The Paleontology Thread

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

First ever sabertooth cub mummy discovered in Siberia.

https://www.iflscience.com/world-first- ... rost-76795

[LegendZilla]

^I hope they get around to cloning ice age animals ONE FUCKING DAY.

[JAGzilla]

It's a complicated, expensive process reliant on limited sources of DNA, and there are serious ethical concerns involved. Jurassic Park/World has given us very fictionalized expectations for how extinct animal cloning is going to play out, but the reality is that we need to be patient and keep our expectations very low. Remember that JP was a warning: biotechnology is not a toy, and only an idiot treats it like one.

[LegendZilla]

It's a complicated, expensive process reliant on limited sources of DNA, and there are serious ethical concerns involved. Jurassic Park/World has given us very fictionalized expectations for how extinct animal cloning is going to play out, but the reality is that we need to be patient and keep our expectations very low. Remember that JP was a warning: biotechnology is not a toy, and only an idiot treats it like one.

Another factor to consider is contemporary technological limitations. It would probably take a shift as big as the last industrial revolution to make cloning viable.

[JAGzilla]

Another factor to consider is contemporary technological limitations. It would probably take a shift as big as the last industrial revolution to make cloning viable.

Yep, that too. Especially on any kind of large scale, which is what would be called for. Cloning one mammoth or thylacine isn't really reviving a species, it's just creating a circus freak that will live a lonely, unnatural life being gawked at. You would need a whole population released into the wild for this to mean anything.

[JAGzilla]

7 Days of Science has a good video breaking down the details of the sabertooth mummy:

https://youtu.be/Asl5qSPrNN8?si=_PJPfKIbnw9gRvM1

I haven't been in much of a paleo mood lately, so I hadn't looked into this story and its significance didn't click at all until today. It really is a landmark. An iconic Pleistocene predator found with soft tissue intact. So many questions are suddenly answered. We know what color Homotherium was now, or at least the population living in Siberia 35,000 years ago; it was a widespread genus that lasted a long time, so of course there was variation. We know they had small earflaps and wide paws to cope with cold and snow. We know they had enlarged lips, strongly suggesting that their saber teeth were covered rather than exposed.

Paleoart reconstructions can be definitively accurate now. This will probably also give Homotherium a huge boost in popularity and public exposure. It has a ways to go before it's as well-known as Smilodon, but this will send it in the right direction.

[LegendZilla]

At the least, I don’t see the successful cloning of an ice-age creature until at least the mid 2030’s.

[JAGzilla]

EDGE Science has his new Thanksgiving video out on Pleistocene turkeys in California: https://youtu.be/4mzVbdNpbeQ?si=BJgq1qXE2qUo4ACs

Turns out they were very prone to being trapped in the La Brea tar pits. Kinda fascinating stuff.

[LegendZilla]

EDGE Science has his new Thanksgiving video out on Pleistocene turkeys in California: https://youtu.be/4mzVbdNpbeQ?si=BJgq1qXE2qUo4ACs

Turns out they were very prone to being trapped in the La Brea tar pits. Kinda fascinating stuff.

An extinct species?

[SoggyNoodles2016]

The Lord of Lizard Eaters is dead. Long live the Lord of Different Lizard.

Added in 15 minutes 50 seconds:
We got Diatryma back tho

[GojiFan1999]

Diplodocus is a great choice! I’ve always had a soft spot for T. rex, though—there’s just something about how it dominates the scene, you know? I love reading up on how it moved and hunted, though I also find it fascinating how peaceful giants like diplodocus were. I’ve read a bit about its long neck and how it could reach high branches, which is pretty cool. What drew you to diplodocus?

[JAGzilla]

Diplodocus is a great choice! I’ve always had a soft spot for T. rex, though—there’s just something about how it dominates the scene, you know? I love reading up on how it moved and hunted, though I also find it fascinating how peaceful giants like diplodocus were. I’ve read a bit about its long neck and how it could reach high branches, which is pretty cool. What drew you to diplodocus?

Diplodocus is a great choice, but I think you're replying to a post from 2013 made by a member who hasn't posted in years.

Sorry to go off topic, but a quick question: what is your favorite Showa entry that doesn't feature any of the Big Five?

[SoggyNoodles2016]

2020s aren't done shaking up giant theropods yet!



Meet Tameryraptor markgrafi, a new 6-8 meter carcharadontosaur from Egypt's Bahariya Formation!

Well...new relatively.

Turns out some of the early material of Carcahardontosaurus, such as the infamous skeleton lost in WWII, were actually this fella!

(Don't worry, unlike my poor "Saurophaganax", Carchar is still valid, he just wasn't hanging in Bahariya.)

[ShinGojira14]

Still not entirely finished comprehending that I lived to see a second species of Tyrannosaurus be officially described and more or less remain valid. Truly an awesome thing to see in my lifetime.


And it still has my mind running wild with excitement about what it could mean. Was T. mcraeensis T. rex’s direct ancestor? Did T. mcraeensis coexist with another species of Tyrannosaurus that was the ancestor of T. rex—or alternatively did it coexist with T. rex itself, and T. rex was more ancient than previously thought? Did they originate from another tyrannosaurid genus—or from an older undiscovered third species of Tyrannosaurus?

So many questions, so much to discover.

[LegendZilla]

2020s aren't done shaking up giant theropods yet!



Meet Tameryraptor markgrafi, a new 6-8 meter carcharadontosaur from Egypt's Bahariya Formation!

Well...new relatively.

Turns out some of the early material of Carcahardontosaurus, such as the infamous skeleton lost in WWII, were actually this fella!

(Don't worry, unlike my poor "Saurophaganax", Carchar is still valid, he just wasn't hanging in Bahariya.)

A Cretaceous Ceratosaurus.

[Gojira18]

Still not entirely finished comprehending that I lived to see a second species of Tyrannosaurus be officially described and more or less remain valid. Truly an awesome thing to see in my lifetime.


And it still has my mind running wild with excitement about what it could mean. Was T. mcraeensis T. rex’s direct ancestor? Did T. mcraeensis coexist with another species of Tyrannosaurus that was the ancestor of T. rex—or alternatively did it coexist with T. rex itself, and T. rex was more ancient than previously thought? Did they originate from another tyrannosaurid genus—or from an older undiscovered third species of Tyrannosaurus?

So many questions, so much to discover.

As it stands, the former is most likely. It lived several million years before T.rex itself (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian) and it's currently suggested T.rex originated from ancestors in southern North America.

[Leviarex]

It seems at least some Plesiosaurs had sea turtle-like scales on their flippers:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... 96dc&ei=32

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

A new genre of Therizinosaurus with only two fingers has just been described.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/24 ... at-leaves/

[JAGzilla]

Mark Witton has a new book specifically about T. rex coming out in May:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Hyhgb9xd6/

That's going to be a must-buy...

[Leviarex]

Colossal Biosciences have genetically resurrected three Dire Wolves (or at least created close approximations of them):

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lif ... ef0a&ei=10