Likely to be our most well known fossil that we’ve gone through so far, today’s fossil is the magical Liopleurodon! Shown off in style during the first episode of the Charle the Unicorn series and in the third episode of BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurus, Liopleurodon has enjoyed a…shall we say diverse screen presence. This animal was named in 1873 off of a tooth found in Boulgne-sur-Mer, France, but the rest of the animal wouldn’t be found until much later, although unfortunately none of these have been complete skeletons. As a pliosaur, Liopleurodon is a member of the larger plesiosaur family, and it is currently unknown if they are more directly related to turtles or to archosaurs (crocodillians, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and birds), though the most recent study by Tiago R. Simões, Christian F. Kammerer, Michael W. Caldwell, and Stephanie E. Pierce suggested that sauropterygians (the formal name for plesiosaurs and their closest relatives) lay in between turtles and the protorosaurs, a group of early archosaurs. No matter who it’s relatives were, Liopleruodon was an impressive and successful predator, at around 13 to 26 feet long and a possible maximum length of 33 feet, though all of these are estimates put together from various fossil pieces. Those who have seen Walking With Dinosaurs might be disappointed at that size estimate, as the show postulated that the animal was an absolutely colossal 82 feet long, quadruple the size of the largest great white shark measured and longer than any whale on the planet, save for the fin and blue whales. This gargantuan size estimate stems from the fact that Lioplerodon was still quite fragmentary at the time, with the scientific advisor suggesting a still giant size of 60-65 feet, with the director adding on an extra 20 feet for speculation’s sake. Now, this isn’t to say that the show is completely without merit in its depiction of the animal. While not nearly as big, Liopleurodon would’ve still been an important predator in its environment, with stomach contents found including squid, fish, and unidentified reptile remains. I wish you all an excellent Friday and a safe journey to Candy Mountain to those in the know! Join me tomorrow for Ornimegalonyx, the giant Cuban owl! (edited)

Size comparison between Lioplerodon and the average human

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #16 - Haidomyrmecinae

We’re sticking to the Cretaceous period for our fossil today, though it might be more accurate to say fossils, as we’re covering a whole family for our topic today. Found in Myanmar, France, and Alberta, Canada, meet the Haidomyrmecinae, the Hell Ants! These fun little critters are some of the... (edited) read more

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Leo

ENTP

Aries

There's no such thing as too many belomnites!

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #15 - Qianzhousaurus

Back to the end of the Cretaceous period for today’s fossil, 66 million years ago in China’s Nanxiong Formation. Qianzhousaurus was a 20 foot long, 1,600 pound tyrannosaur of a particular subset known as the alioramin tyrannosaurs. In stark contrast to the bone-crushing jaws and more robust builds... read more

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James

10d

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #5 - Diplocaulus

From the Devonian to the Carboniferous, tetrapods (aka animals with four limbs and a spine) saw extreme diversification, with their first major adaptation being proper lungs, though they still needed the water to reproduce. The first amphibians developed from animals akin to Ichthyostega,... read more

A model skeleton of Diplocaulus from the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle et Vivarium in Tournai, Belgium

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #12 - Koolasuchus

Amphibians got the short end of the stick in my opinion, at least when it comes to which animals are the most adaptable to their environments. They rely on water to keep themselves from drying out, but rely on air to breathe, and have slow metabolisms when compared to more active animals. They had... read more

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #10 - Ancylotherium

49 million years ago, during the middle of the Eocene period, a rather odd family of animals rose to browse on the shrubs and trees of Asia. This family of animals are known as the chalicotheres, and are built a bit like horse-faced gorillas, with long forearms and shorter legs adapted to help... read more

Reconstruction of Ancylotherium in life. By Jfstudiospaleoart

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #13 - Inostrancevia

Headed back to the Permian for our fossil today, almost 260 million years ago in what would become Siberia. First, though a little background. Take your pointer finger and put it in the middle of your temple. Now take your thumb and put it right next to your eye (don’t poke your eye, please be... read more

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #14 - Aiolornis

What? No, I definitely didn’t forget that I had to do Fossil of the Day, that’s…wild of you to say… Anyway, today we’re covering Aiolornis, one of the largest flying birds to have ever left the ground and soared into the sky. It and its family, the teratorns, were specialized scavengers, likely... (edited) read more

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #7 - Ornimegalonyx

It’s a short trip in time for today’s fossil, only 126,000 years ago back to the Pleistocene, more commonly known as the Ice Age. Cuba at this time was of a similar climate as it is today, which fostered a diverse ecosystem full of oddities. Turtles, water birds, monkeys, and nutrias were a common... read more

Ornimegalonyx flaring its wings out while standing on a rocky outcrop. Exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History.

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #9 - Nectocaris

The Cambrian period was the epicenter of an evolutionary event rightly known as the Cambrian explosion, which describes the sheer speed with which multicellular animals diversified from one another. Arthropods and molluscs were the dominant life forms of this period, both of which have a link to... read more

Three separate fossils of Nectocaris, depecting the side-on and head-on views, and a crushed animal. Credit Martin Smith

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James

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #8 - Homalocephale

We’re heading to Mongolia around about 70 million years ago for today’s fossil, Homalocephale! This little guy was a 6 feet long, 1.5 foot tall pachycephalosaur that lived in the Gobi Desert during the late Cretaceous. Unlike its more well known and much larger cousin, Pachycephalosaurus, it had a... read more

Homalocephale wants to know if you have any treats for it. From the Dinosaur Store at Space Coast, Florida

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James

14d

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #1 - Pachyrhinosaurus

Hey all! Today marks the beginning of September, and while we have yet to reach the fall equinox (also known as Mabon to those aware of the Celtic names for the equinoxes) on September 22nd, I see no reason why I couldn’t begin a little fun project on here. I dub today the beginning of Fossil... read more

A comparison between Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis, the largest species, and an average human.

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James

11d

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #4

I’ve got a particularly odd specimen for y’all today, all the way from the Devonian period, roughly 365 million years ago. An almost 5 foot long stem-tetropod, Ichthyostega was at an impressive size for an animal that wasn’t an invertebrate during the Devonian, with most of it’s kin being much... read more

A timeline showing the split between lobe-finned fish and early stem-tetropods in their preferred habitats

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James

14d

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #2 - Eurypterus

TW FOR ARACHNOPHOBIA Coming all the way from the Silurian period for today’s Fossil of the Day, from roughly 432 to 418 million years ago, swims Eurypterus, the staple sea scorpion! This early arthropod is the most well studied of its family, the eurypterids, which as a group existed for about... read more

An image of three Eurypterus swimming in the Silurian ocean, one of which is touching down to look for food under the sand.

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James

13d

INFP

Pisces

Fossil of the Day #3 - Hyaenodon

We’re headed back a short 42 million years for our third fossil of the day, back to a time when mammals had just figured out how to get big and scary without dinosaurs to compete with, save for birds. The Eocene was a very warm period of time on our planet, though not the warmest it’s ever been,... read more

An image of Hyaenodon stalking through a prairie at either dusk or dawn, it’s enlarged teeth exposed in a growl. By H. Harder

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Kyndall

1mo

ENFP

Cancer

Got to meet my favorite Pleistocene neighbor recently! 🦥

Say hello to the wandering giant ground sloth! @ Florida Museum of Natural History

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MADEX

1mo

ESFJ

Leo

A Very Rare Discovery: 25-Million-Year-Old Ancient Eagle Ruled the Roost in Australia

63 bone fossil finding in desert is one of the “best preserved” eagles ever and a very rare discovery. A 25-million-year-old eagle fossil found in South Australia adds to the long evolutionary history of raptors in Australia. Paleontologists from Flinders University have unearthed Australia’s... read more

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Eli

3mo

ISTP

Gemini

🍖

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Susan LeeAnn Smith

4mo

INFJ

Leo

Best gift EVER!!!!!!!

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

A modern wombat (right), compared to its extinct megafauna counterpart (left). (edited)

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

A recently discovered and newly named marine reptile.

Most complete marine reptile fossil in Australia

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

Life-size model of megalania

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

Lego Jurassic world exhibit

Qld museum. Of course, these are the Jurassic franchise designs, but love em or hate em, gotta ad.it this is cool.

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

Kunbarrasaurus, the most complete dinosaur fossil in Australia

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Daniel

6mo

INTP

Sagittarius

Muttaburrasaurus

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Susan LeeAnn Smith

7mo

INFJ

Leo

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Wolfgang

8mo

INTJ

Cancer

A new closeup of a new fossil

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Wolfgang

10mo

INTJ

Cancer

Better pic of some my fossils

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Kaylah

INFJ

Favorite dinosaur?

Share an interesting dinosaur or your absolute favorite dinosaur? Mine is Dilophosaurus!

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Annamari

INFJ

Virgo

"Small" tooth

Still the biggest fossil in my collection.

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Rui

ENFP

Dinosaur trackway

A theropod trackway at Vale de Meios, Portugal. I'm standing far up above the trackway on a higher rock bed, so those are much larger than they appear there. (edited)