Could a dinosaur hear you whistle? Did giant dinosaurs have gigantic feathers? And would a head-butting dinosaur really scrape the ground like a bull before charging?

In this Dinosaur Bite episode, palaeontologist Dr Dave Hone and Iszi Lawrence tackle your brilliantly weird dinosaur questions—exploring how dinosaurs heard the world around them, what their feathers were really like, and whether famous scenes in Prehistoric Planet are grounded in science or artistic licence.

From tiny, high-pitched dinosaurs to booming giants, from Velociraptor quill knobs to the mystery of feather size in creatures like Gigantoraptor, this episode dives into what we really know—and what we're still figuring out—about dinosaur biology and behaviour.

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Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/giB-id1iEZE

When people think of dinosaurs, it's usually the giants that come to mind—but most dinosaur groups began with much smaller, often overlooked species.

Among them are the small ornithopods: fragmentary, tricky to classify, and frequently lost in a tangle of confusing names and incomplete fossils. Yet these modest dinosaurs are hugely important. They paved the way for the later success of major groups like iguanodontids and hadrosaurs, shaping the evolutionary story of herbivorous dinosaurs.

In this episode, Paul Barrett from the Natural History Museum joins hosts Dave Hone and Iszi Lawrence to explore these fascinating underdogs—focusing on Enigmacursor, a recently named species that helps shed light on this often-neglected corner of dinosaur history. Settle in for an hour of small dinosaurs, big questions, and the challenges of working with fossils that are incomplete, confusing—and surprisingly revealing.

Prof Paul Barrett | Natural History Museum: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/people/paul-barrett.html

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Dr Dave Hone and Iszi react to an old dinosaur movie from the seventees.

We recommend watching this as a video, available on our patreon (as well as on Spotify) so you can see what we are reacting to.

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This dinosaur bite is taken from an old bonus episode for our patrons back in 2021 where we watched the full movie (it was free on YouTube back then) and did a commentary.

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Did dinosaurs raise each other's young like modern cuckoos do? Dr Dave Hone and Iszi Lawrence discuss how we would know if brood parasitism existed millions of years ago.

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You can watch this as a video on youtube here: https://youtu.be/z0y9N1bPmGY

Having recently caught up with the much-overlooked prosauropods (or at least, overlooked by us), and after many requests from our patrons on patreon, this month we turn our attention to the crocodiles!

Much like birds, major parts of the biology of these animals (living and extinct) are critical for understanding dinosaur biology, evolution and behaviour, so we shouldn't avoid them as much as we have on here. Happily, this month we are joined by croc-supremo Chris Brochu to talk about his career in crocodilian biology and his work on these animals.

On the way, we get into a deep discussion on identifying species and what this means for taxonomy and evolutionary studies. But we start with some work Chris did as a postdoc on a certain fossil that everyone listening will have heard of: Sue the T. rex!

Chris' University webpage:

https://sees.uiowa.edu/people/christopher-brochu

Iszi and Dave briefly discuss the new Netflix series "Dinosaurs".

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/ejpMkrDDsWw

They analyse the accuracy of the trailer including the opening with Spinosaurus's hunting technique, neck musculature, and nostril placement, comparing it to real-world evidence and previous research.

You can watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZBSzYUTL0

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Dinosaurs in the Arctic and Antarctic likely survived cold conditions by using similar strategies to extant species. The discovery of a new T. rex femur, nicknamed Goliath, potentially validates predictions about the maximum size of these dinosaurs. Or Does it?

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This is available to watch on youtube here: https://youtu.be/R-GgkboCjA8

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We have talked plenty about dinosaurs in pop culture, including in movies, but this is hardly a modern phenomenon. Dinosaurs were getting into the mainstream almost as soon as they appeared on the scientific scene and have a rich history in novels, and short stories. This week we are joined by Richard Fallon, a historian specialising in science in literature and with a particular interest in prehistoric animals in this context. Richard and Dave recently wrote a book chapter on the odds parallels between Jurassic Park and Michael Crichton and the Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Having won a prize for this ("Doylean Honors" from the ACD Society!) we though it a great time to sit down with Richard and talk about dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles in fiction and how this has changed over time.

Here's some of Richard's collective works:

Creatures of Another Age: https://www.valancourtbooks.com/creatures-of-another-age.html

Contesting Earth's History in Transatlantic Literary Culture, 1860–1935: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contesting-History-Transatlantic-Literary-1860-1935/dp/0198926162/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0

Reimagining Dinosaurs in Late Victorian and Edwardian Literature: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reimagining-Dinosaurs-Victorian-Edwardian-Literature/dp/1108984398/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4n1IVVZf74mbQ0RyFryuMDimH9ZiV04X3glC8p-KfT8.D618IUFHF0G27P0maCF82yXIjgZs_wzvKoA6n0yiz4Y&qid=1770283675&sr=8-1

And you can follow him on Bluesky: @richardfallon.bsky.social