What did Emily Rayfield say William Buckland got right and wrong about Megalosaurus?

Emily Rayfield says Buckland correctly identified Megalosaurus as a very large reptilian carnivore from its blade-like serrated teeth, and astutely saw that its legs sat under the body rather than sprawling like a lizard's. He was wrong that it walked on four legs and wrong on size: by scaling up a modern lizard he estimated about 40 feet, later 60 feet, where Emma Nicholls puts it at up to about nine metres.

• Buckland pictured a robust, elephant-like animal; Megalosaurus actually walked on two legs.
• Rayfield notes Buckland wrote nearly two decades before the concept of Dinosauria existed.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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