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We're living through THE golden age of dinosaur discoveries.
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From all over the world,
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a whole new generation of dinosaurs has been revealed...
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from the biggest giants and the deadliest killers
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to the weird and wonderful.
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From the Arctic to Africa.
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From South America to Asia.
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With the most extraordinary fossils...
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from dinosaur embryos to the exquisitely preserved.
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And using the latest imaging technology,
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cutting-edge research has allowed us to probe deeper
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and reveal more than ever before.
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It gives us our first truly global view of these incredible animals.
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In this episode we look at the new, bizarre
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and extraordinary feathered dinosaurs,
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many of which have only just been discovered.
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Some conquered new worlds.
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Others grew to gigantic sizes.
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As we learn more about the evolution of these feathered beasts,
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they're revolutionising our understanding of life on Earth,
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blurring the boundaries between dinosaurs and birds.
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For over a century, the great dinosaur discoveries
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came from North America and Europe,
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but in the last decade or so, the focus shifted.
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One country now sits at the centre of the new dinosaur revolution -
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China.
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In recent years, spectacular fossils have been uncovered here.
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Amazingly preserved, these fossils revealed exquisite new details.
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And they are giving us incredible glimpses into an alien world,
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a world full of the most bizarre dinosaurs we have ever seen.
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Possibly the strangest of all lived 154 million years ago,
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in the late Jurassic period.
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An animal that looks like nothing else on earth.
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Hiding in these lush forests is Epidexipteryx.
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The size of a pigeon, everything about this creature is odd,
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from the length of its arms to the shape of its teeth.
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This forest is home to many predators
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and being small makes it vulnerable.
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This is Sinraptor.
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A small dinosaur like Epidexipteryx
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would be of no interest to a seven-metre adult.
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But this is a juvenile,
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and Epidexipteryx is a perfect-sized snack.
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Being small does have its advantages,
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because it can escape to the safety of the trees.
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Everything we know about Epidexipteryx
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comes from an incredible fossil, first revealed in 2008.
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It showed an animal with a small skull and large eye sockets,
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and unusually long teeth.
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With toes suited to gripping branches
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and very long arms and hands,
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it suggests that this was a dinosaur well suited
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to living in the trees.
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The extraordinary, elongated third finger
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is another distinctive feature of the group.
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With this and its projecting front teeth, Epidexipteryx
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has the perfect tools to hunt for insects among the trees.
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And one of its favourite foods
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are burrowing beetle grubs that are hiding
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within the trees themselves.
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Prey like this, which is difficult to catch, is quite a prize -
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a prize that can attract unwanted attention.
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Here it's another, larger, Epidexipteryx.
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Stealing food is a common tactic,
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particularly where an animal possesses an expertise.
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There is more to this extraordinary creature
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than first meets the eye.
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Not only was it perfectly designed for life in the trees,
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but the fossil has also revealed
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that it was covered in short, simple feathers.
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Feathers that were likely to have evolved for just one reason -
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to keep it warm.
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But there is one last striking feature -
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four long feathers on its tail.
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These feathers aren't like those of modern birds.
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These are long and ribbon-like.
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Almost certainly, only for show.
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They're the earliest record of ornamental feathers.
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Not just for attraction
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but also to threaten.
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In fact, the very name Epidexipteryx means "display feather",
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and they're among the most bird-like of any dinosaur.
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Stealing among the trees is one thing.
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Stealing on the ground is quite another.
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Only among the trees can you be safe
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from the large predators like Sinraptor.
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On the ground, a few feathers offer no protection.
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The first feathered dinosaur was discovered in 1996
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but lots more would quickly follow.
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It suddenly appeared as if many dinosaur species
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actually had feathers.
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And confirmed what had long been suspected -
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a direct link between dinosaurs and birds.
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A link that can be found in the dinosaurs that
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lived here in the Mongolian desert 85 million years ago.
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This is Saurornithoides.
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It's a member of the Troodon family and we have discovered
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actual fossils of these dinosaurs sitting on a nest.
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It takes days to lay a full clutch of eggs
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and until that's complete,
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this animal won't begin its brooding behaviour
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and start sitting on the next.
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With the Saurornithoides off foraging,
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this unguarded nest provides an invitation for predators.
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This is an Oviraptorid - a bizarre-looking theropod dinosaur.
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With no teeth, they were mostly plant eaters.
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But that doesn't mean it won't take advantage
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of a different kind of lunch.
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We know Oviraptorids were mostly plant eaters
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because of some amazing evidence we have found.
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One fossil in particular was incredibly well preserved.
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Inside its body were small stones - gastroliths.
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Just like a bird,
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it had swallowed these to help digest tough plants.
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But when the remains of two unrelated embryos
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were discovered in an Oviraptorid nest,
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it suggested that some were not just plant eaters
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but may have been nest-raiders as well.
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With two bony projections in its upper jaw,
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this Oviraptorid has the tools to break into an egg
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and get at the precious contents inside.
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It means that a nesting animal like a Saurornithoides
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can never turn its attention away for long.
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But two lost eggs are the least of its problems.
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Here, some nest raiders are bigger than others.
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This is Gigantoraptor.
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Gigantoraptor was discovered in 2007 in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.
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The sheer size of the bones
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revealed it was unlike anything found before -
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eight metres long and weighing around 1.5 tonnes.
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From its bones, we know
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it was 35 times bigger than its closest Oviraptorid relatives.
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And yet this giant wasn't even fully grown.
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it was "like finding a mouse the size of a cow".
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We don't know for sure
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if such a huge dinosaur like Gigantoraptor
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would have or need feathers.
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In dinosaurs, feathers are usually found as a fine body covering
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and appear to be mainly for keeping warm.
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But feathers were found, and preserved on a fossil
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of one of Gigantoraptor's close relatives.
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And on the forearms and tail are the unmistakeable traces
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of longer symmetrical feathers, similar to a modern bird's.
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It seems certain that Gigantoraptor too was feathered,
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making this the largest feathered animal ever discovered.
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These aren't for flight - Gigantoraptor couldn't fly.
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Nor are they for insulation.
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These are used to intimidate or attract.
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Across the world, discovery after discovery
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has revealed more and more features -
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from nesting to feathers - that were once thought of
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as exclusively bird-like but have now also been found in dinosaurs.
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But the ultimate discovery is perhaps that of a dinosaur
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that lived in Northeast China around 120 million years ago.
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This remote area has revealed
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spectacular fossils in exquisite detail,
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unearthing an astonishing diversity of animals,
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many of which are well adapted to living in trees.
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One particular dinosaur discovery takes this to a whole new level.
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This is Xianglong.
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With curved claws, it's a lizard well suited to climbing trees.
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With prey like this, predators were sure to follow.
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The most common dinosaur in these forests
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doesn't live on the ground.
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Microraptor.
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The fossils of Microraptor are so well preserved
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they clearly reveal every detail of its anatomy.
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With distinctive claws on its first toe,
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this is a member of the raptor family.
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But these claws evolved for climbing, rather than killing.
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At less than a metre long,
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this was a dinosaur perfectly suited to live in the trees.
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Microraptor is small, and perfectly adapted to chasing prey.
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Xianglong, however, has a trick.
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This is a flying lizard.
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It seems to have the perfect skill to escape.
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But the fossils of Microraptor reveal something else.
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This was a feathered dinosaur,
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but these feathers aren't for keeping warm or for show.
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Their structure is plainly visible from the fossils.
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They are very long, veined and most importantly,
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their shape creates a perfect aerodynamic surface.
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And they aren't confined to its forearms.
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Its legs, too, had long feathers.
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These feathers are designed for one thing only - flight.
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Microraptor is a four-winged dinosaur...
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that took to the skies.
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But in these Chinese forests,
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Microraptor isn't the only flying monster.
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Sinornithosaurus. Closely related and larger.
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More than capable of stealing prey.
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But it has larger prey in mind.
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Microraptor is now the hunted.
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Both can fly.
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But this isn't powered flight - it's gliding.
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Recent research has revealed how Microraptor flew.
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It didn't have the muscles for powered flight,
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so instead it made the most of its four wings.
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By holding its rear legs back and to the sides,
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it was able to become an incredibly efficient glider...
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..moving through the forest in a series of long, looping glides.
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Having longer flight feathers on both its arms and legs,
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Microraptor is by far the better glider.
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But with no ability to gain height, the only way is down.
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And once on the ground, the long feathers
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turn from an advantage into weakness.
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Microraptor is barely able to walk, much less run.
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Sinornithosaurus has no such problem.
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On the forest floor, the tables are turned.
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Microraptor has a fortunate escape.
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Sinornithosaurus was one of the first feathered dinosaurs found.
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The fossils are so perfectly preserved
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they have helped us solve
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one of the great dinosaur mysteries.
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For years, the colour of dinosaurs
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was thought impossible to work out.
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In 2010, it was discovered that the feathers on this fossil
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weren't just impressions.
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Under the microscope, tiny structures were revealed
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identical to those found in modern birds -
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structures that contain the pigment.
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Remarkably, by comparing them to living birds,
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we can even work out the true colours.
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The feathers appear to be a combination of reddish-browns,
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yellows, greys and blacks,
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perfectly suited to forest life.
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Another dinosaur living in this forest is Jeholosaurus,
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a small plant eater.
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Recent fossils indicate that this type of dinosaur
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looks after and protects its young.
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With feathers that allow it to blend in with the forest,
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Sinornithosaurus can move, unseen, through the tree tops.
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And Sinornithosaurus is a hunter with a potent secret weapon.
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In 2011, a study of the eyes of this creature revealed
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that it was a predator perfectly capable
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of hunting equally during day and night.
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And a study of its teeth, in 2009,
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showed something that definitely sets it apart from birds.
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Something far more deadly.
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The greatest danger is not simply being outnumbered.
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We have found that Sinornithosaurus teeth
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have unusual and distinctive grooves along their length.
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They resembled those of the venomous Gila monster,
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the grooves in its teeth used to deliver venom into its victim.
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The team even identified what they thought was the location
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of the venom sac in the fossil.
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It appeared Sinornithosaurus could kill with poison.
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This is a far more deadly predator than anyone ever imagined...
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and completes an extraordinary picture of a bizarre lost world.
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All of these discoveries reveal the importance of feathers
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to a whole host of dinosaurs -
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from insulation to defence and finally, flight.
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And Microraptor not only hints at how flight developed,
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but also, that dinosaurs still live amongst us today,
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as birds.
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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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