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Doom Comes To Dustpawn has a really cool Id Mutant template. :-)
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It seems I have, though I can't recall what it was at the moment. I'm sure it was an NPC, as I'm the GM All. The. Time.
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I once named a character Allotheria, which, in Dwarven (according to the character), meant small ugly hairy thing that should be dead.
Have you every named a character or based the attributes of a character off something in Paleontology?
Yep...at one point I am pretty sure I had a wizard named Pontolis magnus (which is a really cool fossil walrus I have/am working on)
What makes this particular extinct walrus special?
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What makes this particular extinct walrus special?
it can turn into a truck from the sound of it...
What makes this particular extinct walrus special?
First, it was likely the largest walrus to ever live, and one of the biggest seals ever, probably similar in size to a bull elephant seal. Secondly the skull is constructed much more differently than most fossil walruses, and really superficially reminds me more of a leopard seal than a walrus. Which could imply that this animal may have been far more predatory than many other seals.
Oh, very cool. What epoch was it from?
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Late Miocene of California and Oregon
The Miocene seems to be the height of marine mammal species. Whales were very common, and it seems other marine mammals were fairly prevalent, as well, according to things I've read over the years.
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Not marine paleo related, but I am pleased to report that Toddler Gersen (age 2) has taken to flipping through dinosaur books and matching her plastic dinosaur ("dyzosaur," as she says) toys with the (usually) appropriate pictures -- although the feathered velociraptors in the newer books still throw her off.
When asked her favorite, she'll hold up the correct toy and proudly announce, "Parasaurolophus!" She's also quite fond of Pinacosaurus and Dimetrodon*.
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I knew a guy in college who would argue that because prehistoric animal toys all came in sets of animals from many different geologic periods that they all lived together at the same time. He wasn't coming from a religious angle, just that to him if they were all in the same toy package then they must have lived at the same time. He also thought only bulls have horns when it came to cattle. He was blown away by the fact that heifers had horns, too. I grew up on a farm and he was a pure city kid. He came to visit once and was filled with agricultural wonder.
When asked her favorite, she'll hold up the correct toy and proudly announce, "Parasaurolophus!" She's also quite fond of Pinacosaurus and Dimetrodon*.
Yup. Yup. Yup.
*googles thylacosmilus*
What I don't even
...How did that thing bite? How did it eat?!
Like, anything?
The Miocene seems to be the height of marine mammal species. Whales were very common, and it seems other marine mammals were fairly prevalent, as well, according to things I've read over the years.
The Miocene was a much longer time period than the Holocene-Pleistocene, so some of that is probably due to some time averaging, although their does appear to be a lot more diversity for some groups. This is actually a key aspect of my current research program. What factors drive diversification of different groups? Increased oceanic productivity seems to be the biggest thing that may be responsible for increased productivity in whales
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I knew a guy in college who would argue that because prehistoric animal toys all came in sets of animals from many different geologic periods that they all lived together at the same time. He wasn't coming from a religious angle, just that to him if they were all in the same toy package then they must have lived at the same time. He also thought only bulls have horns when it came to cattle. He was blown away by the fact that heifers had horns, too. I grew up on a farm and he was a pure city kid. He came to visit once and was filled with agricultural wonder.
I had a college roommate (straight 4.0 engineering major) who didn't realize that non-human mammals had separate reproductive/urinary and digestive tract "exits". It's kind of surprising what people do and don't know.
*googles thylacosmilus*
What I don't even
...How did that thing bite? How did it eat?!
Like, anything?
The long canines mostly likely were used to cut the trachea of prey items, after the animal used it's forelimbs and weight to drag the prey down. Seems to have been a very successful mammalian hunting strategy, as we see some variation of it pop up over and over in synapsid (mammals and their ancestors) evolution.
Generally speaking, the shearing of fleshing from the animal and processing of meat was mostly accomplished by the posterior dentition (P4 and molars), which was often quite specialized into large blade-like teeth. As unwieldly as those teeth look, they probably didn't hinder the animal all that much, since they are at the front of the mouth.
*googles thylacosmilus*
What I don't even
...How did that thing bite? How did it eat?!
Like, anything?
The long canines mostly likely were used to cut the trachea of prey items, after the animal used it's forelimbs and weight to drag the prey down. Seems to have been a very successful mammalian hunting strategy, as we see some variation of it pop up over and over in synapsid (mammals and their ancestors) evolution.
Generally speaking, the shearing of fleshing from the animal and processing of meat was mostly accomplished by the posterior dentition (P4 and molars), which was often quite specialized into large blade-like teeth. As unwieldly as those teeth look, they probably didn't hinder the animal all that much, since they are at the front of the mouth.
I'm just trying to imagine the physics of how it A) sunk those canines into anything with its lower jaw and those 'sheathes' in the way, and B) how it got anything to that posterior dentition with those canines in the way. With their long length, it must have rotated its jaws 90+ degrees, or been able to dislocate them...I mean, right?
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I'm just trying to imagine the physics of how it A) sunk those canines into anything with its lower jaw and those 'sheathes' in the way, and B) how it got anything to that posterior dentition with those canines in the way. With their long length, it must have rotated its jaws 90+ degrees, or been able to dislocate them...I mean, right?*googles thylacosmilus*
What I don't even
...How did that thing bite? How did it eat?!
Like, anything?
The long canines mostly likely were used to cut the trachea of prey items, after the animal used it's forelimbs and weight to drag the prey down. Seems to have been a very successful mammalian hunting strategy, as we see some variation of it pop up over and over in synapsid (mammals and their ancestors) evolution.
Generally speaking, the shearing of fleshing from the animal and processing of meat was mostly accomplished by the posterior dentition (P4 and molars), which was often quite specialized into large blade-like teeth. As unwieldly as those teeth look, they probably didn't hinder the animal all that much, since they are at the front of the mouth.
A) IIRC Thylacosmilus did have one of the largest gapes of any carnivorous mammal, so yeah it could really open it's mouth wide.
B) First, the jaw could move somewhat side to side, just like you or any other mammal could do. Secondly chewing on things from the side isn't that difficult. Dogs and other carnivores do it all the time (because again, the canines and (usually) the incisors really are not cut out for that sort of mechanical work. The bony flange that extends down and protects the medial side of the canine doesn't have a deep groove or any other structure that really constrains overall movement.
I mean if you really want to see something boggling, take a look at some male beaked whales. There lower jaw tusks in many species actually wrap around the snout, preventing the opening of the mouth fully and forcing to have to permanently slurp up there food. Compared to beaked whales, Thylacosmilus had it easy.
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I'm just trying to imagine the physics of how it A) sunk those canines into anything with its lower jaw and those 'sheathes' in the way, and B) how it got anything to that posterior dentition with those canines in the way. With their long length, it must have rotated its jaws 90+ degrees, or been able to dislocate them...I mean, right?
From the looks of it, the long canines sit outside the mouth, not inside -- kind of like a boar's tusks (I think those fleshy things are pads, not sheathes). As long as it could shear off bites that would fit between or around them, they wouldn't interfere at all with chewing.
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Well, as improbable as they look, it was a fairly successful method of killing for quite a long time and like Jawa says appears over and over throughout time.
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I had a college roommate (straight 4.0 engineering major) who didn't realize that non-human mammals had separate reproductive/urinary and digestive tract "exits". It's kind of surprising what people do and don't know.
to be fair from an engineering perspective putting a sewage plant next to the entertainment center seems like a really, really bad idea...(with apologies to NDT)
I'm just trying to figure out how it used those things. I mean stabbing might make sense but the chin bones in the way.
I hate to go for the easy answer but was it a male thing to attract females or did both sexes have that?
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seemed like a good place to put this...
to be fair from an engineering perspective putting a sewage plant next to the entertainment center seems like a really, really bad idea...(with apologies to NDT)
I had a college roommate (straight 4.0 engineering major) who didn't realize that non-human mammals had separate reproductive/urinary and digestive tract "exits". It's kind of surprising what people do and don't know.
To be honest, I am the proud owner of Bachelors in both English and Engineering, and this thread is the first time I'm hearing about the non-human mammalian reproductive/urinary separation. I don't recall David Attenborough mentioning that on the Nature specials I loved as a kid, nor from biology class, and somehow it's escaped my attention until this thread. Google isn't being helpful either, so a citation would be appreciated. :)
*shrug*
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Ancestral Mysticete Whale discovered
It's both a vertebrate AND a marine mammal! Two great things that go great together!
I'm just trying to figure out how it used those things. I mean stabbing might make sense but the chin bones in the way.
I hate to go for the easy answer but was it a male thing to attract females or did both sexes have that?
The chin wouldn't really be in the way at all, since they can gape their jaws a pretty good extent. And they probably were only using them after prey had been brought down to the ground, so they could be a bit more careful in their use.
As for sexual dimorphism...I would be really skeptical for Thylacosmilus. Certainly we have ton of saber-toothed cat skulls, and so far no evidence of sexual dimorphism (at least of any significant extent for the purpose of your question) in canine size or morphology.
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to be fair from an engineering perspective putting a sewage plant next to the entertainment center seems like a really, really bad idea...(with apologies to NDT)
I had a college roommate (straight 4.0 engineering major) who didn't realize that non-human mammals had separate reproductive/urinary and digestive tract "exits". It's kind of surprising what people do and don't know.To be honest, I am the proud owner of Bachelors in both English and Engineering, and this thread is the first time I'm hearing about the non-human mammalian reproductive/urinary separation. I don't recall David Attenborough mentioning that on the Nature specials I loved as a kid, nor from biology class, and somehow it's escaped my attention until this thread. Google isn't being helpful either, so a citation would be appreciated. :)
*shrug*
Basically bird, reptiles, and one group of mammals, the monotremes (Platypus and Echidnas) have what is known as a cloaca, which is a common exit for urine and feces.
All other mammals including humans have separate exits for urine and feces. If you head over to a dog park, just watch the different dog behaviors. That is why most male dogs squat while pooping, but then lift there leg to pee on things. Those exits being located in different parts of the body leads to these different elimination strategies.
Of course rereading your response after typing the above, I think you mistook what I said. I did not imply that the urinary system and the Reproductive system had completely different exits (although this is basically true for women). but rather that my friend thought other mammals had one exit for both urinary and digestive. I deliberately wrote urinary/reproductive to "group" those together.
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Ancestral Mysticete Whale discovered
It's both a vertebrate AND a marine mammal! Two great things that go great together!
Yep...I heard about this critter when I first started my postdoc, as my postdoc advisor was on Manuel's PhD committee, and has a copy of his dissertation.
The coolest thing isn't just its age, but the fact that there is evidence this species still had some sort of external hind limbs. If this animal is really a baleen whale ancestor, this would suggest that hind limbs were INDEPENDENTLY LOST in the common ancestors of dolphins and porpoises, and the common ancestor of baleen whales. Which is a pretty incredible IMHO.
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In other news, which I can only this week formally announce, I will in August be taking a tenure track position at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Job security YAY. And money to allow me to continue my expensive Paizo habit!
Congratulations!
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Most complete Nodosaur fossil ever found (it's exciting to me, anyway). Ankylosaurids are my favorite dinosaurs.
When humans have to remove their urine bladder for various reasons, such as bladder cancer, an earlier operation (Coffey) was to connect the ureters to the colon descendens. This turned out to be suboptimal due to a significantly increased risk of cancer in the colon.
damn ninjas...65 million years of defense. That's a hard record to top...
In other news, which I can only this week formally announce, I will in August be taking a tenure track position at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Job security YAY. And money to allow me to continue my expensive Paizo habit!
Just one problem: Wisconsin is rather inconvenient for access to any marine mammal natural habitats.
In other news, which I can only this week formally announce, I will in August be taking a tenure track position at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Job security YAY. And money to allow me to continue my expensive Paizo habit!Just one problem: Wisconsin is rather inconvenient for access to any marine mammal natural habitats.
I did my PhD in Wyoming, so I am used to this problem...
I'm going to doubt that this was already asked on this thread but since I didn't read all of it my apologies if it has.
So what do crabs eat? Specifically the one in the vid below which prompted the question. Thanks. :)
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I'm going to doubt that this was already asked on this thread but since I didn't read all of it my apologies if it has.
So what do crabs eat? Specifically the one in the vid below which prompted the question. Thanks. :)
Well...Crabs are a pretty diverse group, with different species specializing towards different foods. But many crabs are generally opportunistic scavengers and detrivores, basically eating whatever food is available, including smaller critters, dead or dying animals, decaying plant material, animal waste...whatever
So I am sure that covers human junk food as well :)
I'm going to doubt that this was already asked on this thread but since I didn't read all of it my apologies if it has.
So what do crabs eat? Specifically the one in the vid below which prompted the question. Thanks. :)
Well...Crabs are a pretty diverse group, with different species specializing towards different foods. But many crabs are generally opportunistic scavengers and detrivores, basically eating whatever food is available, including smaller critters, dead or dying animals, decaying plant material, animal waste...whatever
So I am sure that covers human junk food as well :)
Cool thanks. :)
In a few of the other vids they are eating noodles, bananas and watermelons. ;)
This also got me thinking the way they eat so exacting and precise that they might be smarter than I would have first thought. I realise this is hard to quantify but how "smart" are crabs generally? Thanks. :)
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Detrivores. I learned a new word today. Thanks, MMCJawa!
I'm going to doubt that this was already asked on this thread but since I didn't read all of it my apologies if it has.
So what do crabs eat? Specifically the one in the vid below which prompted the question. Thanks. :)
Well...Crabs are a pretty diverse group, with different species specializing towards different foods. But many crabs are generally opportunistic scavengers and detrivores, basically eating whatever food is available, including smaller critters, dead or dying animals, decaying plant material, animal waste...whatever
So I am sure that covers human junk food as well :)
Cool thanks. :)
In a few of the other vids they are eating noodles, bananas and watermelons. ;)
This also got me thinking the way they eat so exacting and precise that they might be smarter than I would have first thought. I realise this is hard to quantify but how "smart" are crabs generally? Thanks. :)
A lot of crabs feed on very small food particles they get from the sediment. I don't think the style of eating they have is something indicative of high intelligence, so much as taking one style of feeding and applying it to larger objects.
I don't know much about crustacean intelligence. My sense though is they have pretty typical invertebrate intelligence, and are not as smart as either Jumping Spiders or cephalopods, which I tend to think are on the higher end (with Cephalopods being at the extreme end of the smart scale). But that is a pretty uninformed guess.
Cool Thanks. :)
Last one how long can they survive out of water? :)
Is there a much of a consensus yet on what Pelagiarctos's diet would have been like?
What do you think Ichthyosaurs would have been descended from?
What do you think Deltadromeus's skull likely would have looked like?
What is your favourite prehistoric marine mammal?
Not palaeontology related, but since I'm aware that you're knowledgeable on this subject as well...
What are your favourite obscure mythical creatures?
Do you know of any interesting obscure mythological creatures from Siberia and/or Mongolia? (My weakest world region in that regard.)
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Cool Thanks. :)
Last one how long can they survive out of water? :)
All Crabs have to return to water to breed, and most specifically have to return to marine or brackish water. They also need to stay somewhat moist.
There is a lot of variation in degree of aquatic dependence. Some are entirely aquatic, while some tropical species spend most of there time on land.
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Is there a much of a consensus yet on what Pelagiarctos's diet would have been like?
What do you think Ichthyosaurs would have been descended from?
What do you think Deltadromeus's skull likely would have looked like?
What is your favourite prehistoric marine mammal?Not palaeontology related, but since I'm aware that you're knowledgeable on this subject as well...
What are your favourite obscure mythical creatures?
Do you know of any interesting obscure mythological creatures from Siberia and/or Mongolia? (My weakest world region in that regard.)
Despite all the mentions of Pelagiarctos being a killer walrus, it probably had a pretty typical sea lion like diet of fish and squid. The suggestion of hypercarnivory was based on very little evidence and doesn't really hold up
AFAIK the most recent hypotheses put the ancestor of Ichthyosaurs pretty near the ancestors of Plesiosaurus and placodonts, if earlier diverging. We are really only now getting some good fossil showing the transition
No clue on Deltadromeus...I know what that animal is but not a whole lot about its relationships or morphology
At the moment it's probably a cool little early whale that I just submitted revisions on, that should hopefully be in press by the fall. Stay tuned! Odobenocetops is probably my favorite of the moment however, also for manuscript reasons
Obscure monsters? That's tough. I am always interested in African monsters...given the vast number of cultures on the continent, it surprises me that more of their folklore isn't better known. The different African Ogres are all pretty interesting, some of which have been covered on A Book of Creatures.
I also don't really know much about Siberian/Mongolian monsters, so can't help you much there.
Got any interesting African ogres or other African creatures that haven't been featured on A Book of Creatures or mentioned several dozen times in the Bestiary wish list threads that you'd like to share? I'm always on the look out for more African creatures myself.
What do you think are the most interesting prehistoric sirenians?
Do you think Kolponomos, Thalassocnus, and the Desmostylians more semi-aquatic or fully marine?
Odobenocetops was adorable.
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Got any interesting African ogres or other African creatures that haven't been featured on A Book of Creatures or mentioned several dozen times in the Bestiary wish list threads that you'd like to share? I'm always on the look out for more African creatures myself.
What do you think are the most interesting prehistoric sirenians?
Do you think Kolponomos, Thalassocnus, and the Desmostylians more semi-aquatic or fully marine?
Odobenocetops was adorable.
African Ogres: I'd have to check my big list, which is on a flashdrive not currently plugged in. Will try to check later
For Sirenians, it would probably be Prorastomus and Pezosiren...which are really early species which still had functional limbs. Also the sheer diversity in the past for some regions of the world was pretty amazing, with multiple species living in the same area but all specialized on feeding in different ways and on different vegetation.
Definitely Semi-aquatic for all taxa you have described. Kolponomos was probably about as aquatic as a modern otter, and Thalassocnus was maybe closest to a marine iguana? Desmostylians were probably the most aquatic of those three, but they still could probably come ashore, although I suppose how much exactly is not too well known.
So... real-world Africa is largely bereft of extant wolf/Canis lupus specimens. Digging around, I can't seem to confirm that Golarion's Garund is similarly nearly wolf-free, but that's fine. My question: If I was to stick a version of the African golden wolf in limited spots in Garund, do you have any off-the-top-of-your-cranium suggestions on morphological/physiological and/or behavioral changes to such a wolf?
Edit: Also, thanks for this thread.
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(and remember, I'm an armchair paleontologist)
{imagines herds of wild armchairs thundering across the plains in Holocene North America}
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It truly was a grand sight to behold; the delicate wing back chairs and the mighty La-Z-Boy recliners in their untold numbers.