Seeking The First Dinosaur Hunters

A fascinating documentary about dinosaurs.

This hour-long film is presented by Felicity Hawthorn and Greg Chapman, who analyse how the efforts from certain individuals in the nineteenth century managed to make dinosaurs known to the world. Some of these historical people include fossil collector and palaeontologist Mary Anning, theologian, geologist and palaeontologist William Buckland, geologist and palaeontologist Henry De la Beche and biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist Richard Owen.

The documentary explores how the individuals mentioned above and others were able to discover and identify remains as belonging to dinosaurs and bring them to the attention of the world. Thanks to their achievements, people became aware of certain kinds of extinct species, including the Plesiosaurus, the Megalosaurus and the Ichthyosaur.

Hawthorn and Chapman make rather friendly and informative presenters and their work takes them to a variety of places, including Charmouth Beach, where there are plenty of fossils to be found, Charmouth Heritage Coast Center, Crystal Palace Park and Oxford University Museum of National History. The two presenters are quite knowledgable about the subjects and talk about them with enthusiasm. They also interview Chris Moore, the co-author of Jurassic Blue. Lyme Regis: 200 Million Years BC and Dr. Koen Stein, a palaeontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

The documentary has plenty of fossils to be seen, many skeleton fossil replicas of dinosaurs and highlights include Attenborough's Sea Dragon and the original remain of a Megalosaurus that was discovered by Buckland, which is a partial jaw with teeth.

This is a rather interesting documentary that investigates the people who significantly helped expand the world's knowledge of dinosaurs and becoming familiar with these individuals and their remarkable accomplishments is intriguing and at times amusing thanks to the likeable presenters. This feature is highly recommended for those who have a keen interest in dinosaurs, as they will have a rather informative experience.