BBC - Monsters We Met

The first humans left their African homeland 100,000 years ago and began an epic journey that was to end with mankind dominating the globe. On their voyages they encountered monster-like creatures and perilous lands that would test their powers of survival to the very limit.

In this series we journey with them into an unknown world where no man had set foot before. Each film is a dramatic reconstruction of personal stories of our ancestors’ struggle for survival in a primaeval wilderness dominated by formidable predators. A world where man was both hunter and hunted.

2: Australia - 65,000 years ago

Humans travelled out of Africa and reached South-east Asia perhaps as early as 90,000 years ago. Then around 65,000-68,000 years ago a momentous event happened - someone discovered Australia. The ancestors of the Aborigines made a daring sea voyage and set foot on a new and lonely land.

Ancient Australia was a land of drought and fire, with a unique fauna dominated by marsupials, reptiles and giant flightless birds. The first Australians shared their home with the two-tonne Diprotodon, the giant short-faced kangaroo and the platypus. Emus and cassowaries were dwarfed by the ‘demon duck’ Genyornis. Predators like the marsupial lion and the giant ripper lizard, Megalania, stalked the land