Paleo Bites

(image source: https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Sauroposeidon) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Sauroposeidon, an abso-giganto-freaking-mongus dinosaur and the state dinosaur of Texas, because they like everything big down there. They ain't compensatin' for nuthin’, those durn cowboys. From the Early Cretaceous, this 70-foot macronarian sauropod lived alongside some heavy hitters like Acrocanthosaurus, Deinonychus, and Sauropelta, all of which we’ve covered on this show before, so they must be famous, right? Right? This show’s good exposure for these critters, I know it. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/triassic-bites-and-a-carnivore-conundrum) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Fasolasuchus, the biggest terrestrial non-dinosaur predator of all time. What a hyper-specific superlative. I bet I’m the biggest human named Matthew that wrote a dinosaur sci-fi series called Megazoic. Except probably not, there’s a lot of Matthews out there. From the Mid Triassic, this 35-foot rauisuchian got a big bit of cinema exposure as the climactic boss fight in the recent Adam Driver movie where he’s an alien who fights dinosaurs, which sounds like the most awesome movie ever, but alas, ‘twas mid at best. No shame if you liked it, though. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskacephale)Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Alaskacephale, a northern dinosaur that somehow had enough minor differences to escape being lumped into the genus Pachycephalosaurus, but the wildly different and far more spiky Dracorex and Stygimoloch didn’t. Yeah, I’m never letting that go. From the Late Cretaceous, this 8-foot pachycephalosaurid lived alongside the other arctic dinosaurs like Pachyrhinosaurus and Nanuqsaurus, meaning they either had feathers to keep warm in the winter or they just used their inherent size as a form of gigantothermy. But that’s far too advanced of a topic for this dumb podcast, so who knows?Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/583708801714650808/) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Simosuchus, an adorable little burrowing critter that despite its herbivory and cuddly appearance was actually an ancient crocodylomorph. I bet its death rolls would be so cute. From the Late Cretaceous, this 3-foot notosuchian lived alongside some big frogs and mammals as well as dinosaurs in their Madagascar home, which sounds nice. I wager they all got along and there were no killings or predation at all. They just all snuggled each other. That’s my theory, I’ll publish a paper on it shortly. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://alphynix.tumblr.com) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Tenontosaurus, a poor schmuck of a dinosaur whose entire existence seems to be cannon fodder for packs of Deinonychus. Hence why I chose this picture for the episode image, because it’s funny seeing the tables turned. Mwuahahaha. From the Early Cretaceous, this 20-foot basal ornithopod was also notable in having a really long tail, which really would have been useful in fighting off those Deinonychus I reckon. But hey, who am I to judge? It seemed to work out for them. Oh wait, they’re extinct, so I guess not. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Anchisaurus-pictures) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Anchisaurus, a long-necked lizard thing of a dinosaur that had far more interesting ancestors and even more interesting descendants. It really was ‘intermediate’ in how mid it was. Boo. From the Early Jurassic, this 10-foot basal sauropodomorph was the basis behind a familial vow to track the owner of its footprints, a task started by a paleontologist father but completely by his son. Who are these folks? Who cares, they spent their whole lives looking for freaking Anchisaurus. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 (image source: https://pixels.com/featured/maiasaura-and-nest-phil-wilson.html) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Maiasaura, a real mommy of a dinosaur in that it was the first one with direct evidence of parental care. A real nurturer, Maiasaura. I could use that. No, I don’t have mommy issues. From the Late Cretaceous, this 30-foot saurolophine hadrosaurid seemingly put leaves on its eggs and fed them with its beak when they hatched, which is nice. Again, I could use that. Imagine a hug from one of these. It sounds nice. Warm. Comforting. …yeah, maybe I do have mommy issues. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simbakubwa) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Simbakubwa, possibly the largest terrestrial mammalian predator of all time and the true holder of the title of Lion King. Naaaaaants ingonyamaaaa bagithiiiii baba sithi uhm ingonyamaaaa! Disney, making children scat faux Swahili since 1994. From the Early Miocene, this 10-foot hyaenodont had a slashing bite and could potentially bring down giant elephants and rhinos. The ultimate predator. The one true king. Until it went extinct and turned into grass for the antelope to eat, anyway. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://bit.ly/3T1rkyC) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Australopithecus, one of our definitive ancestors and the first to walk upright, which is kind of a big deal. I don’t think I could handle walking on my knuckles all day, so thank you, Australopithecus. From the Late Pliocene, this 4-foot-tall hominid ate fruit and meat and overall just kinda aped about. You ever watched the Planet of the Apes movies? Then you’ve seen Australopithecus. Please ignore the apes riding horses while wielding machine guns for the purpose of this comparison. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Megalosaurus-pictures) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Megalosaurus on this very special day, as exactly 200 years ago on this date Megalosaurus was officially the first described dinosaur, marking two centuries of dinosaur knowledge! Awesome! Oh yeah, the animal is cool too, whatever. From the Middle Jurassic, this 30-foot theropod used to have hundreds of different species in its genus before settling with Megalosaurus bucklandii, which is good. One is enough, I say. No need to hog all the species for yourself, you silly genus. Golly, this show is nonsense. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Basilosaurus, a ginormous flesh-eating whale with a bulbous body and tiny back legs. Bet you didn’t know your mom was featured in this podcast, huh? From the Late Eocene, this 60-foot cetacean had a dinosaur-esque name due to its serpentine-esque body, which I think shouldn’t be allowed. Only dinosaurs should end in ‘saurus’ just as only mammals should end in ‘therium’! None of this Basilosaurus or Fulgurotherium nonsense, you hear?!Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://metode.org/issues/monographs/the-dinosaurs-of-the-maestrat-basin.html) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Proa, a dinosaur who lived in Spain and is on display in a huge museum there called Dinopolis, a place I have promptly scheduled on my calendar to visit on a moments’ notice! Oh wait, plane tickets are expensive. Damn. From the Early Cretaceous, this 22-foot iguanodont was chosen by our production team by using a random dinosaur generator because there was no reason to cover this otherwise. Just kidding! We don’t have a production team. LIke we would have the budget here for that, please. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-other-pandas-thumb)Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Simocyon, a creature that looks like a cougar and whose name says it’s a dog but is more closely related to red pandas. That’s a running joke on this show, I swear. “It looks like a baboon, eats like a llama, but its closest relatives are actually… cuttlefish.” From the Early Pliocene, this 7-foot carnivoran mammal is from a previously wide-ranging family of predators who all went extinct except for that little teddy bear who helps Chinese-Canadian girls go through puberty or something. I dunno, I only saw that film once. Just kidding, it’s my favorite movie of all time.Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(Image source: https://www.science.org/content/article/one-ancient-human-relative-use-early-stone-tools) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Paranthropus, one of our ancestors’ relatives that didn’t fully make the transition into cavemen and died off before they could see what humanity would become. They were the lucky ones. From the Late Pliocene, this 4-foot-tall hominid used simple tools like sticks and rocks and plucked fruit off of trees and basically were just monkeying around. Sorry, that was low-hanging fruit… much like the ones they plucked off of trees… okay I’m done. Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ambulocetus) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Ambulocetus, a walking whale that might not have actually walked all that much, but boy it could swim! So a whale then, basically. A whale with feet. Ehhh. From the Late Eocene, this 10-foot cetacean swam through the rivers of Pakistan and chomped fish, crocodiles, small mammals, and whatever else dared get in its way. I bet I could take it though, personally. How hard could it be? 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.

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Coahuilaceratops-pictures) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Coahuliaceratops, one of the few dinosaurs we have evidence of from Mexico due to something… explosive happening there at the end of the Cretaceous that wiped out most of the fossils. And no, it wasn’t the aftermath of a burrito dinner. From the Late Cretaceous, this 16-foot chasmosaurine ceratopsian had the longest horns of any member of its family, so that’s pretty cool. Probably to help it face off against the most terrifying predator in the region, Tyrannosaurus mex! Ugh, a fart joke and a regional joke that’s a bad pun. What the hell has this show come to? 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.

(image source: https://sciifii.fandom.com/wiki/Coelurosauravus) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Coelurosauravus, the reptiles’ first of many, many attempts to get the hell off the ground and into the air. It seems like reptiles might be playing a geologic time scale level game of The Floor Is Lava. From the Late Permian, this 1-foot neodiapsid was unfortunately one of the losers of the Permian extinction event, where the whole world played a literal game of The Floor Is Lava and wiped out 95% of all life on the planet. Way to ruin a fun game by taking it seriously, Earth. 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.

(image source: https://bethzaiken.com/royal-saskatchewan-museum-prognathodon) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Prognathodon, a very unmerry creature that only has its episode released near Christmas due to the predetermined release schedule. Jingle bells! Chomp. From the Late Cretaceous, this 45-foot mosasaurid was smaller than its more famous cousin but had a far stronger bite, which means it could open presents real easily… yeah, I’m forcing this Christmas theme upon it. It doesn’t need it, it predates the birth of Christ! Which means, since he hadn’t died for our sins yet, Prognathodon and all other prehistoric animals are burning in Hell forever. Merry Christmas! 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.

(image source: https://eartharchives.org/articles/the-evolution-of-whales/) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Pakicetus, the very first cetacean and thus very first whale, so that’s neat I guess. Evolution and stuff. Intermediary fossils. Woo. From the Early Eocene, this 5-foot artiodactyl had many features of both land-dwelling and aquatic animals, which sounds indecisive if you ask me. Land or water, pick one! I mean, I suppose it eventually did. So that’s good I guess. Woo. I need to get paid more.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.

(image source: https://a-dinosaur-a-day.com/post/185693540635/euryapteryx-curtus) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Don Hall discuss Euryapteryx, another one of those giant birds the Maori people had to deal with when they migrated to New Zealand. They had a rough time. The birds, not the people. From the Early Holocene, this 3-foot-tall ratite laid relatively giant eggs and was hunted to extinction by the humans. Because humans. We’re a blight upon the earth. COVID-19 was a nice try, nature, but maybe hit us a bit harder next time. 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.