Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Your Inner Reptile

Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient animals. This episode traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptiles.

It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates - the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

Journeying to the Arctic, South Africa, and Ethiopia, Neil uncovers an astonishing story spanning hundreds of millions of years, a tale full of strange facts and remarkable insights. Using fossils, embryos and genes, each of the three episodes focuses on a key transitional moment in the evolution of the human body: moving from the sea to land, relocating from the shore to living in trees, and coming down from the trees to walk upright on two legs.

Episode 2 traces our hair, skin, teeth, jaws and sense of hearing back to reptilian ancestors - from ferocious beasts that ruled the Earth, to a little shrew-like animal that lived 195 million years ago.

1 hour

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Neil Shubin
Series Producer David Dugan
Director David Dugan
Executive Producer Michael Rosenfeld

Broadcasts