''Walking with Beasts'', marketed as ''Walking with Prehistoric Beasts'' in North America, is a 2001 six-part

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's nat ...

television

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

and

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

. The sequel to the 1999 miniseries ''

Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. ...

'', ''Walking with Beasts'' explores the life in the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

era, after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, particularly focusing on the rise of the

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s to dominance. The UK version of the series is narrated by

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

, who also narrated ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', and the US version is narrated by

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Stockard Channing, Her accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a nomination for an Acade ...

. Like ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', ''Walking with Beasts'' recreated extinct animals through a combination of

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

and

animatronics An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

, incorporated into

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

footage shot at various locations. It was more challenging to create convincing effects, both computer graphics and animatronics, depicting mammals owing both to fur and more moving bits and to audiences being more familiar with how mammals look and move than they were with

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s. The visual effects of ''Walking with Beasts'', like those of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', received praise. The series won numerous awards, including a

BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) annually hosted the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for multimedia entertainment between 1998 and 2002. In 2003, BAFTA announced the award would be split into two separate ceremonies � ...

, a Monitor Award, a RTS Television Award and a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

. ''Walking with Beasts'' was accompanied by a companion book, ''Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari'', written by the executive producer Tim Haines, and a two-part behind-the-scenes companion series, ''The Science of Walking with Beasts''. Also released were several children's books and the video game ''Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage''. In 2007–2011 an exhibition based on the series featuring fossils, life-sized models and behind-the-scenes information was held at different locations throughout the UK.

Premise

''Walking with Beasts'' follows the previous series ''

'' (1999) in showcasing prehistoric life in a

style. Beginning in Germany 49 million years ago (in the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

), ''Walking with Beasts'' tracks animal life, particularly the rise of the

s to dominance, in the

era. The series also gives some insight into

human evolution ''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...

, with ''Next of Kin'' (episode four) being devoted to ''

Australopithecus ''Australopithecus'' (, ; or (, ) is a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. The genera ''Homo'' (which includes modern humans), ''Paranthropus'', and ''Kenyanthropus'' evolved from some ''Aus ...

'' and ''Mammoth Journey'' (episode six) including both

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

s and

anatomically modern humans Early modern human (EMH), or anatomically modern human (AMH), are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' ( sometimes ''Homo sapiens sapiens'') that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans, from ...

Production

Pre-production, research and writing

After the success of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', the executive producer Tim Haines conceived ''Walking with Beasts'' as a sequel. The intended goal of the series was to introduce the general public to the fascinating mammals (and other animals) of the Cenozoic era, typically less represented in popular culture than dinosaurs. The budget of ''Walking with Beasts'' was £4.2 million, one of the most expensive documentaries ever made but much lower than a feature film with comparable visual effects needs. Tim Haines attributed the completion of the series despite this to solid planning. Research in preparation for ''Walking with Beasts'' was conducted full-time for nearly two years by the geologist Paul Chambers and the zoologist Alex Freeman. Like ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', ''Walking with Beasts'' was set to consist of six episodes which meant that six suitable settings had to be chosen for the programme. Chambers and Freeman picked the six settings of the programme based on the amount of good fossil evidence, position in the time line and number of interesting animals. The settings of some episodes had been picked already before any research was required, such as doing an episode on

woolly mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...

s and an episode on

indricotheres Paraceratheriidae is an extinct family of long-limbed, hornless rhinocerotoids, native to Asia and Eastern Europe that originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the end of the Oligocene. They represent some of the largest terrestrial mammals ...

. For much of the process, Chambers and Freeman were considering more than six settings, which meant that some potential episode ideas were forced to be abandoned. Among the abandoned ideas were an episode set in Australia, based on fossils from the

Riversleigh World Heritage Area Riversleigh World Heritage Area is Australia's most famous fossil location, recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from the Late Oligocene to more recent geological periods. The fossiliferous limestone system is located n ...

. After the selection had been narrowed down to six settings, selecting which animals would appear in each episode was a straightforward process. After Chambers and Freeman had decided upon suitable settings for the programme, the filming locations for ''Walking with Beasts'' were chosen by the assistant producer Annie Bates over a nine-month period. Bates first spoke with palaeobotanists to figure out suitable locations that were sufficiently similar to the intended ancient landscapes. After determining a comprehensive enough selection of possible filming locations, Bates traveled to the different sites with a video camera to shoot test footage, which was then viewed by the producers to get an idea of the terrain. Filming locations for ''Walking with Beasts'' included

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

. In order to write the storylines for the series, producers Jasper James and Nigel Paterson watched numerous nature documentaries on modern animals. They wanted to avoid episodes simply becoming "lists of animals and how they lived" and instead wanted them to draw viewers in and make them want to know what would happen to the animals next. Chambers and Freeman also worked on the storylines, with the goal of ensuring that as much inferred behaviour as possible of each animal was showcased in the series. In the end, each episode of ''Walking with Beasts'' ended up with a different type of story. ''Next of Kin'' (episode four) for instance follows a group of ''Australopithecus'' going through rough times and ''Land of Giants'' (episode three) follows a young '' Indricotherium'' for the first few years of its life. Details of the plot and how animals behaved were guided by fossil evidence; James maintained in behind-the-scenes material that no details in the storylines of ''Walking with Beasts'' were based on fiction.

Special effects and filming

Chambers and Freeman worked with sculptors to create accurate reconstructions of the animals in the series. Relevant specialist palaeontologists and other researchers were consulted for each animal to gather advice on behavior and appearance. For some of the animals featured in ''Walking with Beasts'', no models had ever been made before. The model makers also worked based on drawings and photographs of fossil material. Each

maquette A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...

took several weeks to create. The finished maquettes were scanned into computers with 3D. The textures of the animals were designed by skin designers, with advice from researchers. For some of the animals in ''Mammoth Journey'' (episode six), cave paintings could give an idea of real life colors but for most others the patterns were educated guesswork. As in ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', the computer graphics for ''Walking with Beasts'' were created by the visual effects company Framestore. Animators worked closely with researchers; experts were brought in to look at the movements of each animal to ensure that they moved accurately and advice was gathered on what behaviours each creature could have exhibited. Animating the animals in ''Walking with Beasts'' was more difficult than in ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' owing to mammals having more moving bits than dinosaurs, such as whiskers, eyebrows and various floppy and wobbly parts. Additionally, the production team believed audiences would be more critical of the movements of mammals than they had been of dinosaurs since viewers would be more familiar with how mammals move; it would thus be easier to spot inaccurate movement. The most difficult creature to animate in the series was ''Australopithecus'', which in terms of their movement had to appear "more than an ape but less than a human". Walk With Beasts exhibition

Filming ''Walking with Beasts'' took four or five weeks. Filming was usually a matter of gathering location shots where the computer-generated animals would then be inserted later. Sometimes it was necessary to replicate the impact the animated animals would have on their environment—such as footprints left in the snow by a woolly mammoth. Not all parts of filming the series were entirely imaginary, as ''Walking with Beasts'' also made extensive use of

and puppets for close-up shots. The animatronics and puppets in ''Walking with Beasts'' were created by special effects company Crawley Creatures, the same company responsible for the animatronics in the preceding ''Walking with Dinosaurs''. On account of many of the animals in ''Walking with Beasts'' having fur or hair and requiring more complex facial expressions, creating the animatronics for ''Walking with Beasts'' was more difficult than for the previous series. During production, the animatronics team grew from seven to eighteen and additional support was brought in through hiring specialist out-workers. As with the computer graphics, experts were also consulted for some of the practical effects. Among the scientists consulted were archaeologist and anthropologist Michael Bisson, an expert on

Middle Palaeolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

tools, who helped craft some of the tools shown being used by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in the series. The animatronics were created and used over a period of one-and-a-half years. In total there were over 40 different animatronic elements used, most of which were animatronic heads of animals. The broad movements of the animatronics were controlled by puppeteers, while their more subtle movements were remote-controlled and operated via servo motors. ''Australopithecus'' was in some close-ups portrayed by actors with prosthetics. Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans were consistently portrayed by actors also in non close-up shots, the Neanderthal actors wearing prosthetics. The prosthetics used by the actors were also made by Crawley Creatures.

Sound design and music

The sound design for ''Walking with Beasts'' was done by Kenny Clark. Clark and his partner Jovan Ajder began the process by recording foley sound effects, such as footsteps. Then, Clark and Ajder began constructing a sound library through recording their own sounds and contacting web-based FX companies as well as companies around the world. After a great collection of different animal sounds had been assembled, different sounds were mixed together, cut up or played backwards to create creature sounds. The noises of '' Leptictidium'' were

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

noises, pitch shifted and reversed, and the sounds of '' Gastornis'' were made by a

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

and a

rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genus, genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting sm ...

, slightly edited. ''

Megatherium ''Megatherium'' ( ; from Greek () 'great' + () 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type spe ...

'' was voiced through goat noises, though considerably lowered in pitch, '' Embolotherium'' were voiced by

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...

es and

rhino A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

s, ''

Macrauchenia ''Macrauchenia'' ("long llama", based on the now-invalid llama genus, ''Auchenia'', from Greek "big neck") is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the Pliocene or Middle Pleistocene to the end of the Late Pleistocene. I ...

'' by donkeys, ''Indricotherium'' by bears and rhinoceroses and '' Chalicotherium'' by a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

. ''

'' was initially planned to be voiced through harmonised human voices, an idea that was abandoned in favour of

sounds. The ''

Woolly Mammoth The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived from the Middle Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with the African ...

s'' were voiced by

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s and ''

Smilodon ''Smilodon'' is an extinct genus of Felidae, felids. It is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats ...

'' were voiced by

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

s and

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

s. The final sound mixing was done by Chris Burdon, who combined a total of 64 sound tracks (including narration, music, animal sounds and background noises) to produce one final stereo mix for the series.

Ben Bartlett Ben Bartlett is a British composer known for his numerous film and television scores, including ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', Vera (TV series), ''Vera'', The Tunnel (TV series), ''The Tunnel'' and Stan Lee's Lucky Man, ''Lucky Man''. Working and ...

, who had previously worked on ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', composed the music for ''Walking with Beasts''. The composition process began with Bartlett and the directors (Jasper James and Nigel Paterson) viewing the different episodes together without sound and determining specific scenes that stood out as especially requiring music. Bartlett approached ''Walking with Beasts'' differently than he had ''Walking with Dinosaurs''; the score in the previous series often included sophisticated themes and orchestral sweeps to reflect the grandeur of the dinosaurs. When it came to the Cenozoic, Bartlett found the era much harder to characterise, concluding that the "beasts" were less "refined" than the dinosaurs before them. As a result, the score of ''Walking with Beasts'' intentionally disobeys standard rules of sophisticated harmony, focusing on simplicity but also at times having "big blocks of sound rashingin uninvited".

Episodes

''Walking with Beasts''

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

aired the series weekly on Thursday nights, with a regular of repeats the following Sunday afternoon. In 2010, the series was repeated on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

in omnibus format, as three-hour-long episodes.

''The Science of Walking with Beasts''

A two-episode companion documentary, ''The Science of Walking with Beasts'', aired in November 2001 on BBC One. This series featured interviews with palaeontologists and explanations of how the fossil record and modern day descendants have informed what is known about the animals depicted in ''Walking with Beasts'', as well as brief sections showing the development of the CGI and animatronic animals used in the series.

Reception

The first airing of ''New Dawn'', the first episode of ''Walking with Beasts'', on BBC One attracted 8.5 million viewers and an 81% audience share. Though this fell short of the first airing of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (15 million viewers), it was considered a major success owing to 2001's more competitive broadcasting environment and due to being 3.6 million viewers above the average audience of BBC One during the time slot.

Reviews

''Walking with Beasts'' was praised for its effects. Both Paul Hoggart, writing for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and

Nancy Banks-Smith Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British TV critic, television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''The Guardian''. Life and career Born in Manchester and raised in a pub, she was educated at Roedean School. Banks-Smith ...

, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', concurred that the series showed technical brilliance and stunning computer reconstructions. Banks-Smith however criticised the narration, writing that it had not "advanced beyond chalk and blackboard" and that it was "so clearly addressed to a clever but cloth-eared child that you felt yourself dwindle and shrink". Jennifer Selway, writing for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', noted that although the technology and effort that went into ''Walking with Beasts'' was "breathtaking", its subject matter did not hold the same appeal as the dinosaurs and that the production team perhaps should have made "Walking with More Dinosaurs" instead.

Awards

''Walking with Beasts'' won a

for Enhancement of Linear Media, a Monitor Award for Film Originated Television Specials - 3D Animation, a RTS Television Award for Multi-Media and Interactive and a

for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour of More). ''Walking with Beasts'' was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special and BAFTA TV Awards for Best Sound (Factual) and Best Visual Effects & Graphic Design.

In other media

Books

A companion book to the series, titled ''Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari'' (titled just ''Walking with Prehistoric Beasts'' in the United States), was authored by Haines and released in 2001. The book is a coffee-table book which explores life in the Cenozoic through the same settings and animals as in the series itself and it contains sidebars with facts and is illustrated with stills from the series. ''A Prehistoric Safari'' was positively reviewed in the book review magazine ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''. In addition to the larger companion book, there were also several children's books released to accompany the series: ''Walking with Beasts Annual 2002'' (a longer hardback book), ''Walking with Beasts: 3-D Beasts'' (with 3D images) and ''Walking with Beasts: Survival!'' by Stephen Cole, with pictures from the series. ''Walking with Beasts: Survival!'' was released in the United States under the title ''Walking with Prehistoric Beasts: Photo Journal''. There was also a ''Walking with Beasts'' sticker book.

Exhibition

An exhibition based on ''Walking with Beasts'' was launched by the BBC in 2007. The exhibition featured life-sized models of many of the animals that appeared in the series, information on the science behind ''Walking with Beasts'',Satrosphere Science Centre - What's on 2009
/ref> original animatronics and puppets from the series, real fossils, as well as various activities for visitors. The exhibition was first held at the Horniman Museum in London from 10 February to 4 November 2007. It was later at the Aberdeen Science Centre in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland, from 23 March to 30 September 2009 and then at the

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England. Overview The museum is named after Alfred Herbert, ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, England from 2 July to 30 October 2011.

Video game

''Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage'' is a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

developed by Absolute Studios and published by BBC Worldwide Ltd. on 23 November 2001 as a tie-in to the series. A top-down shooter, ''Operation Salvage'' is set in 2036 after mankind's discovery of

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

. Players take the role of an agent of the World Wildlife Bionetwork (WWB), travelling back in time throughout the Cenozoic, observing different animals and fighting an organisation that is trapping the different creatures. The game received mixed reviews: 7Wolf Magazine gave it 4.5 out of 10 and Absolute Games gave it 44 out of 100.

Interactive version

''Walking with Beasts'' aired as an interactive programme during its original UK broadcast, the first time the BBC had developed an interactive service for a non-sports programme. Among the various interactive features accessible through viewers' remote controls were the possibility to switch between narration by

and Dilly Barlow, to access figures and facts through pop-ups, and to view behind-the-scenes material.

Website

An accompanying website to the series was launched in 2001. The ''Walking with Beasts'' website featured extensive behind-the-scenes information on the production of the series, information on the fossil evidence used to reconstruct the animals and their environments, fact files for the animals, numerous articles on palaeontological topics such as climate throughout the Cenozoic and the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, as well as various games. Games included the "Shoot the Fish experiment", where players could experiment with evolution through a simulated fish population, games dealing with topics such as camouflage and fossilisation, as well as

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle (with context, sometimes just jigsaw or just puzzle) is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces. Typically each piece has a portion of a picture, which is comple ...

s with different animal skeletons.Archived ''Walking with Beasts'' website
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

* *
Walking with Beasts - BBC Science & Nature
' * *
Walking with Beasts
' at ABC {{Impossible Pictures 2001 British television series debuts 2001 British television series endings BBC television documentaries Discovery Channel original programming Documentary films about prehistoric life Television series about mammals Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program winners BAFTA winners (television series) Walking with...