Biologist and natural history presenter Liz Bonnin takes us on a journey to prehistoric Wyoming in the western USA in this two-part series for BBC Two.

By Megan Shersby

Published: Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 12:00 am


How to watch Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs

The first episode of Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs will air on Sunday 19th February 2023 on BBC Two, followed the the second episode on Sunday 26th February 2023. They will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

What is Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs about?

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Fossil preparator Laura Rooney using a compressed-air powered scribe to remove hard rock from a 150 million year old Allosaurus dinosaur skeleton at the top-secret Jurassic Mile’ excavation site in Wyoming, USA. © Paul King/BBC

“In these weather-beaten badlands, an ancient secret is hidden,” she says in the introduction. The secret location is nicknamed the Jurassic Mile for the “extraordinary number of dinosaur fossils … from 150 million years, making this a unique prehistoric treasure trove.”

An international team of palaeontologists, including scientists from Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and the Natural History Museum, London, have spent the last few years uncovering these fossils – and Bonnin gets stuck in to help. The tally so far for this site totals over 3,000 fossils, of dinosaurs, non-dinosaur marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs and a variety of plants, such as horsetails – a type of plant that still grows nearby.

These fossils give an insight into what these dinosaurs ate, how they moved and behaved, the environment in which they lived, and what killed them and caused the fifth mass extinction.

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Liz Bonnin with a pair of 150 million year old leg bones from a gigantic Jurassic dinosaur which are safely wrapped in protective plaster ready for transportation from their secret excavation site in Wyoming, USA. © Paul King/BBC

Even if you are not the biggest fan of dinosaurs, the enthusiasm of Bonnin and the scientists she speaks to is infectious – shouts go up when a digger reveals the edge of a fossilised limb bone, likely from a sauropod dinosaur, and Bonnin gasps in delight as a brush wipes away some of the dirt, exclaiming “It’s absolutely beautiful!”

Who is the presenter of Secrets of the Jurassic Dinosaurs?

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Liz Bonnin at the Jurassic Mile, a top-secret dinosaur excavation site in Wyoming, USA. © Paul King/BBC

Secrets of Jurassic the Dinosaurs is presented by Liz Bonnin, who will be familiar face to natural history documentary lovers. She has presented a range of programmes for the BBC including Animals in Love, Big Blue Live, Galapagos and Wild Alaska Live.


Main image: The Jurassic of 150 million years ago was dominated by giant, long-necked sauropods which lived under threat of attack from carnivores like Allosaurus, the apex predator of the time. © A.A Studios Graphics/BBC Studios