Wild New World

Wild New World
Series title card from US broadcast
Also known as	Prehistoric America
Genre	Nature documentary
Narrated by	Jack Fortune
Composer(s)	Barnaby Taylor
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Neil Nightingale
Producer(s)	Miles Barton
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Natural History Unit Discovery Channel
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Picture format	576i (16:9)
Audio format	Stereophonic
Original run	3 October 2002 (2002-10-03) – 7 November 2002 (2002-11-07)
Chronology
Preceded by	Wild Africa
Followed by	Wild Down Under
Related shows	Monsters We Met
External links
Website

Wild New World, also known as Prehistoric America, is a British documentary series about Ice Age America (United States). Like several other BBC programmes, it contains both computer graphics and real life animals. Occasionally, footage of non-American counterparts of the extinct American beasts (like the American lion and the giant American cheetah) are used in juxtaposition with footage of native American animals, like the pronghorn.

Contents 1 List of episodes 2 Themes 3 Related programs 4 External links

List of episodes

The program's episodes go through Ice Age North America's climatic zones, from the very northwest (Alaska/Beringia) down to the extreme southeast (Florida).

• 1. "Land of the Mammoth" talks about Beringea (current state of Alaska and the adjacent country of Canada). The episode focuses mainly on the Woolly mammoth.
• 2. "Canyonlands" talks about the modern south-western USA (current state of Nevada). The episode focuses on the Columbian Mammoth, ground sloth and the American sabre-tooth cat, Smilodon.
• 3. "Ice Age Oasis" talks about the modern south-eastern USA (current state of Florida). The episode focuses on the American Mastodon, the ground sloth Eremotherium, Smilodon and the American glyptodon, Glyptotherium.
• 4. "Edge of the Ice" talks about the modern north-western USA (current state of Washington). The episode focuses on the American mastodon and the American scimitar-tooth cat, Homotherium.
• 5. "American Serengeti" talks about the American Midlands (current state of Colorado). The episode focuses on the mammoth Columbian mammoth, the American lion and the short-faced bear.
• 6. "Mammoths to Manhattan", the sixth episode doesn't go back in time unlike the previous five. Rather, it talks about various modern American animals, from the mustang to the free-tailed bats, and about how they have adapted to the increasing influence of humans in the New World.

Themes

The show's episodes offer several common themes, the main one being the coming of humans to America via the Ice Age's land bridge and causing the extinction of the North American megafauna featured in the episodes. Another BBC programme, Monsters We Met picks up and elaborates on this topic in greater detail. A more recent Discovery show, Prehistoric (2009/10 show), also features scenic elements of Prehistoric America, such as the present melting away to reveal the past, as well as creatures already shown by the show, like the American Mastodon, Arctodus and Columbian Mammoth.

Related programs

• Paleoworld
• Dinosaur Planet (TV series)
• When Dinosaurs Roamed America

Prehistoric America is part of a series of BBC documentaries that also include:

• Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)
• Walking with Beasts (2001), depicting life after the dinosaurs
• Walking with Monsters (2005), depicting life before the dinosaurs

The following are Walking With... series specials:

• The Ballad of Big Al (2000)
• Chased by Dinosaurs (2002)
• Walking with Cavemen (2003)
• Sea Monsters (2003)
• Prehistoric Park (2006)

The following are similar programs, produced by the BBC:

• Monsters We Met (2003)

External links

• Wild New World at BBC Online
• Wild New World at BBC Programmes