Paleo Bites

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanlong ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Guanlong , a feathered dinosaur with a nose crest and a distant relation to T. rex , like the cassowary but less scary. From the Late Jurassic, this 9-foot proceratosaurid stalked the Chinese jungles and might have been contemporaneous with my boy Sinraptor ; not like that matters to...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3oKU54M ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host and Matt’s nephew Jacob Poloskey discuss Ninjatitan , a sauropod really inaccurately named, as I’m fairly certain there were no ninjas back then. From the Early Cretaceous, this 66-foot titanosaur was described just this year, proving definitively that dinosaur genus names are getting stupider. Can’t wait to hear about P...

(image source: https://pixels.com/featured/gargoyleosaurus-daniel-eskridge.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Gargoyleosaurus , an early spiky armored boi that had a whole Disney cartoon back in the 90s. From the Late Jurassic, this 15-foot nodosaurid is only on display in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, as opposed to the previously-covered Denversaurus , w...

(image source: https://prehistoricreatures.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/diictodon/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Diictodon , a little gopher-like creature that, based on evidence, had burrows bigger than my current apartment. From the Late Permian, this 2-foot synapsid lived during the worst mass extinction in all of Earth’s history, proving those post-apocalyptic stori...

(image source: https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/on-exhibit-posts/pterosaur-of-the-day-pterodaustro ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Pterodaustro , a flamingo/pelican/stork thing with baleen like a whale, except it was a reptile. From the Early Cretaceous, this 8-foot-wingspan pterosaur might have even been pink like flamingos based on its diet, which is nice. Rea...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Nanuqsaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Nanuqsaurus , a polar tyrannosaur, which sounds pretty cool to me. Hehe, "cool." From the Late Cretaceous, this 19-foot theropod lived among the snow and ice, which is totally unlike the typical image of dinosaurs in a tropical jungle or swamp. Who's this guy think he is, goi...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Daeodon ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss  Daeodon , a nasty pig relative that presumably had the worst breath, but then again, we can't exactly prove that, so maybe it smelled like lilacs. From the Late Oligocene, this 8-foot entelodont would hog all the attention on the plains with all the chaos it would sow. And they'd...

(image source: https://walkingwith.fandom.com/wiki/Meganeura ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Meganeura , a dragonfly the size of an eagle, because we entomophobes haven't suffered enough. From the Late Carboniferous, this 3-foot-wingspan insect ruled the skies of the coal swamps of old, taking pride in the fact that nothing bigger would evolve flight for at least sev...

(image source: https://bit.ly/2Za8EEl ) Happy 100 episodes! Host Matthew Donald and nearly all of the previous guest co-hosts discuss Tyrannosaurus rex , a dinosaur that needs no introduction. From the Late Cretaceous, this 43-foot theropod is so big and iconic it requires a super-sized episode to fully do it justice, one nearly two hours long! Although granted, at least 80 minutes of it is just m...

(image source: https://fossil.fandom.com/wiki/Longisquama ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Longisquama , a mysterious creature with tall feather-like scales it presumably used to get a good radio signal so it could catch the game every Sunday. From the Early to Mid Triassic, this 1.5-foot reptile might have been a primitive archosaur, a more basal relative of lizards,...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repenomamus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss  Repenomamus , the biggest mammal of dinosaur times that actively preyed on dino babies, which is a real switcheroo in the usual predatory roles. From the Early Cretaceous, this 3.5-foot gobiconodontid was the first sign that mammals would not cower in fear of dinosaurs forever! A...

(image source: https://prehistoric-life.fandom.com/wiki/Charnia ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Charnia , a very early animal that, yes, was an animal . I mean, not like a party animal or anything, although we did think it lived in groups. From the Ediacaran period, this 1-inch to 6-foot tall creature lived so long ago that I actually first learned the term "Ediacara...

(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/who-was-ida/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Darwinius , a tiny mammal distantly related to the evolutionary line that led to humans, which is cool, but then again, so was Dimetrodon , which is way cooler. From the Eocene epoch, this 2-foot primate was so named to commemorate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwi...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/concavenatorRM_2211.jpg )  Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss  Concavenator , a dinosaur with a raging stiffy on the wrong end, or a less obvious joke. From the Early Cretaceous, this 20 foot carcharodontosaurid had one of the most truly preposterous features of any dinosaur. Seriously, why did that pointy thing exist? And why...

(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/atrox1/art/Rapetosaurus-211286542 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O'Regan discuss  Rapetosaurus , a longneck big enough to technically be impressive but not so large as to blow your mind into chunks or anything. From the Late Cretaceous, this 50-foot titanosaur was the largest dinosaur currently known from Madagascar, which is pretty neat I'd s...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss  Andrewsarchus , an enormous mammal that's gone through a lot of taxonomical shenanigans lately. From the Late Eocene, this 12-foot artiodactyl was once thought to be a giant dog-like predator with hooves, which is weird, but it turned out to be more a giant pig-like scavenger w...

(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/830280881294883148/ by Jonathan Kuo) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host (and Matthew's nephew!) Jacob Poloskey discuss  Pyroraptor , one of the first raptors known from Europe who also aided the titan Prometheus if its name is any indication. From the Late Cretaceous, this 5-foot dromaeosaurid shares its etymology with pyromaniac, which is cool I gue...

(image source: https://prehistopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Colepiocephale ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Colepiocephale , a dinosaur with an adorably G-rated insult in its genus because paleontologists are wholesome that way. From the Late Cretaceous, this 3-foot pachycephalosaur is probably just a few years away from Jack Horner declaring it a baby Pachycephalosaurus , th...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Pliosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Pliosaurus , a creature that garnered the nickname "Predator X" at one point because "Megabadassaurus" wasn't tryhard enough. From the Late Jurassic, this 40-foot short-necked plesiosaur actually literally means "More Lizard," perhaps due to it looking more like a lizard than ...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Medusaceratops-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss  Medusaceratops , the dinosaur without snake hair or a petrifying gaze but with slightly droopy frill horns and that justifies its name I guess. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot centrosaurine ceratopsid also has the species name  lokii , because why have one mythologi...

(image source: https://www.scified.com/topic/49417 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss  Allosaurus , the most common predator of its day and a real piece of work too. From the Late Jurassic, this 35-foot theropod is quite cool but always seems to get overshadowed by  T. rex . At least it's on top in Jurassic times! Unless you think Saurophaganax  was a separate genus. Whi...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Bambiraptor-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Bambiraptor , the most adorable member of a family of ruthless cold-blooded monsters. From the Late Cretaceous, this 3-foot dromaeosaur theropod was small enough and had developed enough wing feathers that it might have been capable of flight. Because flying raptors are ex...

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Masiakasaurus-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O'Regan discuss  Masiakasaurus , a serious contender for the dinosaur with the worst teeth. From the Late Cretaceous, this 14-foot noasaurid might have used its teeth for catching fish, small reptiles, and some have even suggested fruit. Because that kind of mouth is what I think of when...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttaburrasaurus by NobuTamura) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Muttaburrasaurus , a relative of Iguanodon from Australia before everything there was trying to kill you. From the Early Cretaceous, this 25-foot rhabdodontid may have migrated to Antarctica in the summer, because the two continents were linked back in Mesozoic...

(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/706009679067998263/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Shastasaurus , the biggest marine reptile and biggest non-whale animal of all time; jeez, who are you trying to impress? From the Late Triassic, this 70-foot ichthyosaur goes back and forth in being classified as either its own genus or a subspecies of Shonisaurus , but f...