Paleo Bites

 (image source: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/polacanthus/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Polocanthus … barely. Just a headsup, there’s a lot of tangents in this one, and there’s even more in the unedited version, which you can find on the Patreon. Fun times! This show is so professional. From the Early Cretaceous, this 16-foot nodosaurid had multiple spikes; ma...

(image source: https://paleontologyworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/Mapusaurus_0.png ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Mapusaurus , a dinosaur with a name that sounds like Borat describing a dinosaur made out of his crap. “Mah poo saurus!” Except it’s actually named for the indigenous Mapuche people in South America, so stop making crass jokes like that, you racist....

(image source: https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-cow ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Joel Rick discuss Hydrodamalis gigas , a manatee but big. Well, technically it was more closely related to dugongs, but y’all don’t know what those are and manatees get more clicks. From the Late Pleistocene to the Early Holocene, this 30-foot sirenian was a big player in the Ice Age and made it all th...

(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/spinojp/art/Palaeophis-colossaeus-drinking-915269375 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Palaeophis , a literal sea serpent that was the biggest water snake to ever exist. Titanoboa who? That's what I thought. From the Early Paleocene to the Late Eocene, this 35-foot snake looked at the mosasaurs from the period past and was like “...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Plateosaurus-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Plateosaurus , a biggish bipedal herbivore and perhaps the biggest Triassic dinosaur, although not the biggest Triassic land animal as that goes to something like Lisowicia or Sillosuchus or some crap. From the Late Triassic, this 30-foot basal sauropodomorph has a name tha...

(image source: https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/danuvius-guggenmosi-07779.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Danuvius , an ape that might have been the missing link between swinging through the trees, walking on the ground, and walking on two legs. That’s a lot of links we found in one animal. From the Early Miocene, this 3-foot-tall hominid basically...

(image source: https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2023/05/17/news/new_series_of_prehistoric_planet_brings_dinosaurs_back_to_life-3281275/ ) In this fifth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I’ve got holiday plans, okay?! Leave me alone, you Krampus!) and digs up older episodes t...

(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/ornithopod-dinosaur-pictures-and-profiles-4043320 ) In this fourth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I got a life outside this show, believe it or not!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly content consumers happy,...

(image source: https://pixels.com/featured/albertosaurus-mohamad-haghani.html ) In this third episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (this show has been consistent for over half a decade at this point, give me a break) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly relea...

(image source: https://jurassicdna.com/dino-tracker/orkoraptor/ ) In this second episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes to Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (it takes a lot to keep the weekly release of this show going for 6+ years!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and thus keep the algorithm gods satisfied, hos...

(image source: https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeBeforeUs/comments/147x7b2/tullimonstrum_gregarium_the_enigmatic_tully/ ) In this first episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (life is hard, yo) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and thus keep the content farm going, host Matthew Dona...

(image source: https://novataxa.blogspot.com/2017/08/borealopelta.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Borealopelta , a stout armored bugger that would have been mediocrely notable if it weren’t for, I dunno, have literally the best preserved fossil of all time? Seriously, the mummification made it so we could even see its organs. There’s no joke here, that’s just damn...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Miragaia ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Miragaia , a long-necked stegosaur that could be mistaken for a sauropod, as long as one ignored those spikes and plates. They blend in, so I get it. From the Late Jurassic, this 20-foot stegosaur is currently in the crosshairs of big bad paleontologists like Jack Horner threaten...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Hypsilophodon-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Hypsilophodon , a tiny dinosaur with an unremarkable appearance and a ridiculously convoluted taxonomical history. Just what our listeners have always wanted: a boring dinosaur with complicated info. Yay! From the Early Cretaceous, this 8 foot neornithoschian dinosaur was...

(image source: https://www.dreamstime.com/peteinosaurus-reptile-tail-was-carnivorous-flying-pterosaur-lived-italy-triassic-period-image156432121 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Peteinosaurus , an early pterosaur that’s notable in that it’s an early pterosaur and nothing else. Have you seen a small pterosaur? Then you’ve seen Peteinosaurus . I’m really selling this episo...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalyia) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Nobody McNooneson discuss Dalyia , a creature that no one gives a damn about so it functions perfectly as doubling up as an apology and explanation for what happened to Paleo Bites-oween and why it ended early. I pity the poor singular Dalyia fan that was really excited when this popped up in their feed and...

(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/did-ancient-primates-walk-alongside-dinosaurs-new-evidence-backs-up-theory ) Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this fourth day of Paleo Bites-oween, this one on actual Halloween (but don’t worry, the celebration of Paleo Bites-oween will last the whole week still) host Matt...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Zuul-picture ) Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this third day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald unearths an older Halloween episode from years back to rerelease in all of its glory. Kind of like a fossil. Or a mummy. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot ankylosaur had a really big ta...

(image source: https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Vampyronassa ) Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this second day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Vampyronassa , a fricking vampire squid… it’s not as cool as it sounds. From the Late Jurassic, this 4-inch vampyromorph cephalopod is basica...

(image source: https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/how-find-desmodus-ark-survival-evolved-fjordur ) Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this first day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Desmodus draculae , the biggest vampire bat ever known and thus a perfect way to start off the spooky season....

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Zalmoxes_FI_38b7.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host… well, there was a guy there, my best friend also named Matt, but he’s already served his time doing Paleo Bites back in the day so he was silent here, discuss Zalmoxes , a teeny iguanodontid that lived on the Romanian islands back in the day and thus underwent island dwarfism. That’s co...

(image source: https://lorosyguacamayos.com.ar/ave-voladora-mas-grande-de-la-historia-dinosaurio/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-hosts Jaymes Buckman (and their friend Jamie) discuss Thanatosdrakon , a huge pterosaur with a fricking awesome name. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this thing was described in the 90s or early 2000s when everything was super-edgy. From the Late Cretaceous, thi...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Drinker/Drinker_latest_acb4.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Cygnus D. Stonewell (the D stands for Dinosaur) discuss Drinker , a dinosaur that’s actually now called Nanosaurus and was absorbed into that genus alongside Othnielosaurus and Laosaurus but hey, “Drinker” will get more clicks so here it is! We live in a capitalistic tar pit t...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Ikrandraco-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Ikrandraco , a big flying reptile named after a creature from the highest grossing movie series of all time. “No cultural footprint” my ass! From the Early Cretaceous, this 5-foot-wingspan pterosaur flapped around in its homeland in the two countries we’ve found it in, Chin...

(image source: https://jurassic-world-san-diego.fandom.com/wiki/Anurognathus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Anurognathus , a freaky looking bat-frog thing that’s actually a pterosaur and thus closely related to birds and crocodiles. Nature’s weird, I gotta say. From the Late Jurassic, this 12-inch anurognathid pterosaur ate bugs and flapped its little wings and probabl...