Pernel Media uncovers ‘wonderchicken’ fossil discovery in exclusive documentary

Professor Daniel Fields with the ‘wonderchicken’ (photo: Professor Daniel Fields)

Vivendi-backed prodco Pernel Media has secured exclusive access to the Cambridge University team whose ‘wonderchicken’ fossil discovery shook up the world of palaeontology.

Rise of the Birds (1×120′) will feature Professor Daniel Fields and his team of fossil experts, who in 2020 discovered the oldest fossil of a modern bird yet found.

Hailed as the ‘missing link’ between dinosaurs and modern birds, the spectacular fossil, affectionately nicknamed the ‘wonderchicken,’ includes a nearly complete skull and dates from less than one million years before the asteroid impact that eliminated all large dinosaurs.

The documentary will be shot in various locations around the world including the Hell Creek Formation in the US, where an enormous number of fossils have been found, including primitive birds from before the asteroid strike.

The film will aim to solve some of the great mysteries of birds, such as how they were the only dinosaurs to survive the Cretaceous extinction and how the ancestors of birds developed such spectacular skills like flying.

“The ‘wonderchicken’ is the missing link between a T Rex and a pigeon. It’s a game-changing discovery that will allow us to explain how birds survived the asteroid 66 million years ago, and how they evolved to become this incredibly diverse species with over 12,000 types of different shapes, size and colour,” said Céline Payot Lehmann, executive producer at Paris-based Pernel Media.