(image source: https://bit.ly/3PEeLaG) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Sinosauropteryx, the first non-avian dinosaur identified with feathers and thus the one to blame for the Jurassic Park style scaly raptors going out of fashion. Feathers can be monstrous too, guys! Just look at cassowaries. Or don't, they'll kill you. Kill you dead. And then disembowel you. Yeah. From the Early Cretaceous, this 3-foot compsognathid theropod was also the first dinosaur that we've discov...
Oct 03, 2023•21 min•Ep. 206
(image source: https://pixels.com/featured/3-dodo-bird-spencer-sutton.html?product=poster ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Raphus , also known as the dodo and a shining example of anthropogenic extinction. That’s when humans completely kill a species, just in case you wanted a punch in the gut today. From the Early Holocene, this 3-foot tall columbid bird is one of the prime candidates for scientists to try and resurrect Jurassic Park style, which would make for a fa...
Sep 26, 2023•23 min•Ep. 205
(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Deinonychus_ewilloughby_2931.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and very special guest co-host Jason Singleton discuss Deinonychus , the one whose titular claw sparked the Dinosaur Revolution like a slash heard around the world. That’s an American Revolution reference, that joke. Know your history, even if it’s probably mostly propaganda. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 11-foot dromaeosaurid had the biggest beef with poor ol’ Tenontosaurus , or should I sa...
Sep 19, 2023•27 min•Ep. 204
(image source: https://bit.ly/3Rhfwc6 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Cygnus falconeri , the biggest swan ever that towered over elephants… although to be fair the elephants on the island it lived on were dwarf elephants, so it’s kind of cheating. From the Late Pleistocene, this 10-foot-wingspan bird was undoubtedly the biggest asshole and probably bullied those poor little elephants to extinction. You ever encountered a swan? They’re assholes! Even the regular-sized...
Sep 12, 2023•27 min•Ep. 203
(image source: https://fanon.fandom.com/wiki/Homotherium_latidens_(SciiFii) ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Homotherium , another one of those saber-toothed cats early humans had to deal with because we’ve never had enough problems. From the Mid Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene, this 5-foot machairodont felid was more like a saber-toothed cougar than a saber-toothed tiger, as it was a pursuit hunter that could run down prey rather than merely ambushing them. Then ag...
Sep 05, 2023•23 min•Ep. 202
(image source: https://bit.ly/3PfmRaG ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Podokesaurus , the state dinosaur of Massachusetts, which really shows the lack of good fossils there and their sheer desperation in having a dino representative. From the Early Jurassic, this 3-foot coelophysid theropod was the first dinosaur discovered and described by a woman, which is definitely cool, although I bet Mary Ann Mantell is seething in the annals of history at her husband taking the cr...
Aug 29, 2023•28 min•Ep. 201
(image source: “Spinosaurus Through the Decades” by Mario Lanzas) Happy 200 episodes! Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Spinosaurus , a creature with so many different updates changing it up constantly it’s practically a modern video game. Was it a biped or a quadruped? Was it terrestrial or aquatic? Did it have a sail or a fin? Did it have a trunk like an elephant seal? Okay, that last one I made up, but hey, you never know. From the Mid Cretaceous, this 50-foot therop...
Aug 22, 2023•53 min•Ep. 200
(image source: Alberto Gennari/Nature via AP) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Perucetus , potentially the biggest animal ever because prehistory needs to one-up the modern day at every opportunity. Those blue whales really thought their crown was safe, didn’t they? Pity. From the Late Eocene, this 65-foot basilosaurid whale was discovered just a few weeks before this episode’s release, so we cranked this episode out fast because by golly, it’s cool. It’s big. I like bi...
Aug 15, 2023•26 min•Ep. 199
(image source: https://ideas.fandom.com/wiki/Thrinaxodon_(SciiFii) ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Thrinaxodon , a stem mammal that did not have little pitchforks or sea-ruling weapons in their mouths, so they’re very inaccurately named. I question these so-called scientists sometimes. From the Early Triassic, this 3-foot cynodont was one of the survivors of the Great Dying, AKA the Permian Extinction, AKA the worst time to be on Earth in all of its history other than...
Aug 08, 2023•26 min•Ep. 198
(image source: https://prehistoric-life.fandom.com/wiki/Haikouichthys ) Host Matthew Donald, and guest Natasha Krech talk, Haikouichthys . An early chordate, or perhaps something weirder, we just don’t know yet. From the Cambrian, this 1-inch backboned fish-thing, lived early in time. As you’ve surely learned, this whole flippin’ episode, is all Haiku form. Even the title fits, and the description itself, and the written stats. Yet this is Chinese, not Japanese like Haikus, so it’s wrong and dum...
Aug 01, 2023•18 min•Ep. 197
(image source: https://bit.ly/3OtbH1P ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Cryolophosaurus , the first dinosaur described and named from Antarctica. That’s pretty cool. Haha, geddit? GEDDIT?! You get it. From the Early Jurassic, this 22-foot neotheropod lived when the continent was still kind of nice and full of trees and ferns, kind of like Alaska in the summer. Ugh, can you imagine the mosquitoes though?! John Hammond should have searched for them in Antarctica; I’m su...
Jul 25, 2023•22 min•Ep. 196
(image source: https://bit.ly/44PPyQG ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Cici Eilert discuss Rhabdodon , the Iguanodon equivalent of the Maastrichtian age and an archetypal example of insular gigantism. None of that statement made any sense to dinosaur or biology normies, I’m sure. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot ornithopod lived in the European islands around the Hateg basin and had to deal with giant azhdarchid pterosaurs plucking its young off the ground on occasion. Sounds like o...
Jul 18, 2023•22 min•Ep. 195
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mononykus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Mononykus , a dinosaur that was really good at poking and pretty much nothing else with those singular claws of theirs. They could point, poke, and pork. That’s it. Good night, everyone. From the Late Cretaceous, this 3-foot alvarezsaurid probably lived like an anteater picking bugs out of logs with its claws and its long tongue. Its tongue didn’t fossilize though, so that’s pure ...
Jul 11, 2023•30 min•Ep. 194
(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophthalmosaurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Ophthalmosaurus , an eye-catcher of a creature that sees the seas with optimal precision, and other eye-related jokes. From the Late Jurassic, this 16-foot ichthyosaur probably used its massive eyes to catch schools of fish in deep waters, meaning it used its pupils to catch pupils! Geddit?! Yeah, that one was a stretch. Required some real yoga to work. Have you seen me do yog...
Jul 04, 2023•28 min•Ep. 193
(image source: https://www.sciencephoto.com/contributor/jsi/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Lagosuchus , a long-legged little lunatic that was named like a crocodile but is actually closer related to dinosaurs… then again dinosaurs are often named like they’re lizards when they’re patently not. From the Early Triassic, this 2-foot archosaur was not related to rabbits either despite the name, nor does it look like one. And it also wasn’t found near the city of Lagos...
Jun 27, 2023•26 min•Ep. 192
(image source: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/transylvanosaurus-platycephalus-11423.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Cici Eilert discuss Transylvanosaurus , a dinosaur with a name far scarier than this cute little critter would suggest, but I suppose Romanian means vampires, am I right? From the Late Cretaceous, this 6-foot rhabdodontid lived in an island paradise alongside some other miniaturized dinosaurs with their only fear being the giant pterosaurs that would swoop in from a...
Jun 20, 2023•19 min•Ep. 191
(image source: Beasts of the Mesozoic action figure line) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Tsaagan , a raptor from Mongolia that is decidedly not Velociraptor for some reason isn’t due to some minor differences in the skull or whatever. And yet Dracorex … ugh, forget it. From the Late Cretaceous, this 5-foot dromaeosaur got its name from a local Mongolian term for “white monster,” which would be a pretty accurate term if this thing was found in Europe with a ship full ...
Jun 13, 2023•22 min•Ep. 190
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dacentrurus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Dacentrurus , a dinosaur from Europe that had a bunch of points at its end and a set of symmetrical plates on its front, kind of like if a dinner table was a dinosaur. From the Late Jurassic, this 30-foot stegosaur is one of the best known of its family from Europe, and also is incredibly awkward to say. No word should ever have “ruru” in it. Except for the Kanohi Ruru, the ...
Jun 06, 2023•22 min•Ep. 189
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Peltephilus ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Cici Eilert discuss Peltephilus , a large armadillo with the squarest ass you’ve ever seen. Seriously, there’s just flesh and fur one inch and then none the next. From the Oligocene epoch, this 6-foot xenathran mammal was thought to be a predator at first until they realized it was like regular armadillos and ate bugs or whatever. Or rolled into balls. Except this one couldn’t; look at its big sq...
May 30, 2023•21 min•Ep. 188
(image source: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/diplodocus/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Diplodocus , the longest of long boys and the absorber of the awesome but sadly now dubious genus Seismosaurus . Earthquake lizard go kaput. Sad. From the Late Jurassic, this 100-foot sauropod lived in the golden age of its family with so many damn longneck dinosaurs that it’s hard to keep them all straight. Why is Supersaurus still valid if Seismo isn’t? Sorry, it’s a bit of a ...
May 23, 2023•24 min•Ep. 187
(image source: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2208044119 ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Mammut , also known as the American mastodon because this is one of those creatures that has a generic name as well as a scientific name, like why we called lions lions instead of P. leo like we do T. rex . From the Late Pliocene, this 10-foot-tall mammutid isn’t really closely related to mammoths but gets confused with them a bunch, which makes sense as they look really ...
May 16, 2023•29 min•Ep. 186
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Halszkaraptor ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Halszkaraptor , a relative of those monstrous raptors more akin to a duck or goose, which is actually far more terrifying. From the Late Cretaceous, this 2-foot dromaeosaur had numerous adaptations for fishing and a semi-aquatic existence, which sounds like a peaceful life. Because we all know people who fish to be the most chill and laid-back of folks, especially if they h...
May 09, 2023•19 min•Ep. 185
(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Geosternbergia ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Geosternbergia , a pterosaur that really wants you to know it’s named after George Sternberg as its binomial name is Geosternbergia sternbergi . How much did the Sternberg estate pay for this, I wonder? From the Late Cretaceous, this 24-foot-wingspan pteradactyloid was thought for the longest time to be another species of Pteranodon , but now it’s generally regarded as bein...
May 02, 2023•25 min•Ep. 184
(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/saurophaganax_maximus_by_atrox1-d4ff5qy_b2a7.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Saurophaganax , the biggest and baddest Jurassic predator that truly makes Allosaurus the “other lizard” that it’s so named. And by that, we means it makes Allosaurus its bitch. From the Late Jurassic, this 42-foot-long theropod might actually have been a giant Allosaurus species rather than its own, although the consensus is still cont...
Apr 25, 2023•20 min•Ep. 183
(image source: https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Genyodectes-maniraptora_be4c.jpg ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Genyodectes , a dinosaur no one’s heard of and no one cares about so therefore no one should complain when we assumedly and repeatedly mispronounce its name throughout the episode. From the Early Cretaceous, this 22-foot ceratosaurid was one of the first dinosaurs ever discovered in South America, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It seems these d...
Apr 18, 2023•20 min•Ep. 182
(image source: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/paleoparadoxia/ ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Paleoparadoxia , a marine mammal with a pretty on-the-nose name in that it’s a paleontological paradox. At least in the enigma sense; we don’t think there was any time travel involved. From the Miocene epoch, this 12-foot desmostylian looked like it should have been able to walk on land, but was actually completely marine-bound due to being too heavy. I can relate. To the t...
Apr 11, 2023•30 min•Ep. 181
(image source: https://bit.ly/3K1kgNM ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Torosaurus , a dinosaur very distinct from Triceratops regardless of what Jack Horner tells you in a wide variety of ways that I cannot think of right now. But Horner can’t win! We won’t let him! From the Late Cretaceous, this 30-foot chasmosaurine ceratopsian had the biggest known skull of any land animal in Earth’s history, which means it was either very full of itself or genius-level brainy. Exce...
Apr 04, 2023•19 min•Ep. 180
(image source: http://bit.ly/3ZjI592 and an edited stock photo) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Tanidromites nightwishorum , a crab named after the Finnish symphonic metal band that has nothing whatsoever notable about it and is thusly the first truly bite-sized Paleo Bites episode. We might have more of these to discuss species with very little info about them but are still notable somehow. I mean, it’s in the name of the show! From the Late Jurassic, this little dec...
Mar 28, 2023•9 min•Ep. 179
(image source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/herrerasaurus-ischigualastensis-sergey-krasovskiy.html ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Herrerasaurus , one of the earliest dinosaurs and yet still a rather big boi that I would not want to mess with. Look at dat boi! I’m hip, bro. From the Mid Triassic, this 20-foot carnivorous dinosaur was so primitive the closest we can get to its taxonomic placement is that it was a saurischian, or lizard-hipped. Looks like this ...
Mar 21, 2023•27 min•Ep. 178
(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Coelophysis-pictures ) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Coelophysis , the archetypal early dinosaur despite some rather advanced features compared to earlier dinosaurs, one of which we’ll talk about next week! A bit of a sausage sizzle there for the listeners. From the Late Triassic, this 10-foot theropod was initially thought to be a cannibal, then it was found to not be, until it was found to be a cannibal once again! C’mon...
Mar 14, 2023•28 min•Ep. 177
