The first pterosaur to be scientifically identified was Pterodactylus, more than 200 years ago. Since then, scientists have grappled with understanding these bizarre and fantastic animals, aided by inspired science and incredible discoveries. In this episode, we’ll discuss what we know – and what we don’t know – about how these animals evolved, survived, and ruled the skies in the Age of Reptiles.
In the news: cassowary evolution, the oldest scorpions, sea floor taphonomy, and Neanderthal shells.
Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:08:30
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:38:30
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:22:00
Patron question: 02:10:00
We’ve donated our December 2019 Patreon earnings to WIRES to help with wildlife recovery in Australia. Learn more here: https://www.wires.org.au/
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.
More music like this at http://ocremix.org.
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Spook-E - Mandrakes
Episode 124 - Snowball Earth
Spook-E - Animated Trees
Spook-E - People-Eating Plants
Episode 123 - Spiders
Episode 122 - Plate Tectonics
Episode 121 - Brains
Episode 120 – Tyrannosaurs
Episode 119 - India
Episode 118 - Trace Fossils
Episode 117 - Crabs and Carcinization
Episode 116 - Ichthyosaurs
Silver Screen Science - Anaconda (1997)
Silver Screen Science - Lake Placid (1999)
Episode 115 - Biomes
Episode 114 - Polar Life
Episode 113 - Paleoclimate
Episode 112 - Caves
Episode 111 - Eusociality
Silver Screen Science – Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
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