Paleo Bites

(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/744642119611063504/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Zby , a longneck dinosaur with a name so unfathomably silly there's no way in hell it should be real. From the Late Jurassic, this 59-foot turiasaurian sauropod roamed in great herds across the Portuguese coastline... sorry, I can't help but snicker. "A herd of Zby  roams...

(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/sanciusart/art/Nuralagus-rex-recon-808748972 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss  Nuralagus rex , a large relative of rabbits that's maybe overcompensating a bit by having rex  as a species name. From the Pliocene epoch, this 3-foot lagomorph lived on a remote island in the Mediterranean where it promptly became an evolutionary...

(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/hamish1512201/art/Atrociraptor-Marshalli-842072048 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Atrociraptor , a genus name so edgy that Shadow the Hedgehog would think it's too much. From the Late Cretaceous period, this 7-foot dromaeosaurid lasted until 67 million years ago, just  before the big Cretaceous extinction event. It was so co...

(image source: https://ideas.fandom.com/wiki/Palaeoloxodon_recki_(SciiFii) ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss  Palaeoloxodon , a genus of elephant that had species ranging from the biggest land mammals of all time to miniature ones the size of large dogs. From the Late Pleistocene, this 3 to 18-foot-tall pachyderm was the closest real-life version of the mumakil from Lord of...

(image source: https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/934675/view/hallucigenia-sparsa-invertebrate-illustration ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Hallucigenia , the most WTF species ever featured on this podcast, and that's saying something. From the Mid Cambrian, this 1-inch invertebrate may have been a velvet worm, an early arthropod, or a more bygone creature, but one t...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lystrosaurus_Assemblage_Zone ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Lystrosaurus , a derpy-looking thing that survived the biggest extinction of all time and at one point made up over half (!) of all life on Earth. From the Late Permian to the Early Triassic, this 4-foot synapsid was without doubt one of the most underrated badass...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss  Plesiosaurus , the famous four-flippered fellow that may or may not have surviving populations in a certain Scottish lake. From the Early Jurassic, this 12-foot sauropterygid had a unique method of swimming unseen in any modern creature. Unless, of course, the Scotland thing...

(image source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/28/c_138590619.htm ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Xunmenglong , a tiny dinosaur from China and the last of our Paleo Bites X-Series. From the Early Cretaceous, this 1.5-foot compsognathid is not to be confused with the similarly-named Yunmenglong , a big longneck dinosaur from a similar time and place. That's j...

(image source: https://cooldinofacts.fandom.com/wiki/Xenoposeidon ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss  Xenoposeidon  for our Paleo Bites X-Series, a longneck that has bar none the coolest name of any dinosaur. From the Early Cretaceous, this 50-foot rebbachisaurid had its fossils first discovered in the late nineteenth century but it wasn't officially described until 2007! An...

(image source: https://www.careerride.com/mchoice/fossil-remains-of-xibalbaonyx-oviceps-a-prehistoric-giant-sloth-found-30773.aspx ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Xibalbaonyx  for our Paleo Bites X-Series, a ground sloth first uncovered from an underwater cave in Mexico, which is pretty neat. From the Late Pleistocene, this 11-foot megalonychid was part of a group of...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/xuanhanosaurus_01_698f.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss  Xuanhanosaurus  for our Paleo Bites X-Series, a fierce predator from China that looks really cool when written out. From the Mid Jurassic period, this 16-foot metriacanthosaurid was briefly thought to be the only four-legged theropod in the fossil record,...

(image source: https://www.fossilera.com/pages/xiphactinus-terror-of-the-inland-seaway ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Xiphactinus for our Paleo Bites X-Series, a big and ugly fish that lived alongside mosasaurs. From the Late Cretaceous, this 21-foot predator is probably most famous for its "fish-within-a-fish" fossil, with a fish nearly half its size in its stomach...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Xenosmilus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Franklin discuss  Xenosmilus , the first in our X-Series on Paleo Bites where we rate creatures whose genus names begin with X. From the Late Pleistocene, this 6-foot saber-toothed cat prowled the jungles of southern USA with a pack of flying saucers at its back. Hey, it's called "alien kn...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyon ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss  Amphicyon , an ancestor of both bears and dogs but more dog than bear, hence the nickname "bear-dog." From the Miocene epoch, this 8-foot carnivore was probably a really good boy and would make an excellent pet. Just think of how big his doghouse would be! Who's a good boy? Yes, you...

(image source: https://www.allisleaf.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Untitled-8.png ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Prototaxites,  a funny-looking organism that formed forests before there were trees. From the Silurian period, this 26-foot-tall fungus was the subject of a great debate between two paleontologists trying to one-up each other about classifying it. You co...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/papo_brachiosaurus_2012_cf3f.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Brachiosaurus , a really big longneck that wowed audiences in 1993 as much as that really big spaceship wowed audiences in 1977. From the Late Jurassic, this 70-foot sauropod browsed from the tall trees and may or may not have had a little trunk. Just a...

(image source: http://animaladay.blogspot.com/2011/10/anthropornis.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Franklin discuss  Anthropornis , the biggest penguin of all time with a snicker-inducing name. From the Mid Eocene, this 6-foot-tall bird patrolled the Antarctic waters of old and probably did a lot of cool stuff back in its time. Geddit, "cool," because it lived in Antarctica?...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Quetzalcoatlus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O'Regan discuss  Quetzalcoatlus , the pterosaur that stood as tall as a giraffe when on the ground, which is freaking insane. From the Late Cretaceous, this 44-foot-wingspan azhdarchid could have flown for tens of thousands of miles and picked up small dinosaurs with its beak. Seriously, eve...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/stygimolochspinifer_bd81.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Stygimoloch , the totally valid genus that paleontology will not take away from us no matter what all those pesky facts say. From the Late Cretaceous, this 13-foot pachycephalosaurid had big spikes on its head that apparently shrunk as it grew up, which mak...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Castoroides ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Castoroides , the largest beaver of all time and thus the biggest source of "dam" jokes. From the Pleistocene Epoch, this 6-foot beaver had bigger hind feet and a smaller paddle-tail than modern beavers and also might not have built dams, but if they did, they would've been t...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arktocara )* Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Franklin discuss  Ninjadelphis , a river dolphin that's high in the rankings of coolest genus names ever. From the Miocene epoch, this 7-foot cetacean is such an elusive master of stealth there's hardly any information available on it. This picture isn't even a Ninjadelphis , but it's close re...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Mosasaurus_b262.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss  Mosasaurus , the sea monster of yore that lurked at the edge of the map, so watch out, dinosaur sailors! From the Late Cretaceous, this 56-foot squamate was in the same order of reptiles as lizards and snakes, making it the closest real life version of a giant sea serpe...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Titanoboa ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Titanoboa , the snake with a really uncreative name that weighed as much as a car. From the Paleocene epoch, this 42-foot constrictor just missed out on dinosaurs, so all that fan art you've seen of it crushing a T. rex  or whatever was total nonsense. It's a cool image though,...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Edmontosaurus_BW_0c44.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss  Edmontosaurus , the prime cannon fodder for T. rex attacks everywhere. From the Late Cretaceous, this 40-foot hadrosaur roamed in great herds across North America and had a hell of a complicated naming history. Ever heard of Anatotitan , or  Anatosaurus , or T...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Silvacola ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Franklin discuss Silvacola , the tiniest subject of the show so far, at least until we get around to discussing the first eukaryotic bacteria. From the Early Eocene, this 2-inch hedgehog lived in a great global rainforest and probably did absolutely nothing of note other than be cute. But t...