The Future Is Wild — Season 1, Episode 12: Graveyard Desert
Documentary • 25 min • 1 season, 13 episodes • ★ 7.6/10
Episode synopsis
The episode is set in a rainshadow desert on the eastern side of Earth's only continent, 200 million years into the future. Wedged between this desert and the Global Ocean is a series of very tall mountain ranges which are tall enough to block even the most powerful storms. At this point in the future, there are no mammals, birds, reptiles or amphibians. The episode focuses on five species: (1) Bumblebeetle, a species of beetle that has been pushed to the edge of specialisation. They spend their lives searching for dead flish which are a good food source for their young. (2) Desert Hopper, a bizarre rabbit-sized cone snail that hops about on one muscular foot. They tend to bury themselves during the heat of the day and only come out at the cool of the night. (3) Deathbottle, a carnivorous plant, that has traps to feed on the Desert Hoppers. (4) Flish, shown dead, animal from the previous episode. (5) Grimworm, a worm, live inside dead Ocean Flish body and scavenging it.
About The Future Is Wild
The Future Is Wild was a 2002 thirteen-part documentary television miniseries. Based on research and interviews with several scientists, the miniseries shows how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens left the earth. The version broadcast on the Discovery Channel modified this premise, supposing instead that the human race had completely abandoned the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on the planet. The show took the form of a nature documentary. The miniseries was released with a companion book written by geologist Dougal Dixon, the author of several "anthropologies and zoologies of the future", in conjunction with natural history television producer John Adams. For a time in 2005, a theme park based on this program was opened in Japan. In 2008 a special on the Discovery Channel about the development of the video game Spore was combined with airings of The Future Is Wild. A film version of the series was picked up by Warner Bros.