The Future Is Wild — Season 1, Episode 6: Waterland
Documentary • 25 min • 1 season, 13 episodes • ★ 7.6/10
Episode synopsis
The episode is set in the Bay of Bengal, 100 million years into the future. The episode focuses on three species: (1) Toraton, a descendant of the giant tortoise and the largest creature ever to walk the Earth. They can weigh up to 120 tonnes; (2) Swampus, a descendant of the octopus which has formed a symbiotic relationship with a plant to house its young. They are very intelligent; (3) Lurkfish, a descendant of the electric catfish that can fire up to 1000 volts to stun prey. They are ambush predators. The episode shows that at this point of the future, volcanoes are belching out copious amounts of greenhouse gases causing the planet to overheat. It shows how swampus breed and how toraton have evolved to cope with their new size.
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.