Prehistoric Park (2006)

Join zoologist and wildlife expert Nigel Marven as he travels back in time to capture the most amazing creatures ever to exist and bring them back to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary, Prehistoric Park. Step into the hostile climates of the Cretaceous, Pleistocene and Paleozoic time periods to witness what killed incredible beasts such as Tyrannosaurus Rex, Wooly Mammoth and Sabre toothed tigers. First, Nigel prepares for his forays into the past by working with present day animals for clues as to how their ancient ancestors might have behaved. Then he travels through a time portal into the past to rescue these long gone creatures from extinction and bring them back to the most amazing and wonderful zoo ever to exist.

T-Rex
For Nigel's first adventure, he travels back to Montana during the Cretaceous. His mission: to rescue Tyrannosaurus rex. But he's chosen a risky time to go: just before the meteorite strike that devastated the earth 65 million years ago.
His first rescue attempts don't go according to plan, although he does manage to save a young Triceratops and a herd of ostrich-like Ornithomimus. Only as the meteorite plunges into the earth does Nigel eventually manage to rescue a T-rex, but not the adult he'd been tracking. As a wave of devastation heads towards him, he coaxes two baby tyrannosaurs through the portal and into the park, naming them Terence and Matilda.

Mammoth
With the park up and running, Nigel leaves Bob and Suzanne to tend to the new arrivals and heads on his next adventure - back 10,000 years to the Ice Age, in search of the last remaining woolly mammoths.
After an unexpected encounter with a cave bear, he finds an injured female mammoth pining for her dead sister, killed by hunters. Too weak to even stand, Nigel keeps watch overnight. The next day, when she is stronger, he lures her through the portal and back to the safety of the park.
The team decides to call her Martha. Unfortunately Martha won't eat anything, even though she is making a good recovery, has settled into her new enclosure well and the team are attempting to feed her fresh hay on a daily basis. It's a mystery.
Nigel heads back to the Ice Age once again, this time to the mammoth heyday, in the hope that he can find something that will tempt her. Nigel doesn't just manage to bring back some Ice Age grass, he also comes back with an Elasmotherium - a giant woolly rhinoceros with a six-foot horn.
Despite Nigel's attempts, Martha still won't eat. Veterinarian Suzanne discovers the real reason Martha has no appetite, leading the team to risk an extraordinary experiment.

Bird House
The hot weather is having a draining effect on woolly mammoth Martha. Nigel prescribes a haircut before heading back 135 million years to prehistoric China in search of a winged dinosaur called Microraptor.
Disaster strikes when a pack of vicious dinosaurs called Mei Long ambush the team. But Nigel continues and locates the Microraptors, following a herd of enormous Titanosaurs forging a path through the forest en route to their egg-laying sites. A volcanic eruption forces Nigel to rescue not only the Microraptors, but the huge Titanosaurs too.
Back at the park, the two T-rex are separated after a territorial scuffle - but there's good news when one of the Ornithomimus lays a clutch of eggs. The park is going to have its first babies!

Sabre Tooth
The huge Titanosaurs break out of their compound and cause chaos just as Nigel is leaving on an expedition to prehistoric South America in search of the legendary saber-toothed cats. He locates them, but only after almost colliding with a herd of hippo-like Toxodon in his jeep. A giant terror bird is attacked by one of the saber-toothed cats and Nigel takes pity on it, luring it back to the safety of the park.
Big cat expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton accompanies Nigel back to South America to rescue saber-toothed cats as they face extinction. Despite dangerous encounters, they succeed - but not soon enough to save the life of a saber-tooth cub.
Back at the park, there's better news when the Ornithomimus eggs hatch and the park has its first babies.

Insects
After stopping a major T-rex fight at Prehistoric Park, Nigel goes back 300 million years to prehistoric Scotland in search of some giant creepy crawlies. He soon encounters a swarm of dragonflies the size of eagles and a 10-foot millipede but fails to catch them.
Back at the park, vet Suzanne tries to save the life of the injured T-rex while head keeper Bob tries giving the Titanosaurs rocks to eat to improve their behavior. Later, Suzanne tries to get the two saber-toothed cats to have cubs by improving their special breeding enclosure.
That night, back in prehistoric Scotland, a giant scorpion visits Nigel's camp but once again slips through his fingers leaving him empty handed. Next day, after changing his strategy, he manages to bag a giant dragonfly and a scorpion in quick succession. But the scorpion stings Nigel as he releases it into a container and then a forest fire threatens to cut them off from their jeep. On the way to the jeep, Nigel and his team manage to catch a giant millipede before getting one of the Titanosaurs to tow the disabled jeep through the portal back to the park.
Back at the park, the scorpion sting turns out to be harmless, the injured T-rex recovers and the two saber-tooths look like they may be ready to breed

Giant Croc
Nigel goes back 75 million years to prehistoric Texas to try and rescue a Deinosuchus, the largest crocodile ever to have lived. On his arrival he encounters a couple of lost juvenile Parasaurolophus and narrowly escapes being eaten by two Albertosaurs, the top predators of their era.
Taking a tip from some airborne Pterosaurs, Nigel scouts the coastline in a micro-light aircraft and witnesses a massive Deinosuchus erupting from the water and catching one of the Pterosaurs. He then spots a Deinosuchus swimming inland up a creek and decides to follow it.
Back at Prehistoric Park, Suzanne the vet is bottle-feeding two saber-tooth cubs and worrying about the mammoth, Martha, who is isolated from the park's herd of modern elephants and not doing well. Meanwhile Bob is struggling to keep up with the demands of looking after so many prehistoric animals.
Back in prehistoric Texas, Nigel takes to a boat and has a near miss with a giant croc before finally making it to a freshwater lake where he finds both Deinosuchus and a herd of Parasaurolophus. After witnessing a kill, Nigel sets about building a Deinosuchus trap. He then heads back to the jeep to get the meat he needs to bait it, only to discover a group of carnivorous Troodon in the process of eating it. After scaring them away, he takes the remaining meat back to bait the trap only to have it stolen from under his nose by the persistent and intelligent Troodons.
Next morning, after witnessing an amazing battle between three Deinosuchus and a group of Albertosaurs, Nigel decides that with no bait left his only hope of catching a Deinosuchus is to lure it into the trap himself. His plan pays off and a giant croc chases Nigel out of the water and into the trap. When Nigel brings it back to the park, an unexpected stowaway causes a near disaster.

Could a Tyrannosaurus rex, saber-toothed cat and woolly mammoth survive alongside their present-day relatives? Zoologist and wildlife expert Nigel Marven travels back in time to capture the most amazing creatures ever to exist and keep them in the most incredible zoo never to exist, Prehistoric Park.
Over 90 percent of all the animals ever to roam the earth are now extinct. But what does this mean for us today? In each episode, Nigel ventures into the hostile climate of the Cretaceous, Pleistocene, Paleozoic and other time periods to understand what killed these creatures and then brings them back to his contemporary sanctuary.
After conquering the perils of the past, Nigel and his team must work to make sure these prehistoric wonders are comfortable, safe and thriving in their new enclosures. From teaching "Martha the Mammoth" to socialize with a herd of elephants to saving the park's animals from a pair of tyrannosaurs that gets loose, Nigel and his team must make sure these species can adapt. Do these prehistoric wonders survive long enough in order to breed? Do they get their second chance at life?
Although the park itself isn't real, the science behind the show is very real. Using the most recent data, Prehistoric Park immerses viewers in various prehistoric environments with Nigel serving as a guide. This six-part series from Animal Planet pairs scientific expertise with the same kind of incredible CGI featured in Discovery Channel's Walking with Dinosaurs to create a wondrous world where ancient wildlife collides with the present day.

The Early Days
Born in 1960, Nigel Marven showed early promise as a budding naturalist. He ran a hamster colony at age eight and raced stick insects along his mother's clothesline by the time he was nine. In his early teens, Nigel had graduated to larger creatures, keeping a caiman, magpie and boa constrictors in his parents' house. He even saved a freshwater eel from being jellied, housing it in the bathtub. When anyone needed a bath, the slippery creature was put in a bucket.
Family holidays in the Mediterranean became zoological expeditions as young Nigel scampered over the countryside, pillowcase in hand, catching snakes and lizards for study and then release.
Once his school studies were over, Nigel spent a year traveling throughout America, where he met hellbenders and amphiumas in the wild (both kinds of salamanders). Returning to the UK, he moved to study botany and zoology at Bristol University. This proved to be the ideal place for him to pursue his interest in the natural world at an academic level, and secondly, Bristol is the world capital of wildlife filmmaking.
Breaking into Television
While he was researching for a masters degree on the grazing interactions between limpets and diatoms (microscopic algae), Nigel got his first break in television. A BBC program called Galactic Garden needed someone to wrangle worms in front of the camera. Working in BBC Bristol's macro studio, Nigel learned the grammar of filmmaking from cameraman Alan Hayward.
Nigel's first full-time television job was as a researcher on David Attenborough's First Eden series about the Mediterranean region. This was a dream come true because David always had been a BBC hero of Nigel's.
Because of Nigel's experience with Mediterranean wildlife, the BBC Drama Department in London asked him to be an assistant producer on a 10-part serialization based on Gerald Durrell's book My Family and Other Animals. This was a second dream come true for Nigel. My Family and Other Animals was his favorite book, and he met Gerald and his wife, Lee, when they visited the set. Filming took place over five months on the Greek island of Corfu.
Nigel directed the fight scene between "Geronimo" the gecko and a praying mantis. He also oversaw magpie and barn owl flight sequences plus many other animals including "Madame Cyclops," the one-eyed tortoise.
Presenting his own Films
Nigel continued to work at the BBC for well over a decade, in this time producing many primetime wildlife films including Incredible Journeys and Life of Birds. He eventually left to join Granada Television, where he continued to produce cutting-edge wildlife films but also found a new role in front of the camera. Five years later, Nigel now is running his own production company, Image Impact, and making films that are screened all over the world.