Dinosaur died. No flowers at funeral

In fact, most dinosaurs never got the chance to stop and smell a flower... and it was all because of bad timing. Sad face.

The meteor that killed all the dinosaurs (rude) actually kicked off flower supremacy on planet earth. 

Flowering plants are only about 135 million years old, yet they’re the most bio-diverse plants on the planet. Without them, no birds, no bees. Again, sad face. 

So where did flowers come from? And how did they end up being top bud? 

 FEATURING:

•  Mario Vallejo-Marin - Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, Uppsala University, Sweden.
• Professor Michelle Waycott - Chief Botanist at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens State Herbarium / Professor in Systematic Biology, Adelaide University.
• Morris Lake - Author, Australian Rainforest Woods.
• Gareth Prosser - Professional Voice Over Artist whose wife roped him in. 

PRODUCTION:

• Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
• Sarah Prosser, Producer
• Mastering Engineer: Tegan Nicholls

This episode of What the Duck was produced on the land of the Wadawurrung people. 

Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.