Animal Armageddon

The Creatures of Animal Armageddon
Animal Armageddon »

The First Mass Extinction

Episode 1: Death Rays — Check the TV Schedule for future air dates.
Four hundred and fifty million years ago, a deadly burst of gamma rays triggered the first mass extinction in the history of planet Earth. The ozone layer was blasted apart, powerful ultraviolet rays from the sun poured in unchecked. The climate was utterly ruined and soon the Earth plummeted into a long, torturous Ice Age. Animals in the ocean were decimated by this horrific disaster and the hunters now became the hunted. Eighty-five percent of animal life — accounting for two-thirds of all species — was wiped out... but all was not lost. Miraculously, the disaster brought hope and renewal.

Meet the Creatures of the First Mass Extinction
Name: The Ordovician-Silurian Extinction Event | Time: 450 Million Years Ago | Size: Killed 65% of All Species | Cause: A Gamma Ray Burst from an Exploding Star | Result: The Rise of Fish and Other Vertebrate Lifeforms

ACANTHODIAN
One of the first fish with jaws. This revolutionary adaptation allows the fish, a once-rare lifeform, to take over the planet. [ VIDEO]

ASTRASPIS
One of only a few fish species prior to the mass extinction, Astraspis had something never before seen on Earth: a primitive backbone. [ VIDEO]

COILED NAUTILOID
Among the top predators of the Ordovician, their coiled shells allowed them to survive at much deeper depths than the straight-shelled nautiloids.
EURYPTERIDS
Vicious sea scorpions called eurypterids routinely challenged the nautiloids for the best feeding grounds 450 million years ago. [ VIDEO]

STRAIGHT-SHELLED NAUTILOID
The great white shark of its time, the nautiloid is a perfectly designed killing machine... up to 20 feet long with an insatiable hunger. [ VIDEO]

TRILOBITES
Relatives of today's ants, these industrious scavengers kept the sea floor clean.