How did birds evolve? How did feathers and flight appear? After a century of silence, these questions were raised again at the beginning of the 21st century when numerous species of beautifully preserved feathered dinosaur fossils were discovered in Liaoning, China.

By mixing images of fossils at the dig sites, ultra-realistic computer graphic reconstructions and interviews with paleontologists, The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons offers the viewer the opportunity to plunge into a modern scientific adventure. During this paleontological investigation, each new fossil helps to complete the puzzle of the transition from dinosaurs to birds and raises fresh questions. How did flight evolve in dinosaurs? Did they run along the ground to take off? Or did they glide from trees to land on their prey? Numerous parallel debates raged in the paleontological community until the discovery of Anchiornis huxleyi in 2009 – the missing link between dinosaurs and birds. More recently, in 2014, a completely new herbivorous dinosaur was dug up in Siberia showing that the presence of feathers went even further back in the dinosaur family tree. In fact, it’s possible that dinosaurs were feathered from the start of their appearance on Earth!

Documentary: A New Prehistory EP2: The Mystery of the Feathered Dragons
Directed by: Emma Baus & Bertrand Loyer
Production: Saint Thomas Productions for ARTE France

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