Paleo Bites

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Koshisaurus/Koshisaurus_NT_899f.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Matt David Seivert discuss Koshisaurus , a dinosaur with very little known about it so this episode is basically a sneaky preview episode of Seivert’s other podcast Nerds ‘R Us. From the Early Cretaceous, this 14-foot hadrosaurid lived in Japan and thus we’re perfectl...

(image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brontomerus.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Brontomerus to round out Bronto Month, a real voluptuous dinosaur if the name is any indication, which dear God I hope it’s not as that would stir a lot of worrying things in me. From the Early Cretaceous, this 46-foot long camarasaurid sauropod could potentially...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3S8egF1 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-hosts the De Papier brothers from Matt’s other show The Writ Wit discuss Brontotherium , a creature almost certainly called Megacerops instead but we needed another genus for Bronto Month so we’ll use the outdated name. It’s not misinformation if we outright state its erroneousness! From the Late Eocene, this 16-foot perissod...

(image source: https://www.activewild.com/brontosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Brontosaurus , a real dinosaur of a dinosaur that wasn’t valid for a while until suddenly it was, kind of like the inverse of Pluto. From the Late Jurassic, this 70-foot diplodocid sauropod was a bit chunkier than Apatosaurus with a slightly thicker neck, but otherwise it was basica...

(image source: https://fossil.fandom.com/wiki/Brontoscorpio ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Brontoscorpio , a big fat nope of a creature and the first of our Paleo Bites Bronto Month! From the Early Devonian, this 3-foot arachnid was one of the earliest creatures to make its way onto land, ahead of the lobe-finned fish by several tens of millions of years. Sheesh,...

(image source: https://bbc.in/3Rc0j8G ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Australotitan , the biggest Australian land animal of all time that probably had venomous tail spines or exploding scales if modern Australian fauna is any indication. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 95-foot titanosaur lived alongside other local dinosaurs like Australovenator , Austroraptor , and Austr...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiktaalik by Zina Deretsky) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Tiktaalik , a real asshole that should have known what horrible things crawling onto land would eventually lead to for the world. From the Late Devonian, this 8-foot sarcopterygian has been the subject of many memes using this very image about how it’s personally...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3RFXJbQ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Meraxes , a dinosaur named after a dragon in A Song of Ice and Fire that lived about as long ago as George R. R. Martin released his last book. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 45-foot carcharodontosaurid theropod was merely one of a plethora of giant meat-eating dinosaurs in this time and place, although...

(image source: https://walkingwith.fandom.com/wiki/Koolasuchus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Koolasuchus , a giant amphibian from far later than when giant amphibians were cool, kind of like people today with mohawks or rollerblades. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 16-foot temnospondyl hung out in polar waters too cold for the crocodiles throughout the rest of the world...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3QdUyqU ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Sciurumimus , a predator with a squirrel-like tail that was probably real cuddly if it didn’t have all those needley teeth and claws coming out of it. From the Late Jurassic, this 3-foot tetanuran theropod didn’t have buckteeth or stored nuts but was still sciurine enough for paleontologists to n...

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Afrovenator ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Matt David Seivert discuss Afrovenator , a dinosaur that got its title of African Hunter stolen by Carcharodontosaurus , then Dinofelis , then lions, then poachers, then lions again because evil never wins. From the Mid Jurassic, this 25-foot megalosaurid prowled the heart of the continents just as...

(image source: https://river-monsters.fandom.com/wiki/Megapiranha ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Megapiranha , a really freakin' big piranha. Duh. From the Late Miocene, this 3-foot serrasalmid fish was basically a B-movie monster in real life, although it’s still not nearly as horrifying as that one fish from the same river that swims up your urethra. And that one’s...

(image source: https://www.extinctanimals.org/suchomimus.htm ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Suchomimus , a dinosaur that despite its genus name’s suffix doesn’t look anything like the other ostrich dinos, almost like it’s in a completely different family or something. From the Early Cretaceous, this 36-foot spinosaurid didn’t have a sail like its family’s namesake nor a...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalambdalestes ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Zalambdalestes , a furry little hopper with a long snout and a rat tail, like if a rabbit and a rat had a baby; a rabbrat, if you will. From the Late Cretaceous, this 7-inch eutherian mammal lived alongside Velociraptor and Protoceratops , meaning it was witness to that even...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuiraptor ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Matt David Seivert discuss Fukuiraptor , a Japanese dinosaur with a name where the jokes write themselves, but it’d be silly and unprofessional for us to make those jokes. From the Early Cretaceous, this 16-foot megaraptoran theropod is an awesome dinosaur, and if you don’t agree, well, Fuku ! … irapto...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3nzXfXg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Glossopteris , an ancient tree that… wait, where are you going?! C’mon, not every episode can be about scary dinosaurs with big pointy teeth! From the Permian period, this 100-foot tall seed fern helped paleontologists first propose the idea of continental drift, due to being found all over the sout...

(image source: Public domain photo from 1906. Suck it, copyright laws) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Thylacinus , the most recently extinct creature I’ll allow, as anything later would make this show far too depressing. From the Early Holocene, this 4-foot marsupial first evolved in the later parts of the Ice Age before dying an unceremonious death in a zoo in the 193...

(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/megatherium-giant-sloth-1093238 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Eilert discuss Megatherium , a creature whose full scientific name literally translates to “Great American Beast” but this isn’t 4th of July-related due to it not being that America, so sorry, USA-ians. From the Late Pleistocene, this 20-foot ground sloth dope slapped some Smi...

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koparion ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss  Koparion , a really old member of its family that's known by its teeth, kind of like my great uncle from Oregon we all try to avoid. From the Late Jurassic, this 3-foot troodontid is getting paleontologists ever so close to discovering that elusive Jurassic era dromaeosaurid, but al...

(image source: https://animals.fandom.com/wiki/Paraceratherium) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Paraceratherium , a huge mammal that looked like the result of a mad scientist combining a rhino, giraffe, and elephant into one. From the Oligocene epoch, this 22-foot-tall indricothere is perhaps the largest land mammals could ever get due to their endothermy and bone density.....

(image source: https://bit.ly/3xmzAyh ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Stegouros , a dinosaur that decided club tails or spike tails weren't cool enough so it went with a mace tail, and let's be honest, it's pretty frigging cool. From the Late Cretaceous, this 6-foot ankylosaurid had enough of predator's crap and smashed its spikey mace-tail-thingy directly into their...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3thtE8t ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O'Regan discuss Australovenator , an Australian predatory dinosaur, which is kind of obvious when hearing its name, so I don't know why I bothered to say that. From the Early Cretaceous, this 20-foot megaraptoran theropod was retroactively added into Walking with Dinosaurs as the "dwarf allosaur" after its descriptio...

(image source: https://bit.ly/3kssKkC ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Gastonia , a dinosaur with a French-sounding name despite being American; kind of like French fries, except those actually originated in Belgium. From the Early Cretaceous, this 18-foot nodosaurid is the source of many a Disney joke, including in this very episode, so listen to hear some! I bet you c...

(image source: https://reinoanimalia.fandom.com/es/wiki/Homo_erectus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Homo erectus , an early form of human whose name makes us all giggle hearing it, and don’t you dare deny it. From the Late Pleistocene, this 5-foot-tall hominid was the first human to speak, wield fire, develop tools, and even take on seafaring, which is all amazing and fa...

(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Leaellynasaura_new_118a.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Leaellynasaura , a genus name damn hard to spell and even harder to say due to that blasted “e-a-e” at the beginning. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 4-foot ornithopod dealt with harsh winter conditions and frozen hellscapes, which is kind of odd for a dinosaur....