Planet Dinosaur

We're living through THE golden age of dinosaur discoveries.

From all over the world,

a whole new generation of dinosaurs has been revealed...

from the biggest giants and the deadliest killers

to the weird and wonderful.

From the Arctic to Africa.

From South America to Asia.

With the most extraordinary fossils...

from dinosaur embryos to the exquisitely preserved.

And using the latest imaging technology,

cutting-edge research has allowed us to probe deeper

and reveal more than ever before.

It gives us our first truly global view of these incredible animals.

In this episode we look at the new, bizarre

and extraordinary feathered dinosaurs,

many of which have only just been discovered.

Some conquered new worlds.

Others grew to gigantic sizes.

As we learn more about the evolution of these feathered beasts,

they're revolutionising our understanding of life on Earth,

blurring the boundaries between dinosaurs and birds.

For over a century, the great dinosaur discoveries

came from North America and Europe,

but in the last decade or so, the focus shifted.

One country now sits at the centre of the new dinosaur revolution -

China.

In recent years, spectacular fossils have been uncovered here.

Amazingly preserved, these fossils revealed exquisite new details.

And they are giving us incredible glimpses into an alien world,

a world full of the most bizarre dinosaurs we have ever seen.

Possibly the strangest of all lived 154 million years ago,

in the late Jurassic period.

An animal that looks like nothing else on earth.

Hiding in these lush forests is Epidexipteryx.

The size of a pigeon, everything about this creature is odd,

from the length of its arms to the shape of its teeth.

This forest is home to many predators

and being small makes it vulnerable.

This is Sinraptor.

A small dinosaur like Epidexipteryx

would be of no interest to a seven-metre adult.

But this is a juvenile,

and Epidexipteryx is a perfect-sized snack.

Being small does have its advantages,

because it can escape to the safety of the trees.

Everything we know about Epidexipteryx

comes from an incredible fossil, first revealed in 2008.

It showed an animal with a small skull and large eye sockets,

and unusually long teeth.

With toes suited to gripping branches

and very long arms and hands,

it suggests that this was a dinosaur well suited

to living in the trees.

The extraordinary, elongated third finger

is another distinctive feature of the group.

With this and its projecting front teeth, Epidexipteryx

has the perfect tools to hunt for insects among the trees.

And one of its favourite foods

are burrowing beetle grubs that are hiding

within the trees themselves.

Prey like this, which is difficult to catch, is quite a prize -

a prize that can attract unwanted attention.

Here it's another, larger, Epidexipteryx.

Stealing food is a common tactic,

particularly where an animal possesses an expertise.

There is more to this extraordinary creature

than first meets the eye.

Not only was it perfectly designed for life in the trees,

but the fossil has also revealed

that it was covered in short, simple feathers.

Feathers that were likely to have evolved for just one reason -

to keep it warm.

But there is one last striking feature -

four long feathers on its tail.

These feathers aren't like those of modern birds.

These are long and ribbon-like.

Almost certainly, only for show.

They're the earliest record of ornamental feathers.

Not just for attraction

but also to threaten.

In fact, the very name Epidexipteryx means "display feather",

and they're among the most bird-like of any dinosaur.

Stealing among the trees is one thing.

Stealing on the ground is quite another.

Only among the trees can you be safe

from the large predators like Sinraptor.

On the ground, a few feathers offer no protection.

The first feathered dinosaur was discovered in 1996

but lots more would quickly follow.

It suddenly appeared as if many dinosaur species

actually had feathers.

And confirmed what had long been suspected -

a direct link between dinosaurs and birds.

A link that can be found in the dinosaurs that

lived here in the Mongolian desert 85 million years ago.

This is Saurornithoides.

It's a member of the Troodon family and we have discovered

actual fossils of these dinosaurs sitting on a nest.

It takes days to lay a full clutch of eggs

and until that's complete,

this animal won't begin its brooding behaviour

and start sitting on the next.

With the Saurornithoides off foraging,

this unguarded nest provides an invitation for predators.

This is an Oviraptorid - a bizarre-looking theropod dinosaur.

With no teeth, they were mostly plant eaters.

But that doesn't mean it won't take advantage

of a different kind of lunch.

We know Oviraptorids were mostly plant eaters

because of some amazing evidence we have found.

One fossil in particular was incredibly well preserved.

Inside its body were small stones - gastroliths.

Just like a bird,

it had swallowed these to help digest tough plants.

But when the remains of two unrelated embryos

were discovered in an Oviraptorid nest,

it suggested that some were not just plant eaters

but may have been nest-raiders as well.

With two bony projections in its upper jaw,

this Oviraptorid has the tools to break into an egg

and get at the precious contents inside.

It means that a nesting animal like a Saurornithoides

can never turn its attention away for long.

But two lost eggs are the least of its problems.

Here, some nest raiders are bigger than others.

This is Gigantoraptor.

Gigantoraptor was discovered in 2007 in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

The sheer size of the bones