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mrultra100 · 10 months

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Ultra's Ramblings- PHP 3 Speculation

Now, it should be no secret that I frankly adore Prehistoric Planet for what it is. I’ve already done a whole article going over what a possible 2nd season would be like, and now that it’s been months since the release of the actual Season 2, I’ve come to accept how it returned to the Maasrichtian of the Late Cretaceous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for PHP to showcase animals and habitats from other time periods as much as the next guy, as I think a season based on the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic would be great. However, with that said, I’m content with the show staying within the Maasrichtian for a good few reasons. The obvious being that we could be seeing an entire trilogy of seasons set within the same geological stage, but another being how this particular part in time still has plenty of creatures that could be neat to see onscreen, especially with not only how the Maasrichtian has plenty to work with, but how plenty of animals still have yet to appear in the show. This is essentially gonna be the same general idea as my hypothetical season 2 ideas article from a few months back, just with plenty more Maasrichtian goodness involved.

Another change included is the themes of the episodes. Given that we might not have that many comparable biomes from Planet Earth left for future episodes, I say we go with out-of-the-box ideas for these episodes, especially if they can showcase the more strange creatures, behaviors, and scenarios that people have come to expect and love from the series as a whole. This will make sense as we go into these episode ideas. Finally, special thanks to Zain Ahmed, Cryodrakon, pondicherryyy, Dinosaurus, and the other members of the Paleo Media Central Discord server for helping me with this project. Their ideas certainly helped with putting all of this together. With all of that cleared out, let’s get started with what I’d imagine a possible third (and possible last) season of Prehistoric Planet looking like.

Oddities

The theme of this first episode is about the more bizarre and weird animals that lived during the Maasrichtian. The main element driving everything home for this episode is the appearances of these animals in particular, but a few weird behaviors and traits are added in to keep things nice n’ diverse.

The episode (and by extension, the season, begins within the seas of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in North Africa. The main animal of the segment would be Ocepechleon, a rather large protostegid sea turtle that not only had a pipette-like snout, just like the beaked whales of modern times, but also likely fed in the same way as the latter. The main plot of this segment shows a male Ocepechleon trying to catch fish with his tube-like snout, as he’s found himself within a baitball chased by various other large marine predators. The other animals in this segment would include Zarafasaura, Squalicorax, a returning face (or beak?) in the form of Alcione, and even a lone Prognathodon. Similar to the Hesperonis segment from “Oceans”, the presence of a baitball would drive the central plot of this segment, allowing the show to showcase the weird feeding habits of Ocepechleon in action.

We then move away from the seas of Morocco, and into the swamps of Mongolia, where the animal of the next segment is the first major returnee from the previous two seasons; Deinocheirus. The segment shows a male Deinocheirus looking after 3 chicks. The male is shown as a caring and protective father, not only plucking out soft water plants and holding them with his beak to his young, he would also let them ride on the hump on his back when wandering through slightly deeper water. The male could even use his giant arms as a sort of threat display to scare off other animals that got too close, no matter if they were a carnivore or herbivore. The male would even hiss like an overgrown goose. For the sake of that last example, the animal in particular that could be spooked off by the father Deinocheirus would be a wandering Tarbosaurus that stumbled into the wrong area at the wrong time. The behavior of the Deinocheirus and his chicks would be inspired by cassowaries, giant anteaters, geese, and even a little bit by the Jacana, a species of bird with massive feet that it uses to traverse through wetlands.

The next segment involves an animal that I’ve actually mentioned back during my previous Season 2 ideas article; Armadillosuchus. For those not aware, this was a cousin of Simosuchus that lived in Brazil, and had armored osteoderm on its back that looked a bit like the bands of an armadillo, hence how it got its name (Armadillosuchus literally means “armadillo crocodile”). The segment involves a female Armadillosuchus wandering through her desert home, looking for a good place to dig a burrow. While it’s not as plot-heavy as the previous segments, it serves as a nice way to show off the creature in question.

The next segment then cuts to the swamps of Hell Creek, the home of a giant, 1.5 meter long amphibian; Habrosaurus. The segment sees these creatures engaging in the unique methods of mating that many salamanders have. Instead of internal sex, a male lays packets of sperm that females suck up with their cloacas. Just like how modern sirens do the same thing today, the segment shows Habrosaurus males doing this bizarre, yet effective way of reproduction.

The episode then cuts to what would become modern-day Chile, with the animal of this next segment being Stegouros, a small type of ankylosaur with a tail like a macuahuitl. The plot of this segment follows a male trying to court a female by showing off and displaying his tail club, only for a megaraptorian theropod (Based on yet to be named megaraptorian fossils found in the same formation as Stegouros) to show up and interrupt the courtship. It 's then where the second purpose of Stegouros’ tail comes into action. Thanks to the last few osteoderms on the animal’s tail being rigid and fused, the tail club of this dinosaur was more blade-like, which makes the male a formidable threat to deal with. After barely dodging the herbivore’s tail, the megaraptorian decides that it’s not worth the trouble, and leaves. The two Stegouros get back to their courtship, and soon mate.

The last segment of the episode shows a bunch of Bonnerichthys, huge, filter-feeding fish, feeding on a plankton bloom. While they’re different creatures respectively, the Bonnerichtys would be a bit similar to whale sharks, both being massive planktivorous fish that gather in huge numbers in response to rapid plankton growth. In keeping up with the episode’s theme, the weirdness comes from not only the Bonnerrichthys’ lifestyle, their huge maws also get some attention. The episode then ends from there.

Environments

The general theme of this episode revolves around the various environments and ecosystems present during the Maasrichtian, and how dinosaurs and other animals lived in said environments. While the other episodes are dedicated to showing off certain niches and features, this one would be reminiscent of the previous two seasons in how they themed their episodes.

The episode starts off with a segment about the polar winters that took place within the North Pole and Alaska, mainly the Prince Creek Formation. While this was mentioned in passing back in “Ice Worlds”, it would be the main theme of this segment. During this time, the northern parts of North America would experience long summers, where the sun wouldn't set. On the other end of the spectrum, the winters that followed would have the land go through months of total darkness, not a bit of warmth in sight. The segment generally shows how the dinosaurs that lived in this part of the world lived in such conditions. Not only would returnees like Pachyrhinosaurus, Nanuqsaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Cimolodon show up, so does Alaskacephale, which was a species of Alaskan pachycephalosaur. It would be a bit like the Nemegt watering hole scene from Season 1, only with much more snow and ice.

We then cut to a segment all about Hateg Island, showing how islands like it can change the fauna that live on it over countless generations. In this case, insular dwarfism, a phenomenon where animals living on islands grow smaller than their mainland relatives, is the main theme of the segment, with a herd of Paludititan (Which might be the identity of the dwarf sauropods seen at the end of “Forests” from Season 1) moving through their feeding grounds in search of fresh plant growth. Given how Hateg Island is the main location for this segment, we also see the return of Zalmoxes, Telmatosaurus, and Hatzegopteryx (With the latter being a lone male drinking from a lake and grooming himself after a long day of hunting for prey), alongside the introductions of Bradycneme (an island-dwelling relative of Mononykus), Struthiosaurus (A small nodosaur), and Eurazhdarcho (A much smaller cousin of Hatzegopteryx). Like many of the other segments in this episode, this serves as a general snapshot of both Hateg Island, and the creatures that call it home.

The episode then cuts to Antarctica for a segment focusing on flowering plants of the time, and how they’re pollinated by bees and butterflies. Morrosaurus, Antarctopelta, and the Antarctic hadrosaur all return as cameo appearances, feeding on and around some of the flowers and fruits of the trees. Loosely adapted from an idea by pondicherry (credit to him).

The next segment then cuts to the Nemegt Formation, where the focus is on a mixed-species nesting site of both Oksoko and Conchoraptor, both different species of oviraptorid theropod dinosaurs. While both species are different (Conchoraptor having frankly long arms and no crest, and Oksoko having large crests and freaky-looking hands with two fingers), they share the same group together. The segment in general serves as a way to show how oviraptorids can be different from each other in terms of species.

The episode then cuts to the deep seas of the Caribbean, where the focus of the segment is about reefs formed by shelled mollusks, of all things. Specifically rudist clams like Bournonia, who provide home to wide variety of other creatures that live amongst them, including sharks like Serratolamna and Scapanorhynchus, whole schools of lantern fish, deep-sea ammonites like Baculites, and even a bed of the fellow mollusk, Inoceramus. This ethereal, undersea wonderland would have an equally ethereal theme to it, similar to the ammonite scene from Season 2. Very similar to how deep sea clams gather around and near brine pools, the rudist reef would be near a huge methane seep, where not only schools of Baculites hang around them, the Inoceramus would be in clustered beds around the seeps, just like with mussels in similar environments

The final segment of the episode has an Ankylosaurus wander through a swamp in Hell Creek in search of water plants, very similar to how hippos move in water. As the am tired herbivore makes his way through the swamps of Hell Creek, with other, smaller creatures making appearances; Paleoswania, Didelphodon, Axestemys, Lonchidion, Habrosaurus, and even Acheroraptor all show up. To match the fierce nature of hippos, the Ankylosaurus would even spook off a passing Tyrannosaurus , who was just minding her own business.

Predators

An episode showcasing many predatory animals around the world of the Maasrichtian, and how they hunted and interacted with their prey. Think of this episode like if PHP And The Hunt had a baby.

The episode starts off with an animal that was originally planned for Season 2, but was ultimately cut; Mahajangasuchus. This large crocodyliform was believed to be a powerful predator, strong enough to even survive a dry spell. The segment shows a lone Mahajangasuchus lying still at a pool of water, the only source of water for miles around during the dry season. He would be seen trying to snack on multiple animals that got close to the water’s edge, some being a bit more successful than others, before it all culminates with him catching a juvenile Majungasaurus. The segment would also make note that the reason while the Mahajangasuchus’ watering hole is the only one for miles is because he dug out a portion of the river when it was still mud, so he wouldn't be forced to leave his own territory. This behavior is inspired by alligator holes, which are holes that American alligators make by digging into the limestone and mud of the Everglades, and fill with water. The gators do this as a way to survive the dry season. Species like Falcatakely, Sahonachelys, and Masiakasaurus would also make quick cameo appearances as well.

The second segment cuts to India, where the predator in question is Sanajeh, a relative of Madtsoia from nearby Madagascar. The segment serves to show how this creature hunted in the same way as modern-day boas and pythons, as a female Sanajeh ambushes and devours a lone Bharattherium. This entire process takes time, as the Sanajeh not only has to crush her prey to death, but also swallow her catch whole. It would also be noted that the Bharattherium is the first meal that the Sanajeh had in a while, as snakes of that nature tend to go a good while without having to hunt for prey.

An Avisaurus engages in its own hunt in the next segment. Taking alot of inspiration from birds of prey like falcons and hawks, a female Avisaurus goes on the hunt, looking for, and swooping down on an Alphadon. The best animal to compare the Avisaurus to would be a red-tailed hawk, with the Alphadon essentially being the vole in this situation. To further drive home the connection, the Avisaurus would have a plumage pattern very similar to not only red-tailed hawks, but also a peregrine falcon.

We then cut away to the seas of North America, where a lone Cretalamna wanders the open sea in search of food. In a very similar way to modern great white sharks, Cretalamna are warm-blooded animals, meaning they can raise their own internal body temperature above the temperature of the water that they’re swimming in. That, along with how they’re fast swimmers like the shortfin mako of day (Fittingly enough, both otodontids and the group of sharks that include the mako are part of the same family), helps the Cretalmna chase down a rather large Enchodus. The whole chase would have a similar feel to how shortfin mako sharks chase down prey, especially with the explosive speed.

A Phosphatodraco goes hunting for small animals during the night, only to run into an even bigger relative of it; the towering Arambourgiania. As the former comes across a bunch of baby Ocepechelon scrambling towards the ocean, he starts to gorge himself on as many babies as he can from nest to nest. However, this doesn’t last long, chasing one it bumps into the much larger Arambourgiania as it slumbers at the base of a sand dune. As much as the Phosphatodraco is an intimidating and powerful hunter, who’s used to being the biggest pterosaur on the block, he’s eventually chased in turn by his much larger rival, who isn’t going to deal with his aggressive nature.

A Carnotaurus stalking a herd of Secernosaurus serves as the final segment of the episode. While the latter wasn’t found in the same exact place as the former, they were both around at the same time and general area, so it works. The segment shows that the Secernosaurus herd has calves with them, with the Carnotaurus stalking them as they move from place to place. The predator tries to get closer to his prey by first hiding in a grove of trees, then chasing out a lone calf from the herd. After the first couple of tries end in failure, the Carnotaurus manages to catch a calf by surprise, and separates him from the rest of the herd by chasing him out onto open ground. The Carnotaurus, using his superior speed and agility, closes the deal by striking down onto the calf when he gets close enough, killing him in the process. It took him a few tries, but the Carnotaurus finally not only gets himself a hard-earned meal, but also a long deserved victory. The guy certainly earned it. The episode then ends from there.

Giants

An episode about some of the largest creatures of Maastrichtian Earth, and how they deal with day-to-day life. The main theme here is that the main species of each segment are the biggest of their kind at this time, along with how certain giant species start off small.

The episode starts with a segment about Gargantuavis, which was the largest bird of the Mesozoic. While it’s not as big as most of the other species that get a focus in this episode, it's the largest of its kind during the Maasrichtian. The segment follows a pair of these huge, ground-dwelling birds, as they look after their eggs. Similar to how ostriches do the same thing, the pair both have respective times for laying on their clutch; The female looks after the eggs during the day, while the male takes over during the night. For a nice bit of comedic edge, the pair are very protective of their eggs, with one part showing the female getting aggressive when an Ampelosaurus wanders a bit too close for comfort while trying to find his herd. The incubation lasts for 42 days, just like ostriches, and by the end of the segment, the chicks start to hatch out. Admittingly, some of the ideas in this segment were taken from my original Gargantuavis segment idea, back during my article about my guesses for what Season 2 was gonna be. A good portion of that article’s ideas still work, and some of them even predicted aspects of the real Season 2 itself (The inclusion of Imperobator, Austroraptor, Globidens, and Diplomoceras, along with the mere idea of an episode being based on an entire continent coming true with “North America”).

The next segment takes place in Madagascar, where the giant frog Beelzebufo returns to the series yet again. This time, the story is set in two parts. The first part has a male Beelzebufo go up against a rival male, fighting on the flooded plains for his spot to attract a mate. After winning and securing a female, the segment cuts to a while later, while the male Beelzebufo is guarding after his young. First, they finally hatch, and after some time growing, they start to grow too big for the small pool of water that they were nursed in. This, in turn, leads to the male Beelzebufo having to dig out the pool for the tadpoles, which leads to a larger pond for them to grow and develop in. Sahonachelys, which was a suction-feeding turtle, also shows up in the segment, feeding on any strangling Beelzebufo tadpoles that stray away from their father. As a sort of way to evolve from the species’ last appearance back in Season 2, the scene adds in elements of African bullfrogs, both with rival males fighting for mates, and the males having to raise their young.

The next segment has the episode stay in Madagascar a bit more to focus on Vintana, a rather big mammal for its time. While Adalatherium from Season 2 (which was also a big Madagascarian mammal that was present at the same time) was big, this species was a bit bigger, making it the largest mammal of the Maasrichtian. The focus is on a female resting within her burrow. Outside, a large Rapetosaurus lies outside the burrow in the same spot that the animal died on, attaching scavengers. Some time later, during the night, the female Vintana comes out her burrow to find the carcass, with most of the meat having been gone. However, the mammal is after something else, and after some digging around, the scene shows the Vintata gnawing on one of the dead sauropod’s bones. This is based on how various mammals, rodents included, tend to gnaw on bone to acquire calcium.

The episode then cuts to the seas of Europe, where a female Mosasaurus serves as the focus. The female travels to a secluded bay in order to give birth, where she and her babies will be safe from predators. As the Mosasaurus and her young stay in the shallows a bit before the latter leaves, the segment shows how she, despite being a huge marine predator, is a caring mother, looking after and protecting her young. Eventually, the Mosasaurus had to leave the shallows, leaving the young behind to fend for themselves with no problem. As hard as it might sound, modern-day monitor lizards (The mosasaurs’ closest living relatives) are very intelligent and social animals, with some species living in groups. The idea of mosasaurs being caring towards their kin is a very good possibility.

From one predatory returnee to another, the next segment focuses on a female Hatzegopteryx looking after her eggs. While she takes great care to protect them from predators, she eventually leaves them behind just before they hatch. With their mother gone, the Hatzegopteryx flaplings are left to their own devices, and they start by hunting for themselves, while avoiding predators like Allodaposuchus and Eurazhdarcho. The theme of this segment is to show how many giant predators not only start out small, but have to deal with predation from other animals.

The last segment of the episode revolves around Dreadnoughtus, as the focus is on an old male on his last legs. A group of Orkoraptor waits as the herd steps into their territory. The predators stalk the herd, waiting for the right time for the old bull’s condition to worsen without having to deal with the threat of being crushed by the other titanosaurs in the herd due to how aggressive they can be. Eventually, due to a mix of old age, heat exhaustion, and his body failing him, the old Dreadnougthus lays down on the Patagonian ground for the last time, and the herd moves on. This is the opportunity that the Orkoraptor pack has been waiting for. With the titanosaurs gone, the predators step in to feast on the dead Dreadnoughtus, with other scavengers like Aerotitan and Niebla joining in. The whole scene is essentially a mix between the old Alamosaurus peacefully passing away in “North America”, and the speed lapse footage of the Mapusaurus feasting on an Argentinosaurus carcass from Planet Dinosaur, with the scene being a sort of homage to the latter. As the final segment of the episode, the general idea is how plenty of giant animals, even in death, can still have an important impact on an ecosystem. In this case, it’s providing plenty of food to other species.

Legacies

In this final, double length episode (Not just for the season, but probably the Maasrichtian trilogy and maybe even the whole series), the show shows how various animals raised their young, passing on the legacies of each species.

The first segment of the episode revolves around Maip macrothorax, a recently discovered megaraptorian theropod from South America. Specifically, two males that form a mated pair and raise chicks together, and are introduced by driving off a juvenile Nullotitan, who nearly crushes their chicks. This is an example of a monogamous pair, albeit not the usual male/female pair that’s more common, before comforting them and . As weird as it sounds for (most) humans to not be the only creatures to do this, there have been reports of many animals alive today being in same-sex couples, most prominently penguins and other birds included; given birds are dinosaurs, it’s unsurprising that non-avian dinosaurs would likely do so too.

The episode then cuts away to the second segment of the episode, which focuses on an age-segregated flock of Gallimimus. Thanks to fossil evidence of this exact behavior seen in Sinornithomimus (A closely related species), it’s entirely possible that these theropods shared the same behavior, with the segment showing a young flock of Gallimimus wandering the deserts of Mongolia, all trying to survive and find an adult group to rejoin before predators can catch up to them. An Alioramus makes a quick cameo appearance to highlight the dangers that the flock has to face.

The next segment then cuts to India, where the animal in question is the returning Bharattherium. Underneath the feet of the dinosaurs, mammals were still making a living at the time, with the female feeding on grass alongside some Isisaurus. After gorging herself on grass, the female then returns to her burrow, where her mate and young are waiting. After nuzzling up to her mate, the female Bharattherium then lays down and lets her young feed on her milk. While it’s a bit slower and calmer than the other scenes, this segment works to show how mammals raise their young during the time of the dinosaurs.

The next segment features the return of Mononykus, as the species, similar to Beelzebufo in the last episode, gets two new sides shown to it. The first half shows male Mononykus trying to win a mate. Their way of "fighting" (if you call it that) is trying to sit on each other. As strange as that sounds, anteaters have been known to do the same thing to fight over the right to mate. After the lead male wins the chance to court a mate, the segment then cuts to some time later, where the pair have constructed a nest together. This is where the second side comes in, as a lone Kuru kulla comes snooping around for an easy meal. The Mononykus pair then step in, with the female doing a sort of distraction display to the Kuru in order to lure her away from the nest, similar to how many birds do the same thing today. The goal for the female is to make herself look like an easier meal than her eggs in order to keep the predator away from the nest. Just as the female Mononykus gets the Kuru a far enough distance away from the nest, she then bolts out of there, leaving the raptor to eat her dust. After returning, the two Mononykus reunite, and resume their nesting duties.

The next segment then cuts to the waters of South America to focus on the rare occurrence of interspecies adoption, where a mother Aristonectes raises a baby Morturneria among her own pod. Despite the two being from different species, the two share a strong maternal bond that lasts for a few years. Sadly, by the time the calf is older, the maternal instincts of the mother Aristonectes wear off, and no longer recognizes the Morturneria as her own, forcing him to leave the pod. Despite how this is a somber moment for the marine reptile, the end shows that he’s capable of surviving on his own, and he leaves to find a pod of his own. Keeping up with the elasmosaurs of this show having behaviors seen in whales, the Aristonectes adopting the young Morturneria is based on various species of whales and dolphins adopting members from different species, like a group of sperm whales in Australia adopting a disabled bottlenose dolphin, an adult southern right whale being seen alongside a humpback whale calf, an orca adopting a pilot whale calf, and more.

The episode cuts to the open seas of North America where multiple Protosphyraena gather to reproduce. While these large, marlin-like fish aren’t related to true billfish, they not only hunt and look in a similar way, they also have a similar way of mating. The segment shows one of many females releasing her eggs out into the water, with multiple males all swarming to fertilize as many as possible. The segment also takes time to show off the speed and bills of these predatory fish, as they not only have a similar niche to modern day sailfish and marlins, but also have the same way of reproduction. This way of mating is referred to as “broadcast spawning”, where female marine animals release their eggs out into the open water, and the males take turns releasing sperm to fertilize them. The fertilized eggs then drift out into the current, acting like plankton. While a good portion of them are eaten on screen by a passing Bonnerichthys, the surviving eggs eventually hatch into minute versions of their parents, and they venture out to grow and develop into high-speed predators.

The final normal segment not only of the episode, but also the season, the possible Maasrichtian trilogy, and maybe even the series in general, takes place in Hell Creek, where not only various animals are seen living their lives, the main focus is on a mixed herd of both Edmontosaurus and Thescelosaurus. These two ornithopods have radically different lifestyles (One’s a migratory species, while the other is a sedentary burrower), but the scene shows that both use each other as protection and defense, and by extension, protect each other’s clutches. Even nearly being accidentally stepped on by the Edmontosaurus helps to teach the baby Thescelosaurus to avoid big animals, regardless of diet. All the while, as the herd moves through the coastal floodplains underneath a setting sky, many other residents of Hell Creek make cameo appearances as a sort of last hurrah; A herd of Triceratops, an Ankylosaurus lying near a large swampy pond while a pair of Didelphodon play with each like a couple of otters, a mated pair of Pectinodon and their chicks, a Quetzalcoatlus flying overhead below the full moon before landing down to preen himself on a rock, a group of Pachycephalosaurus feeding near a rotten log, and of course, Tyrannosaurus. As the mixed herd moves on, the scene, in a callback to the very beginning of the series, ends with a father T. Rex and his chicks standing near a large river leading to the beach, looking up at the stars. Just like at the start of Season 1, the T. Rex and his brood are peaceful animals, just minding their own business. The scene ends with a shot of the T. Rex and his chicks looking on at the night sky.

After the last normal segment ends, the camera cuts back to Sir David Attenborough walking around the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on a slow fade-in shot, until coming up on the skeleton of the T. Rex from the Season 1 intro. He then goes on about how the dinosaurs, along with the animals that shared their world, were some of the greatest creatures to have ever lived. David then brings up how this great era came to a somber era, with the KT extinction, and while it may seem tragic at first, David then explains that they've left behind their most incredible legacy. Not only things like fossils, but also their closest-living relatives; birds. This legacy can even be expanded to how the dinosaurs and their story have inspired people. As David walks around, the scenes with the animals are projected onto the walls next to their skeletons. While this plays in the background, holograms-like ghosts of the dinosaurs and other animals seen throughout the series phase in at the museum at first, before David looks through one of the museum windows to see that more of them are roaming the modern world; Herds of Dreadnoughtus and Edmontosaurus roaming on city roads, a Mononykus slinking and sneaking through trash bins, two Simosuchus frolicing on the streets, a Pachyrhinosaurus getting confused after bumping into some random car, a Hatzegopteryx flying overhead, a Mosasaurus breaching out of a city channel, while schools of ammonites swim below the giant, a male Barbaridactylus on the roof of a building trying to court what he thinks is a female (but is actually another male pretending to be a female), and more, all as a way to show that while the creatures of the past are forever gone, their memories still roam our imaginations. David then brings up a warning of the current extinction, and if mankind does everything they can to prevent the animals of today to go the way of the dinosaurs, perhaps someday, we might experience the greatest show in nature since the era of our Prehistoric Planet. As David walks past the skeleton of an ancient whale, in which the camera lingers on for a bit (Maybe to tease a possible future set of seasons based within the Cenozoic), he meets up with the ghost of the T. Rex from the very beginning of the series. (I.E. Hank). Hank calmly looks at David at the entrance of the museum for a bit, before deciding to walk out. As Hank exits the museum, he then scatters into a flock of birds that fly off into the distance, showing how the dinosaurs still live on as birds. The season then ends on a cut to black.

Overall, this final segment has plenty of inspiration from other forms of paleomedia; The ghost of Big Al wandering a museum at the start of The Ballad of Big Al, The Acrocanthosaurus leaving the museum that it was kept in back in Monsters Resurrected, the holograms of the animals in the live-action parts of Dinosaur Revolution, the entire feel and vibe of “The Last Tyrant” from David James Armsby’s Dinosauria, and even a dash of David Attenboruguh’s Natural History Museum Alive (Another paleontology-based project that he worked on). Not only does this finale serve as the ultimate send-off to the wonders of the Maasrichtian era, it’s also a huge love letter towards paleontology as a whole.

And that, dear readers, is how I imagine a possible third season of PHP. As much as I hope this series gets more and more seasons covering other periods throughout Earth’s history, it would make sense if it stayed in the Maastrichtian yet again. Due to not only the amount of well-known taxa are known to live at this time, along with how people know alot about it, it’d make sense to stay in the Maastrichtian. And if this became the final season of the show, at least making enough seasons to make an incredible trilogy would work well for people. Would I want more seasons after this? Yeah, I would. But if one more season came out of this series and set it in the same time and place for a whole Maasrichtian trilogy, I’d be cool with it. All without directly showing off the K-T extinction. As much as that's been an important part of this time in Earth's history, many people are tired of it appearing in every dinosaur documentary. And I have a feeling Darren Niash and his team are in the same boat.

This project was not only one of the biggest that I’ve made so far as an artist/writer, it was also one of the most fun that I ever had. This took me months to get done, and it’s so satisfying to finally have it finished. I wanna give a good shout-out to the folks from the Paleo Media Central Discord server that I spoke to and worked with on this project. Their ideas helped with getting this whole thing complete. And while I can understand that there are other ideas/suggestions for what people think a possible PHP season 3 could be like, we’ll just have to wait and see if it’ll come. As for now, thanks for reading!

#ultra ramblings #prehistoric planet #bbc #apple tv #david attenborough #dinosaurs

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never-not-ever · 1 month

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First Week Outpatient

August 1st-7th

So I discharged around 1pm on that Thursday. For weeks prior I had been taking useless junk home so that on my day of discharge I wouldn’t be walking the hall with ten thousand bags drawing attention to me. I just wanted to leave quietly and not make a big deal about it.

I had to stop at my PACT teams office for my meds. I have a therapist, psychiatrist, case manager and a nurse on my team there. My nurse packs my meds for me in a weekly pill organizer. I’ve always told my IP doctor to not discharge me with a months supply of meds and it just so happened to work out that with PACT they offer the weekly medication pickup. So I went straight there and then headed home because I had a virtual appointment with my therapist at 4.

After that me and my Nana drove my nephew back home in NH cause he had been staying at my Nana’s. On the way back home I stopped to get groceries and was panicking so much in the store. I still remember what stoplight we were at when it became 8:00. Staring at the time I kept thinking I should be back at McLean, this is the latest time you have to return from a pass. This isn’t right. I shouldn’t be outside right now. It’s too dark. That day felt like a pass. I remember freaking out in my kitchen that night, hyperventilating and trying to calm myself down saying “you’re going to be back on the campus tomorrow, less than 24 hours, it’s going to be okay, it's going to be okay”.

Anyways, Jesus, if I write so much nonsense these updates are going to be essays. Stick to the important stuff!! Okay so I started PHP the next day on Friday. I’ll add these in the tags but I’ll post a warning here too. There’s going to be talk of drinking and self harm and restricting. So partial was Friday and then Saturday night I got drunk and self harmed for the first time in over 6 weeks. I bought a 6 pack of White Claw and the whole 6 was just the right amount to get blissfully drunk and escape for a bit. Alcohol affects me differently after having weight loss surgery so I honestly don't know if 6 is the standard or way too much?

Monday I told my program psychiatrist and she wanted to look at my arm but I didn’t have extra bandaids so she told me to bring some the next day. I also met with my program therapist and we talked about starting a diary card and what to track. I told her how since I’ve been home I’m not hungry/eating and I’m not complaining. Saturday when I got drunk all I had that day was applesauce around lunchtime. So I mentioned the word “restricting” and tried to give the short version of my fucked up body image, losing (necessary) weight, losing it in a healthy way and also unhealthy ways at times, that I’ve never been diagnosed with an eating disorder but I know I have a fucked up relationship with food and my body….

So later that evening I got a phone call from disability. I should have applied back in September but instead I didn’t apply until April. They said it could take 6 months before I get a decision on my application. For months I kept checking online to see how much of my application had been looked at it. I needed money and felt like such a financial burden on my Nana. I had just borrowed money from her to pay my phone bill and an hour later disability called asking more questions that I’ve already answered in the past. She said she was the final person to review my application and that she’d be making a decision soon. If my application gets approved then I could be seeing a check within the next 4 weeks...

The following morning I checked my bank account and saw an ungodly amount of money, like two months worth of paychecks from my old job. I could actually pay my Nana back for all the money she’s given me while inpatient and afford to buy stuff to redo my apartment. And after seeing this money in my account I cried, not tears of joy but because I realized that even with this financial issue being lifted it still didn’t change how badly I wanted to end my life. Obviously money doesn’t buy happiness but like that money lifted a huge weight off my chest and it still didn’t matter. My passive SI, self harm urges and depression was shit when I discharged and it was just slowly getting worse.

So back to the timeline. So that "money thing" happened Tuesday morning. I brought bandaids to PHP and mind you I didn’t know what my arm looked like. I didn’t know if it was bad, I just slapped bandaids on it Saturday night and never looked at it again until that day when my doctor looked at it. It was so triggering seeing it. I'm going to get real descriptive here but I've never been able to cut over scars before. Maybe it's what I use but still I've basically run out of room on my go to arm. But drunk I was able to do it and deep. Two cuts, and obviously too much time had passed for me to get stitches but she still wanted me to go to Urgent Care after the program just to make sure it wasn’t infected. I felt like I was wasting their time. Going 3 days later just to get it re-bandaged… the nurse was so nice but the doctor seemed irritated. I think I spent almost 2 hours there, so pointless. They gave me a prescription for an ointment for my arm and they put in my chart that it “could have used stitches”. I never picked up the ointment.

Wednesday when I met with my psychiatrist she brought that up and said that if it happened again she wanted me to get seen right away.

11:19am Wed “I feel strange today. Maybe strange is the wrong word, disconnected? Empty, low, low energy. I can stare at the floor and get lost in my head.”

I started “seeing” my new therapist in the beginning of July but it was always virtual until that day. At 4 I had my first in person appointment and after the day being weird and shitty I was looking forward to it. But it was horrible.

So on the way home I went shopping. Dropped a couple hundred at Aerie and American Eagle and this was the start to my spending sprees. I FaceTimed with that friend I texted and it was a nice ending to the crappy day.

#personal #update #tw self harm #tw suicidality #tw ed #tw restricting #tw drinking #tw alchohol mention #IP to OP #bpd #self harm #depression #suicidal

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yawpyawp · 1 year

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lol the people at my php are so useless

me: i need help with motivation and task completion

therapist 1: just breathe deeply and say a mantra and try harder

me: lol yes i never thought of trying harder please help me with motivation and task completion

therapist 2: just bribe urself with something ur looking forward to doing after u do the thing

me: i am LITERALLY here because i’m suicidally depressed because i don’t look forward to things anymore

#void journal

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rosicheeks · 6 months

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🤦🏽‍♀️🙃

#I can’t stop thinking about it #I keep replaying the morning over and over in my head #my friend said she thinks I should write a letter or text tell them #and I’m thinking about it #the more I’m processing it and it’s kinda sinking in #the more angry and offended and hurt I am #idk I know super vague post #and since you guys keep saying you like my crazy dumb Rosie rant posts maybe I’ll do one telling you guys what happened #I’m just still so fucking mad?#and she has NO idea how badly she fucked me up #she’s texting me like nothing happened and I’m like ???? ok sorry but I can’t just move on from this #anyway fun fact and update about me and my life #I’m looking into a php 👌#partial hospitalization program #if you didn’t know what I was talking about #so that’s suuuuper duper fun (hope you can feel my sarcasm)#but at this point in my life I feel like I need it #not gonna get into that right now cause ooofda one thing at a time #but this whole situation reallyyyyy set me back in my progress and healing so thanks buddy 👌👌👌#you are lucky I love your dog so fucking much otherwise I probably would never talk to you again #shut up rosie

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growandrecover · 2 months

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Hey, I hope you are doing well.

I only just found this blog and spent awhile reaching your posts and a lot of them really resonated with me. So thank you for that. In a moment of bravery and sleep deprivation I wanted to send an ask.

I have been in serious ana recovery for a little over a year now, eight months of which I spent hospitalized or in a partial hospitalization facility, and the entire time my primary and pretty much only driving force for recovery has been my job. I am a daycare teacher and it is the first and only job to bring me real genuine joy. It was also the wake up call that I needed to actually try to recover because my restriction was heavily affecting my ability to work (energy levels, strength to pick the kids up, etc) And I care about my ability to take care of the kiddos more than anything. Even when I had to miss months of work to try to recover with professional help it felt worth it because I knew when I came back I could be the teacher they deserve. And for a little while it was true, I had more energy and strength and endurance. I was more mentally present and able to focus, I had more patience and honestly I felt like I was feeling the joy of it more deeply.

The problem I’m facing is that with the severe teacher shortage my daycare is now facing the very real possibility of permanently shutting down. This week alone we lost two teachers and now we don’t know how we are going to last through the summer months. The closer we get to what feels like the inevitable end of my job the harder it is to keep the urges at bay. It feels like my only reason to recovery is slipping through my fingers and I don’t know what to do. I know logically I can get another daycare job but it doesn’t feel that simple. I fear at the rate I have been going with relapse, that this will be the opportunity ana has needed to get me fully under again. I fear that I wasted all those months trying to recovery when I could have just been working with the kids and making the most of the time I have left. If my daycare shuts down I likely will never see any of the students again.

I guess I’m looking for advice on how to find reasoning to recover when it all seems to be slipping away? I know the ‘why’ is supposed to be a personal thing but now it’s leaving and I don’t know what’s left. My ‘coping mechanisms’ are what I spent months of treatment trying to conquer and now I don’t know how to deal with all the upcoming change in my life. I know I learned actual skills and coping mechanisms in treatment but the actual motivation to use them aren’t there. I know I have the knowledge I need to recover but I have no Why anymore if my daycare shuts down.

Even now after being in recovery for so long I only have a stable meal plan during the work week and the weekends it all falls apart. I fear that the habits will only grow if I don’t have work helping stabilize me.

The only other thing I have helping in the mental recovery is that after finishing my last round of PHP I adopted two cats. I hoped that they would help inspire me to stay healing as if I get worse enough to the point of needing hospitalization I don’t know who could take care of my cats. So I have a reason to stay out of the hospital because I love my cats dearly and don’t want to have to give them away, however what about the inbetween. There’s so many unknowns and I don’t know how to effectively cope with it and figure out a safe plan.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Hi, anon :)

I'm not going to lie, as a nanny, this made me tear up a little bit. Last year I went through my worst relapse to date, and the kids were my reason to get through it as well.

First things first, congratulations on being in recovery for a year! That's amazing!!

When I'm struggling to find reasons to stay in recovery, I focus on the absolute necessities. You've already done that (nice job!!). You said that the kids are the main reason, but the daycare may be shutting down soon. Your cats still live with you and depend on you 100%. Is there anything else that you would hate to have to leave/not be able to do if you were to relapse? Like if you were to leave your friends/family/partner? Or say the daycare doesn't close or you find another job, you won't be able to work if you go back to the hospital. Will you need that money you're missing out on? How will your bills be getting paid? etc etc

Whatever it may be, you need to keep that in the forefront of your mind during meal times, and whenever you need it throughout the day. Make it your phone wallpaper if you have to. You can write a list of things that matter most to you in the world (other than your ed) and look at that when you need motivation to keep going. In the app we used at my treatment center, it had a section for us to put pictures for reasons for our recovery. I put pictures of my friends and family, my dog, and my favorite bands because I wanted to be well enough to see them in concert one day. Looking at those when I was struggling was pretty helpful. You could do something similar. :) If you have to eat your meals at home sitting next to your cats as a reminder that they need you, then so be it.

Next, I'd say that you may want to have a chat with your boss if you haven't already. They might be able to tell you if you should start looking for another job or not. In the meantime, you still have kiddos who need you to be on top of your game, even if your daycare doesn't stay open much longer. Which I'm sorry about, by the way. That sounds very difficult. :(

One part of your ask really stood out to me the more I reread it. You fear you wasted all that time trying to recover, when you could've just been working with the kids and making the most of what time the daycare has left.

For starters, any time at all spent trying to recover is not a waste of time, no matter the circumstances. That's a huge thing to do, and you did it. You should be proud of yourself.

Secondly, I want you to think about what that time would have been like if you weren't in recovery. When I was nannying last year while in a relapse, it was very, very difficult. I had no strength to pick up the kids (like you mentioned), I couldn't run around with them, I wasn't eating while they were eating, and my mind was not there, with them, it was on food. I was simply not performing at my best because I was tired and hungry all the time. Would you have been able to enjoy that time with them if you were actively in a relapse? Would you have been able to keep up with them physically? Would you be treasuring that time or thinking about food/your next meal/your body/etc?

When I got out of that relapse, I realized how much more I enjoyed being with them and doing the things they love to do because I was able to focus on them.

Another thing that jumped out at me was your eating schedule. Are you not doing well on the weekends because you're not at work? If so, maybe think about it like this: You need to be nourished every day of the week, not just 5 of them, for those kids. If you're restricting every weekend, that doesn't put you in the best place to start the week on Monday morning. The kids need you to be nourished even when they're not there <3

I know you mentioned this, but I'd tell this to anyone who was facing a problem like yours. I think you need to start looking for other teaching jobs. Even if you're not applying for them, you still might want to look. That could give you a safety net so there's not much time in between jobs for you to relapse. If there aren't a lot of jobs like yours open, I'd check out nannying websites since you love working with kids. There are always so many people looking for nannies, and some of them are looking to hire quickly.

I really hope this was helpful and I'm so sorry you're going through all of this. Hopefully your daycare is able to stay open! <3

If I missed anything or you just want to talk, don't hesitate to send me another ask or a message!

#asks

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aguineapigcouldntdothis · 3 months

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I was looking for ladino resources because I wanted to add some references to ladino sayings and such. Because I’m writing a Sephardic character (turns out there is little and that makes me incredibly sad)

And I found a ladino dictionary! I’m not sure if it;d be interesting to you? but I found one!

http://folkmasa.org/milon/yachad1.php

Anyway hope you have a wonderful day!

-pop

thank you so much! that looks pretty familiar so im sure ive seen it somewhere but I dont think I've ever looked at it too carefully. i hope your day is super wheekin

here is the link for anyone who wants easy access

#answered

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trans-axolotl · 2 years

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re: psych ward alternatives (so tw for psych stuff) - what do you think about PHPs and residential (for mental illness)? it seems like people tend to have less horrible experiences but then i doubt a PHP would be appropriate for someone who is actively suicidal, and residential still sounds like… not a great experience a lot of the time. i’ve seen both used for people with eating disorders in particular, do you think that would be a better alternative to psych wards or still more of the same shit?

Hey! So I have a pretty long answer to this cause I think it’s a complex topic and I’m going to do my best to answer it with nuance. You probably already know a lot of this stuff, but I’m just going to ramble a bit for any followers who aren’t as familiar. First I do just want to define the ways I’m using the different terms cause I know that these things can mean different things in different countries . When I talk about psych wards, I am referring to inpatient units, whether part of a larger hospital or not, that have the power to hold people involuntarily and is usually intended for shorter term stays for crisis stabilization. In America, this is usually the most restrictive level of care. Residential treatment is a separate facility that is focused on long term mental health treatment for weeks, months, or years, and can be either focused on a specific diagnosis (eating disorders or substance use, for example), or be a general mental health facility. Residential treatment really varies depending on the specific facility, but usually is on a secure unit with many restrictions and carceral aspects, although there are often some freedoms that are not present in the psych ward and many residential treatment centers only take voluntary patients. When I refer to Partial hospitalization programs, I’m talking about programs where you still live at home, but go to a facility multiple days a week to get group therapy and treatment while still having more freedom than either psych wards or residential treatment.

On a societal level, I don’t think that residential treatment or PHP is an alternative to psych wards that fixes the problems with psych wards. The underlying factors and approach to treatment that creates the conditions of violence and coercion in psych wards are still just as present in almost all levels of care in the current mental health system, and although the way that these things show up is going to look different based on the unique aspects of different levels of care, residential treatment and PHP doesn’t solve the larger problem. The way the American mental healthcare system is structured is so based on this pathologization model where autonomy is deprioritized over pretty much everything else. The specific abuses of involuntary treatment in psych wards is fundamentally caused by the dynamic in the psychiatric system where violence is easily justified in the name of cure. Mental illness is treated as the worst case scenario, with little room for other ways of understanding one’s lived experience and where often time the things people actually want (like access to specific meds, trauma treatment, ability to use stigmatized coping methods) is denied. The psych system is very much set up to be a “one size fits all” approach to wellness where instead of making room to understand neurodiversity as an inherent part of human experience, all mental illness is instantly assumed to be able to be scientifically observable and treatable in a way that ends up excluding many peoples lived experience of mental illness. The psych system is really not well set up to actually provide care and support to try to improve the mental distress that is very real and that people do need and want help for. Which is why I personally dream for a restructuring of the entire psych system that moves beyond the DSM, embraces harm reduction, is actively abolitionist, and empowers people to make autonomous choices. There’s no way to find that in a system based off control, birthed from eugenics, racism, and ableism, where capitalism shapes every available treatment option.

So under those conditions, residential treatment and PHP are not really a liberatory alternative to psych wards that solve the problems from psych wards. I wouldn’t advocate for more residential treatment on a policy level and act like it would be a solution to psychiatric incarceration. Residential treatment in particular still has many of the same problems as psych wards, as it really is still institutionalization and all the violence and coercion that comes with that. There is still supervision, power imbalances and abuses of those powers, and little respect for autonomy. A lot of places that are certified as “residential treatment centers” are basically just long term psych wards. Although there are some that do allow for more freedom, it’s such a broad category that it’s hard to know what to expect. PHP is something that I do feel more positive about advocating for, as it has less total control and you are not locked up, but it still works under some of the same mentalities.

On an individual level, however, I think that residential treatment and PHP can be options that individuals use as personal alternatives to psych wards in terms of their own treatment needs. There just simply aren’t enough widespread accessible alternatives for us to use as mentally ill people, and when our distress gets above a certain level where we cannot stay safe or don’t have the support we need in our communities, we often have to engage with the psychiatric system whether we like it or not. I think it’s unrealistic to pretend like we don’t have some sort of relationship with the psych system, whether that relationship is based in total rejection of any psych treatment, whether we take meds but don’t go to therapy, whether we can cope with just outpatient treatment or whether we have higher support needs that cannot be easily met outpatient. There can absolutely be benefits to mental health treatment, even under the current system—we usually just have to put up with a ton of bullshit in order to access moments of healing. And I think that residential treatment can be a better option than psych hospitalization depending on your needs, and that absolutely PHP is a less restrictive environment that can be a good option for some people. I personally have structured my approach to mental health treatment in order to avoid psych wards at all costs, but I’m more open to residential treatment because there is more risk management I can do there. With residential treatment, I could research beforehand, compare different places, and figure out what my own personal level of tolerance and nonnegotiable needs were. In my residential treatment facility, I was able to have my phone, do art, and knew that I could never be involuntarily held or forcibly restrained and drugged. For me, that worked as an alternative to psych hospitalization, but for some people, months spent in treatment is not what they need for short term crisis stabilization. Lots of residential treatment centers are also just as fucked up as psych wards and just as restrictive, so you need to be able to do research and make sure that you’re not ending up somewhere that’s just as fucked up. I think that PHP is a helpful thing that I wish was more accessible, and generally doesn’t have as many risks as higher levels of care. Even though a lot of PHP is bullshit, having the structure and support during the day can be invaluable when you’re really in distress. It really depends on your needs and what options are available to you, but I think it’s really important for us as mad/mentally ill/ neurodivergent people to be made aware of what all our options are so that we can make informed decisions.

Overall: I don’t think residential treatment and PHP are alternatives to psych wards in a societal sense because I don’t think that they solve the underlying problems of psych wards, but I think that on an individual level when you’re navigating the current system, that they can be important levels of care to consider and make informed decisions about.

Would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this!

#personal #antipsych #antipsychiatry #disability justice #mad pride #psych wards tw #ask to tag

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