Sky Monsters DVD
ISBN 0-7922-9247-2

National Geographic have produced this amazing DVD of the television program broadcast on the National Geographic Channel (copyright NIGHT inc. 2006).

The video is currently available in the U.S.A. and is formatted for region 1.  If you are outside of the U.S.A. you will need a multi-region DVD player, though we played it in the U.K. on a computer, using Power DVD by Cyberlink.

This 53 minute program is illustrated with a series of computer generated graphics and overlays which give a good impression of what pterosaurs would have looked like.  It also gives a good impression of flight characteristics.  In addition, there are the usual scene selections and a photo album that you expect of a professional DVD.

A real bonus of this program is the way it uses information and material from current scientific researchers.  Some of the top names in pterosaur research appear on screen.  Philippe Taquet; Eberhardt "Dino" Frey; Kevin Padian; David Unwin; Paul Sereno and Margot Gerritsen with the Stanford Pterosaur model.

With a clear insight into the way scientists think and develop ideas about pterosaurs, this is a wonderful snapshot in time which illustrates the extent of the development of scientific knowledge in 2006.  The fundamental ideas will no doubt remain, but I suspect the fine detail will change as new discoveries and changing ideas develop the scientific thinking about these amazing and unusual creatures.

Paul Pursglove - January 2007

 

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