What are the ancestors of birds? How did feathers and flight originate? This debate, dormant throughout the twentieth century, has been revived over the past fifteen years by the discovery of numerous species of feathered dinosaurs in near-perfect condition in the quarries of China's Liaoning region.
Mixing images of fossils on excavation sites, ultra-realistic CGI reconstructions and interviews with paleontologists, “Mystery of the Feathered Dragons” takes viewers on a thrilling contemporary scientific adventure. In the course of this paleontological investigation, each new fossil adds a new piece to the puzzle of the transition from dinosaur to bird, and raises a host of new questions. How did dinosaurs begin to fly? From the ground, running to take off? Or from the trees, gliding down to prey? These were the parallel debates that stirred the paleontological community until the discovery in 2009 of Anchiornis huxleyi, a real missing piece between the dinosaur and the bird. More recently, in 2014, a brand-new herbivorous dinosaur unearthed in Siberia revealed that the presence of feathers was rooted even further back in the dinosaur family tree. In fact, dinosaurs may even have been feathered since they first appeared on earth!
Documentary: A New Prehistory - Episode 1: The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons
Director: Emma Baus & Bertrand Loyer
Production: Saint Thomas Productions (2016)
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