Synapsid Notebook

The holotype of Megatherium americanum is a skeleton described in the 18th century and housed in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, where I studied it to prepare this reconstruction. In life, such a giant must have been a sight to behold!

In Australia a King's Skink (Egernia kingii) and a Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) meet - it's our #TwoferTuesday Observation of the Day! Seen by streetmorrisart. More details at: inaturalist.org/observations/2…

For #FossilFriday, another look at Barbourofelis fricki, the most extreme sabertoothed carnivoran. The upper canine in the holotype specimen was broken and reconstructed generously, but if it were a bit shorter, it would fit with hidden sabres in life. We need more fossils!

I've always thought that #echidnas move as if they're being operated by someone who's learning to use a remote-controlled toy car: take a few steps, stop, change direction, stop, repeat. #fieldwork #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidna

After an intensive fight in the #wild, yellow-throated #marten dragging its prey- #leopard_cat; martens are very agile and fearless #predators, while leopard cats are also very ferocious in defense.

very few whales can do a kickflip but also very few skateboarders could eat 40 million krill in one day, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses

Face to face with the Permian. Morning sketches

The mighty Inostrancevia

- Why are #beavers so good at engineering ecosystems? - When did they first start doing it? - Do they really help with floods, droughts, AND wildfires? Get answers to these Q's and more in a new peer-reviewed review article I wrote with @ecohydro_gal! doi.org/10.1146/annure…

New album. OUT NOW on @Bandcamp Songs about Australia's mega-fauna, including a song about a giant, short-faced, walking kangaroo!!!! 🤯 professorflint.bandcamp.com/album/dancing-… #Scienceweek #NationalScienceWeek @Aus_ScienceWeek 😃

Our #MarineMonday Observation of the Day is this predation event captured by kelpadelpian in #Canada: a North American River #Otter (Lontra canadensis) caught a North Pacific Spiny #Dogfish (Squalus suckleyi)! More details at: inaturalist.org/observations/2… #nature #biodiversity

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...available today open access in #PaleoAnthropologyJournal, I and my co-authors (@QueffelecAlain1, @PickeringRobyn) present our detailed rebuttal for the assertion of deliberate burial by Homo naledi. Thread: paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.php/…

#FossilFriday #FossilFridayAtoZ The Early Jurassic tritylodont Kayentatherium @NMNH

My inter-cranial pressure is very high and is causing severe migraines and seizures. I spent the first week of April in the Seizure Clinic at tue University of New Mexico Hospital being monitored. gofund.me/d1f0dce5

Love that the binomial of the nilgai antelope means 'cow deer goat camel'. Really just laying down etymological full auto fire and hoping to hit something at least kinda adjacent to its real phylogeny (cow is at least in the same subfamily).

Hope everyone has been enjoying #2024MMM! @Mammals_Suck invited me to make an updated phylogeny poster of *every* life form that has ever competed in March Mammal Madness! Over 600 species have been in MMM so far. Can you find your favorite? keep.lib.asu.edu/items/191966

And I know what you're thinking- is there a free digital poster download of the full phylogeny of ALL N=641 combatants in the history of the tournament since 2013 created by Albert Chen @albertonykus?!? YES THERE IS!! #2024MMM hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.191…

We heard that the #2024MMM bracket dropped? You know what that means: phylogeny time!

Pakicetus - a very early cetacean - showing an expression of fearful, defensive aggression widely shared among mammals. I'm fascinated by the deep roots of emotions and body language in animals. Much of it is shared between species separated by immense gulfs of evolution.

Look at how similar the hands and feet of the Indri are 🥰🥰🥰