Archive: Feathered Dinosaurs

All dinosaurs were originally thought to be related to lizards - the word 'dinosaur' was created by Richard Owen (1804-1892) from the Greek for 'terrible lizard' - but that now appears to be false.

In this archive episode, first released in October 2017, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development of theories about dinosaur feathers, following discoveries of fossils which show evidence of feathers. In the last century, the discoveries of these fossils have established that at least some dinosaurs were feathered, and that some of those dinosaurs survived the great extinctions and evolved into the birds we see around us today. There are still many outstanding areas for study, such as what sorts of feathers they were, where on the body they were found, what their purpose was and which dinosaurs had them.

With Mike Benton
Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol

Steve Brusatte
Reader and Chancellor's Fellow in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh

and

Maria McNamara
Senior Lecturer in Geology at University College, Cork

Producer: Simon Tillotson

In Our Time is a BBC Studios production

A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.