The Vanished Sea
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| “The Vanished Sea” | |
|---|---|
| The Future Is Wild episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3 |
| Written by | – |
| Original airdate | – |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Return of the Ice" | "Prairies of Amazonia" |
The Vanished Sea is the third episode in the documentary series The Future Is Wild. It is set in what was the Mediterranean sea in 5,000,000 years time. It features four species.
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- Cryptile - a descendant of the salt desert lizard with a sticky frill to catch flies which it can then lick off at its leisure
- Scrofa - a descendant of the wild boar which has developed spindly legs to allow it to live on the rocky islands in the desert
- Gryken - a descendant of the pine marten which hunts Scrofa in the cracked rocks of the landscape
- Brine flies - these don't appear to have evolved too much but are the only animals around capable of drinking the salty water.
- Unnamed birds of prey - These are only mention in the book, said to prey on baby scofra that wander too far from their herd. Even though they don't physically appear, they could just be the same species from modern times.
Before this time in the future, the tip of Africa has collided with the southern tip of Spain, thus enclosing the Mediterranean inland. It has since dried up to become an enormous salt desert with a few lakes of ultra-saline water, as it was during the Messinian salinity crisis. The holiday islands that used to be in the sea are now mountains scattered throughout the desert.
The episode demonstrates how the animals get food in the forboding environment. It also shows how deadly it can be for a Scrofa to stray too far from the grassy islands.
