| A Mammoth Undertaking | |
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| Episode information | |
| Episode no. : | 2 |
| Broadcast : | July 29, 2006 |
| Chronological information | |
| Preceding episode "T-Rex Returns" |
Following episode "Dinobirds" |
| User reviews | |
| Your opinion : | A Mammoth Undertaking/User Reviews |
"A Mammoth Undertaking" - broadcast in France as "S'occuper d'un Mammouth" ("Caring for a Mammoth") and in Spain as "Los mamuts" ("The Mammoths") - is the 2nd episode of Prehistoric Park.
Summary[]
Nigel travels to the Siberian Ice Age in order to rescue a woolly mammoth, but all does not go as planned, and the team must take some drastic measures.
Full synopsis[]
Prehistoric Park is starting to come to life. All of the new saurian inhabitants are doing well, and Nigel stops by T-Rex Hill at feeding time. Terrence and Matilda, the two Tyrannosaurus, are eating well and growing extremely fast. Nigel then heads to the park's resident herd of elephants, where he explains that he is looking to rescue an extinct type of elephant, the mammoth. To achieve this, he will travel to Ice Age Siberia, about 10,000 years ago, when mammoths were almost extinct.
First trip[]
Heading through the portal in thick, cold-weather attire, Nigel starts traveling across the tundra by snowmobile. As the climate is getting warmer, boreal forests are replacing the tundra grass which would have once dominated the area's floral assemblages, and would have been the primary food source for the mammoths. This, as well as overhunting by ice age humans, has driven them to the brink of extinction.
After traveling for miles, Nigel comes across a rocky cave in the middle of the trees and decides to explore it. However, a low, menacing growl is soon heard, prompting him to slowly back out of the cave. A large cave bear follows him out, apparently disturbed from its winter hibernation. It begins to pursue Nigel, who runs away. It rears up on its hind legs and knocks over the camera in anger. When the bear disappears, the cameraman finds Nigel up in a tree. He apologizes to his cameraman and admits that he thought cave bears were already extinct by this time. He then observes the bear for a minute, but decides not to attempt to take it back to the park.
After riding a short distance in the snowmobile, Nigel clambers up a rocky slope in order to get a better view of the area. It is mostly trees as far as the eye can see, but he finally spots a more open area at the foot of the mountains. Soon, Nigel finds some interesting artifacts. First is a flute carved from a mammoth tusk by primitive humans. Second is a trail of elephantine footprints in the snow. Lastly, he finds a pile of fresh mammoth dung. He then hears noises from large animals and decides to investigate.
Upon arriving at an alluvial plain, he spots his first mammoths. However, one is dead, having fallen prey to a snow trap set by human hunters. The remaining mammoth is lingering by her dead companion, indicating they may have been sisters. Nigel approaches the surviving mammoth, but she soon collapses to the ground, having also been injured by the hunters. Distraught, Nigel attempts to calm her down, and soon deduces that the human hunters will be back at some point to finish off the remaining animal. Nigel radios his team to seek aid.
Ornithomimus paddock[]
Back at the park, Bob is contemplating how to take better care of the resident herd of Ornithomimus. When they first arrived, he put them into a paddock designed for ostriches, since they looked similar. However, the enclosure does not seem to be accommodating them well. However, based on the observation that their bills resemble a duck's, Bob decides to put the herd into a new paddock with a large pond. Once the herd is released, they chaotically flock about before finally settling down while Bob watches in awe.
Rescuing a mammoth[]
Back at 10,000 years ago, Nigel's team arrive, and they agree that the mammoth must be brought back to the park in order to be treated properly. She is shot with an antibiotic dart for the time being. The team then sets up camp on the site. Later, in the night, Nigel spots eyeshine from some cave hyenas hiding in the distance. Soon after, a wolf pack attacks the campsite for the mammoth, but Nigel is able to fend them off. He then lights some torches around the mammoth to discourage any further predatory approaches. The humans also return, but do not approach, perhaps frightened by the unfamiliar equipment, such as flashlights, which Nigel and his team carrying.
The next morning, Nigel checks up on the wounded mammoth. The antibiotics have been effective, and the mammoth is finally able to stand up again. She is, at first, insistent on remaining with her dead sister, but Nigel eventually manages to lead her through the time portal and back into the present day. Upon their arrival, Nigel radios the medical staff for help. Suzanne then arrives and performs a quick surgery on the mammoth in the holding pens, successfully extracting a spearhead that was lodged in its shoulder. Suzanne expects it to make a full recovery. The team names the mammoth Martha.
Second Trip[]
However, problems begin to arise when, at feeding time, Martha refuses to feed on the hay she was provided. The team calls Suzanne over, but she finds nothing wrong. With the team perplexed as to what the issue is, Nigel assumes that the food they are giving Martha is possibly the wrong type of plant material. Therefore, he decides to go back to the Pleistocene, 150,000 years ago, to take some plant samples back to Prehistoric Park in order to determine what type of food they should be giving her.
Upon arrival, he notices a large herd of woolly mammoths. He also begins collecting plant samples in between watching them. However, the herd is spooked by a sexually active bull mammoth. They move away and begin feeding. However, a baby mammoth gets stuck in a muddy puddle. As the rest of the herd approaches, the matriarch hoists the baby out of the mud with her trunk and tusks. Subsequently, the herd begins feeding again. Suddenly, a large male Elasmotherium is seen investigating Nigel's snowmobile. Nigel sees it and keeps still and quiet. At first, because of its poor eyesight, the Elasmotherium fails to notice Nigel. However, the it picks up his scent and walks closer. Nigel backs off but is stopped by the bull mammoth. As the Elasmotherium picks up the mammoth's scent, however, it backs off, giving Nigel a chance to escape. However, he drops his bag of plant samples in the process.
When he goes to retrieve it, he notices the Elasmotherium close by. Deciding to seize the opportunity of rescuing another animal, Nigel sets up the time portal, before using himself as bait, luring the Elasmotherium into charging at him. He is successful, and runs through the time portal. As he exits the other side, Nigel tells the staff at the entrance to close the gates to trap the Elasmotherium, which attempts to break it with its horn. Soon, it is transferred into an observation pen, where it is kept until a new enclosure can be built. Immediately afterward, Nigel heads over to Martha's enclosure, where he offers his plant samples to her. However, she still refuses to eat. Nigel then realizes that Martha is probably lonely, as the female mammoths he saw were in large social groups. Later that night, Nigel holds an important meeting with Bob and Suzanne about their next course of action, and the decision is made to introduce Martha to the park's herd of African elephants.
Introducing Martha[]
The next day, Nigel and the rest of the park staff prepare to introduce Martha with the elephant matriarch. Shortly after Nigel arrives at Mammoth Mount, the matriarch is herded into Martha's enclosure. The crew then anxiously watch as Martha and the matriarch interact with each other. Elephant matriarchs have been known to kill strange elephants coming into established herds, and there is no way to predict how she will react towards Martha. However, things appear to go better than expected, as Martha and the matriarch exchange what Suzanne interprets as overtures of friendship. With things going well, Nigel orders for the gates to be opened. Martha follows the matriarch over to the rest of the herd, where she is accepted as one of its members. At the end of the episode, Martha is seen finally feeding with the elephants.
Cast[]
- Nigel Marven as Himself
- Rod Arthur as Head Keeper Bob
- Suzanne McNabb as Herself
- David Jason as Narrator
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Creatures[]
- Tyrannosaurus rex
- African bush elephant
- Cave bear
- Woolly mammoth
- Cave hyena
- Wolf
- Cro-Magnon
- Elasmotherium
- Cave lion (cut from episode)
Locations[]
- Prehistoric Park
- Siberia (only appearance)
Objects & Technology[]
- Time Portal
- Snowmobile
Errors[]
- As Nigel stated, the Cave Bear should be extinct by the time the first part of the episode was shot.
- The date for the extinction of mammoths was incorrectly cited as 10,000 years ago. The last known mammoth population died out on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean around 1700 BCE.