Episode three, entitled "Freshwater," follows dinosaurs and pterosaurs living around the planet's freshwater systems. For lovers of nature documentaries like Planet Earth, this episode leans more heavily into nature documentary tropes and trends, which works in its favour. Once again, prehistoric life pops out of the screen with brilliant designs and animations. Viewers are taken to southern North America, Central Asia, and Southern Africa to follow the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles living in these environments. The opening scene follows a pack of Velociraptors hunting pterosaur hatchlings on the cliffs around a waterfall. A thrilling and exhilarating scene that demonstrates the hunting prowess of Velociraptor, this was easily the episodes highlight. The prolonged stalking, the quick ambush, the female Velociraptor tumbling down a cliff, it all felt extremely familiar. Indeed, it should feel familiar; the producers were clearly inspired by Snow Leopards chasing Ibex down the Himalayan mountains, a common scene featured in Planet Earth:Velociraptor's anatomy would have allowed it to operate in vertical and difficult spaces like the ones seen in the episode. Their infamous claws, which have often been depicted as instruments for killing, were also used to help coordinate and balance movement. A long and fused tail provided further balance, enabling Velociraptor to be a nimble and agile climber. Though some believe this evidence signals arboreal (tree-dwelling) capabilities, Velociraptor may very well have participated in cliff-jumping for a meal. The male's successful courtship of a female was cute...for an apex predator, that is. The male lifting his neck and humming to the female is clearly an imitation of some modern bird mating rituals. As I discussed in the previous episode, large dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus likely communicated through low-frequency vibrations, making his mating call a realistic action. Attenborough's explanation that the female may see the scars as attractive was fun too; who doesn't love a guy with his tail chewed off?
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