Summary
The series opens along the Cretaceous shoreline, where a male Tyrannosaurus rex swims his young out to a quiet island and giant marine reptiles patrol the shallows. Pterosaurs skim the surf and a Tuarangisaurus keeps its calf close in the crowded water. A strong first look at how coastal habitats shape the animals that live, hunt, and raise their young there.
Viewer safety
A few predator-and-prey chases in the water and a T. rex leading its young past danger -- tense but not graphic; preview if your class is sensitive.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
"Coasts" follows Cretaceous animals living where the land meets the sea.
- What does a coastal habitat give the animals that a desert or forest would not?
- Scientists build these scenes from fossils. What kinds of clues might a fossil give about where an animal lived?
- How does the father Tyrannosaurus help his young survive in this episode?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: coast, habitat, marine, fossil, predator, prey.
Try it: Draw the coastal habitat from the episode. Label two things an animal there needs to survive.