(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Shuvuuia-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-hosts Jaymes Buckman and their boyfriend Toby discuss Shuvuuia, the tiny, quirky desert-dwelling dino-bird-thing that proves you don’t need claws, wings, or teeth to be iconic, just a good sense of direction and a thirst for termites. Yum. From the Late Cretaceous, this 3-foot alvarezsaurid scurried through the Mongolian night with killer hearing and night vision like the prehistoric version of a got...
Jun 24, 2025•30 min•Ep. 296
(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/gallimimus-paleoart-by-me--236087205460103553/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Gallimimus , a classic dinosaur and pioneer of the visual effects industry… at least for us humans. I doubt it dabbled in any visual effects work itself. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot ornithomimosaur had its big scene in Jurassic Park where it ran in glorious early 90s CGI and revolutionized filmmaking to the woes of anti-CGI film bros...
Jun 17, 2025•20 min•Ep. 295
(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/676736281530757612/) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Enhydriodon , a giant species of otter that you really otter avoid. That’s the kind of humor you should expect on this show. I truly can’t believe we’re nearing 300 episodes. From the Early Pliocene, this 7-foot mustelid was believed to be mostly terrestrial but very comfortable in the water, akin to the tigers of today. So it’s an otter not in the water? What’s the otter ...
Jun 10, 2025•22 min•Ep. 294
(image source: https://newdinosaurs.com/megantereon/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Megantereon , a fairly typical saber-toothed cat with one major claim to fame in that we have direct evidence of it hunting early humans, so any time you think there’s danger in the darkness, you can thank this guy for instilling that instinct into you. Thanks, Megantereon ! I really appreciate running upstairs after turning off the basement lights so the Shadow Figure doesn’t get m...
Jun 03, 2025•22 min•Ep. 293
(image source: https://prehistoria.fandom.com/es/wiki/Scleromochlus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Scleromochlus , a cute little dude with absolutely nothing remarkable about it on its own and is more interesting in what it evolved into; this guy was in fact an early ancestor of the pterosaurs! Celebrate, all ye boring people, in that eventually you might have more interesting descendents. From the Early Triassic, this 8-inch pterosauromorph archosaur had freakishly ...
May 27, 2025•23 min•Ep. 292
(image source: https://medium.com/@smartap3s/luca-and-fuca-our-great-great-great-grandmas-7880b0950e53 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-hosts Jennifer Grossman and Matt’s niece Logan (against his will) discuss FUCA, the original, original life before even LUCA was a thing, which I also covered with Jennifer about two hundred episodes earlier. From the Early Precambrian, this non-cellular entity was actually quite different from LUCA, in that while the latter had cells and enzymes and other bio...
May 20, 2025•21 min•Ep. 291
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dromaeosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Dromaeosaurus , the namesake of the dromaeosaur family that are more commonly known as “raptors.” Which means Velociraptor is more the namesake of the family, but I’m talking scientifically! “Uh, actually, they’re not raptors, they’re dromaeosaurs .” Gee, thanks, Kyle. From the Late Cretaceous, this 7-foot coelurosaurian theropod had a much stronger bite than Velociraptor ...
May 13, 2025•20 min•Ep. 290
(image source: https://alchetron.com/Smok-(archosaur) ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Smok , a basal archosaur that looks like a dinosaur but apparently is not. Look, it looks like one to me, but I ain’t no scientist. You should listen to them instead of this dumb show. From the Late Triassic, this 20-foot reptile was one of the top predators of its day and one of the largest of its time, facing off against the elephant-sized dicynodont Lisowicia while avoiding the r...
May 06, 2025•20 min•Ep. 289
(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinocrocuta by Dmitry Bogdanov) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Dinocrocuta , which is not an awesome dinosaur/crocodile hybrid like the name suggests but is instead some lame hyena thing. Oh wait, it’s actually a fricking enormous hyena thing? Eh, it’s still not as cool as a dinocroc. From the Late Miocene, this 7-foot hyena thing had a bone-crushing bite and fought off saber-toothed cats like Amphimachairodus , which is pr...
Apr 29, 2025•32 min•Ep. 288
(image source: https://marchan-forest.blogspot.com/2021/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Kunpengopterus , a monkey-like pterosaur in that it had opposable thumbs, which is pretty cool I gotta say. There’s no joke there, I genuinely think that’s cool. From the Late Jurassic, this 3-foot wukongopterid was first thought to be just a run-of-the-mill pterodactyloid before the aforementioned thumbs were discovered, and then scientists got all giddy and it got popular again!...
Apr 22, 2025•21 min•Ep. 287
(image source: https://ar.inspiredpencil.com/pictures-2023/compsognathus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Compsognathus , famously the smallest dinosaur of all but not so famously actually not the smallest dinosaur of all anymore, not even close. It’s been working out, getting yoked and stuff. From the Late Jurassic, this 4.5 foot theropod is now believed to not be part of its own little weird family but closer related to the megalosaurids and might even be even bigg...
Apr 15, 2025•17 min•Ep. 286
(image source: https://newdinosaurs.com/elasmotherium/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Jaymes Buckman discuss Elasmotherium , a woolly rhino that’s not the Woolly Rhino but is woolly and is a rhino, so call it whatever you want I guess. From the late Pleistocene, this 18-foot rhinoceratid came equipped with a seriously metal nose horn coming out of its face. Except not literally metal, as like modern rhinos its horn was mainly made out of hair. Isn’t explaining jokes the best? Want to fu...
Apr 08, 2025•21 min•Ep. 285
(image source: https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/ ) April Fools, puny humans! Host Emperor Splozzitrox, Supreme Ruler of the Planet Zurkabong, and co-host Karzagloth, the underest of underlings, discuss Homo sapiens, the recently exterminated ground vermin that once overpopulated this hunk of space rock named Earth, a backwater planet in the Goozapeg Sector. From the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene, this 5-6 foot tall hominid may not have lived the longest, had the sharpest claws or tee...
Apr 01, 2025•23 min•Ep. 284
(image source: https://www.darwinsdoor.co.uk/timetour/the-ordovician-period.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Megalograptus , another nope of a creature but this time an ocean-bound nope, so it’s slightly more forgivable. Wait, I’ve just been told they can sometimes go onto land anyway? Nope, nope, NOPE! From the Late Ordovician, this 3-foot eurypterid got its bizarre name due to being mistaken for a group of animals whose remains looked like hieroglyphs embedded...
Mar 25, 2025•20 min•Ep. 283
(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/things-to-know-protoceratops-1093796) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Protoceratops , a hardy and stocky fellow with a tubby body and a grumpy attitude. I really relate to this creature. From the Late Cretaceous, this 8-foot ceratopsian lived in the desert with the more famous Velociraptor and the two of them really hit it off. They couldn’t keep their claws or beaks off each other. I wonder if anyone’s captured their interacti...
Mar 18, 2025•23 min•Ep. 282
(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/347129083760903111/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Appalachiosaurus , a tyrannosaur living on the East Coast like some city slicker sellout. Never forget your Western roots here in Laramidia! Remember who you are! From the Late Cretaceous, this 25-foot theropod dinosaur is the only known dinosaur from its formation, as the fossils over there on the eastern side of North America aren’t really the best preserved. Those ice age...
Mar 11, 2025•32 min•Ep. 281
(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Ceratosaurus3_1b79.jpg) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Ceratosaurus , an almost-famous dinosaur that often gets overshadowed by Allosaurus , which gets overshadowed by Saurophaganax , which just recently got overshadowed again by Allosaurus because the latter is now unfortunately dubious. At least Ceratosaurus itself overshadows poor Torvosaurus . When’s the last time you heard that name? From the Late Jurassic, this ...
Mar 04, 2025•32 min•Ep. 280
(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Saurophaganax-Paul-Heaston1_2121.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Allosaurus anax , the new lord of the lizard eaters after supplanting the great and now dubious Saurophaganax after a hard-fought duel. There is truly no mercy sometimes in the battlefield of science. From the Late Jurassic, this 38-foot theropod was still basically everything we assumed Saurophaganax to be and therefore just as cool in a practical...
Feb 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 279
(image source: https://artpictures.club/autumn-2023.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Michele C. Hollow discuss Temnodontosaurus , a rather large marine reptile with potentially the largest eyes of any animal ever at 10 inches wide. Sheesh, my most impressive body part in terms of size is only half that length! From the Early Jurassic, this 30-foot ichthyosaur was discovered by Mary Anning back in the 1810s and was the first ichthyosaur to be scientifically described, which is a neat ...
Feb 18, 2025•35 min•Ep. 278
(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Hippodraco-pictures) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Hippodraco , a dinosaur with a funny name that makes me think of hippos, horses, dragons, and a shipping portmanteau between Draco Malfoy and the hippogriff he tried to get killed. What a cacophony of emotions this guy brings out, especially for such a boring dinosaur. From the Early Cretaceous, this 15-foot iguanodontid was closely related to that one guy Proa we like to b...
Feb 11, 2025•24 min•Ep. 277
(image source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/styracosaurus-eating-magnolias-with-lambeosaurus-phil-wilson.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Magnolia , another wonderful example of a prehistoric animal we cover on this show in that it is not an animal and is also still around today. It’s okay to break rules if you’re the one who makes them, kids. From the Mid Cretaceous to the Holocene onward, this plant of variable sizes has big paleontological significance...
Feb 04, 2025•22 min•Ep. 276
(image source: https://www.minizoo.com.au/eofauna-atlasaurus/) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Jaymes Buckman discuss Atlasaurus , a lanky and wonky longneck that looks just wrong and quite frankly disgusts me. Look at its proportions, look at it! It’s like if A.I. made a dinosaur. From the Mid Jurassic, this 49 foot sauropod had a shorter neck and more elongated limbs than its cousins like Brachiosaurus , turning it into this abomination. Seriously, I can’t get over how this thing looks. ...
Jan 28, 2025•27 min•Ep. 275
(image source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/lokiceratops-rangiformis ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Lokiceratops , a dinosaur with asymmetrical horns, much like my relationship with my girlfriend where we’re asymmetrical in our horniness for each other. From the Late Cretaceous, this 22-foot centrosaurine ceratopsid is an example of how bilateral symmetry can be varied among different creatures. I relate, as my left butt cheek is far more swole than my right. I tend...
Jan 21, 2025•24 min•Ep. 274
(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austroraptor by Fred Wierum) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Austroraptor , a dromaeosaurid theropod masquerading as a spinosaurid theropod, because that sentence is comprehensible to more than hardcore dino nerds. From the Late Cretaceous, this 18-foot meat-eating dinosaur snapped up fish in the prehistoric jungles of Argentina, as opposed to Australia like I previously assumed. That’s why I got Ben here to host for me, I th...
Jan 14, 2025•32 min•Ep. 273
(image source: https://paleontologyworld.com/dinosaurs-%E2%80%93-species-encycolpedia/heterodontosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Heterodontosaurus , a very heteronormative dinosaur in that it had heterodont (or “differently-shaped”) teeth. Canceled! You’re canceled by the woke police, Heterodontosaurus ! Love is love! Just ask Caihong , our rainbow-feathered dinosaur ally. From the Early Jurassic, this 6-foot ornithischian dinosaur lived in South Africa before...
Jan 07, 2025•23 min•Ep. 272
(image source: https://prehistoricpark.fandom.com/wiki/Pulmonoscorpius ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Pulmonoscorpius , another nope of a nope that crept and crawled and stabbed and stung. Why don't you stay over there and I stay way over here, you big monster? I think that's an arrangement we can all agree on. From the Late Carboniferous, the 2.5-foot scorpion was an active diurnal predator rather than a sneaky nocturnal hider like its modern counterparts, which i...
Dec 31, 2024•29 min•Ep. 271
(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/uintatherium-profile-1093289 ) Merry Christmas! Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host and one of Santa’s elves Snowdrop Jimjam Jollypie discuss Uintatherium , a big hoofed mammal kind of like a rhino but with these weird antler-things on its head like a reindeer on crack. That’s the Christmas connection I’m making, anyway. From the Eocene epoch, this 14-foot dinoceratan stomped about merrily and crushed the skulls of predators much like a toddler crushing...
Dec 24, 2024•24 min•Ep. 270
(image source: https://alchetron.com/Capromeryx-minor ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Capromeryx , a teeny-tiny pronghorn with a teeny-tiny amount of information available, perfect for another teeny-tiny bite-sized episode. Dawww. From the Late Pliocene to the Early Holocene, this 2-foot hoofed mammal was among the smallest artiodactyl of all time, being no bigger than a hare. Dawww, what a cutie. So tiny, I bet it could easily be carried off by eagles and ripped ap...
Dec 17, 2024•14 min•Ep. 269
(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/lucas-attwell/art/Psittacosaurus-meileyingensis-752628599 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Psittacosaurus , an early representative of the dinosaurs that would later become Triceratops and Styracosaurus and the like despite looking almost nothing like one. It has the parrot-like beak I guess. Oh wait, that’s how it got its name! I’m smart. From the Early Cretaceous, this 6-foot basal ceratopsian apparently had a fossilized impres...
Dec 10, 2024•35 min•Ep. 268
(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domeykodactylus by FunkMonk (Michael B. H.)) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Domeykodactylus , a pterosaur with a fabulous piece of artwork for it that was the whole inspiration for this episode. We’re nothing if not easily motivated, folks. But seriously, look at that feathery coat! So fly. Haha, get it, “fly,” like pterosaurs did? Eh, forget it. From the Early Cretaceous, this 3.5-foot wingspan dsungaripterid had a stylish ...
Dec 03, 2024•21 min•Ep. 267
