscorpius and bring back to the present. Caine sniffs at a log which Allen turns over only to find another Pulmonoscorpius armed with it's stinger and claws while moving towards Allen as he moves. Allen draws the scorpion's attention by using a stick to make vibration. Suddenly he finally grabs the Pulmonoscorpius by it's tail below the stinger before putting into a pet carrier as the team collects other Pulmonoscorpius in the area.
However as Allen puts the prehistoric scorpion he caught into the pet carrier, the Pulmonoscorpius stings him with it's stinger much to Rebecca shock. Soon the team spots a wildfire nearby that was caused by the storm last night which Allen realizes that the high levels of oxygen also makes things burn faster. As he carries to the pet carrier holding the scorpion in to jeep along with the others, Allen trips over something not a fallen log but another Arthropleura. Luckily Allen manages to catch the massive milipede with a plastic sheet and ties a rope around while bring it to the jeep along with a few other Arthropleura the team rescued along with another prehistoric centipede called Euphoberia. As the jeep was out of action, Allen sets the portal and heads through and grabs tow rope which he ties it to the jeep.
The jeep then gets towed out of the coal forest swamp and back to the park not by a towtruck or other vehicle, but by an African Elephant. Somehow another Arthropleura (one that is 20 ft long) follows through the portal before bring brought to the bug enclosure with the other rescued Carboniferous bugs and eventually named Arthur. Once the giant bugs were put into their enclosure, Allen goes to Rebecca so she can have a look at the sting that the Pulmonoscorpius left him. Rebecca tells him that he should okay as scorpion venom are only made to kill insects whereas it doesn't effect him due to humans being a mammal.
Allen's daughter Crystal asks him if he is going to be okay because of the scorpion sting, and he tells her that he should be okay. Later Allen goes to insect enclosure to check on all of the newly arrived Carboniferous animals. He feeds Arthur the 20 ft long Arthropleura, a leaf as Arthropleura is a vegetation like most modern millipedes. Allen then tells Rebecca that many of the plants that flourish in the Carboniferous eventually became the coal that people use to burn.
| “ | Next time, we go walks the lands of the Early Permian, where we will rescue the world's first giant reptiles, both docile and dangerous. | „ |
| — Allen, closing narration | ||
Characters[]
Animals[]
- Arthropleura
- Crassigyrinus
- Euphoberia
- Meganeura
- Megarachne
- Petrolacosaurus
- Proterogyrinus
- Protosolpuga
- Pulmonoscorpius
Time[]
- Late Carboniferous - 300,000,000 BC