What Even Is An Archosaur

Ryan, 26, Geoscientist & Vertebrate Paleontologist. Currently working on late Triassic Rock in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona USA.

[herpsandbirds]

American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) swimming in a freshwater spring, family Alligatoridae, Florida, USA

photograph by Shelly Collins

[beammeupplease]

Victor Adame Minguez

[romigodon]

Don’t talk to me or my amalgamated channel beds ever again

[fractiousrvt]

Watching the new netflix dinosaur series and I am Unimpressed 5 minutes in. Super cliche and contrived already :/

[fractiousrvt]

"This is the story of the dinosaurs as never been told before"

...nah, this has definitely been told before

[fractiousrvt]

He is going to RISK (?????) HIS LIFE running through a HERD OF MODERATELY LARGER DINOSAURS in order to PROTECT HIS LEGACY

And I'm like "if he's stupid enough to have directly run into the leg of a sauropod it's better that he not breed"

I also called the rival getting eaten about 15 seconds before it happened.

Everything is LEGACY, LINEAGE blah blah blah...

[maple-altispinax23]

Woah… octopus…

Nanaimoteuthis haggarti

Eocarcharia dinops

Dibango volans

Conuropsis fratercula

Bos acutifrons

[weepingwidar]

John Brosio (American, 1967) - Two Earthlings (2003)

[teatimejess]

Triassic phytosaur!

[fairycosmos]

the way the dinosaurs were here for like 180 million years and we're just like ughhh rip to the monsters. now onto the main story of planet earth humanity. btw we're 3 seconds old

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Tyler here is talking about comments regarding the new Muttaburrasaurus skull paper that greatly improves our understanding of the material.

Specifically it's about this reconstruction:

While I think that person had a shit take I also think it reveals a fascinating aspect of paleoart that many people aren't conscious about: we use art to legitimize science, something that is probably unique to paleontology. A piece of paleoart can change radically how the results of a paper are perceived. I have seen several time now papers raising eyebrows and starting debates, mostly because the artwork that came with it wasn't convincing or challenged preconceived notions without offering a satisfying alternative.

I noticed that a few times with myself, with discoveries challenging how I imagined certain critters. In these cases I often times doodled my way back into liking it, basically convincing myself with aesthetics. I don't bring this up to condemn this behavior. It's more of an observation that we can use in our favor. Being aware of it is half the battle. To better communicate and to better self check. Once again I recommend this little book for people more interested in the subject:

[romigodon]

Nobody talk to me. Giant octopus forever.

Science | AAAS

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Birds are basically the dinosaurs that managed to “nooo you wouldn’t hurt a cute little baby guy on his birthday” their way out of a mass extinction

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Alternatively, birds:

(Asteriornis art by Phillip Krzeminski)

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

[sorryitssmudged]

New dinosaur just dropped: Ptychotherates bucculentus! Described from a smashed skull from the late Triassic 210-205 Mya.

[femmenietzsche]

YouGov doing the Lord's work yet again

[lukewarmbreadatamoderatepace]

Which of the following is your favorite dinosaur?

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Brontosaurus

Triceratops

Pterodactyl

Velociraptor

Stegosaurus

Brachiosaurus

Other

I don't have a favorite

Voting ended onApr 23

*We know pterodactyls and plesiosaurs aren't dinosaurs

[petrock-rambles]

I once had an encounter with the ghost of an Orthinomimus while I was feverish and probably hallucinating, so I would be in remiss if I picked anything else.

[romigodon]

I did an 8 year study on this and presented and published the results, can confirm with T. rex.

[gremnaghi]

wormbs

[cutecipher]

science has always been political. what gets studied. what doesnt. who gets to do the studying. on and on and on.

[cutecipher]

scientists on this post: yuuuup 👍

people who aren't scientists: um actually ☝️

[romigodon]

Just another weekend at the Apache Canyon Resort & Spa in beautiful Costa Rica, New Mexico.

Beer for scale.

[389]

An artist’s concept of a juvenile Edmontosaurus disappearing into the lipped mouth of Tyrannosaurus

Mark P. Witton