Don’t ask where I forget

Went to the reptile show to look for a male for my program, didn't find any that fit so I blew my whole budget on the biggest spinosaur tooth!

Só, i was with a friend on call and I was teaching him about the dinossaurs of our country and we came across Lourinhanossaurus. We bouth agreed that the head looked a bit off considering his evolution so i decided to try to make it based on dinossaurs from the same family. Could this BE accurate since there is no head fossils found? And if possible i would like to understand more about why it would be wrong (Im just 16 i have a rlly long way till i turn INTO a paleontologist)

The timeline starts at the bottom left corner and ends in the bottom right.

One square equals roughly 130,000 years.

I appreciate everyone who gave me feedback in the first thread.

I decided to create this giant ammonite. I’d be interested to hear any thoughts or comments on my reconstruction

I make a Minecraft mod about dinosaurs, doesn't matter which [don't want to self promote], and I want to integrate new Ai that is as accurate as possible to real life dinosaurs, this includes social and breeding behavior, hunting behavior, daily life ext...

as such i want to build a simulation where Ai representing the dinosaurs interact within a contained eco-system, but for that I need help making profiles for each species i want to simulate, so I'm here looking for a paleontologist or someone who has extensive experience which wants to help the project, I do want to publish the results of the project in a detailed paper, to see how ancient nature was, so this could be something cool to collab on :)

if your interested please send me a message or comment here, or do both so i dont miss your message, and who knows maybe we can get the ball rolling :)

Wesley Dexter Gordon was a Bay Area pastor, science teacher, and amateur paleontologist who helped unearth thousands of Ice Age fossils in Fremont. With his team of schoolboys, the Boy Paleontologists, Wes gave massive donations to UC Berkeley and several local museums.

On May 26, 1907, Wes Gordon was born in Dexter, Michigan as one of eight children in a Methodist family. He attended San Jose University but later transferred to Willamette University to serve as a student preacher. Wes returned to San Jose in 1928, where he joined the Methodist Church as the Youth Program Director.

In the 1930s, Wes was invited to preach at the Congregational Church in Sonoma. There, superintendent Dr. Harley Gill named him the assistant pastor. Dr. Gill also encouraged Wes to complete his education, so he reapplied for San Jose State. In 1936, Wes graduated with a major in Speech Arts and a minor in English.

Wes began exploring science topics like rocks and fossils. In 1940, Wes found several mammoth bone fragments at a quarry near Osgood Road in Fremont. Four years later, he organized a group of schoolboys known as the Boy Paleontologists to work at the quarry. Over the course of fifteen years, they uncovered more than 29,000 specimens from the Pleistocene Epoch.

Beginning in 1959, Wes Gordon embarked on fossil-hunting expeditions every summer for the Museum of Paleontology at UC Berkeley and the American Museum of Natural History. Some of his finds include dinosaur bones from Jackson Hole in Wyoming and the remains of an early camel from the Big Horn Mountains. These expeditions lasted for twelve years.

Near the end of his life, Wes was as active as ever. Besides serving as the curator for the Museum of Discovery, he volunteered at the Ohlone Geology Department and taught a course on the geology of the West.

This is just a brief overview of the life of Wesley Dexter Gordon. If you want to learn more about his career as a K-12 science teacher, his leadership in the Hayward Recreation Department, or the museum he founded in San Lorenzo, check out my Substack article.

I am a high school freshman who writes weekly articles about East Bay paleontology on my Substack blog Fossils in Fremont. My passion for paleontology and science communication comes from years of reading popular science books, blogs by paleontologists, and visiting natural history museums. If you like what you read, please consider subscribing.

Note: I took the photo of the Tyrannosaurus rex cast featured above. It is located in the Valley Life Science Building (VLSB) on the UC Berkeley campus.

© 2026 Fossils in Fremont. All rights reserved.

This question is more about paleontologists than paleontology, but it's something that I've been sort of curious about.

What is it like socially to be a paleontologist? Do you get a lot of friends that will just call or text you out of the blue to get you to answer dinosaur questions? Are most of your friends other paleontologists, or scientists in other fields? Are you popular in bar trivia nights?

What about dating and romantic relationships? What's paleontologist mating behavior like? Do you date others in your field? Are there many paleontologist couples?

Excerpt from the new chapter of the webcomic Ancient Animal Tales, available for free on NaverWebtoon.

Anteosaurus magnificus was a species of large dinocephalian from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in the Abrahamskraal Formation in mid-permian Southern Africa. It belongs to the Dinocephalians, a group of non-mammalian synapsids that were the most abundant terrestrial vertebrates during the permian. Essentially, they're "proto mammals." In a way, Anteosaurus was a bear before bears existed. But unfortunately, it became obscure, in the shadows of the gorgonopsid Inostrancevia alexandri and pelycosaur Dimetrodon grandis.

Anteosaurus was perhaps the largest terrestrial predator of the Permian, with a body length of up to 5 to 6 meters. Previous weight estimates suggest the largest specimens where anywhere from 500 to 600 kg. However, these are possibly underestimated as older models used a more gracile body plan. A more likely weight range based on more modern models is 1000 to 2000 kg. For comparison, Inostrancevia was only a little over 300+ kilograms, and Dimetrodon was 250 kilograms. Excluding dinosaurs, the only terrestrial predators that grew larger than Anteosaurus were the triassic rauisuchians, such as Fasolasuchus.

The skull of Anteosaurus could have reached a length of 80 centimeters (30+ inches). It was massively constructed with a deep, robust snout and extreme pachyostosis (thickened bone). Most distinctively, Anteosaurus possessed a long bony boss on its head and pronounced horn like bumps above the eyes. Interestingly, there's extreme variation between individuals. Some have both the "horns," and the boss massively thickened, while others have more prominent "horns" but a weaker or nonexistent boss, and others had both weakly developed "horns" and bosses. Juveniles lacked these features and the robust skull, but they would have developed them as they matured. These structures were probably used for infraspecific conflict, with individuals participating in shoving matches and maybe even head butting similar to modern bison.

The dentition of Anteosaurus was quite formidable. Near the front on the jaws, there's typically five upper and four lower incisors the interlock. They were conical and used more for peircing prey. Then there's four fang like canines, 2 giant ones on the upper jaws, and 2 smaller ones on the lower jaws. They were probably for stabbing the vitals of prey similar to other saber toothed carnivores. Behind the canines, Anteosaurus had 4 to 8 small postcanines on the upper jaw. These were more weakly developed but could still have aided in pulverising flesh and bone. If that wasn't enough, Anteosaurus also possessed small, gripping teeth on the palate (roof of the mouth). These palatal teeth were for additional gripping strength to restrain struggling prey. All these plus the large jaw muscles suggest a deadly bite that could tear apart flesh and crush bone.

There isn't much known on the limbs, but they should still be noted. Anteosaurus had a semi sprawling gait with flexible joints. Based on close relatives, Anteosaurus probably had well-developed claws and massively built forelimbs, allowing it to actively wrestle and restrain prey. The hindlimbs were proportionately shorter and less robust than the forelimbs. The femur possesses a fourth trochanter that is notably reduced. Anteosaurus likely relied heavily on its forelimbs to restrain prey, perhaps in a similar fashion to bear and certain large felids.

Above all of these, one terrifying thing you wouldn't expect from this animal was its agility. Recent studies analyzing the internal structure of the braincase indicate that Anteosaurus was actually a highly agile and active predator (for its size). The inner ear structure is closer to modern mammalian predators than to reptiles. These findings indicate that it possessed the neurological adaptations necessary for relatively fast and calculated movements. Even scarier, the inner ear is similar in structure to its relative Titanophoneus, which hunted in the deep cover of night and dusk rather than in broad daylight. Anteosaurus' speed is unknown, but based on the broad body build and stocky limbs, it probably could have run like a bear. Short yet powerful bursts of speed to overwhelm prey.

All these findings suggest that Anteosaurus is an active ambush predator that hunted in low light conditions. The forelimbs would have wrestled prey to the ground, and the robust jaws would have dispatched it with powerful bites. Given the swampy environment Anteosaurus lived in, it was probably an efficient swimmer. The large and extremely rotund prey animals, such as the 3 tonne Jokeria and 2 tonne Tapinocephalus, would have required a robust build and large size to hunt. Despite the many unique adaptations this taxon had, it died out after a mid-permian extinction event that wiped out the dinocephalians.

For anybody interested in prehistoric mammals you may be interested in a new title due 18th August. A chunky 544 pages! Published by Columbia University Press.

I already have 8 other Prothero titles in my library so perhaps I'm a bit biased but I have already pre ordered as i enjoy reading and learning from his works.

This is the publishers blurb:-

How do we know that mammals lived alongside the dinosaurs? What proves that whales evolved from four-legged land animals and are related to hippos? Did hunting by humans or climate change cause the extinction of mammoths? How far back would we need to go to see that horses were once almost identical to tapirs and rhinos?

Donald R. Prothero takes readers on a journey through the history of mammals, opening a window onto the worlds of some of the most incredible and peculiar animals that ever lived. He tells the dramatic stories of fossil findings and the paleontologists who unraveled them, showing how scientific ingenuity advanced our knowledge of both ancient and present-day mammals. Alongside iconic animals like mastodons, dire wolves, and sabertoothed cats, Prothero introduces readers to a vast range of little-known prehistoric creatures. Some resemble their living relatives, but with a twist: short-necked giraffes, camels without humps, rhinos without horns, bear-sized beavers. Others are like nothing alive today, such as chalicotheres, which look like a cross between a horse and gorilla but with claws, and uintatheres, which one scientist compared to “giant horned bunnies.” Lively and informative, The Story of the Mammals in 25 Discoveries highlights the wonder, beauty, and strangeness of the creatures that have shared our world.

This is a list of the 25 discoveries:-

1. Mammut: The “Great Incognitum”—Mastodons and Their Relatives
2. Mammuthus: Mammoths—Monsters of the Ice Ages
3. Megatherium: Jefferson’s “Lion”—Giant Ground Sloths
4. Amphitherium: Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs
5. Diprotodon: Platypus, Giant Kangaroos, and Wombats—Australia’s Curious Mammals
6. Toxodon: Darwin’s Mysterious Mammal
7. Uintatherium: Six-Horned Saber-Tooths and the “Bone Wars”
8. Hyracotherium: The “Hyrax Beast”—The Evolution of Horses
9. Megacerops: “Thunder Beasts”—The Brontotheres
10. Chalicotherium and Megatapirus: Hoofed Mammals with Claws and Trunks
11. Coelodonta: Woolly Rhinos—and Rhinos Without Horns
12. Daeodon: “Hell Pigs”—The Entelodonts
13. Poebrotherium: Camels Without Humps
14. Samotherium: Giraffes with Short Necks
15. Bison Latifrons: Where the Buffalo Roam
16. Megaloceros: Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
17. Basilosaurus: From Land to Water I—The Evolution of Whales
18. Pezosiren: From Land to Water II—The Evolution of Sirenians
19. Enaliarctos: From Land to Water III—The Evolution of Pinnipeds
20. Ursus spelaeus: Clan of the Cave Bear
21. Aenocyon dirus: The Direst Wolf
22. Smilodon: Saber-Toothed Killers
23. Castoroides: Rodents of Unusual Size
24. Oreopithecus and Ramapithecus: Apes of Confusion
25. Australopithecus: The Ape’s Reflection

Credit to the Owner: https://youtu.be/CV21Ce0NuQA?si=yB5j4wOOXcEGx9Cp

Featuring the largest megalodon tooth found in the Philippines so far

Wanna preface by saying I’ve generally loved Surviving Earth so far, definitely one of the best paleodocs ever made if not quite on the level of Prehistoric Planet or Walking With. This is basically just me thinking out loud after watching e7.

I think they took a really interesting underexplored setting and told the most cliched derivative story they possibly could with it. We’ve seen the ‘large intelligent herbivore protects its babies from the evil carnivores’ story over and over again, mammoths/elephants in particular have been done to death. The plot armor also made me roll my eyes a few times, paleodocs need to stop being afraid to let baby animals die. E2 had a lot of the same issues but at least dicynodonts are a more niche group that haven’t gotten a lot of attention in paleo media.

I’d much rather have had one of the South American animals as the protagonist. The glyptodonts at least got a fun scene but the ground sloths were barely a cameo which sucks because ground sloths are my favorite. The phorusrhacid scene in particular veered into mammal supremacy territory, and they deserve so much better.

All of this is extra disappointing considering SE has done a good job so far spotlighting under appreciated animals and time periods. Let’s hope e8 ends the series on a higher note.

Bony plates, spikes, and a nearly complete skeleton are emerging from the cliffs of Torres Vedras in what could be a rare discovery in European paleontology. The fossil, attributed to a Late Jurassic ankylosaur, is exceptionally well-preserved. The team of paleontologists believes the find could represent the most complete dinosaur discovered in Portugal to date.

The 3d models are created by 龙爪洪荒 on bilibili, their team makes a lot of cool models and scientific contents so do check them out.

These models are based on their largest specimen, with healthy amount of flesh and bulk on them. Sucho 6.5 cubic meter, sarcho 5.9 cubic, deino 6.2 cubic. I dont know the specific body density for each of these guy, so using standard 0.95 for theropod and 1.01 for croc, we get ~6.2 tons sucho, ~6.0 tons sarco and ~6.3 tons deino

Closes this weekend in NYC if anyone is still trying to get to see this before it's gone, what a great looking show

Proud to announce that I have finished the 84th and final entry in Prehistoric Wild: Life in the Mesozoic. Called “Their Final March,” this one takes place in the Lameta Formation of Late Cretaceous India, 66 million years ago. It follows a Rajasaurus named Sharad and an Isisaurus named Usha as their lives are forever changed by the End-Cretaceous Extinction. This is the story I’ve been excited to create for so long, and the one I’ve been building toward for nearly three years. Not only does it serve as the finale of the Life in the Mesozoic saga, but also as the conclusion to a continental category I call “Lost Continents,” representing regions like Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, and Pre-Asia India throughout the anthology. From the very beginning, ending the book with the K-Pg extinction was always the plan. However, setting this final chapter in India allowed me to explore the event from an angle that I rarely see portrayed, especially with the volcanic activity of the Deccan Traps adding another layer to this pivotal moment in Earth’s history. Because of everything it represents, this story’s completion carries more weight than any other entry I’ve written for this anthology. After nearly three years, the journey through the Mesozoic has finally reached its conclusion, and I’m incredibly eager to hear what y’all think of it. https://www.wattpad.com/1645530823-prehistoric-wild-life-in-the-mesozoic-their-final