Welcome back to another episode of pplpod! Today, we are diving deep into the paleontology and history behind Ornithopsis, an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur that roamed during the Early Cretaceous period in present-day England and possibly Germany. Translating to "bird-likeness" in Greek, Ornithopsis earned its name because its vertebrae were heavily pneumatised, featuring unique cavities for air sacs that closely resemble the internal bone structures seen in pterosaurs and modern birds.

In this episode, we unpack the fierce 19th-century fossil discovery debates that surrounded this massive, 16 to 18-meter-long (52–59 ft) titanosauriform. We discuss how early pioneers of paleontology struggled to classify these fragmentary remains pulled from the Wealden Formation. You'll hear the dramatic history of Gideon Mantell, wh ...