#Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 32: Pre-history. I forget what number....3? 4?

In honor of @kraetac.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

#Nanotyrannus #Time Travel #Tyrannosaurus Rex #Dinosaurs #Paleontology #Lystrosaurus #Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum #Hateg Island #Arthropluera #Tetrapods #Argentinosaurus #Prototaxites #Fungi #Spinosaurus #Icthyosaurs #The Luning Formation #Snakes #Evolution

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

@seimsisk great question!

During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the entire world rapidly warmed due to the activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, which caused rapid release of carbon and, well, we know the rest from today

That warming lead to the entire planet - the whole world - having one climate: tropical. Above the usual tropical realms, it's called "paratropical".

So we call the regions of the world during the PETM by their current names - the polar region, the temperate region, etc. - but the climate of each of these was still Tropical

#paleocene eocene thermal maximum #PETM #global warming #climate change #biogeography

[otussketching]

Fossil Novembirb: Day 5 - It's Getting Hot in Here

It's the late Paleocene, and the climate is red hot. And it'll get hotter still. It's the start of an event called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. At this moment, the Earth's climate warms very rapidly, and it'll gets really warm. How warm? Warm enough for rainforests in Europe, and for towering cypress swamps to grow in the Arctic. And as for these birds living in Paleocene Wyoming, their world is a steaming hot tropical wetland.

Primoptynx: One of the earliest known owls, and was quite large. Unlike modern owls it had talons more like a hawk, and it hunted during the day.

Sandcoleus: An early relative of mousebirds, and a climbing opportunistic omnivorous forest dweller.

Anachronornis: A peculiar kind of waterfowl, related to ducks and bearing a striking resemblance to the screamers of South America.

Paragrus: Despite its name, this is bird is not related to cranes. Instead it belongs to a group of flightless birds called Geranoidids, which are related to ostritches.

Lithornis promiscuus: An early relative of Palaeognath birds like ostritches and emus. Unlike most modern paleognaths, it could fly for long distances and even soar.

Lithornis plebius: Another Lithornithid, and like all lithornithids, had a long sensitive beak for probing insects from soil and leaf litter.

#Fossil Novembirb #Novembirb #Dinovember #birblr #palaeoblr #Birds #Dinosaurs #Cenozoic Birds #Primoptynx #Sandcoleus #Anachronornis #Paragrus #Lithornis

[mckitterick]

Manatee Bay, Florida, reports ocean temperature of 101.1°F (38°C), a global record

Ocean temperatures are also breaking records in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean this week.

The ocean has warmed unabated since 1970, having absorbed more than 90% of excess heat from the climate system, and is now seven degrees hotter than normal.

Why is this bad?

Rising global temperatures decrease oxygen solubility in water, increase the rate of oxygen consumption via respiration, and reduce the introduction of oxygen from the atmosphere and surface waters into the ocean interior by increasing stratification and weakening ocean overturning circulation.

Low-oxygen zones increase production of N2O (a potent greenhouse gas), reduce biodiversity, alter food webs, and negatively affect food security and livelihoods. Both acidification and rising temperature are linked with deoxygenation and combine with low-oxygen conditions to affect biogeochemical, physiological, and ecological processes.

Global warming is the primary cause of ongoing deoxygenation. Models project further oxygen declines during the 21st century, even with ambitious emission reductions.

But wait, there's more.

How could ocean warming be catastrophic?

Clathrates are deposits of methane trapped within ice on the bottom of the ocean, usually off the continental shelf where decaying biological material has flowed from the land into the seas for millennia.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, possessing global-warming potential 72× greater than carbon dioxide.

Sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from long-frozen methane clathrate deposits likely were responsible for Earth's sudden runaway warming 630 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic extinction event, and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Our greatest hope right now is that most clathrates lie deep under the ocean where temperatures are less likely to rise rapidly enough to melt their ice caps.

However, some methane clathrate deposits are much shallower, making them far more vulnerable to warming. A deposit off Canada in the Beaufort Sea and another in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf are as shallow as 45 meters, so even slight ocean warming could quickly release gas from the currently frozen methane.

Not less than 1,400 gigatons of methane currently lurk under the Arctic submarine permafrost, with up to 50 gigatons of methane hydrate highly likely to be abruptly released at any time.

A release on this scale would increase the methane content of the planet's atmosphere by a factor of twelve, equivalent in greenhouse effect to doubling the level of CO2.

Recognizing this threat led to the "Clathrate Gun" hypothesis. A 2012 study concluded that melting these Arctic methane clathrates would mean a 1000-fold free methane increase in a single pulse, increasing atmospheric temperatures by more than 6°C in 80 years.

(map of methane clathrate deposits worldwide)

The worst part of all this horror is that such a sudden warming is also likely to set off other methane clathrate deposits across the world, sending Earth into an ever-increasing temperature spiral akin to those ancient extinction events.

So, yeah, ocean temperatures like this are not just red flags, but radioactively glowing warning signs of impending worldwide disaster.

#clathrates #greenhouse gasses #climate change #global warming #clathrate gun

[spacenutspod]

The orbit of Earth around the Sun is always changing. It doesn’t change significantly from year to year, but over time the gravitational tugs of the Moon and other planets cause Earth’s orbit to vary. This migration affects Earth’s climate. For example, the gradual shift of Earth’s orbit and the changing tilt of Earth’s axis leads to the Milankovitch climate cycles. So if you want to understand paleoclimate or the shift of Earth’s climate across geologic time, it helps to know what Earth’s orbit was in the distant past.Fortunately, Newtonian mechanics and the law of gravity work backward in time as well as forward. We can use Newtonian dynamics to predict eclipses and the trajectories of spacecraft to the outer solar system, but we can also use it to turn back the clock and map Earth’s orbit into the deep past. Within limits.Since there is no exact solution for the orbital motion of more than two bodies, we have to run our calculations computationally. A bit of chaos comes into the works, so any uncertainty we have in the current positions and motions of large solar system bodies decreases the accuracy of our retrodiction the further back in time we go. Fortunately with radar ranging and other measurements, our computations are so accurate we can trace Earth’s orbit back 100 million years into the past with some confidence. Or so we thought because a new paper demonstrates we’ve been overlooking the gravitational effect of passing stars.The uncertainty of Earth’s orbit 54 million years ago. Credit: N. Kaib/PSIMost stars are too distant to have any measurable effect on Earth’s orbit. They tug upon our world no more than the distant rocks of the Oort Cloud. But now and then a star will make a close approach. Not close enough to throw our solar system into chaos, but close enough to give the solar planets a gravitational nudge. The most recent close approach was HD 7977. Right now the star is about 250 light-years away, but 2.8 million years ago it passed within 30,000 AU or half a light-year of the Sun. It may have passed as close as 4,000 AU from the Sun. At the larger distance, the gravitational effect of HD 7977 would be negligible, but at the closer end of the range, it would be significant. When you add this into the computational mix, the uncertainties of Earth’s past orbit make it difficult to be confident more than 50 million years. And that has a significant impact on paleoclimate studies.For example, about 56 million years ago Earth entered a period known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, where global temperatures rose 5 – 8 °C. Orbital models point to the fact that Earth’s orbit was particularly eccentric during that time, which could be the underlying cause. But this new study raises the uncertainty of that conclusion, meaning that other factors such as geologic activity may have played a major role.It’s estimated that a star passes within 10,000 AU of the Sun every 20 million years or so. This means that as we map Earth’s orbital motion deeper into the past, we must also look for effects that may be written in the stars.Reference: Kaib, Nathan A. and Raymond, Sean N. “Passing Stars as an Important Driver of Paleoclimate and the Solar System’s Orbital Evolution.” Astrophysical Journal Letters 962 (2024): L28.The post Passing Stars Changed the Orbits of Planets in the Solar System appeared first on Universe Today.

#space #astronomy #news #science

[naturalsciencesbelgium]

Europe's Oldest Gecko Species Lived in Belgium 

Paleontologists have described a new extinct gecko species from Belgium. The lizard Dollogekko dormaalensis lived 56 million years ago, making it the oldest gecko species in Europe. 'This discovery provides new evidence for the early history of geckos in Europe,' says Annelise Folie, paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS). The scientists named the new species after the famous Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo.

Living geckos are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. Most species are adapted to warm climates, so in Europe you will only find them around the Mediterranean Sea. But during the Eocene epoch, 56 to 34 million years ago, it was much warmer in our regions and a lot of thermophilic animals, including geckos, could be found in more northern latitudes than today. 

An international team of paleontologists examined a fossil of such a prehistoric gecko from the collections of the RBINS. The fossil was found in Dormaal, a borough of the Belgian town of Zoutleeuw in Flemish Brabant. As it turns out, the fossil belongs to a hitherto unknown species, and represents the oldest remains of geckos known in Europe, together with indeterminate material from Portugal. The new species, Dollogekko dormaalensis, is therefore the earliest living gecko species from Europe described so far.

The only part of this individual that the scientists found was the fossilized frontal bone. However, due to its unique shape and external surface sculpture, it provided enough information to conclude that it was a previously unknown species. This forehead bone therefore immediately became the official type specimen - the (part of the) individual used to describe the species - and will continue to be preserved in the collections of the RBINS. 

Greenhouse world  

Dollogekko dormaalensis lived during a period known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (56 million years ago), when Belgium, which today has a temperate marine climate, was much warmer. The new gecko was part of a diverse reptilian fauna of the so-called "Greenhouse World" of this period. 

Tropical and subtropical conditions then extended much farther to the poles. In addition, the rise in temperatures during the early Eocene led to a rise in sea level, and many areas of Eurasia were flooded. Europe was an archipelago consisting of several islands. "Given future global climate change and predicted sea-level rise, it is of great importance to understand the distribution of thermophilic, tropical species of the past, as well as the distributions of certain infectious diseases such as malaria," says Andrej Čerňanský, lead author of the study.  

What's in a name 

When scientists describe a new species, they naturally give it a name. In this case, it was not only a new species epithet (the second part of the scientific name), but also a new genus name (the first part). The species could not be classified in an existing genus because it does not resemble nor lived in the same area than any other gecko species from that period. 

The scientists found their inspiration for the species epithet at the location of the discovery of the type specimen: dormaalensis means ‘from Dormaal’. The genus name, Dollogekko, is a tribute to the famous Belgian paleontologist Louis Dollo (1857-1931), best known for his research on dinosaurs, including the Iguanodons, housed at the RBINS. His specialty was the anatomy of extinct fishes and reptiles, including turtles, mosasaurs, snakes, lizards, and dinosaurs. 

 The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. 

This project is a collaboration between researchers from multiple institutions, including the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia (Andrej Čerňanský), Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Annelise Folie, Thierry Smith, and Richard Smith), Sam Houston State (Juan Diego Daza) and Villanova University (Aaron M. Bauer) in the United States. 

Images 1, 2 and 3 © 2022 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. Images 4 and 5 © Annelise Folie, RBINS

#gecko #paleontology #science #sciencenews #biology #reptiles #geology #louisdollo

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Passing stars altered orbital evolution of Earth and other planets, astronomers find

Stars that pass by our solar system have altered the long-term orbital evolution of planets, including Earth, and, by extension, modified our climate.

"Perturbations—a minor deviation in the course of a celestial body, caused by the gravitational attraction of a neighboring body—from passing stars alter the long-term orbital evolution of the sun's planets, including Earth," said Nathan A. Kaib, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and lead author of "Passing Stars as an Important Driver of Paleoclimate and the solar system's Orbital Evolution" that appears in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Sean Raymond at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux also contributed to this work.

"One reason this is important is because the geologic record shows that changes in the Earth's orbital eccentricity accompany fluctuations in the Earth's climate. If we want to best search for the causes of ancient climate anomalies, it is important to have an idea of what Earth's orbit looked like during those episodes," Kaib said.

"One example of such an episode is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum 56 million years ago, where the Earth's temperature rose 5-8 degrees centigrade. It has already been proposed that Earth's orbital eccentricity was notably high during this event, but our results show that passing stars make detailed predictions of Earth's past orbital evolution at this time highly uncertain, and a broader spectrum of orbital behavior is possible than previously thought."

Simulations (run backward) are used to predict the past orbital evolution of the Earth and the sun's other planets. Analogous to weather forecasting, this technique gets less accurate as you extend it to longer times because of the exponential growth of uncertainties. Previously, the effects of stars passing near the sun were not considered in these "backward forecasts."

As the sun and other stars orbit the center of the Milky Way, they inevitably can pass near one another, sometimes within tens of thousands of au, 1 au being the distance from the Earth to the sun. These events are called stellar encounters. For instance, a star passes within 50,000 au of the sun every 1 million years on average, and a star passes within 10,000 au of the sun every 20 million years on average. This study's simulations include these types of events, whereas most prior similar simulations do not.

One major reason the Earth's orbital eccentricity fluctuates over time is because it receives regular perturbations from the giant planets of our solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). As stars pass near our solar system, they perturb the giant planet's orbits, which consequently then alters the orbital trajectory of the Earth. Thus, the giant planets serve as a link between the Earth and passing stars.

Kaib said that when simulations include stellar passages, we find that orbital uncertainties grow even faster, and the time horizon beyond which these backward simulations' predictions become unreliable is more recent than thought.

This means two things: There are past epochs in Earth's history where our confidence in what Earth's orbit looked like (for example, its eccentricity or degree of circularity) has been too high, and the real orbital state is not known, and the effects of passing stars make regimes of orbital evolution (extended periods of particularly high or low eccentricity) possible that past models did not predict.

"Given these results, we have also identified one known recent stellar passage, the sun-like star HD 7977, which occurred 2.8 million years ago, that is potentially powerful enough to alter simulations' predictions of what Earth's orbit was like beyond approximately 50 million years ago," Kaib said.

The current observational uncertainty of HD 7977's closest encounter distance is large, however, ranging from 4,000 au to 31,000 au. "For larger encounter distances, HD 7977 would not have a significant impact on Earth's encounter distance. Near the smaller end of the range, however, it would likely alter our predictions of Earth's past orbit," Kaib said.

IMAGE....Illustration of the uncertainty of Earth's orbit 56 million years ago due to a potential past passage of the Sun-like star HD7977 2.8 million years ago. Each point's distance from the center corresponds to the degree of ellipticity of Earth's orbit, and the angle corresponds to the direction pointing to Earth's perihelion, or closest approach distance to the Sun. 100 different simulations (each with a unique color) are sampled every 1,000 years for 600,000 years to construct this figure. Every simulation is consistent with the modern Solar System's conditions, and the differences in orbital predictions are primarily due to orbital chaos and the past encounter with HD 7977. Credit: N. Kaib/PSI.

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics #Youtube

[boethiah]

i’m glad you asked! the paleocene-eocene thermal maximum (PETM) was a period of abrupt and extreme climate change that occurred at the end of the paleocene epoch, around 55 million years ago. during this time, global temperatures abruptly rose by 5 - 8 degrees celcius! the event was hypothesized to be caused by the destablisation of methane clarates on the ocean floor, which released massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere-- at least 0.24 gigatonnes per year! to put that into perspective, humans release around 10 gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere per year! another fun fact is that, during the PETM, the earth was ice-free, and the oceans were acidified and made anoxic in large areas :D

no reason why the nord stream pipeline blast releasing 400,000 tonnes of fucking methane into the atmosphere brought this to mind, just a funny coincidence i guess

[female-malice]

I think it's important to understand these topics. And to also understand the key differences between PETM and anthropogenic warming.

– PETM warming happened over a few thousand years. Cooling took about 100,000 years. Anthro warming is happening over a few hundred years so far and the rate of warming is much higher.

– PETM was one gas leak. Anthro warming is continuous global gas leaks.

– PETM happened to a vibrant powerful resilient biosphere. Anthro warming is happening to a biosphere depleted by 200 years of industry and 10,000 years of agriculture.

#cc #you guys I am NOT an expert lmao and PETM is very complicated and mysterious. and it was 65 million years ago

[something-that-needs-nothing]

when lunatics tell you to google ivermectin or whatever while trying to tell you about their conspiracy theories that's how i talk about the paleocene eocene thermal maximum

[gwydpolls]

So I'm a big fan of your time travel polls and as a huge paleontology nut, wanted to contribute as much as I can. Here's a bunch of mysteries/events you could incorporate. My apologies if any of these are repeats, and please keep the time travel polls coming! They are super fun.

-Was Nanotyrannus a juvenile T-rex or its own species?

-Witness the first Lystrosaurus emerge after the Permian Extinction.

-What caused the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum?

-See the miniature dinosaurs of Hateg Island.

-See the island culture of the homo floresiensis

-Was Arthropluera a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore?

-See the source of the Cerutti Mastodon kill site. Accident, humans, or another hominid?

-Watch the first tetrapod emerge from the water.

-Scuba dive under snow/slush-ball earth.

-Find out if Argentinosaurus truly was the biggest dinosaur or if something did surpass it.

-See the transitional forms of the very first bats.

-See the giant 40-foot tall fungi Prototaxites.

-What was Spinosaurus's final form?

-What caused the mass strandings of forty, 50+ foot Icthyosaurs at the Luning Formation?

-Why did snakes lose their legs? Fossorial or Marine reasons? (or some secret third thing)

-Did Neanderthals make art?

This is all I could come up with off the top of my head, if you'd like I can send more later.

These are great! Looks like I need to do a special poll just for you. :)

I put the ones that didn't fit in Ancient and earlier XV.

I've done other neanderthal things, but i don't think we did art. I don't know how we missed florensis. Thank you so much for these suggestions.

#Time Travel Polls

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

ITS ALMOST FOSSIL NOVEMBIRB!!!!!

We're going to have a CELEBRATION of FOSSIL NEORNITHINES for this November!!! The extinct members of the only group of dinosaurs we have today!

Each day will have a prompt inspired by the evolution of crown-birds and the amazing forms they have taken over the past 68 million years!

You can respond to each day's prompt however you wish - with drawing and painting, writing, sculpting, music, videos, whatever! Just tag it "#Fossil Novembirb" for me to find it, and it'll get reblogged!

I'm so excited to see the art you guys create!

NOVEMBER 1 - THE CHOSEN ONES

Crown-Birds (Neornithes) known from the Mesozoic Era!

Options include Asteriornis, Teviornis, Vegavis, and "Styginetta"!

These are the only dinosaurs that survived the asteroid!

Theoretically there were also early Palaeognaths and Neoavians - if you want to do some spec evo and hypothesize what you think they might have looked like, go ahead! Follow your dreams!

NOVEMBER 2 - THE SURVIVORS

The earliest birds known after the K-Pg boundary!

Options include Conflicto, Tsidiiyazhi, Australornis, Qinornis, and Qianshanornis!

Birds diverged rapidly after the extinction, so also feel free to dive into spec evo into some of the forms we don't have fossils of!

NOVEMBER 3 - RACE TO THE SEA

The first Marine Neornithines and how they evolved in the early Paleocene!

Includes tons of early penguins like Waimanu, Kumimanu, Sequiwaimanu, Muriwaimanu, and Kupoupou

Also includes the first Pseudo-toothed bird, Protodontopteryx, and the earliest known Tropicbird, Clymenoptilon!

RISE OF THE PENGUINS!

NOVEMBER 4 - THE MEGAFOWL

Gastornis (aka "Diatryma", aka "Zhongyuanus") appeared in the mid-Paleocene and was a feature of the Cenozoic landscape until the end of the Eocene - so we have a whole day JUST FOR IT

Show your love for the Megafowl Gastornis! This giant herbivorous bird was fascinating, and has captured imaginations for decades because of it!

Gastornis is also present in many of the ecosystems described below, such as Willwood, Green River, and Messel, so we also just wanted to make sure people didn't keep picking Gastornis over and over again xD

NOVEMBER 5 - IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum was the most dramatic incident of rapid global warming in the world since the Permian... until today!

It majorly affected the evolution of many things, possibly including birds!

The Willwood Formation straddles the time period of the warming, and has tons of birds that were evolving during that time period! So, for this day, create things involving birds of the Willwood Formation!

Options include the flighted Palaeognaths Lithornis promiscuus and Lithornis plebius; the possible stem-Ostrich Paragrus, the early half-screamer-half-duck Anachronornis, the early owl Primoptynx, and the fascinating stem-mousebird Sandcoleus! And many more!

NOVEMBER 6 - TROPICAL DENMARK

Birds of the Fur Formation, one of the best collections of bird fossils from the early Eocene!

Includes such friends as Scandiavis (an early shorebird), Septencoracias (an early roller), Pellornis (an early rail-esque thing), the utterly mysterious Morsoravis, and the early swift-hummingbird Eocypselus!

This was a tropical shoreline environment with many of the first members of major bird groups we see today!

NOVEMBER 7 - ANCIENT LONDON TOWN

Across the shore from Fur was the London Clay Formation, a lush tropical forest near the warm shallow ocean

In addition to a truly alarming quantity of plant fossils, this is a notable locality for early birds, featuring many early members of major groups much like the Fur Formation

Options include Dasornis (a pseudotoothed bird), Pulchrapollia (one of the Parrot-Passerines of Prey), Nettapterornis (another stem-duck), Nasidytes (an early loon), Charadriisimilis (an early shorebird), Archaeodromus (a trogon-like member of Strisores), Eotrogon (an actual early Trogon), Lithornis vulturinus (another flighted Palaeognath), Prophaethon (another early Tropicbird), and Ypresiglaux (an early owl) - and so many more!

NOVEMBER 8 - THE RAPTORS ARE BACK

Turns out "Predatory Feathered Thing with Really Sharp Foot Claws" is a very successful niche - not only was there potentially one right after the end of the Cretaceous (Qianshanornis), but other raptors were some of the first birds to succeed around the world in the Eocene

So this day is dedicated to the early raptors of the Cenozoic!

Any "raptor" from the Paleogene is valid - so here are some suggestions: Early Cariamiformes (Seriemas and Kin) like Bathornis, Dynamopterus, Strigogyps, and the first potential Terror Birds like Paleopsilopterus Early Owls like Ypresiglaux and Palaeoglaux Early Accipitriformes like Horusornis Early Falcons like Antarctoboenus, Masillaraptor, and Danielsraptor And of course the ever popular "Parrot-Passerines of Prey" like Tynskya and Messelastur

NOVEMBER 9 - GETTING A GRIP

Half of all living birds are Passeriformes - aka "Perching Birds" - but this wasn't always the case! For most of Earth's history, many other kinds of tree birds were extremely common

Where did this behemoth group of tiny dinosaurs come from? That's the subject of this day's prompt!

In the Eocene, the first birds closer to Passeriformes than to Parrots evolved, and they came in a huge variety of forms! So on Nov 9th, we're going to celebrate this group's interesting beginnings!

Options for this include Parapsittacopes, Eofringillirostrum, Pumiliornis, Psittacopes, Zygodactylus, Primozygodactylus, Psittacomimus, Sororavis, Morsoravis, and Eozygodactylus! Go wild!

NOVEMBER 10 - BAYOU IN THE BADLANDS

Back to specific ecosystems! We're visiting the world-famous Fossil Lake of the Green River Formation!

This environment, during the Early Eocene, was a thriving tropical lake and forest ecosystem filled with tons of early Neornithines as well as mammals and other animals

Gorgeous fossils have come out of this lake, showing truly amazing detail of feathers and other features for these birds!

So here you can feature Prefica (a potential early Oilbird), the flighted Palaeognath Calciavis, the stem-turaco Foro, the early mousebird Celericolius, the possible shore-bird Nahmavis, a potential cuckoo roller Plesiocathartes, the Flamingo-Duck Presbyornis, the early landfowl Gallinuloides, the swift-hummingbird Eocypselus, and the Frigate Bird Trying at being a Gull Limnofregata - and so many more!

NOVEMBER 11 - A NEW DAWN

We're finally moving on to the middle Eocene - and the Messel Lake ecosystem, famous from the first episode of Walking with Beasts (hence the name of the day)!

(If you're going "wait, that episode acts like nothing happened between the K-Pg and Messel, but here you have 10 days worth of stuff" .... yeah. Walking With Beasts skipped the Paleocene and early Eocene and I am... very pissed. Still.)

You know about the tons of early mammals from this tropical lake ecosystem, but it was filled with tons of early birds as well!

There's the early ostrich Palaeotis, the crane-rail Messelornis, the almost-flamingo Juncitarsus, the freshwater Booby Masillastega, the early hoopoe Messelirrisor, Selmes (a mouse bird with stubby toes), the early ibis Rhynchaeites, the early nightbird Hassiavis, the early swift Scaniacypselus, an early roller with known colors Eocoracias, and the early potoo Paraprefica - and many others!

NOVEMBER 12 - PEAK PENGUIN PARTY

As the Eocene continued, penguins achieved true megafaunal status - there were tons of them, they were huge, and they were all over the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere

While penguin diversity never did recover after the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event, this golden age deserves celebration!

Some of these fascinating peak penguins include Palaeeudyptes, Anthropornis, Icadyptes, Inkayacu, Perudyptes, and Kairuku!

NOVEMBER 13 - FRENCH SAVANNAH

As the Eocene began to dry up and cool down, plains grew across the world where the tropical forests once had been

One of the most famous later-Eocene fossil sites for birds is the Quercy Phosphorites location, a French formation with tons of interesting fossil birds!

Here we start to see the early forms of Neornithine Dinosaurs we saw in the Paleocene-Early Eocene diverge and specialize further - often in particularly weird or interesting ways!

So here we have the duck-ish chicken Paraortyx, the secretarybird Pelargopappus, you can also bring back Dynamopterus from earlier, there is the stem-chicken Quercymegapodius as well as stem-parrots like Quercypsitta, the seriema-like Strigogyps, the sandgrouse relative Archaeoganga, Archaeotrogon shows up again, the swift relative Aegialornis, a potential woodpecker relative Sylphornis, and more owls like Palaeoglaux! Lots of cursorial predators in this ecosystem!

NOVEMBER 14 - LOST IN THE WOODS

As the Oligocene dawned, forests did grow back in Europe, though they were now temperate and dry as opposed to the paratropical rainforests of before

This lead to wide diversification of tree-dwelling birds, and so here we will celebrate the birds of the Oligocene of Europe!

We start to really see modern-esque birds at this point, though of course we still have 30 million years of evolution to go!

Here you can feature the early eagle/hawk Aviraptor, the European Hummingbird Eurotrochilus, the seabird relative Rupelornis, the early woodpecker-toucan Rupelramphastoides, the tody Palaeotodus, the proper Passerine Wieslochia, the possible shorebird Turnipax, the mousebird Oligocolius, the hoopoe Laurillardia, and the trogon Primotrogon which we know the colors of!

NOVEMBER 15 - OASIS IN THE DESERT

The Jebel Qatrani Formation of Egypt shows the beginnings of the famous African Grassland animals, as well as many early members of iconic African animal groups such as primates - and, of course, birds!

Taking place in the early Oligocene, this formation was a tropical/subtropical lowland plain filled with ponds and streams and other waterways - aka, tons of swamps surrounded by plains

As such, this place is infested with waterbirds!

Here we have a fossil relative of the Shoebill Goliathia, as well as the jacanas Janipes and Nupharanassa, the giant stork Palaeoephippiorhynchus, the herons Nycticorax and Xenerodiops, and the mystery Palaeognath Eremopezus!

NOVEMBER 16 - AMONG THE GIANTS

Once again we're just fully committing to the Walking With Beasts nostalgia bc these are the birds we wish were in it more okay we said it

Anyways there were some interesting large birds in the plains of the "Land of Giants" episode so picture these guys alongside the Indricothere etc.

In general we're covering the latest Eocene through the Oligocene of Central Asia

Here we have the enigmatic ratites Ergilornis and Sonogrus, the pseudo-toothed bird Caspiodontornis, the owl Heterostrix, and the stem-flamingo Agnopterus

NOVEMBER 17 - IF THE WIND WAS IN OUR WINGS

We all focus on penguins, but over the Cenozoic, plenty of weird birds have evolved for marine life, and boy are they bizarre!

So for Nov 17, we're focusing on the unusual marine birds of the Cenozoic!

This includes any members of the Pelagornithids - aka the Pseudo-toothed birds - as well as the Plotopterids - the Boobies that became Penguins! Pelagornis and Copepteryx are the best known taxa from each, respectively, but there are plenty more!

But that's not all! We have the flightless auks Miomancalla and Mancalla, the large flightless marine duck Chendytes, and who can forget the weird flightless marine swan Annakacygna! Tons of options to choose from!

NOVEMBER 18 - MARCHING IN THE MARSHES

We're now starting our transition from the Paleogene into the Neogene, beginning with the brackish marsh ecosystem preserved at Saint-Gerand-Le-Puy in France!

This Miocene locality preserves a wide variety of birds that are near modern, but not quite - a sort of "uncanny valley" of bird evolution, all set in a somewhat-salty somewhat-not wetland ecosystem

Options for dinosaurs here include Harrisonavis, a transitional flamingo; the early gull/tern Laricola, the enigmatic duck Mionetta, the stork Grallavis, the pratincole Becassius, the swimming-flamingo Palaelodus, the early cormorant Nectornis, the seed-eating pheasant Palaeortyx, the early loon Colymboides, and the mysterious shorebird Elorius!

NOVEMBER 19 - FERN GULLY

Riversleigh is one of the most famous fossil sites in the world, preserving the evolution of the strange and unique animals known today in Australia, during the Oligocene to Miocene transition

Most often, we focus on the bizarre mammals found at Riversleigh, and for good reason - it's a Marsupial Party! - but the birds here are fantastic as well

This ecosystem was a rich rainforest that transitioned over the period of deposition into a semiarid grassland, and covers 20 million years of animal evolution during that transition

Options for birds here include the butcherbird Kurrartapu, the fossil Sittella Daphoenositta trevorworthyi, the Mihirungs ("Demon Ducks") Dromornis and Barawertornis, the Emuwary Emuarius, the early magpie-goose Eoanseranas, the raptor Pengana with flexible ankles, the earliest known species of lyrebird (Menura tyawanoides), the corvid-like Corvitalusoides, the first known cockatoos, the flightless rail-like bird Australlus, the stiff-tailed duck Pinpanetta, the early logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri, and so many more!

NOVEMBER 20 - LAND OF GIANTS

Y'all were probably wondering when we'd get to the Terror Birds and other interesting dinosaurs of South America, so - here we are!

South America, isolated from the rest of the world until the Great American Interchange, featured a wide variety of bizarre and unique animals - not just mammals, but birds and other reptiles as well!

So for Nov 20th, we're looking at the interesting dinosaurs of the "lost continent" during the Miocene epoch, prior to the invasion of North American taxa!

Any Miocene South American Terror Bird (Phorusrachid) is fair game here, so that includes Brontornis, Patagorhacos, Paraphysornis, Devincenzia, Kelenken, Phorusrhacos, Patagornis, Andalgalornis, Psilopterus, Mesembriornis, and Procariama! Note that they did not all live at the same time or even close to each other in location, so do your research on the taxa you pick!

But Terror Birds weren't the only strange dinosaurs in South America at the time! We have the large Teratorn (vulture-like-thing) Argentavis, the *giant* swimming-flamingo Megapaloelodus, the giant Anhinga Macranhinga, the rhea Opisthodactylus, the penguins Palaeospheniscus, Arthrodytes, and Paraptenodytes, the Cathartid Dryornis, the Jacamar Galbula hylochoreutes, fossil Hoatzins like Hoazinavis and Hoazinoides, the giant stork Leptoptilos patagonicus, and the owl Yarquen!

NOVEMBER 21 - FIRST OF THE MANU

Aotearoa has one of the most unique avifaunas in the world today, and I often call it "Mesozoic 2" because of its almost entirely dinosaur-dominated fauna, especially in the past

All great things have to start somewhere or when, and for Aotearoa, that somewhen was after the landmass resurfaced from the ocean for the first time in millions of years - and was quickly inhabited by all kinds of birds and other reptiles (including tuatara) in the Miocene

This ecosystem was a lake bordered by grassy wetland floodplains and subtropical forests, a bit warmer than Aotearoa today

Dinosaurs here include the early Kiwi Proapteryx, an unnamed early Moa, a truly alarming number of waterfowl including shelducks like Miotadorna, stiff-tailed ducks like Manuherikia, and the possible swan Notochen, the small swimming-flamingo Palaelodus aotearoa, pigeons like Rupephaps and Deliaphaps, an early adzebill Aptornis proasciarostratus, flightless rails like Priscaweka, the lake-wanderer Hakawai melvillei, the herons Pikaihao and Matuku, the giant parrot Heracles, proto-keas Nelepsittacus, and the New Zealand Wren Kuiornis. Tons of fun species to choose from!

NOVEMBER 22 - LAND OF CONFUSION

In the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene, the Italian province of Gargano was cut off from the mainland due to rising sea levels, turning it into an island - an island with lots of really strange birds!

This island was cut off from everything else and completely lacked large predators, allowing for a weird variety of animals to evolve and thrive prior to the island rejoining the mainland during the Ice Age

Strange birds of this ecosystem include the extremely old pigeon Columba omnisanctorum, the giant hawk Garganoaetus, the giant flightless goose Garganornis, the giant barn owl Tyto gigantea, the pheasant Palaeortyx volans, and the swift Apus wetmorei!

NOVEMBER 23 - MAKE A BIRD OUT OF YOU

The iconic animals of the Ice Age and recent prehistory had to come from somewhere, and much of this transition is recorded in the Chinese Ecosystem of the Liushu Formation, deposited between 11 and 6.4 million years ago

As grasslands expanded, this ecosystem transitioned from a forest to a wide plains, and many animals adapted for the grasslands accordingly, leading to the appearance of such mammals as Elasmotheriines, Sabercats, Hyenas, Ambelodonts, and a truly alarming quantity of hoofed mammals

Dinosaurs (Birds) adapted to this ecosystem change as well, of course! While most focus on the mammals of Liushu, we're here to showcase the interesting birds that appeared here as well!

Options here include the the very well preserved Falcon Falco hezhengensis, the vultures Mioneophron and Gansugyps, the diurnal owl Miosurnia, the vocally fancy pheasant Panraogallus, the sandgrouse Linxiavis, the Ostrich Struthio (or Orientornis) linxiaensis, and the probable-Ostrich Sinoergilornis

NOVEMBER 24 - ANCIENT SOUTH PACIFIC

Penguins are Bouncing Back! As the Miocene continued and the Pliocene began, many new types of marine birds showed up and were fossilized in locations in Chile (Pisco) and Aotearoa (Tangahoe)

Tons of interesting birds were preserved in this sort of transitional ecosystem, showcasing how birds adapted to changing conditions as the Miocene-Pliocene climatic turmoil continued

These near shore environments are probably more famous for their other animals - things like the giant shark "megalodon", as well as weird whales like Livyatan and Odobenocetops and aquatic giant sloths (like Thalassocnus) and marine crocodilians - but we're here for those dinosaurs!

Options here from the Pisco Formation include the "Toucan-Booby" Ramphastosula, the Cathartid Perugyps, the Booby Sula figueroae, Pelagornithids, Pelicans, and the penguins Spheniscus urbinai and Spheniscus megaramphus, whereas birds from the Tangahoe Formation include the narrow-beaked albatross Aldiomedes, the giant petrel Macronectes, the more regular-sized petrel Procellaria altirostris, the little penguin Eudyptula wilsonae, and the crested penguin Eudyptes atatu!

NOVEMBER 25 - LAST OF A DYING BREED

We all love Megafuana, even though they are usually the "Live Fast Die Young" kind of species - gobbling up resources and growing too big will do that to you

Usually when we hear the term "Megafauna" we think of Mammals and Non-Avian Dinosaurs, but birds have had their share too - and have lost their share as well

So, mainly to cater to the Megafauna Fanbase, here we dedicate a whole day to the giant birds of recent times - Pliocene through Pleistocene - that we have lost to the dramatic climate change of the Ice Age Era. (Those lost in the Holocene will get their own days, see below)

Options for this day include the giant ostrich Pachystruthio, the Mihirung Genyornis, the Terror Bird Titanis, the giant stork Leptoptilos robustus, the giant swan Cygnus falconeri, the giant Anhinga Giganhinga, and of course - we can't forget our friend - the last of the Pseudotoothed Birds, Pelagornis

NOVEMBER 26 - HIGH AS A KITE

In many ways, the real dinosaur winners of the Ice Age were the flying Birds of Prey, as there were many kinds of raptors during the Ice Age and they exploited the new environment expertly

Nothing like being able to traverse huge distances to find places where there are food, amiright?

So this day is dedicated to the fantastic Raptors of the Ice Age, both volant and not!

Here we have some of the last of the Teratorns like Teratornis itself, the Giant Australian Raptor Dynatoaetus, the Australian Vulture Cryptogyps, Woodward's Eagle Buteogallus woodwardi, the tiny Condor Wingegyps, the large Cuban Eagle Gigantohierax, the wandering vulture Neogyps, the Walking Eagle Buteogallus daggetti, the Giant Cuban Stilt-Owl Ornimegalonyx, and one of the last Terror Birds, Psilopterus

NOVEMBER 27 - BEGINNING OF THE END

Oh Holocene Extinctions. As upsetting as they are, they include some of the best known fossil/subfossil birds, so we decided to spend a little extra time on them than they should have based solely on the time length

Here, we highlight the early losses of the Holocene - those dinosaurs that went extinct at the start, largely due to direct human activity such as hunting in addition to the warming caused by the end of the last Ice Age/Glacial Maximum

Days will be dedicated to both Hawai'i (see below) and Aotearoa (again, below), so this is for everyone else!

So options here include the previously mentioned marine duck Chendytes, the giant flightless landfowl Sylviornis from New Caledonia, the famous Elephant Birds of Madagascar, the flightless clubbing-ibis Xenicibis, the weird puffin Fratercula dowi, the giant Bahama Eagle Titanohierax, the Californian Turkey Meleagris californica, and the flightless "Cave Rail" Nesotrochis of the Greater Antilles

NOVEMBER 28 - OLD HAWAI'I

Many, many, MANY unique dinosaurs live on islands. The islands of Hawai'i are no exception, and these islands have lost many unique and fascinating birds over the years - thanks to human activity, invasive cats, colonialism, and climate change

We couldn't possibly ignore them, so for this day, we are hilghlighting these amazing animals found across the archipelago

There are tons of options, but some of our recommendations include the reverse-platypus/Mole Duck Talpanas, the Stilt-Owl Grallistrix, the flightless ibis Apteribis, the Moa-Nalo like Chelychelynechen, Ptaiochen, and Thambetochen, the Wood Harrier Circus dossenus, Hawai'ian Honeycreepers like Drepanis, Aidemedia, Hemignathus, Chloridops, Akialoa, Rhodacanthis, Dysmorodrepanis, Telespiza, and Vangulifer, the Oloma'o and ʻĀmaui thrushes, ʻōʻō's/Hawai'ian Honeyeaters like the Kioea, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, and Oʻahu ʻōʻō, the giant Hawai'i Goose, the nēnē-nui/wood-walking goose, the Robust Crow, the flightless Laysan Rail, and the O'ahu Petrel

NOVEMBER 29 - OLD AOTEAROA

We're finally here: Pre-Human Holocene Aotearoa, aka Mesozoic 2, aka The Land Where Mammals Ain't Shit

I love Aotearoa so much. Why wasn't I born there. The universe isn't fair.

The ecosystems were very similar to today - podocarp forests and southern beech forests, grass and tussock plains and shrublands, and plenty of coastal habitats, all usually temperate in terms of climate

All named Moa are fair game. All of them, all named members of Dinornithiformes. So the North Island Giant Moa, the South Island Giant Moa, the Bush Moa, the Eastern Moa, the Broad-Billed Moa, the Heavy-Footed Moa, Mantell's Moa, the Crested Moa, and the Upload Moa. Follow your Moa-Filled Dreams!

Obviously there were more than Moa - not just the living species of Aotearoa still with us, but tons of other extinct forms for Fossil Novembirb. This includes the Adzebills, Haast's Eagle (of course), the whēkau/Laughing Owl Ninox albifacies, the New Zealand Goose Cnemiornis, the New Zealand Owlet-Nightjar, the mehonui Diaphorapteryx, the Long-Billed Wren Dendroscansor, the piopio Turnagra, and the Huia

NOVEMBER 30 - SIXTH EXTINCTION

And, for our last day, we cover recent Holocene extinctions (not on Hawai'i or Aotearoa) - the birds/dinosaurs we have lost in the living past, due largely to colonialism, capitalism, globalism, and climate change

Any bird extinct since 1492 not previously covered is fair game, and there are a lot of them. Today, we honor them, however we can.

Some suggestions include the Dodo (of course), the Cuban Macaw, the Pink-Headed Duck, the Northern Curlew, the Great Auk, the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the Labrador Duck, the Saint Helena Hoopoe, and the Spectacled Cormorant; though there are of course many otherse to choose from as well

Kind of a bummer note to end on, but here we are

Living Birds already get tons of time and attention, so we really don't want to include them here - we love them, but the fossils of the Neornithes world deserve love too! So we tried to cover all of the bases, as best as we could!

Remember, Wikipedia, the Paleobiology Database, The Works of Gerald Mayr, the third volume of "Earth Before Us", and the blogs of myself and @albertonykus and @otussketching are all fantastic resources to look for information about these wonderful animals! Also check out Through Time and Clades' "Dinosaurs: The Second Chapter" series and the Raptormaniacs blog from Albert as well!

HAVE FUN! CREATE WHAT YOU DREAM! AND LOVE CENOZOIC DINOSAURS!

HAPPY FOSSIL NOVEMBIRB!

#Fossil Novembirb #Novembirb #Dinovember #birblr #palaeoblr #Birds #Dinosaurs #Cenozoic Birds #Neornithines #Dinovembirb

[rebeleden]

Earth's Orbit Changed by Passing Star 56 Million Years Ago

[barstoolblues]

adding “able to point out paleocene-eocene thermal maximum on a δ18^O‰ graph” to my resumé 😌

[jim-fetter-illustrations]

Global Warming's Downsizing!

I was reading a recent scientific study that said an ancient global warming event shrunk the earliest mammals down to the size of scrawny housecats, and according to this new research might that same thing happen to human beings in a future warming world?!?!?

Might we indeed evolve to be a smaller species of Human Beings genetically to survive the next Global warming that's coming because of our pollution,.......... like Mammals did during what's known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, about 56 million years ago, when a massive releases' of carbon into the atmosphere from erupting volcanos and oceans boosted the average global temperatures by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius) over 175,000 years.

And mammals accordingly responded to this climate change by shrinking down genetically themselves to survive?

Ya see,....Today volcanoes are practically null-and-void compared to what they use to be, but we human beings have made up for that when we started our Industrial Age of burning Oil and Coal in the 1760's to the same extent thousands of erupting volcanoes did thousands of years ago,......... so it's like nothing changed atmospheric wise because we continued to spew carbon into our earth's atmosphere after most volcanoes went extinct, and I'm talking about hundreds of thousands volcanos that use to erupt weekley, nothing like the volcanos do today, but our burning fossil fuels made up for all those extinct volcanos, so global warming is coming once again, like it did the last time.

It's the earth's way of wiping the slate clean, and removing any evidence of past polluting mistakes, a renewal of the earth. As our earth is a living ecosystem just like any other living orgasim does to defent itself of a sicness or virus, but in this case we Human Beings are the sickness and invading virus to the earth, so our livelihoods must be cleansed so the earth keeps living.

Most people don't get that concept that the earth they stand on and build on is a living ecosystem, a life form, as they dump chemicals down the drain and pollute excessively in a variety of ways.

And if someone kept dumping garbage and chemicals on you,...... you would eventually want to take a shower to cleanse yourself,............. that's what the Earth is doing,..... cleansing itself from our garbage we dumped on it.

I for one wouldn't mind losing a few pounds, and shrinking down a few sizes, so am looking forward to global warming,..............(Lol).

Just food for cognitive thought............. so when you political leaders tell you they are still working on a solution to combat global warming,.........that's when you know they are lying to ya, because global warming is coming no matter what happens, and even if everyone on earth stopped polluting today. The timeline to do something about global warming was way back in the mid 1960's and that's long passed.

You'll see..............................

#global warming #climate change #downsizing

[myfeeds]

Humans ancestors survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs

The catastrophic destruction triggered by the asteroid hitting the Earth resulted in the death of all non-avian dinosaurs in an event termed the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction. Debate has long raged among researchers over whether placental mammals were present alongside the dinosaurs before the mass extinction, or whether they only evolved after the dinosaurs were done away with. Fossils of placental mammals are only found in rocks younger than 66 million years old, which is when the asteroid hit Earth, suggesting that the group evolved after the mass extinction. However, molecular data has long suggested an older age for placental mammals. In a new paper published in the journal Current Biology, a team of palaeobiologists from the University of Bristol and the University of Fribourg used statistical analysis of the fossil record to determine that placental mammals originated before the mass extinction, meaning they co-existed with dinosaurs for a short time. However, it was only after the asteroid impact that modern lineages of placental mammals began to evolve, suggesting that they were better able to diversify once the dinosaurs were gone. The researchers collected extensive fossil data from placental mammal groups extending all the way back to the mass extinction 66 million years ago. Lead author Emily Carlisle of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “We pulled together thousands of fossils of placental mammals and were able to see the patterns of origination and extinction of the different groups. Based on this, we could estimate when placental mammals evolved.” Co-author Daniele Silvestro (University of Fribourg) explained: “The model we used estimates origination ages based on when lineages first appear in the fossil record and the pattern of species diversity through time for the lineage. It can also estimate extinction ages based on last appearances when the group is extinct.” Co-author Professor Phil Donoghue, also from Bristol, added: “By examining both origins and extinctions, we can more clearly see the impact of events such as the K-Pg mass extinction or the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).” Primates, the group that includes the human lineage, as well as Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) and Carnivora (dogs and cats) were shown to have evolved just before the K-Pg mass extinction, which means their ancestors were mingling with dinosaurs. After they survived the asteroid impact, placental mammals rapidly diversified, perhaps spurred on by the loss of competition from the dinosaurs.