Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Forget what you’ve seen in Jurassic Park: dinosaurs in real life were far more compelling, well adapted and intelligent than the movie monsters they are so often portrayed as. In this interview with renowned palaeontologist Dave Hone from Queen Mary University of London, we dive into the evidence revealing how dinosaurs and their contemporaries really behaved, exploring how iconic animals such as velociraptors, T. rex and Triceratops fought, hunted and raised their young. We also ask, was Spinosaurus truly aquatic? And how did pterosaurs, the extraordinary winged reptiles, fly?
We’re in a golden age of discovery, says Hone, where new fossils and technologies such as CT scanning and AI-based analysis are rewriting the dinosaur story every year, revealing animals that were richer, stranger and more spectacular than we ever imagined.
Love New Scientist? For a specially discounted New Scientist digital subscription, go to newscientist.com/youtube
00:00 Intro
01:41 Did Carnivorous Dinosaurs Hunt in Packs?
10:41 Why Juvenile Dinosaurs Lived in Groups
16:54 The Evidence for Tyrannosaurs Fighting
22:35 Why Adaptations Might Evolve
30:11 Spinosaurus Was Not a Swimming Dinosaur
40:17 Could Pterosaurs Fly as Hatchlings?
47:32 Why Pterosaurs Had Head Crests
50:37 Pterosaurs Were Bigger, And Better, Than Birds
55:09 What’s Next in Palaeontology
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Subscribe ➤ bit.ly/NSYTSUBS
Get more from New Scientist:
Official website: bit.ly/NSYTHP
Facebook: bit.ly/NSYTFB
Twitter: bit.ly/NSYTTW
Instagram: bit.ly/NSYTINSTA
LinkedIn: bit.ly/NSYTLIN
About New Scientist:
New Scientist was founded in 1956 for “all those interested in scientific discovery and its social consequences”. Today our website, videos, newsletters, app, podcast and print magazine cover the world’s most important, exciting and entertaining science news as well as asking the big-picture questions about life, the universe, and what it means to be human.
New Scientist
newscientist.com
Forget what you’ve seen in Jurassic Park: dinosaurs in real life were far more compelling, well adapted and intelligent than the movie monsters they are so often portrayed as. In this interview with renowned palaeontologist Dave Hone from Queen Mary University of London, we dive into the evidence revealing how dinosaurs and their contemporaries really behaved, exploring how iconic animals such as velociraptors, T. rex and Triceratops fought, hunted and raised their young. We also ask, was Spinosaurus truly aquatic? And how did pterosaurs, the extraordinary winged reptiles, fly?
We’re in a golden age of discovery, says Hone, where new fossils and technologies such as CT scanning and AI-based analysis are rewriting the dinosaur story every year, revealing animals that were richer, stranger and more spectacular than we ever imagined.
Love New Scientist? For a specially discounted New Scientist digital subscription, go to newscientist.com/youtube
00:00 Intro
01:41 Did Carnivorous Dinosaurs Hunt in Packs?
10:41 Why Juvenile Dinosaurs Lived in Groups
16:54 The Evidence for Tyrannosaurs Fighting
22:35 Why Adaptations Might Evolve
30:11 Spinosaurus Was Not a Swimming Dinosaur
40:17 Could Pterosaurs Fly as Hatchlings?
47:32 Why Pterosaurs Had Head Crests
50:37 Pterosaurs Were Bigger, And Better, Than Birds
55:09 What’s Next in Palaeontology
Learn more ➤ [Delete if there’s no relevant article]
Subscribe ➤ bit.ly/NSYTSUBS
Get more from New Scientist:
Official website: bit.ly/NSYTHP
Facebook: bit.ly/NSYTFB
Twitter: bit.ly/NSYTTW
Instagram: bit.ly/NSYTINSTA
LinkedIn: bit.ly/NSYTLIN
About New Scientist:
New Scientist was founded in 1956 for “all those interested in scientific discovery and its social consequences”. Today our website, videos, newsletters, app, podcast and print magazine cover the world’s most important, exciting and entertaining science news as well as asking the big-picture questions about life, the universe, and what it means to be human.
New Scientist
newscientist.com
