Paleo Bites

(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/moeritherium-lake-moeris-beast-1093246)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Moeritherium, a pig-hippo-tapir thing that was actually closer related to elephants than any of those other creatures, because the only thing nature is consistent at is being inconsistent. From the Late Eocene, this 6-foot proboscid lived in the mangrove swamps of its Egyptian home while blissfully unaware of the bleak desert it would become a few minor extinctions and Ice Ages later. Imagine what your own home will be like 35 million years from now! Probably be just cosmic dust along with the rest of the Earth after we’ve annihilated it.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here.

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(image source: http://animaladay.blogspot.com/2011/10/anthropornis.html)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Christina Franklin discuss Anthropornis, the biggest penguin of all time with a snicker-inducing name. From the Mid Eocene, this 6-foot-tall bird patrolled the Antarctic waters of old and probably did a lot of cool stuff back in its time. Geddit, "cool," because it lived in Antarctica? I'm sure I'm the first person to ever make that joke.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content here. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here.

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(image source: https://prehistoric-life.fandom.com/wiki/Haikouichthys)

Host Matthew Donald, and guest Natasha Krech talk, Haikouichthys. An early chordate, or perhaps something weirder, we just don’t know yet. From the Cambrian, this 1-inch backboned fish-thing, lived early in time. As you’ve surely learned, this whole flippin’ episode, is all Haiku form. Even the title fits, and the description itself, and the written stats. Yet this is Chinese, not Japanese like Haikus, so it’s wrong and dumb. But when else could I, have an excuse to do this, other than this one? Yes it’s real cringey, but that’s who I proudly am, and none shall stop me.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here.

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(image source: https://bit.ly/44PPyQG)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Cici Eilert discuss Rhabdodon, the Iguanodon equivalent of the Maastrichtian age and an archetypal example of insular gigantism. None of that statement made any sense to dinosaur or biology normies, I’m sure. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot ornithopod lived in the European islands around the Hateg basin and had to deal with giant azhdarchid pterosaurs plucking its young off the ground on occasion. Sounds like one of these paradises that turns out to be terrible. You know that old trope? Like the classic silent film Metropolis. Or the daycare in Toy Story 3.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here.

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(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviraptor)

Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Oviraptor, the most unfairly judged dinosaur found fossilized with a bunch of eggs and thus was assumed to be stealing those eggs rather than nurturing their own. There’s no way this thing could actually be a good mother, now could it? From the Late Cretaceous, this 5-foot maniraptoran theropod had a cassowary-like beak and roadrunner-like feathers, making it quite bird-like in many ways. And birds don’t eat eggs, they lay them! See, I’m a scientist. Although I’m sure some birds eat eggs, but whatever.

Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can purchase Matthew Donald's dinosaur book "Megazoic" on Amazon by clicking here, its sequel "Megazoic: The Primeval Power" by clicking here, its third installment "Megazoic: The Hunted Ones" by clicking here, or its final installment "Megazoic: An Era's End" by clicking here, as well as his non-dinosaur-related book "Teslanauts" by clicking here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.