Prehistoric Disasters

What would happen if Earth experienced another ice age? When will the next fatalistic asteroid strike us? What lessons can we learn from yesteryear's PREHISTORIC DISASTERS? From the BIRTH OF THE PLANET to an ASTEROID STRIKE, Discovery Channel's programming special PREHISTORIC DISASTERS reveals what happened millions of years ago, how our life on Earth has evolved from these cataclysmic events, and if there will be more extinction-level events in the future.

PREHISTORIC DISASTERS make up a big part of our planet's 4.5 billion years of history. A series of catastrophes pushed life to the edge of extinction, but the disasters were not necessarily setbacks as from these events came new life. While dominant species on the planet were wiped out, hardier creatures survived and thrived. These creatures in turn took over the planet until they themselves fell victim to yet another mass extinction. If not for these PREHISTORIC DISASTERS, neither mankind nor any of the life we see around us would be here today as each event resulted in a leap forward on the evolutionary trail - from single celled bacteria to humankind itself. (Discovery Networks)