Thanks to Jurassic Park, Walking with Dinosaurs and other computer-generated imagery, we are all familiar with dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals brought to life on our television and movie screens.  But how do scientists know anything about how dinosaurs moved, fed, the sounds they made and their colouration?

In this talk I will discuss how far palaeontologists can make statements about the behaviour of extinct animals, drawing together evidence from fossils, living animals and using X-rays and methods co-opted from engineering.