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The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

A site about dinosaurs

Episode 306: Burrowing dinosaur spectacular

Episode 306 is all about Zephyrosaurus, a small, potentially burrowing, dinosaur from what is now Montana.

Big thanks to all our patrons! Your support means so much to us and keeps us going! If you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, join our growing community on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino.

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on Apple Podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

  • Two exceptionally well preserved dinosaurs were found fossilized in what was likely their own burrow source
  • A new marine dig site was found full of Spinosaurus teeth adding support for Spinosaurus as an aquatic hunter source
  • Paleontologist Jingmai O’Connor will become the associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago source
  • There are a couple of campaigns to raise money for Mary Anning’s statue in Lyme Regis source
  • In Thailand, one restaurant is filling up empty seats with dinosaurs to encourage social distancing source
  • A new sci-fi satire comic will feature a fossil fuel company going back in time to prevent dinosaurs from going extinct source
  • “Dinosaur Hunters” is a new 2 hour mashup of action movies and dinosaur movies which presumably features hunting dinosaurs source
  • Frank Marshall, producer of Jurassic World: Dominion, said that Dominion will not be the end of the Jurassic Park franchise source

The dinosaur of the day: Zephyrosaurus

  • Ornithischian that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Montana, US (Cloverly Formation)
  • Estimated to be 5.9 ft (1.8 m) long
  • Small and probably fast
  • Bipedal and herbivorous
  • Had a beak
  • Had bosses on its cheeks (large knob)
  • Had four toes and had five fingers
  • May have burrowed (like Oryctodromeus and Orodromeus)
  • Type species is Zephyrosaurus schaffi
  • Named in 1980 by Hans-Dieter Sues
  • Genus name means “westward wind lizard”
  • Charles R. Schaff found the fossils
  • Partial skull and postcranial skeleton found, including jaw fragments, braincase, vertebrae, and parts of the rib
  • May be closely related to Orodromeus, based on both having bosses on their cheeks
  • Some dino art looks kind of like a kangaroo (shows it jumping)
  • More individuals found in 2003 by Martha Kutter (at least 7 individuals), reported in an abstract for SVP
  • Dinosaur tracks found in 2004 in Maryland and Virginia (Patuxent Formation) named Hypsiloichnus marylandicus (means “trace of a Hypsilophodon from Maryland”) that are thought to be from a dinosaur similar to Zephyrosaurus (or are Zephyrosaurus)
  • Tracks found by Ray Stanford (first saw them in 2001)
  • Tracks show the dinosaur on all fours, with a smaller front foot in front of the larger hind foot (could be resting, eating, or drinking)

Fun Fact: In addition to some non-avian dinosaurs, many modern dinosaurs (birds) burrow instead of nesting in trees.

Episode 261: A New Remarkable Triassic Herrerasaurid

Episode 261 is all about Pelecanimimus, the “pelican mimic” with over 200 teeth.

We also interview with Stuart Sumida, biology professor at California State University, San Bernardino, and an anatomical consultant to special effect artists and animators. He’s worked on over 50 films with many studios (Disney, Pixar, ILM, many more) as well as with games (Blizzard), written books, published numerous scientific articles, and led digs around the world.

Big thanks to all our patrons! Your support means so much to us and keeps us going! If you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, join our growing community on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino.

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on Apple Podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

  • A new remarkable early herrerasaurid, Gnathovorax cabreirai, was found in Brazil source
  • A new set of Oryctodromeus fossils were found in Idaho including at least one new burrow source
  • Crystal Palace dinosaur park in the UK may be getting a new, permanent bridge so visitors can get closer to the dinosaurs source
  • Avengers #26 will show the “first superhero” in the Marvel Universe, a T. rex source

The dinosaur of the day: Pelecanimimus

  • Basal ornithomimosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Spain (Las Hoyas fossil site)
  • Holotype consists of the front half of the skeleton (skull, lower jaws, neck and back vertebrae, ribs, sternum, pectoral girdle, complete right forelimb and most of the left forelimb, as well as soft tissue at the back of the skull, around the neck and front limbs)
  • About 6.6-8.2 ft (2-2.5 m) long
  • Had a long, narrow skull
  • Had wrinkled skin impressions, so probably didn’t have scales or feathers (though not 100% sure)
  • Soft tissue remains found that show there was a small skin or keratin crest on the back of the head, and a throat pouch (gular pouch) similar to what modern pelican’s have
  • Also found specialized tongue bones in the neck
  • May have been like a crane, and waded into lakes or ponds and catching fish and storing them in its skin flap
  • Had hook-like hands, with fingers that were all similar length with straight claws
  • Had the most teeth of ornithomimosaurs (most of them were toothless)
  • Had about 220 small teeth that were heterodont (the ones in front were broad, the ones in back were blade-like, and teeth in the upper jaw were bigger than teeth in the lower jaw)
  • Teeth were unserrated
  • Possibly used teeth for cutting and ripping (could work like a beak, like a slicing effect, according to Pérez-Moreno et al.)
  • Muscle remnants found
  • Gregory Paul suggested Pelecanimimus may have been able to fly or descended recently from an animal that could fly, based on its large sternal plates, which may mean there were muscles for flying
  • Type species is Pelecanimimus polyodon
  • Genus name means “pelican mimic”
  • Species name refers to its many teeth
  • Found in 1993 by Armando Díaz Romeral
  • Described in 1994 by Bernardino Pérez Pérez-Moreno and others
  • Holotype now at the Museo de Cuenca in Spain
  • Other animals in the same time and place included enantiornithines, theropods, sauropods, lizards, salamanders, early mammals, pterosaurs, and crocodylomorphs

Fun Fact: We’ve talked about cursorial animals before, but there are also graviportal & lesser-used mediportal animals.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by Why Dinosaurs? The feature length documentary celebrating dinosaurs and the people who love them, created by father and son team Tony and James Pinto, support them and get perks on Indiegogo.

Episode 256: A new titanosaur from Kenya, footprints on Tyrants Aisle, and teaching evolution through paleoart

Episode 256 is all about Coloradisaurus, a Triassic sauropodomorph known from a nearly complete skull that was found in Argentina.

We also interview Taissa Rodrigues, from the Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo in Brazil. She presented a poster at SVP about teaching evolution using paleoart. She also led a session on women in paleontology and had a student present a poster on a pterosaur. Follow her on twitter @paleotaissa

Big thanks to all our patrons! Your support means so much to us and keeps us going! If you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, join our growing community on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino.

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on Apple Podcasts at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

  • Presentations from the first day of SVP all of the abstracts can be read here: source
    • New dating shows Lythronax argestes is older than previously thought, no longer coinciding with a global sea-level drop
    • There are tons of new sauropod fossil fields in southwest Queensland, Australia, near Eromanga
    • Probable ornithopod, ceratopsid, deinonychosaur, and tyrannosaur tracks were found on a 200ft cliff in Alaska
    • In Alberta, Tyrants Aisle has over 120 tracks likely belonging to Edmontosaurus, a troodontid, Tyrannosaurus, and another theropod
    • CT scans of track slabs shows how dinosaur feet moved through soft sediments
    • Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) is being used to gather evidence of the first aerodynamically significant wings
    • A new track site shows a couple sauropods walking together when a larger sauropod skids to avoid squashing a smaller individual
    • New sauropod finds in Hateg island Transylvania, Romania may be a fourth genus, but isn’t complete enough to get a new name
    • Dinosaurs and crocodiles have hard eggshells that evolved independently
    • A new titanosaur was found in NW Kenya
    • Low melanosome (color pigment producer) diversity may be linked to low metabolism
    • Compacted coarse cancellous bone (CCCB) that is common in burrowing animals was found in the hind limbs of a new Oryctodromeus relative
    • Exceptional fossils don’t necessarily translate to good cellular and molecular preservation
    • New opalized femur fragments from an ornithopod in lightening ridge show that young were born in the area
    • Melanosomes are not enough to determine color. Structure, chemistry, and diet also have a big impact
    • Calcium isotopes from Morocco and Niger support Spinosaurus as a fish-eater
    • More neornithischian finds from south of Melbourne may end with one or two synonymized taxa in the near future
    • New research shows ovarian follicles in an enantiornithine
    • A sauropod footprint was found in a new sauropod bone, adding to the idea of trampling sauropods
    • A dinosaur stampede like trackway was found near Quilpie, QLD, Australia
    • Coprolites can preserve some soft tissue features and other information about temperatures and habitats
    • The name Kamuysaurus is meant to mean that it is the god of Japanese dinosaurs based on its incredibly complete skeleton
    • Deep learning can process CT scans and save time on analyzing images
    • Equisetum, or horse tails, were probably the most nutritious food for young and adult sauropods
    • Birds use their necks in a variety of ways, but they tend to have a lot of traits in common

The dinosaur of the day: Coloradisaurus

  • Massospondylid sauropodomorph that lived in the Late Triassic in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina (Los Colorados Formation)
  • Basal sauropodomorph
  • Considered to be medium-sized
  • Gracile
  • Type species is Coloradisaurus brevis
  • Genus name means “Colorado’s lizard”, and it was named after the Los Colorados Formation, where it was found
  • Originally Jose Bonaparte named it Coloradia in 1978, but it was already assigned to a moth
  • Named in 1983 by David Lambert
  • Holotype includes a nearly complete skull
  • A second specimen was described in 2012 by Cecilia Apaldetti and others (postcranial material, including parts of the vertebral column, pectoral girdle, incomplete forelimb, pelvis, hindlimb)
  • The second specimen was larger than the holotype, and was probably a juvenile
  • Skull has some similarities to plateosaurid skulls, so Coloradisaurus is considered to be a massospondylid that through convergent evolution has some plateosaurid characteristics
  • Also has some similar characteristics to Lufengosaurus, a massospondylid from China (Early Jurassic); we cover Lufengosaurus is episode 159
  • Other dinosaurs that lived in the same time and place include Riojasaurus, Lessemsaurus, and Zupaysaurus

Fun Fact: Wintonotitan, a sauropod from the Winton Formation in Australia, is not a titanosaur.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by Columbia University Press. Get 30% off The Story of Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries: Amazing Fossils and the People Who Found Them by Donald Prothero by using promo code DINO30 at cup.columbia.edu

This Week in Dinosaur News: Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Trailer, Dinosaur Footprints and NASA, Dating Dinosaur Bones, and More

Here’s what came out in this week’s dinosaur news:

Check out these stories, our fun fact, and dinosaur of the day Glacialisaurus in episode 168 of the I Know Dino Podcast!

I Know Dino Podcast Show Notes: Glacialisaurus (Episode 168)

Episode 168 is all about Glacialisaurus, a sauropodomorph from Antarctica whose name means “icy lizard.”

Big thank you to all our patrons! If you like dinosaurs, consider joining our growing community at https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Glacialisaurus

    • Massospondylid sauropodomorph that lived in the Jurassic in what is now Antarctica
    • Fossils were found in the 1990s by Dr. William R. Hammer of Augustana College and a team
    • Found in the lower part of the Hanson Formation, in Mount Kirkpatrick
    • Fossils were found at an elevation of more than 13,000 feet (~4,100 meters)
    • Had to remove the bones from ice and rock, using jackhammers, rock saws, and chisels
    • Known from a partial foot and referred material of a left femur
    • Described in 2007 by Nathan Smith and Diego Pol
    • Type species is Glacialisaurus hammeri
    • Name means “icy lizard” or “frozen lizard”, and refers to the Beardmore Glacier region in the Central Transantarctic Mountains, where the fossils were found
    • Species name is in honor of William Hammer
    • First sauropodomorph found in Antarctica
    • Glacialisaurus shows how early sauropods/sauropodomorphs were distributed (China, South Africa, South America, North America, Antarctica, probably due to connections between continents at the time)
    • Other sauropod fossils have been found in the same formation, which shows that early sauropods and sauropodomorphs co-existed together for a while
    • Herbivorous
    • Estimated to be 20-25 ft long (6-8 m) and weigh 4-6 tons
    • Predators at the time include Cryolophosaurus
    • Its foot is similar to Lufengosaurus (lived in the Early Jurassic in China), which may have been a close relative

Fun Fact:

Birds evolved from dinosaurs, but birds were already established before the K-Pg Mass Extinction.

This episode was brought to you by:

TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs.

And by the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which is located in southern Alberta, Canada. Right now they are exhibiting their free-to-attend Winter speaker series (also on YouTube). More information can be found at tyrrellmuseum.com.

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