Jurassic Fight Club

Jurassic Fight Club
Cover of the original US DVD release
Narrated by	Erik Thompson
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Network	History Channel
Release	July 29 (2008-07-29) – October 22, 2008 (2008-10-22)

Jurassic Fight Club (titled Dinosaur Secrets in Australia and the United Kingdom) is a paleontology-based television miniseries on the History Channel which premiered in the United States in July 2008. Jurassic Fight Club was hosted by George Blasing, a self-taught paleontologist, and also features well-known paleontologists such as Thomas R. Holtz Jr., Philip J. Currie, Lawrence Witmer, and others. The show ran for one season of 12 episodes and was not renewed.

Summary

Scientists study the battles of prehistoric creatures, such as dinosaurs, before they became extinct. Each episode features a forensic-styled breakdown of a prehistoric battle. Based on fossil evidence and paleontologic analysis, a computer-generated imagery rendering of the battle, based on the evidence and the imagination of George Blasing (the show's host) is the final act of each episode. In most cases, the battles are based on actual fossil finds, although in several episodes, scientists simply put two contemporaneous prehistoric animals, against each other. It is the second most-watched show on paleontology beaten only by Walking with Dinosaurs, has been quite controversial but has become very popular, for various show reasons.

Episodes

No.	Title	Featuring	Original Air Date	Location and time period
1	"Cannibal Dinosaur"	Male Majungasaurus vs. Female Majungasaurus	29 July 2008 (2008-07-29)	Madagascar, 70 mya (Late Cretaceous)
A male Majungasaurus prowls for a mate. He picks up the scent of a female and follows it until she finds her. He uses a courtship display to woo her, but she aggressively rejects his advances. Confused, the male soon realizes the female already has a baby and tries to kill it so he can mate with her. They fight fiercely until the female trips on a log. The male seizes the opportunity to grab the baby and kills it. After a brief moment, the female charges him and crushes his neck with a powerful bite. The male drops the baby as he slumps to ground, paralyzed. Upon realizing that her baby is dead, the female eats both the baby and the male to replenish her energy.
2	"T-Rex Hunter"	Tyrannosaurus vs. Nanotyrannus	5 August 2008 (2008-08-05)	South Dakota, 65 mya (Late Cretaceous)
A pair of adult T. rex leave their babies unguarded to go hunting. They leave a series of scent marks that repel most predators, but the pungent scent attracts a Nanotyrannus, which kills juvenile Tyrannosaurus to eliminate future competition. A battle ensues, and the Nanotyrannus throws one juvenile T. rex to the ground, seemingly dead. But as the Nanotyrannus faces the second juvenile, the first one bites it on the leg. The retaliating juvenile is quickly killed as the Nanotyrannus snaps its neck. He prepares to kill the remaining juvenile, but the mother Tyrannosaurus returns, having been alerted by the cries of her young. After a brief duel, the mother kills the Nanotyrannus and tears its corpse apart as a warning to others of its kind that may threaten her offspring.
3	"Gang Killers"	Deinonychus vs. Tenontosaurus	12 August 2008 (2008-08-12)	Montana, 115 mya (Early Cretaceous)
A pack of nine Deinonychus ambushes a migrating herd of Tenontosaurus, separating the weakest member. They viciously tear into their prey, but he fights back and kills two Deinonychus. The Deinonychus then retreat, following the ornithopod's blood trail as it looks for cover. At night, the pack finds the Tenontosaurus and moves in for the final assault. As he fights for his life, the Tenontosaurus retaliates and kills four more Deinonychus, but eventually loses consciousness and falls to the ground. The alpha male raptor crushes its windpipe while two remaining raptors begin feasting on the internal organs. They fight for the best parts of the carcass until the alpha pushes his rivals away and begins to taste the morsels.
4	"Bloodiest Battle"	Allosaurus vs. Ceratosaurus vs. Stegosaurus vs. Camarasaurus	19 August 2008 (2008-08-19)	Utah, 150 mya (Late Jurassic)
A mother Stegosaurus and her baby approach a lake to drink, but they become stuck in the mud. The sounds of their struggling attract a Ceratosaurus, who eats the baby Stegosaurus alive. The smell of blood attracts a trio of Allosaurus, who kill the distracted Ceratosaurus. The pack goes after the adult Stegosaurus, but she kills one of them with her spiked tail. Meanwhile, a large bull Camarasaurus has approached the lake and gets stuck as well. The two remaining Allosaurus decide to attack him instead. The Camarasaurus swings his tail into one of the Allosaurus, killing it nearly instantly. The momentum temporarily frees the sauropod's front legs, allowing him to rear up and crush the last surviving Allosaurus. The two remaining dinosaurs die a slow, painful death.
5	"Deep Sea Killers"	Megalodon vs. Brygmophyseter	26 August 2008 (2008-08-26)	Japan, 15 mya (Neogene, Miocene)
A megalodon swims across the Pacific Ocean in search of food before suddenly sensing a lone Brygmophyseter, separated from his pod. The shark severs the whale's caudal fins and bites deep into its tail, immobilizing it. The Brygmophyseter uses echolocation to call his pod for help. Picking up the signal, the pod rallies to rescue their lost member. The whales use their superior numbers and sonar to overwhelm the megalodon. When they determine the shark is no longer a threat, the Brygmophyseter return to their injured member. After trying and failing to revive him, the pod leaves and sings a sad death song for their fallen member. The megalodon hears the song and later returns to feed on the now-dead whale.
6	"Hunter Becomes Hunted"	Allosaurus vs. Ceratosaurus	2 September 2008 (2008-09-02)	Colorado, 150 mya (Late Jurassic)
A mated pair of Ceratosaurus venture into unfamiliar territory to find prime hunting grounds. Unbeknownst to them, it belongs to an Allosaurus. The female Ceratosaurus hides in a dense grove of trees while her mate chases prey towards her position. As she prepares to spring, the Allosaurus swiftly ambushes and kills her. The male Ceratosaurus reaches the ambush spot, but instead of his mate, he sees the Allosaurus closing in. The male fights back by slashing at the Allosaurus's face with his sharp claws and biting its back. The Allosaurus snatches the Ceratosaurus and breaks his back by slamming him into a tree. With its prey now helpless, the Allosaurus disembowels its and roars in victory.
7	"Biggest Killers"	Allosaurus, Utahraptor, Majungasaurus, Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus	9 September 2008 (2008-09-09)	(Numerous places and times)
Allosaurus, Utahraptor, Majungasaurus, Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are compared to find out which was the most dangerous. It also presents a message that humanity will disappear like these predators.
8	"Raptor's Last Stand"	Utahraptor vs. Gastonia	16 September 2008 (2008-09-16)	Utah (Early Cretaceous)
A Gastonia searches for water during a drought. A scavenging Utahraptor notices the herbivore and prepares to ambush it—small pterosaurs atop its spiked back alert the Gastonia, who shifts sideways towards its attacker. The Utahraptor leaps over the Gastonia and sinks its deadly claws into its soft underbelly. The Utahraptor attacks again, but the Gastonia does not fall for the same trick. The Utahraptor falls, and the Gastonia continues its search for water. But then the Utahraptor bites the ankylosaur's front leg. The Gastonia counterattacks, grabbing the raptor's leg with a pair of spikes on its tail. The Utahraptor breaks free and retreats, but before it can, the Gastonia inflicts several cuts along its side. The Utahraptor survives the battle, but ultimately both succumb to the drought.
9	"Ice Age Monsters"	Short-faced bear vs. American lion	23 September 2008 (2008-09-23)	Wyoming, 10 ka (Quaternary, Late Pleistocene)
An American lion kills a bison and feeds on the carcass, having eaten very little recently because of the changing climate. An Arctodus then catches the scent of the freshly killed animal. The bear follows the scent to its source and sees the lion eating. The Arctodus arrives at the kill and roars, but the lion stands its ground. The bear rears up to frighten the lion, but the lion knocks it down. The lion locks its jaws on its enemy's back as the bear reaches its feet, but the Arctodus's fur and fat are too thick for the lion to inflict enough damage. After shaking off the lion and a brief standoff, the bear overpowers the lion, but the lion quickly recovers. Unfortunately, despite its efforts, the bear throws the lion into a pit cave, where it dies in the fall.
10	"River of Death"	Pachyrhinosaurus vs. Albertosaurus	30 September 2008 (2008-09-30)	Alberta, 70 mya (Late Cretaceous)
A pair of Albertosaurus charge at a herd of Pachyrhinosaurus. The herd stampedes towards a raging riverbed, and the predators corner the prey, although one breaks free. One Albertosaurus chases it into a clearing and attempts to kill the Pachyrhinosaurus, knocking it on its side. However, the Pachyrhinosaurus gets back on its feet and gores the enemy in the leg, enraging it instead of hurting it. The Albertosaurus then bites down on its neck, flips the herbivore over, and tears at its underbelly. Back at the river, the other Albertosaurus backs the Pachyrhinosaurus herd into the river. They all drown because they are too tightly packed to swim properly, and the Albertosaurus later finds the carcasses further downriver and begins to feast.
11	"Raptors vs. T-Rex"	Edmontosaurus vs. Dromaeosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus	7 October 2008 (2008-10-07)	South Dakota, 65 mya (Late Cretaceous)
A lone Edmontosaurus looks for a herd to live in but instead wanders into the territory of a pack of Dromaeosaurus. They attack the Edmontosaurus with their claws, but the herbivore's hide is too thick to do any damage, and he shakes off his attackers. The Edmontosaurus crushes one with his front feet and throws another into a fallen tree; however, the raptors keep attacking. Even with one or two pack members killed, they manage to bring down the herbivore. But just as they start feasting on the carcass, a Tyrannosaurus rex, drawn by the noise, comes over and steals the dead Edmontosaurus, leaving the Dromaeosaurus pack with just the tail, which it bit off to lighten the corpse.
12	"Armageddon"	(Numerous species)	22 October 2008 (2008-10-22)	(Numerous places), 65 mya (Late Cretaceous)
During the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a giant asteroid struck the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. This produced a huge crater and a shower of meteorites, along with a deadly cloud of gas that spread across the planet, killing the dinosaurs. Most dinosaurs (including the Tyrannosaurus rex family, the female Majungasaurus, the Albertosaurus group, Nanotyrannus, the Dromaeosaurus gang, the Edmontosaurus herd, and Pachyrhinosaurus) witnessed the impact. They tried to escape, with many dying in the series of impacts and from the cloud of gas and dust. Soon, now-extinct dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus fell to the ground, and humans and other mammals to replaced them as the dominant species on Earth.

Scientific errors

In almost all dinosaur media, there are high amounts of scientific errors or outdated facts. However, Jurassic Fight Club has widely been one of the most criticized, mainly due to the fact that there were many inaccuracies in each episode, even for the time. Though some errors on this page are now only here due to more recent discoveries made since the show's 2007/early 2008 production.

General

• All of the animals unrealistically make as much noise as possible, even if there is no reason for it.
• Many of the dinosaurs were shrink-wrapped, and no animal today looks like that unless they are starving to death.
• All theropods have pronated hands facing backwards, even the Abelisaurids.
• All raptors either have no feathers or very sparse feathers, despite evidence showing they have had feathers since the late 1990s.
• All of the quadrupedal herbivores' feet are more elephantine than they probably were in life.
• Many of the creatures behave irregularly. All the carnivores are unnaturally persistent, not giving up even if they’re in a very injured state. And the herbivores do not fight back as much as they reasonably would and almost let the Carnivores kill them, seen especially in Tenontosaurus and Edmontosaurus.
• Likely, dinosaurs did not produce mammalian roaring sounds as many people like to believe. But instead, most large dinosaurs emitted low, ominous rumbles.
• All the carnivores are said to have insatiable appetites. Though this is not true, since modern predators have shown they actually spend very little of their time hunting, so the carnivores likely shown would behave similarly.

By episode

Episode 1: Cannibal Dinosaur

• Majungasaurus is erroneously referred to as the junior synonym Majungatholus. The name Majungatholus originally meant "odd majunga dome", for which it was originally mistaken for the dome of a pachycephalosaur. It was identified as an Abelisaurid in 1992.
• The show also claims that Majungasaurus grew to 9 ft tall, almost 3 ft taller than it actually was.
• The horn on the male Majungasaurus is too blade-like when it should be more blunt.
• The legs on the Majungasaurus model are too long; Majungasaurus actually had very short legs.
  • This is even pointed out in the episode, but strangely, the model has long legs regardless.
• Its tail is way too short when it should be a lot longer.
• Its arms are way too pronounced when they should be little stumps pointing backwards.
• Majungasaurus is shown to headbutt, which is something that it could not do since the skull was not strong enough to perform such a thing.
• The narrator claims that Majungasaurus could use its tail as a weapon, which would not have been possible since theropods had very stiff tails and were not capable of using them like a bat.
• The baby Majungasaurus has the same proportions as the adult, which, based on fossil evidence of other theropods, was very likely not the case.
• While the male Majungasaurus has osteoderms, the female does not. Osteoderms would not have been gender limited.
• The episode suggests that Majungasaurus's odd appearance was caused by inbreeding, which is highly improbable, as related species also look similar, and there is no evidence that the Majungasaurus was inbred.

Episode 2: T-Rex Hunter

• The Triassic is labelled as lasting from 225-193 MYA; however, it was actually 251-201 MYA.
  • Also, a Deinonychus is shown under Triassic, strangely, despite living in the Early Cretaceous. The model was possibly there to fill in for an early theropod from the Triassic, such as Herrerasaurus or Coelophysis.
• The Jurassic is labeled as 193-136 MYA; the Jurassic began 201 MYA and ended 145 MYA.
• Finally, the Cretaceous apparently lasted from 136 to 55 million years ago. This is incredibly wrong; the Cretaceous began 145 MYA and ended 66 MYA. 55 million years ago, the world was in the middle of the Eocene epoch of the Cenozoic.
• The young T. rex have the same proportions as the adults, when fossil evidence shows that they had much slimmer and less muscular proportions.
• The T. rex is said to be 16 feet tall and 43 feet long. While the length may be accurate to the largest Tyrannosaurus specimens, it is 3 feet taller than the largest specimen.
• T. rex is said to have a bite force of 3,000 pounds, which is actually weaker than the largest estimate of almost 13,000 pounds.
• A T. rex is seen eating a Tenontosaurus carcass, when the two did not co-exist. Though this is most likely a budgeting issue.
• It is likely that only one of the T. rex parents (most likely the father) actually took care of the young, not both the mother and father.
• There is absolutely no evidence that T. rex had a bacteria-filled mouth.
  • George claims that T. rex was the first animal to use biological weapons, which, as stated above, there is no evidence for, when snakes and arachnids have been using venom way before Tyrannosaurus appeared.
• The modern Komodo dragon does not have a septic bite either; new studies have found that it kills using anticoagulant-filled venom.
• The Tyrannosaurus rex does not have lips, their teeth are fully exposed, much like an alligator. T. rex most likely had lips covering its teeth. The teeth are also horribly misplaced.
• The male and female are the same size, which, based on fossil evidence, is most likely not true.
• The episode claims that the late Cretaceous in North America was full of volcanic activity, which is not true.

Episode 3: Gang Killers

• Although there is evidence of Deinonychus surrounding a Tenontosaurus, it is debated whether the raptors were working together to kill it or if they were congregating around a dead Tenontosaurus to scavenge.
• The skull shape of Deinonychus is inaccurate.
• The Deinonychuses slashing their prey is inaccurate. In real life, they would have latched on and started feeding immediately.

Episode 4: Bloodiest Battle

• The Ceratosaurus is said to be 13 feet tall, which is 7 feet taller than the real animal.
• Allosaurus is shown jumping onto the back of a Camarasaurus. In reality, such a large theropod would not be capable of leaping like a smaller dinosaur, as a dromaeosaur would.
• The Allosaurus lacks the large third claw that is present in the skeletons of the animal.
• The narrator states that some stegosaurs could have as many as eight thagomizers on their tail. In life, Stegosaurus wouldn not have this many. The maximum number is four.
• The Allosaurus is said to reach 38 feet in length. The narrator was off by two feet.
• The narrator also states that by the Late Jurassic, Ceratosaurus was fast becoming extinct because Allosaurus was outcompeting it. This was most likely false. In life, Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus would barely have competed for available prey since they would have hunted different food. Also, they appeared roughly around the same time.
• Camarasaurus would not be able to rear up on its back legs since the species is in the sauropod clade Macronaria, which Camarasaurus is a member of (apart from possibly some titanosaurians), their front is very heavy, meaning Camarasaurus could not rear up on its hind legs as depicted in the episode.
• The episode makes an unbelievable claim that Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus do not get stuck because of the splayed toes. While in actuality, they would get stuck instantly while trying to kill the baby and mother, and while eating the corpses.

Episode 5: Deep Sea Killers

• In the episode, it is said that megalodon's maximum size is as big as a jumbo jet (63m (206 ft)); however, Otodus megalodon only got to a size of 18 meters (59 ft), with the average size being 10.5 meters (34 ft). If megalodon was really that big, it would have been much bigger than the largest animal to have ever existed, the blue whale.
• In the show, the size of the Brygmophyseter is greatly exaggerated, being a similar size to Otodus megalodon. However, Brygmophyseter is estimated to have been around 7 meters (23 ft) long in life.
• The narrator says that megalodon's denticles were taste buds, even though that was not their real purpose.
• At the end of the episode, the narrator claims that megalodon might still exist in the deep ocean, using the fact that 95% of the ocean has yet to be explored to justify their claims, despite most scientists agreeing that megalodon went extinct 3.6 million years ago. If megalodon were still alive, juveniles would attack humans, mistaking them for seals, and adults would be attacking boats and ships, mistaking them for whales, and this would have been a common occurrence throughout human history.

Episode 6: Hunter Becomes Hunted

• The size and mass of Allosaurus are rather inconsistent.
• The episode says that Ceratosaurus walked the earth for 20 million years, when the fossil record says it only lived for about 5-10 million years.
• The episode continually states that since Ceratosaurus was more primitive than Allosaurus, it means it was less intelligent. This is absolutely not true. Ceratosaurus was no less equipped than Allosaurus was.
• The narrator says Ceratosaurus mated for life, which is most likely not true since most modern animals today don't mate for life.
• The narrator claims that Allosaurus' roar was louder than a jumbo jet taking off, which is loud enough to rupture the eardrums. No animal alive or extinct could make a sound that loud.
• One scientist says that dinosaurs had scent glands. Though this is more exclusive to mammals.

Episode 7: Biggest Killers

• Any errors in previous episodes that are shown in this episode are consistent errors.

Episode 8: Raptor's Last Stand

• The only featured pterosaurs in the show are members of the Azhdarchidae, although few members of that genus are small or not old enough to fit the size or age, according to this episode. The most plausible species that they could be is Nemicolopterus crypticus, but the features suggest that it was a small, tree dweller.

Episode 9: Ice Age Monsters

• Both the lion and short-faced bear had gone extinct around 11,000 years ago, a thousand years before the episode takes place.
• Both the lion and short-faced bear, and other megafauna, are stated to have gone extinct directly due to climate change. Although hardly mentioned, it is more probable that the arrival of humans caused the loss of primary prey items during a time when animals were stressed because of climate change, which resulted in the extinction of the American lion and the short-faced bear.
• The lion is 3.9ft at the shoulder, not 6. The show also claims the modern-day male lion is 5 feet at the shoulder, when this is completely blown out of proportion.
• The short-faced bear is 5.9-6ft at the shoulder, not 12ft; however, it is 12ft on its hind legs.
• It is said that there were no seasonal weather changes in the Pleistocene. This is completely untrue.

Episode 10: River of Death

• Pachyrhinosaurus are given nasal horns in the episode. Pachyrhinosaurus in real life did not have horns but a nasal boss. However, Pachyrhinosaurus did have horns sitting on top of their frills.
• The head and body shape of the Pachyrhinosaurus in this episode is based on Achelousaurus, and the nasal horn is based on Vagaceratops irvinensis. (then thought of as a species of Chasmosaurus)
• Albertosaurus' body is molded inaccurately to an adult, with the body being based on a sub-adult Albertosaurus.
• As the T. rex error stated above, Albertosaurus most likely had teeth covering its lips as well.
• Once the Albertosaurus was hurt by the Pachyrhinosaurus' horn, it would have left as realistically as predatory animals do not want to risk further injury, or their lives.

Episode 11: Raptors vs. T-Rex

• The Dromaeosaurus are shown to be able to slice through the Edmontosaurus' hide, despite its size, and the narration says it would be too tough and thick for the raptors to penetrate it.
• In the episode, the narrator states that raptors communicated using quick hand gestures. However, no other animal in existence has ever used hand gestures like primates.
• It is also stated that raptors were able to mimic noises, even echoing the sounds of their prey. To this day, this can only be inferred from birds.
• Dromaeosaurus never lived with Tyrannosaurus, as they went extinct a few million years before, although Edmontosaurus did live with both animals in different stages of the Cretaceous.
• Even a fully grown T. rex could not lift a 6.5-ton Edmontosaurus, even with its tail bitten off.
• The Edmontosaurus is shown to have a fleshy lip instead of the bony keratin-covered beak it likely had.
• In reality, a pack of only four Dromaeosaurus trying to bring down a fully grown Edmontosaurus would have been impossible.

Episode 12: Armageddon

• The episode takes place around 65 million years ago; however, the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs actually took place 66 million years ago, contrary to popular belief. 65 million years ago is actually within the Danian age of the Paleocene epoch of the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. As such, the only time a dinosaur documentary should actually be set 65 million years ago is if they are showing the aftermath of the extinction.
• Though shown in the episode, Albertosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus became extinct around 68 million years ago, which is 2 million years before the actual extinction itself.
• While the collision would create earthquakes and tsunamis, it is very unlikely that these would have made it all the way to Madagascar.

Turf Wars

The Jurassic Fight Club game, Turf Wars was a fighting game that could be found on history.com but is no longer available. You could play as one of six dinosaurs, skills are used to defeat the other five. Cheat codes can make players invincible, access special attacks, etc. These dinosaurs are featured in battle order with their own status:

Dinosaur	Offense	Defense	Speed
Female Majungasaurus	4	7	8
Male Majungasaurus	5	8	4
Tyrannosaurus	10	9	8
Stegosaurus	9	10	4
Utahraptor	10	8	6
Pachyrhinosaurus	8	8	8