Sign language

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

Ice Age Giants

BBC Four

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Two Scotland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

BBC Two England

England

BBC Four HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Alice Roberts

Mark Flowers

Tim Martin

Dan Fisher

John Broster

Mike Waters

Blaine Schubert

Kendra McLauchlan

Ice Age Giants: Episode 3: Last of the Giants

Documentaries

Last of the Giants

Episode 3

Episode 3: Last of the Giants

BBC Two - Ice Age Giants, Last of the Giants

What finally killed all the woolly rhinos, mammoths, sloths and sabre-toothed cats?

Professor Alice Roberts goes on the trail of the great beasts of the ice age. As the world warmed up again, many species became extinct. Alice finds out why.

Professor Alice Roberts journeys 40,000 years back in time on the trail of the great beasts of the ice age. This was the last time that giants like mammoths, woolly rhinos and sabre-toothed cats ruled our planet. Drawing on the latest scientific detective work and a dash of graphic wizardry, Alice brings the ice age giants back to life.

Astonishingly, even after thousands of years of ice crushing the northern hemisphere and temperatures of 20 degrees lower than those of today, many of the great giants of the ice age still walked the earth. It was only when the world had warmed up again that mammoths, woolly rhinos, sabre-toothed cats, giant ground sloths and glyptodonts finally became extinct. Alice sets off on her last voyage back to the ice age to discover why.

She learns the moving story of a mother mastodon, an extinct relative of the elephant. From her tusks, scientists can tell how many calves she had and whether they reached adulthood. This evidence, together with harrowing injuries on other skeletons, tells a perplexing story of a species on the edge of extinction - mastodons were turning on mastodons. By looking at the behaviour of elephants today, scientists have come up with a surprising theory as to why this happened.

The woolly rhino tells another story. Believe it or not, the one thing it couldn't stand was snow - which stopped it from getting enough grass. During the ice age in Europe and Siberia, snow was thin on the ground as so much water was locked up in the ice sheets. But when the ice ended, the snows increased, rhinos found themselves stuck and their little legs were unable to get them out of trouble.

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Factual: Pets & Animals

Factual: History

Professor Alice Roberts travels 40,000 years into the past to meet Ice Age's great beasts.

Professor Alice Roberts journeys 40,000 years back in time on the trail of the great beasts of the Ice Age.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Ice Age Giants

Episode 3: Last of the Giants

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Two Wales

About BBC Two