Lost Animals of the 20th Century
Lost Animals of the Twentieth Century 100 Part TV Series Based on “The Doomsday Book of Animals” by David Day Series scripts written by David Day and David Helton Narrated by Greta Scacchi and Lin Sagovsky
Clark Television - Walk Promotions Bernard Clark and Yoshima Hayashi
Series Production Bill Butt - Atlas Adventures UK-Channel Four; Japan-NHK; USA-Discovery Channel Translated into 18 languages. Originally produced in UK as 100 five minute programs about 100 species. In the US, the series consisted of 16 episodes wherein 5 species were bundled into 25 minute programs.
Currently many episodes may be found on youtube @ : David Day Books: Lost Animals of the Twentieth Century https://www.youtube.com>daviddaybooks.lost animals https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8IzdGIpo0Is0DX__GE1lGw Or: Lost Animals of the 20th Century - video Dailymotion https://www.dailymotion.com › video Or: Lost Animals of the 20th Century Part 1 of 8 - YouTube https://www.youtube.com › watch
Lost Animals of the 20th Century is a 16-episode documentary series shown on the Discovery Channel in the 1990s. It features animals that have become extinct throughout the 20th century. Animals are adjudged as such when the last specimen of the species dies sometime from 1901 to 2000. However, since the show was produced in the 1990s (still part of the 20th century), most of the animals covered became extinct in the early part of the century. Greta Scacchi introduces each episode during the title sequence and narrates episodes 1 through 8. Lin Sagovsky narrates the remainder of the series.
Format
Each show is 30 minutes long and discusses five to six extinct species bound by a common theme (e.g. animals that became extinct for being too charismatic; animals that became extinct due to natural disasters). For each animal, a detailed sketch is shown, including the year when the last specimen died. The general characteristics, territorial habitat and location are discussed. For each animal, the feature ends with how they became endangered, and eventually extinct, including how and when the last specimen died. Often, live materials such as old films are included. In cases where such is unavailable, the live materials feature existing species that share the closest characteristics with the extinct animal.
Although the show specifically deals with animals that have become extinct, there was one episode that featured the theme of animals which were thought to be extinct, but have been rediscovered. Such has also been the case of some previously featured animals in the show, as scientists have eventually rediscovered extant populations or are attempting to revive species through selective breeding/cloning.