#especially prehistoric crocs

[clansbeforetime]

Happy Fossil Day!

National Fossil Day is an annual celebration held to highlight the scientific and educational value of paleontology and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations. - National Park Services

As we are a server who bases our lore very heavily on fossils, from the prehistoric environment down to our characters, the saber-toothed cats, we thought we’d hop in and celebrate this day with some fun facts about fossil animals you could possibly encounter here in the Baobab!

Deinotherium

The heavy-weight representative of TuskClan’s megafauna is colloquially known as simply “The Elephant”, though you may be quick to spot that these are no modern-day African Elephants. Instead, the proboscideans that you’d encounter out on the savanna are based on the famous extinct genus of DeinotheriumI, a close relative of modern elephants. They are known for their distinct tusk-shape, curving downwards instead of the modern elephants outward tusk!

An artistic reconstruction of the species D. bozasi

Caluma Benovskyi

Chameleons are some of the most recognizable reptiles on the planet, known for their prehensile tails and independently mobile eyes. Not much is known of the fossil chameleons of Africa, but there have been discoveries that show that there were indeed these funky little reptiles climbing around SunClan’s forests, changing colors to try and hide from even the most observant saber.

an artistic reconstruction of Caluma Benovskyi

Euthecodon

Out in the waters of BevyClan, especially in the crocodile lake, you’re likely to find yourself face-to-snout with one of the fiercest archosaurs left on the planet, the crocodile. The genus Euthecodon comprise of three species of long-snouted crocodiles, these beasts appear to have convergently evolved their signature snouts with modern-day gharials, and had originally been thought to have been an ancestor of the croc-cousins, though research has more heavily suggested that BevyClan is indeed home to true crocodiles.

photo taken at a zoo in the Netherlands, of the Euthecodon’s closest living relative, Mecistops

Alongside these fun fossil creatures, sabers in the baobab clans have found some unique collectibles today, be it strange bugs in tree-sap in SunClan's fallen trees, ridged shells in the cub islands of BevyClan, or odd reptilian teeth in TuskClan's sand dunes! Maybe doing a bit of research could help our sabers understand what the world was like before they were in it, and what the Baobab region looked like many moons ago....

Sources and fun extra reads!

Black, Riley. “An Extinct “Anchor-Tusked” Proboscidean.” Science, 24 July 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/an-extinct-anchor-tusked-proboscidean.

“Calumma Benovskyi, a New Fossil Chameleon from Kenya.” Www.chameleons.info, www.chameleons.info/l/calumma-benovskyi-a-new-fossil-chameleon-from-kenya/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Čerňanský, Andrej, et al. “The Only Complete Articulated Early Miocene Chameleon Skull (Rusinga Island, Kenya) Suggests an African Origin for Madagascar’s Endemic Chameleons.” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 10 Jan. 2020, p. 109, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-57014-5, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57014-5.

commondescentpc. “Episode 66 – Elephants.” The Common Descent Podcast, 28 July 2019, commondescentpodcast.com/2019/07/27/episode-66-elephants/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

“Euthecodon.” Wikipedia, 17 Mar. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthecodon. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Hitchcock, Edward. Elementary Geology: By Edward Hitchcock. Google Books, M. H. Newman & Company, 1847, books.google.com/books?id=dZiyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA154&dq=dinotherium+++bank+++anchor&ei=-bFpSu_sCJKOyASrnpWgBA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

“National Fossil Day (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/index.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

#discord warrior cat rp #discord warrior cat roleplay #discord wcrp #discord rp #warrior cats #sabertooth tiger #clansbeforetime #wcrp #clans before time #sabertooth cat #chameleon #crocodile #elephant #fossil #national fossil day #national fossil day 2023 #fossil teeth #fossil shells #fossil in amber

[noddytheornithopod]

While the Prehistoric Planet hype is still alive, I might as well express my desire for more and say what I'd personally love to see if they did a Season 3. I’ll put this under the cut because it’s a lot lol.

First thing's first, I'm going to be operating under the assumption we will be following the same format and setting, ie a few segments per episode set in the Masstrichtian stage of the Cretaceous with some loose overarching theme. I need to keep myself grounded in SOMETHING.

So first thing: I've already made fun of "North America" being the title of episode 2.5. What would fix this? If Season 3 did episodes centred on the other continents, of course! South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and... oh uh this might be a bit trickier. Specifically, where do Oceania and Antarctica go? Honestly, just do a vague "East Gondwana" episode for Madagascar, India, Antarctica and Zealandia.

"But we never saw anything from Appalachia!" True. Some generic "Islands 2" or "subcontinents" episode? But Antarctica isn't a subcontinent... maybe some "Atlantic" episode to combine with the European islands? Point is, it would still be messy. This isn't even my main idea, just a vague thought on how to structure Season 3 plus being salty that America gets its own episode (there weren't even any Canadian creatures lol).

OKAY enough fucking around, let's get to what I actually WANT to talk about, the stuff I'd actually want to see. Bring on the list! 

Megaraptorids. We've seen representatives of all the large predatory theropods... except megaraptorids. A strange unique group of predators we don't even know where they fit in dinosaur cladistics, but seemed to be important in South American ecosystems. Orkoraptor actually comes from the same place as Dreadnoughtus so there's an easy excuse already, but I think it would be even more exciting to consider Maip. The size of this thing pretty much confirms they were apex predators, so definitely worth considering.

More notosuchians. It's wild how diverse they were, Simosuchus is just one of many species worth showing. Might as well mention Baurusuchids in particular, especially since they seem to have become significant predators in parts of South America. Dinosaur hunting crocs, guys.

Honestly? I'm down for crocodyliformes in general. Show us dyrosaurs in the seas, and even Eusuchians. Similar to modern crocs like Shamosuchus in Swamps, or something different like the more terrestrial Allodaposuchus.

More Europe weirdness! Whether it be Hateg fauna or stuff we know from other parts of the continent, I think people don't realise how unusual those ecosystems were, especially compared to Laurasia in general. Maybe I just want to see Magyarosaurus in detail, but also think about how Abelisaurs seem to be prominent terrestrial predators, for example? Also all the strange birds like Gargantuavis and maybe Balaur. Also, Asteriornis I see a lot of hype for. ;P

On a similar note, more stuff from Africa could be nice, especially terrestrial fauna! We know dinosaurs from Ouled Abdoun, which had fauna featured in Coasts and Deserts, and it's worth considering especially because you kind of see how some of these animals' ancestors may have led to similar species in nearby Europe. Also, if they ever further described more remains from the continent like that giant Kenyan abelisaur, that could provide cool opportunities.

This is a bit more out of left field but: non-ceratopsid ceratopsians. Leptoceratopsids, and even Protoceratopsids (hey, we have Velociraptor, we can make that stretch). Show how they're different from say Triceratops.

More non-hadrosaur ornithopods. Whether it be Thescelosaurus, more rhabdodontids, or some good ol Elasmarians from the Southern continents, I'd be down.

More India stuff is always fun, Deccan Traps FTW, could show other animals like noasaurs for that matter too.

Also Parankylosaurs, whether it be Stegouros with the macuahuitl, or an updated Antarctopelta (more Antarctica FTW).

Basically, even in terms of dinosaurs, show more stuff you've yet to do. Nodosaurs, Halzkaraptorines (again, see Velociraptor), heck even more of some groups we only briefly saw eg Alvarezsaurs and Pachycephalosaurs.

Honestly? More birds would be cool in general. I know we don't know much about a lot of them like Enantiornithines, but we could still try showing what we do know.

In terms of more familiar and recognisable stuff? I mean, you can't go wrong with well known species, but this is me wishing for stuff that's new. :P I will say though, if you want big names, we still haven't seen Ankylosaurus or Gallimimus...

Hmm, we haven't seen choristoderes, have we? In terms of other reptiles, not much comes to mind, nice we got to see Madtsoia in Islands at least.

Honestly more mammals could be fun. I'm pretty sure we have members of every modern group from the Maastrichtian somewhere (even monotremes, Patagorhynchus was recently described). Also diversity of lifestyles too.

Appalachia. More North America, but we see how life evolved somewhat differently on the eastern side of the continent and how it likely lacked some of the more recognisable animals we know from Laramidia.

I don't know enough about other groups to comment, so I'll leave it at that. Definitely got quite extensive, but honestly I'm all for exploring new places. Hell, look into invertebrates and fish I know heck all about (hmm I'm sure there's some cool sharks, right?).

Anyway, time to address the elephant in the room. What if the next season left the Maastrichtian, or we got a spin-off that did that? Well, I do have thoughts on that. For that, I could easily be SUPER biased and just name stuff that I personally want to see, but I think you'd need to think from the perspective of the higher ups too. In other words, what's gonna get the most eyes on the show? There's that, and also how well known the information of that time is, as well as considering things like cost and practicality. The Maastrichtian was chosen because it filled all three of those needs. You have iconic and charismatic species like T. rex, the Maastrichtian is very well studied and has sites from almost every continent, and because it's the closest to today, it's the easiest to film for. 

I don't really know anything that would fit these three needs perfectly, ESPECIALLY in terms of filming locations (unless they wanna go majority CG, which I wouldn't mind personally but I know the production team likes real locations because of what they add to the show). But anyway, I have two possible eras as my main choices if they choose to do a similar kind of show: the Late Jurassic epoch (I'd name a specific stage but I don't know enough about them lol), and the Cenomanian stage at the start of the Late Cretaceous. 

For the Late Jurassic (insert chosen stage of it here), you have a lot to work with. You have all the other most iconic traditional staple dinosaurs like Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus and well known contemporaries like Diplodocus, Allosaurus, etc. In fact, the Morrison Formation is the main reason I opted for a Late Jurassic option. Sure, it does cover quite a bit of time, but we've seen Prehistoric Planet already take liberties with a six million year time span.

I think my main worry would be that some of the ecosystems on different continents might seem a bit similar, but honestly I doubt anyone would care too much. Plus, you have Asia with slightly different dinosaur groups, and Europe with their island ecosystems (eg Solnhofen). So even if it would be harder to film and some of the best locales for data are in more concentrated areas, I think there's enough to justify it. Also, novelty of early birds and birdlike dinos like Archaeopteryx.

As for the Cenomanian, you already have an easier time filming because angiosperms are now widespread, and you do have data from every continent. And while it doesn't have so many iconic species, there are a few, and some very charismatic animals to explore. Like, you have some of the biggest titanosaurs like Argentinosaurus. Massive Giganotosaurins who are built for hunting large sauropods. Everyone's favourite dinosaur, Spinosaurus. And again, stuff from almost every continent. Like, you could even have freaking Australia show up! Winton Formation is Cenomanian, so it could join the showcases of Africa, South America and others (I don't know so much about Cenomanian Laurasian fauna RIP). And while it would be true for the Late Jurassic as well, this time had especially peculiar nondinosaurs coexisting. Strange mammals. Giant freshwater fish. More unusual crocs. Even the earliest mosasaurs, all while ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs still existed. Basically, even if a layperson might only know Spinosaurus and Giganotosaurus from this time, you still have loads to potentially awe people with.

Anyway, that's a wrap on that. I have no clue what to expect for the future of Prehistoric Planet or what other upcoming palaeo docs will be like, but it's always fun to speculate!

#prehistoric planet #palaeontology

[feralgayemo]

You are strolling through prehistoric France, when you hear a faint clop-clop clop-clop clop-clop behind you. You turn around to discover a crocodile galloping towards you at full speeds.

It’s the boverisuchus, the hooved crocodile.

#I love prehistoric animals #especially prehistoric crocs #crocs #crocodile #boverisuchus #prehistoric

[moranmagic]

Making Vanilla Matter

Mark Rosewater as done a whole podcast about why doing vanilla matters as a set theme is a problem. It’s #444 and you can find it here (just search for the word vanilla). But what if I told you all your prehistoric dreams could come true?

Mark goes over a number of issues this has as a theme, but I think it boils down to two overarching obstacles. The first is ASFAN--making sure enough cards show up in packs that the theme can work, especially in limited. The second is that vanilla creatures just aren’t much fun, to be perfectly honest.

Now before we get to my solution, Mark offered the following solutions:

Make the threshold for caring about it one. That is, you only need to control one vanilla creature for any cards looking to care about you controlling vanilla creatures.

More token making since tokens are often vanilla creatures as long as you don’t give them abilities.

Work with templating and maybe find a word that defines what vanilla means mechanically so instead of spelling it out you could just reference that word.

Make caring about all creatures a theme, not just vanilla creatures, since it overlaps and lets you put non-vanilla creatures in your deck.

Look at playing up tribal elements if possible but that likely fights the space you have to design cards that care about vanilla matters.

So how do you make a enough vanilla creatures to fill out a set’s theme while not making it the most boring, board-stalling set ever?

Prehistoric is a supertype specifically for creatures (though it could presumably work on other permanents) with the rules that prehistoric creatures lose all abilities and can’t have or gain abilities shortly after entering the battlefield. In effect, it makes them vanilla creatures after they ETB.

In addition to just making normal vanilla creatures prehistoric, we can now make any creature with a cast or ETB trigger a prehistoric creature. I did a count for Theros Beyond Death and found 17 creatures that would function normally with their ETB triggers but could be made prehistoric. I count 16 in Throne of Eldraine. Additionally, there are a fair number of creatures where this change would almost work except that the creature has an evergreen keyword like flying. So prehistoric will seriously warp how you need to design the set, but it allows you to significantly ramp up the number of virtual vanillas in the set and makes them function as vanillas with regard to the vanilla matters theme.

And since they’ve got ETBs to play with, that lessens some of the board stalling issues and makes them a lot more interesting to play. Now while this addresses a lot of the issues and I think would make the theme possible, there are still significant obstacles to it. First and foremost is the part where they can’t gain abilities. The big issue here is with stuff like auras or even just a common spell like Fervent Strike. You could still accomplish this stuff but at the cost of it being more complicated and spelling out the how it modifies the rules of creatures blocking/dealing damage rather than granting abilities. This is what I mean:

This effectively gives the enchanted creature flying, but it doesn’t say it gives the creature flying. So our Muragandan Crocodile could fly into battle this way. But Arcane Flight on the same croc would only grant it the P/T boost and not give it flying because prehistoric prevents it from having or gaining abilities. This is I think the most significant barrier to this idea now. It would warp how you want to design all the sets surrounding it, makes the thing fairly parasitic in the regard that no ability-granting effects work with prehistoric creatures, and the abilities you can do are things that were mostly errata’d away when these things became evergreen keywords.

I think the other issue here is that this creates a marker to care about more easily with fewer words. Instead of saying creature/s “with no abilities” you can just say prehistoric creature... EXCEPT then that makes it even more parasitic and doesn’t work with vanilla creatures in general. I think you could still do some caring about prehistoric specifically, but players are going to be disappointed if most of the stuff here doesn’t specify “prehistoric creature or creature with no abilities.” Oh, yeah, I’ve actually created a new problem with regard to wordiness here. For all the good the prehistoric does, a card like Muragandan Crocodile does have an ability except for just after it enters the battlefield. So if you want to tutor or filter for vanilla creatures and include all prehistoric creatures in that (since that’s the point of prehistoric) now you have to specify both to make sure you hit everything.

Really all this is to say that the barriers to the vanilla matters as a theme are pretty much insurmountable. I could see a few more “creatures with no abilities” relevant cards being printed here and there, but there are not many good slots for even those. Like you’d almost certainly rather print a devotion pay off or energy enabler or tribal matters card in that space in relevant sets. So I’m also not surprised that we haven’t seen any more designs in that space.

But if we really wanted to play in this space, I’d look at the prehistoric supertype. I’d also want to consider if it could be adjusted in some manner to be put on more card types, particularly instants and sorceries. But that’s beyond the scope of what I’m doing today.

#mtg #design #custom magic card #custom magic cards #muraganda #vanilla matters

[shinondraws]

glad to know we'd all rather be doing art than working our day jobs (my colleague next door is doing the exact same thing ie. calling partner firms and it sounds so tedious. all my compassion goes out to you)

It is the worst. Especially when you aren’t even sure who to call so you have to figure that out and worst case scenario is that you have to call five people before you get the answer you need. Apparently I have now become THE person who has to do all these product inquiries in this one project. Tbh I just called bullshit at one point and moved to my drawing board to sketch some prehistoric crocs to avoid boiling over.

#godferdom

[dragonthunders01]

Imaginary titans

For some time I had an idea to make a series of draw comparison related to the idea of doing a “before and after” of certain prehistoric animal reconstructions, something similar to what users here on deviantart has done with draws or silhouettes, however, instead of being just one animal comparison, these would be properly chart showing the changes of such animals over the years, based on a specific topic or a specific documentary.

Here, I chose a particular topic to begin with, the case of the oversized animals, creatures that once were considered to be beings of massive length or mass by the paleontological community or in most of the cases, in the popular media, and have been changed over the years with new discoveries or re-interpretations, some of the estimations are quite light in changes which some can still be considered as giant creatures even with the slight reduction, others are really marked such measures changes to the point it seems like a joke that once was considered to be giants at the first place, and some are in the brink to change with a new discovery in any moment.

I must say that I have tried to collect only estimations made in the scientific field both popular (e.g., documentary) and professional, so there will not be estimations made in common entertainment media such as movies (Jurassic Park), fictional books (Kronos Rising) or video games (Ark)

If anyone has any complain or critic about the information, size, species or anything else, and even some suggestions for others oversized prehistoric animals, you’re welcome to tell, especially if I’m wrong, all for the sake of accuracy.

1) Pachycephalosaurus It seems from many years since its discovery, this large Pachycephalosaur was considered to be 8 meters long, at least the original upright kangaroo posture interpretations which was common in many book illustrations, toys and old media that I guess was based on original ornithopod proportions looking that the head was smaller in comparison with the body. (If anybody knows a better reason you’re welcome to correct me)

Current estimates In recent years there was a reinterpretation of the proportions of Pachycephalosaurus this based on several more complete specimens of others species, giving it a change of look and also of size, now being a 5 meters long herbivore, still being the largest of its group.

2) Ornithocheirus (Tropeognathus) This very fragmentary genus of pterosaur first discovered in UK, was featured in the documentary walking with dinosaurs as a flying giant of around 12 meters in wingspan and weighting 100 kg, being one of the largest pterosaurs ever.

Current estimates To explain a little why I added two pterosaurs, the actual Ornithocheirus (a) which had a very problematic taxonomic history with many fragmentary remains classified to this genus, with around 28 species in total named, but at the end many of these were considered to belong to separate genus, some from the same family and some others from different affinity, with only now one type species, O. simus, being this one around 5 meters of wingspan, and never being 12 meters.

The actual pterosaur which the WWD refer as “Ornithocheirus mesembrinus” was actually Tropeognathus mesembrinus (b) from Santana formation, but this wasn’t estimated to be 12 meters in any point either, the largest specimens so far know in that time were about 6 meters, and the specimens which the documentary were suppose to be base on (MN 6594-1 specimen), is calculated to be about 8 meters of wingspan, being not a giant, but still a pretty large pterosaur, one of the biggest non-azhdarchid pterosaurs known.

3) Amphicoelias fragillimus This species was described in 1878 by Edward Drinker Cope, Being the holotype specimen a vertebra of 1.5 meters in length (AMNH 5777) and a femur, this get lost in some point to never to appear again for unknown reasons (probably due to poor care that destroyed the holotype) and only leaving as a record the existence of these notes and sketches.  Throughout the years, based on what has been left, attempts were made to make possible estimates of the size of this specimen, the majority being inferred that this species has the same proportions of more complete specimens of Diplodocids, giving a size estimation of 58 meters in length, with a weight of 120 tons, making it one of the largest dinosaurs that ever existed.

Current estimates There have been debates about the possible length of the specimen AMNH 5777 over the years, this mostly because the only thing left of the original are only notes which It has been suggested that could contain typographical errors in the measurements or even be completely wrong, and taking proportions of smaller species not always turn out to be accurate or even plausible, so make an length estimation of this species based on the original vertebra turns out to be a complicate challenge. Of course as the chart is about originally oversized animals and then were downsized, I had to see if someone had tried to make an Amphicoelias smaller version with a plausible interpretation to be part of this chart, good thing there is one.

In this case I used thus Amphicoelias reconstruction, being 48 meters long.

4) Leedsichthys problematicus The great Jurassic filter feeder ray-finned fish pachycormid discovered in the Oxford Clay Formation, was subject to many size changes, over the years it was difficult to give an accurate or plausible size estimation because of the poor remains found, at first estimated to have a measure of about 9 meters in proportion to the Hypsocormus genus , but around the 80 the discovery of a new pachycormid, this called Asthenocormus, led to new interpretations of the possible length from 13 meters to 27 meters, based on an extrapolation of the gill basket size, in some cases in popular scientific media mentioned to even be around the 30 to 35 meters long.

Current estimates Some years after the discovery of many new specimens, like “Ariston” (PETMG F174), Dr. Jeff Liston in his studies estimated that Leedsichthys wassmaller than what was thought, being about 9 to 10 meters in first estimations, and in later specimen comparison it give lengths between 7 and 12 meters, also pointing out that linear extrapolation of the gill basket would be flawed because gills grow disproportionally in size for the oxygen demand of a huge body. The most plausible estimations now are around the 16 meters.

5) Kaprosuchus The unusual “boar croc” was discovered and described in 2009 by Paul Sereno and Hans Larsson in the monograph "Cretaceous Crocodyliforms from the Sahara" together with other specimens of Saharan Crocodyliformes. Being the holotype a well preserved skull (MNN IGU12) of about 50 cm, Sereno give an estimated length of around 6 meters.

Current estimates As far I can found, there aren’t any background affirmation for the original Sereno estimations, even more there are been some counterarguments for such size estimations based on comparisons of actual crocodilians with a same head size, as well with more complete relatives like Mahajangasuchus, the most plausible estimations for the actual holotype put the length of Kaprosuchus in 3.3 meters.

6) Quetzalcoatlus After the first fossils were discovery in the Javelina formation at Big Bend National park, Texas, it was estimated 3 probable wingspan size extrapolated from the proportions of others pterosaurs, being 11, 15 and 21 meters, being the middle one choose, but very light in weight being estimated to be less than 100 kg.

Current estimates After subsequent discoveries of small specimens of Azhdarchid and a better known of the morphology of these ones, there were quite a few changes in their proportions, resulting in a more compact animal than previously believed; now it is estimated to have an 11 meters wingspan.

7) Allosaurus maximus (or Saurophaganax maximus depending on how valid still it is) This Allosaurid named by Daniel Chure in the middle 90s, has gone through an interesting history of genus validation based on several specimens since the early 30s for what belongs to it, and even now the legitimacy of this genus is in dispute and with consideration of most of the specimens belong to Allosaurus (As well Epanterias). Something remarkable about this theropod has been the estimates of its length, which would make this Jurassic theropod the largest of all from that period, being at the same level as the Cretaceous theropods in size, with a length of 14 meters in length.

Current estimates It seems that there is no evidence supporting such lengths as the original estimates is considered to being incorrect, the specimen which belongs is probably an 11 meters long animal. Based on Allosaurus reconstruction

8) Spinosaurus The enigmatic African spiny theropod, for many years this Spinosaurid had been one of several contenders to the title of the largest theropods in history thanks to several estimates made over the years, being first at least 15 meters long and with a weight of 6 tons, but by the end of the 20th century and in the beginning of the 21st century this creature get its highest estimations, being the largest based on Suchomimus body proportions in relation on their skull lengths, making it a great theropod of about 18 meters long and a weight of 7 to 9 tons, although some posterior mass estimations give it a body mass of about 11.7 to 16.7 tons. Spinosaurus in this form became a very iconic image for many years in popular culture.

Current estimates Over the years there were quite a few counterarguments about the methodology used to make a reasonable approximation of the length of Spinosaurus, even some making new size estimations giving to this theropod a body length between 12 to 14 meters and a body mass of 12 to 20 tons, although these were criticized too for the theropod choices.

In 2014 things took an unexpected turn with the announcement of a new specimen, the FSAC_KK 11888, a partial subadult skeleton from Kem Kem beds, North Africa, which presented quite different proportions from what was estimated or speculated, showing Spinosaurus as short legged theropod of semi-aquatic habits, However, in the following years the veracity and validation of the specimen as Spinosaurus has been doubted, althouth being asserted in several cases, but not described properly and in full format, even to complicate more the subject, with the confirmation a second spinosaur genus in the region, Sigilmassasaurus, is difficult to assign the neotype specimen to a specific genus.

From these actual proportions if are trully confirmed to belong to Spinosaurus, it is believed that some of the largest specimens could have reached 15 meters in length as was estimated early, and not being the tall creature as the Suchomimus original proportions suggested.

9) Rhamphosuchus This great Miocene Tomistominae (False Gharial) from India, only know by fragmentary tip jaw remains, was once considered to be one of the largest crocodiles ever, with a size estimation of about 15 to 18 meters for many decades.

Current estimates After a re-study in 2001, it was downsized to a length of about 8 to 11 meters.

10) Bruhathkayosaurus This supposed sauropod titanosaur was discovered in the region of Tamil Nadu, in the district of Tiruchirappalli, around 1989, being the remains a part of the pelvis and the tibia, these were referred to as belonging to a theropod by the shape of the Ilium, however, a later opinions determined it as a sauropod, probably a titanosaur around 1999. The measurements given at that time put it as a gigantic animal of around 35 to 40 meters in length, with an estimated weight of 175 to 220 tons, turning it into the heaviest terrestrial animal ever to have existed, aside of Amphicoelias.

Current estimates Did you ever hear the tragedy of Bruhathkayosaurus the giant? Seriously speaking, the history of the discovery of this "sauropod" could be said to be a tragedy since the only known remains discovered by Yadagiri and Ayyasami (those who were behind the discovery and identification of the supposed "stegosaurus" Dravidosaurus which is recognized now as a plesiosaur) were not properly recorded or conserved, these were described poorly, they took terrible pictures of such specimens, they made quite terrible sketches and to make it worse after the discovery they did not bother to collect those remains and the most terrible thing, they left them at the mercy of the Indian monsoons and erosion for the next 15 years after the discovery.

So there are 2 ways to see this in a speculative way given the situation: Option a, in the case that this genus has been what was suggested, a sauropod, the size of this would not have been the one that had been suggested years after its discovery, if an estimate can be made based on the measurements given of the remains, the length that could be obtained would be much less than the proposed 39 meters, being something approximately an animal of 28 meters in length or less, and probably with a much lower weight than previously estimated, probably being with a mass close or less than for example, Giraffatitan.

Or Option b, is just a 2 meter long tree trunk remain and a bunch of rocks with the shape of an eroded Ilium.

So pick one.

11) Kelmayisaurus This theropod carcharodontosaurid from the early cretaceous was discovered in the early 70s in the city of Karamay, Xinjiang, western china, is known from a very fragmentary holotype formed by a complete left dentary and a partial maxilla. The main peculiarity of this theropod came from another specimen mentioned in the book “The Dinosaur Project: The Story of the Greatest Dinosaur Expedition Ever Mounted”, being the species called “K. giganteus”, being referred from a fragmentary giant vertebra column, it was estimated to had a length of about 22 meters, making it one of the largest theropods known.

Current estimates The mentioned “K. giganteus” is considered to be a nomen nudum and the actual vertebrae column remains probably belongs to a sauropod. The original holotype specimen was estimated to be 9 to 11 meters of length making it a medium size carcharodontosaurid.

12) Mosasaurus hoffmanii At first I wanted to introduce estimations made to the Tylososaurus made by "WWD: Sea Monsters" because was emphasized that these reached a length of 18 meters in length, being quite exaggerated with the current estimates that said that they reached 14 meters at maximum, however, I saw that it was more appropriate to introduce a much more recent size estimation mentioned in a scientific article, in this case of the specimen  CCMGE 10/2469 discovered in Penza, Russia, being estimated to have a size of about 17 meters long based in a head-body radio of 1:10 by Russell (1967), making it the largest Mosasaur ever.

Current estimates Giving the point that for such proportions make people draw Mosasaurus with Tylosaur bodies, one person (mention below) took the time to do their research, and as a result, his detailed research revealed that Mosasaurus was quite robust and bulkier in comparison to its relative, giving it a different body ratio and making the 1:10 body-head radio inaccurate. The current estimates make the Penza specimen around 12 to 13 meters in length. Based on M. hoffmanii reconstruction 

13) Megalosaurus It would seem strange to put a very outdated reconstruction in this place, however, at the time it had been considered as real by early paleontology. So, Megalosaurus could earn the title of not only being one of the first dinosaurs identified, but also for being the first oversized dinosaur ever, in their first reconstructions created by William Buckland considering him as a massive quadruped lizard with an upright posture of amphibious habits, based in estimations given by Cuvier, this was calculated to be a 12 meters long creature with a weight of an 7 ft tall elephant.

Current estimates After the lizard model was abandoned, the original size estimations were considered to be quite exaggerated with new reconstructions, so most of the later estimations calculated Megalosaurus to be about 9 meters in the beginning and being in recently decades calculated to be 6, 7 or 8 meters long, with a weight less than a ton.   Based on Megalosaurus skeletal reconstruction

14) Iguanodon Like with Megalosaurus, at first Iguanodon was estimated to be a massive lizard like animal being extrapolated the proportions at first from an iguana because the resembles of the Iguanodon teeth with these ones, giving a size estimations of about 18 meters long.

Current estimates Again, like Megalosaurus, the lizard model disappeared and over the time this animals has gone through several alterations in their body shape interpretations, varying in designs over the years until they reach their final form (?) being a semi-quadruped herbivore with disproportionately huge hands, with a length around 10 meters and a weight of 3.4 tons, with inferred specimens that can reach 13 meters long. Based on Iguanodon skeletal reconstruction 

15) Megalodon Formally Carcharocles megalodon, It has been a shark with problematic size estimations thanks to its many fragmentary fossils being thousands of teeth and some vertebrae, which has given several measures, from the original 30 meters long Bashford Dean estimation in 1909 based on a jaw reconstruction, being downsized to 13 meters to a time later being estimated with a size of 24 to 25 meters long as maximum length.

Current estimates Actual estimations give a length of about 16 meters to a maximum of 18 meters.

16) Liopleurodon The biggest size estimation given to a pliosaur ever, the genus Liopleurodon had been described as a giant 25 meters long and weighing around 150 tons in the WWD series being based to fragmentary fossil teeth remain, it becomes one of the documentary's most iconic animal as well one of the most iconic pliosaurs next to with Pliosaurus or Kronosaurus.

Current estimates The history of the Liopleurodon oversize case is already one the most known around the paleontological community both amateur and professional, that has caused wars of discussions and lots of defenders as well as opposites, and at the end letting a legacy and the perpetual idea of super pliosaurs, but as far is know, there hasn’t been any super pliosaurs and less super Liopleurodon discovered so far, although there has been wild estimations of 15 meters long specimens of others species, which at the end these became very dubious for how fragmentary the evidence has been.

The estimations made by the documentary were not in some points supported by some scientific article or any authority in the matter like with "Ornithocheirus", just made to get the attention of the public, as well, such measure was doubted even for being a maximum size, and most of the estimations made after based on the original remains in comparisons with others Pliosaur suggested that the actual Liopleurodon was 10 meters long, at least at first, and from here Liopleurodon gets smaller and smaller. Studies of other specimens such as Kronosaurus and the discovery of a complete specimen of L. ferox which shown that the skull was 1/5 of the body size gave an approximate length of 6.9 meters, based on the largest specimen found.

#paleoart #paleontology #liopleurodon #sauropod #theropod #megalodon #pachycephalosaurus #walking with dinosaurs #pterosaurs

[gsmatthews95]

Oz: a recap

The time has come. It has been ten months in waiting but it had to come. It is with a slight twinge of sadness but an overpowering sense of excitement and happiness that I am leaving Australia on my way to Singapore. Which  is actually pretty ideal because I have a nice long 9 hour layover. There are very few occasions I would describe a 9 hour layover as "ideal" but this is one of them. Such a cool city. So much to do and see. And, apparently, it isn't even too big. So I'm hoping I should be able to DO/COMPLETE Singapore in a nice six hour stint, tick it off my list, add another pin to the map and tell everyone about how I've now basically completed Asia. Sick eh?. A wee bit more background before I delve into the meat of this potentially juicy post which I think I will compare to a fat fillet steak by comparison to the rest of my posts that I would say are more like coles BBQ sausages, 24 for $8... good value but not much substance. A good reference I reckon. So I'm currently on my flight. It is maybe 9am Aussie time and I am awake, not that tired, with very little to do in this flight as I went for the lost budget option (still pretty expenny). You have to pay 11 bucks for films, Ye right. Go do one scoot airlines. Urgh, absolute scandal for a 7 hour flight. No worries however. Gives me ample time to write an absolute Goliath of a blog post. Okay seriously guys stop cheering. It's distracting me and my brain flow you have to pay for food and entertainment. Not good. However, the there are two upsides to this flight with nothing to do, firstly it allows me to blog blog blog and the other upside of this prehistoric flight comfort is that it gives me a chance to register to Stephen Hawkins "a  brief history of time", what a bangin audiobook. Well bloody confusing but I feel cleverer listening to it. Although in the last nine months I have forgotten the vast, vast majority of it. All the better it's like a new book. I'm now not that excited however about my connecting flight to Berlin. 14 hours. 13 hours of no films, just sleep, urgh lame. I may find some more wee audiobooks. I'll tell you what, I may get the game Of thrones ones. They'd be immense, especially as I'm now a proper game of thrones loser (read loser as legend/fanatic).

This is what I mean, I have so much time to ramble this piece is gonna drag. Oo I have an idea. As I didn't have this blog for the majority of the trip should I go back and wrote posts for them? Hmmmm, that does kinda defeat the point of the blog though. I don't think I'll do that. the other nagging question is whether I carry on the blog for the next 3 months as I galavant around Europe. I think I should. You're welcome guys. I love you all too. Also sick that I'm using my British passport to its full extent before we F off out of Europe as part of brexit. Wooo freedom of movement. Cosmopolitan ideals, something we should probs all strive for as much as possible. However, I do think we probs made the right decision leaving the EU as most people who have spoken to me about it will know. This post is not about my political views however. Otherwise it would not be called holidaying. Maybe something like #Jezza4PM would be a better name for it if I were to become a political blogger slash activist. But I digress.

So as many of you may have gauged from speaking to me, reading this blog or merely by observing my Facebook presence. I have had an immense time. Even though my article about the ups and downs of travelling may have seemed a bit depressing, I can safely say the last ten months, yes that ten months, a long time, have been smashing. I am currently conflicted, in poor stylistic technique I have embarked upon this post without a plan. And now I am at a crossroads. Do I continue chronologically or thematically? I think I will stay true to convincing writing styles and go thematically. Let's push the boat out he he. Ok ok ok so I'll start with my hostels. I believe I do want to talk about them a little bit first.  To start, I have been in lots. Off the top of my head in Sydney alone I was in 7 separate hostels. Many for a week as I was forced to move because of the price increase, my bed being sold, being chucked out etc. But 3 main ones. Firstly, hump. What to say about this place. A mad house, a good outside smoking area, a room that stays open all night and a lot of sound people who I've seen since leaving Sydney too. One jack gawthorpe, I've seen in four separate places (who's stalking who...). My month or so there was heavy. There was always something going on, I have very fond memories. Secondly, dury house. As described by James, my friend who I took there one night: "that was literally a crack den". Yes James, but it was our crack den. With the roof that never closed and the never ending session, there was always something going on, whether it be 11am on a Sunday morning or 4am on a Friday night. And again some belter people, who again I've seen down the east coast. Thirdly, finally, and ultimately we had the palms. What a place. What a time. November-December 2017. The palms glory days. Clean hostel, nice kitchen, comfy beds, sound people, like a giant sharehouse it had the intimate feel that you knew everyone but was big enough to still be lots of fun. The palms massive made my first xmas away from home so fun and so comforting. Never forget. Loved everyone there, except dan obvs, I hate dan. Everyone else though, I love you. And the hostel. I'll give a quick shout out to bev and micks in Melbourne. Small, intimate, cosy and friendly. Not that exciting or fun but enjoyable for my three weeks. Plus it was the cheapest place around. However, barossa backpackers. Dirty, smelly, small, tiny kitchen, leaky fridges, small room, had to pay for wifi and in the middle of nowhere. Pretty crap hostel tbh. But as I was there for some time, working with and living with everyone. I had an unreal time. Even working in a potato factory. So much fun cause you're constantly with you're mates and chilling, I won't forget those few months in barossa. The hostels down the east coast were nice. Big and nice but with my motivation waiting and the fact that I was staying at each place for a few days I didn't really form much of a bond with many of them. The hostel is key to your experience. Regardless how long you are in a place for but especially if it's for the long term. And overall I think I did well with a only a few mistakes.

Work. Ok so work never went quite as I'd hoped before I came out to Australia. Maybe I was naive, maybe I just wasn't made for call centres. My one regret actually was not going in to construction in Sydney, making lots of money, doing easy work and finishing at 3:30 each day. I then could have done it all over oz as I'd have had experience and wouldn't have had to do some of my crap jobs. We live and learn, one of my bigger regrets I'd say. No hassle though, all has worked out well and I haven't been too low on money. But yes call centres and cold calling, not the job for me. Neither as it turns out is face to face fundraising. What I have learnt though is that there is no worse job than those and I now have sympathy for those doing it, I have the knowledge that I will never work in a job like that again and it has now given me a great  appreciation of any job that isn't that. Which was one reason I think I enjoyed the potatoes so much. Mainly because it was so easy and so much less depressing than my other jobs. Everyone constantly complained, I just smiled and said it could be worse. People said the job would break me. It never did. Smashing job, smashing people, smashing time. The worst of all these jobs though was the charity fundraising, I knew it would be but I just wanted 2-3 weeks work and it paid well. I lasted 1 week. Never again. The best job. Easy. Grape picking and wine making. It was so sick. I got a lot of hours, lots of free wine and food and learnt to make wine in the sun. Dream job. I even have a wine named after me, I'm gonna get a case delivered home of the 2018 vintage GSM lol. But that's enough about work after all it is a work holiday visa.

This part will be harder to split up do I discuss  specific experiences? Or parts of the journey. Oo I have an idea. Animals. I have devoted a few pieces to various animals but I haven't spoken about all of them. There are two that I will leave out though as they deserve their own piece. Australia, famous for its diverse and unique wildlife and I think I've done well in seeing a lot of it. And I got selfies with lots of them. Firstly I have fed and patted wild kangaroos and wallabies. So cute, they love carrots btw, not apples so much. One of the wallabies even had a tiny Joey in its pouch. Too much for my heart. They're great I loved em both. Then came the quokka. As many of you may have seen by my  Valentine's Day post devoted to this one. They are like giant rodents. Although they're not giant, and they're actually cute. I dunno how to describe them actually just look at my photo, well adorable. I will now move on to the dangerous segment of the list of animals, cause, as we all know, that's what oz is most famous for. Firstly, the red back spider, v venomous. Hannah (friend not sister) almost died as she entered his layer/graveyard and only just escaped with her life. I have also seen three wild snakes, woohoo. That was a real target. The python in the kitchen and the two cuties slithering across the path in Lichfield national park and the twelve (4) apostles. Now. The personal favourite. The crocs. There have been lots of crocs, none completely in the wild without a tour guide sadly, but the jumping crocs were wild and were damn sick. I even have a croc tooth necklace (sorry axel, Brutus and dominator). The one animal conspicuous by its absence I haven't seen though, sadly, a shark. Waaaaa I should have gone shark cage diving, ah it was too expensive anyway. I think I'll carry on with my sea critters vibe now for a few more. Next was the manta. MANTA MANTA MANTA. I saw lots in Indonesia but another at whitsundays. So big, graceful and noble. I love them, as everyone does, they're god personified in an animal I reckon.  I would like to be a manta ray. Next up dolphins. Not many and both times I saw them from a cliff. Not overly exciting mainly because I have been spoilt in the past both in cornwall And in the SAN blas when they swam with our boat, so very nice. My final sea dweller. Whales. Lots of humpbacks as I said in my Fraser Island piece. They are awesome, so big and majestic and loving. I would also like to be a whale. Sue me. I saw lots of camels too, they're funny I like camels teehee and dingos, they're so cute, not scary. I would like to chat to a dingo and befriend him. I love dingos. I think however, my proudest find and subsequent selfie was with the koalas. We found 8 on magnetic island. One barely 8 foot away. Perfect for a selfie. And I snapped it yay. They're such chillers too, I love koalas. I love animals actually. I also miss Rolland, I love you too Rolland!!!

So as to stop myself writing another dissertation I may make this the final para. And I'm going to try and be concise. My favourite moments. I won't describe them much but merely mention them. There's a variety of reasons why a moment could have been so great. Maybe where I was, what I was doing, who I was with. Who knows? Maybe I just felt at peace and the world felt right for a moment. Deep. And I'm not talking about every moment I sat down with a full box of goon. Ok ok seriously. The hump boat party. Both 1 and 2. Unreal, a boat party in the Sydney harbour, beers, mates, opera house, swimming, tunes, I won't ever forget those two days. My first moment seeing the extent of the blue mountains at the end of the garden of the nbb Jill and Richard had so kindly rented for us. A little ten minute walk and you were on the edge of the crator with the blue trees stretching out, I reckon I spent a couple of hours just sat there over the three days, peaceful. Sash, pretty much every sash, but one in particular when I'm pretty sure everyone I knew in Sydney was there. It was sunny and we boogied. I was having so much fun several separate people came and asked me if I sold drugs cause I was so deliriously happy. Oo also the sash it rained that was unreal, dancing in the rain with the boys, never forget. Two more from Sydney. The beach party, amazing. One of the best, if not the best day of my life. Music and goon on the beach, swimming as the sun set over the harbour bridge, so wicked. And finally xmas day. Singing for the Aussie prime minister with a broken voice having lost it the night before was something I will NEVER ever forget especially as I have the video of it all ahahahaha. We move on to mine and Hannis road trip. My first thought. The pinnacles. The pinnacles were sick, so random just a load of pointy rocks in the ground. I doubt two people have ever been so excited in one place. So funny. Also actually hannah, all of our carpool karaokes. They made your company bearable. Completing the 8km hike in kalbari was also a good moment as it was 30+ degrees and we had about two litres of water between us, stupid English. But we did it, I'm proud. Finally hanni, 100% when we chilled with Roos in morriset park for hours after Jill and richard basically laughed us down for going, v funny. A good afternoon. Days of our lives festival. Awesome, what a send off from Sydney. Dury house you did yourselves and me proud, cheers for convincing me to go xoxoxo. The whole outback trip was awesome, if I picked a few moments though... I reckon the first proper big fire was a great moment, and sorting out the car light that we couldn't turn off meaning we didn't have to take the fuse out every time we stopped the car, sheer happiness. Also getting in to alice springs. This may seem weird but I cannot explain how touchy everyone was, we needed food, civilisation, electricity, a shower and some goon. We got all of the above and spirits were restored. Also the natural springs were amazing. So beautiful, completely free and refreshing. Darwin, croc diving, easy, it was unreal. Spotting the koalas on magnetic island obvs was memorable. I want to pick some moments from Fraser but it was all so fun. If I had to pick a few though, I'd say the horse racing on the second night united everyone, we were all so into it and the crumbed sausage obvs haha. I have missed things out but when I look back on oz these are the things I feel stand out as specific moments but like I've said before travelling isn't just about the moments (sorry Alina) but the whole experience, what you feel and who you meet.

What a holiday. I am content with my time in oz. if I came back I'd change things but I'm happy just the way they went. It's been sick. Stay posted I have one more oz piece before we move to EUROPE yahoooooooo. This piece has literally killed at least two hours of my flight maybe even three. I have been very engrossed aha. But back to mr hawking for me. G.

[swimmingferret]

You know I don't live where there are crocodiles but I do live where there are alligators and snakes fucking everywhere. My rule is to only swim in clear water that I can see the bottom of. Most people I know however just get tipsy and will swim anywhere because "If god intends for me to die by getting ate by some damn gator then who am I to argue". So long story short: more trust than sense.

th heck

so like...you kinda have to have a watcher as well??? Since crocs/alli’s can swim/run rly fast and you’d be dead pretty damn quick if one gets you- especially if you have pets like do you guys always have to have ur pets on a leash? like we’d let the chihuahua’s run around at the river, since they wouldn’t stray and...the main thing we have to worry about is hawks getting them or something, not a giant prehistoric water lizard eating them

#like you'd always be on guard??? #what if one is lurking underneath a tree line?? #but it seems there's a 'she'll be right' motto going on lol #Anonymous

[noddytheornithopod]

Now that Prehistoric Planet is over, I'll compile a list of ideas I'd like to see if we ever get a season 2. This is going to assume we stick to the Maastrichtian, if we open it up to the whole Mesozoic we'll be here all day.

More marine reptile diversity! Would love to see how varied plesiosaurs were, especially Aristonectines, and also just how many niches mosasaurs occupied, including potentially stranger ones like Xenodens. Same for any other reptiles like turtles for that matter.

Honestly, more marine life in general. It wasn't just big reptiles. We saw ammonites briefly, how about more cephalopods? Different fish, we saw pycnodonts briefly, sharks could be nice too? Hell, give us hesperornithines, actual sea dinosaurs.

On the topic of birds, it's wild we didn't get many birds, and none that really got any focus. Already some interesting birds at this time, like various enantiornithines such as avisaurs, weird island birds in Europe, and even neornithines.

On the note of Europe... I'd love to see more Hateg Island. We didn't get to see any of the creatures in-depth, so exploring how islands shape the fauna there would be great. There were even crocodyliformes there! Also, Hatzegopteryx hunting bigger prey.

If we're talking islands, revisiting Madagascar would also be great. Another ecosystem that is quite varied. It may not have dwarf sauropods, but it has many dinosaurs beyond Masiakasaurus, as well as a host of unusual crocodyliformes.

Crocodyliformes in general. We somehow got NONE. Not even baurusuchids, not to mention all the other varied notosuchians out there. There's even the marine dyrosaurs, and close relatives of modern true crocodilians. Gimme weird mammal crocs and terrestrial dino hunter crocs!

Honestly? Mammals also got super snubbed. Mammals were way more diverse than we give them credit for in the Mesozoic, and this would be a perfect place to show it. Gondwanatheres, metatherians, multituberculates, even placentals like possible primate Purgatorius.

In terms of locations, I'd love to see India, especially to see the animals there living in close proximity to the Deccan Traps. Many dinosaurs there too, and even the snake Sanajeh.

For locations we already saw to explore further in depth, maybe also some more Zealandia, Antarctica and South America? Especially for looks at their ecosystems if we have the data for it.

Of course who knows if we'll even get a Season 2, but if we do, hopefully some of these come to pass.

#prehistoric planet