What did dinosaurs actually look like?

As the latest Jurassic World Dominion film hits cinemas, we’re re-running a story originally aired in 2021 about what dinosaurs really looked liked – and how scientists' understanding of their appearance keeps evolving. 

Featuring Maria McNamara, professor of palaeobiology at University College Cork in Ireland and Nicolas Campione, senior lecturer in paleaobiology at the University of New England in Australia.

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode available here.

Read a transcript of the original version of this story.

Further reading:

• Jurassic World Dominion: a palaeontologist on what the film gets wrong about dinosaurs
• Dinosaur embryo discovery: rare fossil suggests dinosaurs had similar pre-hatching posture to modern birds
• Nocturnal dinosaurs: Night vision and superb hearing in a small theropod suggest it was a moonlight predator
• The discovery of two giant dinosaur species solves the mystery of missing apex predators in North America and Asia