Something is FISHY 🐟 around here...and it's our latest episode with Dr. Kerin Claeson! Learn how Disney World inspired her to become a paleontologist, what causes salmon to change so drastically during spawning, and so much MORE. 🔊 Listen to Episode #90 now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Episode #90 is out 🎉! Ray shares morning coffee ☕️ in Ketchikan with Dr. Karin Claeson, exploring fish evolution 🐟, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time. 🔊 Listen now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

We LOVE 💕 Ray's depiction of Oncorhynchus rastrosus, the giant spike toothed salmon, created for their 2024 scientific paper. [THREAD ⬇️]

Listen to this if you like fish. Listen to this if you don't like fish! Really cool interview with my fishy friend Kerin Claeson. You'll learn a lot.

Would you believe within mere WEEKS 🗓, the skull of a Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) will DRASTICALLY change morphology, or shape? [THREAD ⬇️]

Episode #90 is out 🎉! Ray shares morning coffee ☕️ in Ketchikan with Dr. Karin Claeson, exploring fish evolution 🐟, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time. 🔊 Listen now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Like fossils 🦕? Want to learn more about fossils from fellow paleonerds, leading paleontologists ⛏️, geoscientists, paleoartists, paleoecologists, and other experts in their fields? Share our podcast with a fossil-loving friend today! 🔗 www.paleonerds.com

Are you familiar with Rudolph Zallinger's magnificent "Age of Reptiles" mural? This 110 ft long fresco mural 🎨🖌 was completed by Zallinger in 1947 for the Yale Peabody Museum after five years of work. [THREAD ⬇️]

Be a brachiopod this Labor Day weekend! RELAX and let the food 🍔🌭 come to YOU! Brachiopods have a built-in filter called a lophophore (LOW-fo-four). Tiny tentacles covered in super-fine hairs called cilia whip up the water, pulling in food like a vacuum cleaner. [THREAD ⬇️]

What's the difference between clams 🦪 and brachiopods? At first glance, brachiopods might trick you into thinking they're clams or mussels—but don’t be fooled! Listen to this week's episode with Dr. Susan Butts to learn more: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa... Figure from University of Kentucky.

Did you know 💡 that brachiopods are an important food source? One genus, Lingula, are collected by local people for consumption in Southeast Asia and some Pacific islands including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand 🍴. 🔊 Listen to our latest episode #89: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

SHELL'O, paleonerds! Episode #89 just dropped and it will make you as happy as a...brachiopod 🦪!? Ray and Dave learn all about brachiopods with Susan Butts, Director of Collections and Research at the famous Yale Peabody Museum. 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

🎉 Happy #FossilFriday! 🎉 This week's guest, Dr. Susan Butts, tells us why brachiopod paleocommunities are fascinating for what they tell us about ancient marine environments 🌊 and about global climate change 🌎 throughout geologic history. Listen to episode #89: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

We're ✨️SO✨️ into brachiopods right now! Listen to our latest episode about these awesome invertebrates: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!

What's the difference between clams 🦪 and brachiopods? At first glance, brachiopods might trick you into thinking they're clams or mussels—but don’t be fooled! Listen to this week's episode with Dr. Susan Butts to learn more: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa... Figure from University of Kentucky.

It’s finally out! Our work addressing the origins of reptiles is published in PCJ! peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.... We use novel info gleaned from the scan data of dozens of stem reptiles to substantially revise our understanding of early reptile evolution #paleontology #herpetology

SHELL'O, paleonerds! Episode #89 just dropped and it will make you as happy as a...brachiopod 🦪!? Ray and Dave learn all about brachiopods with Susan Butts, Director of Collections and Research at the famous Yale Peabody Museum. 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

What time period would Dr. John Scannella travel back to ⏳️🚔, and which animal would he want to see? Triceratops in the Late Cretaceous, of course! Triceratops had massive horns—but what was the purpose of their large frill? ⬇️

Working with fossils can feel like you're walking on eggshells 🥚—and sometimes, you are! Dr. John Scannella holds 76-million-year-old dino eggshell at Egg Mountain - declared an International Geoheritage Site in 2025. 🔊 Listen now to learn more! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/john...

Eggs 🥚, embryos, and…dinosaur poop 💩? Near Choteau, Montana, the Two Medicine Formation, a 76 million year old snapshot of time, preserves more than just eggs: it also preserves COPROLITE, or fossil poop! Learn more in our latest episode with Dr. John Scannella: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/john...

Dr. John Scannella is a true paleo nerd! At just three years old, he loved dinosaurs so much that he once ran up and tried to hug 🫂 them at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. [⬇️THREAD]

🚨 NEW! Episode #88 is out! 🚨 Dr. John Scannella, the John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology at @museumoftherockies.bsky.social, discusses the famous Egg Mountain area—the world’s first 🏆 site where dinosaur embryos were discovered! 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/john...

🚨 NEW! Episode #88 is out! 🚨 Dr. John Scannella, the John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology at @museumoftherockies.bsky.social, discusses the famous Egg Mountain area—the world’s first 🏆 site where dinosaur embryos were discovered! 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/john...

🚨 Word of the Day: Tenaculum! One of the most bizarre and fascinating features of the male ratfish is the tenaculum—a retractable, rod-like appendage that juts from its forehead like a sci-fi weapon. [THREAD] ⬇️

What was this weird, rigid, toothy appendage in Akmonistion used for? This artwork 🎨 by Ray Troll depicts the 'Anvil Shark', Akmonistion zangerli, a Stethacanthid ghost shark that lived in the Early Carboniferous in Scotland. 🔊 Learn more from Dr. Michael Coates: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

🎉 Happy #FossilFriday! Episode #87 is here! 🎉 Explore fossil fish 🦈 and the deep origins of vertebrate life with Dr. Michael Coates, Vertebrate Paleontologist and Chair of Organismal Biology and Anatomy Professor at the University of Chicago. 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

Ray's "family 🌳 tree" depicts the cartilaginous fishes 🦈 (Condrichthyans). Dr. Mike Coates studies the origins of these vertebrates. Ray is fairly certain that Mike would suggest some changes to this tree based on his latest findings! 🔊 Listen now to Episode #87! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

You had me at HELODUS 💕. Top 📸: Ray's drawing of Helodus, a toothy Carboniferous ghost shark. Bottom 📸: A beautifully preserved Helodus skull as revealed by a high resolution CT scan by the Michael Coates lab. 🔊 Listen now to Episode #87 with Dr. Michael Coates: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

🎉 Happy #FossilFriday! Episode #87 is here! 🎉 Explore fossil fish 🦈 and the deep origins of vertebrate life with Dr. Michael Coates, Vertebrate Paleontologist and Chair of Organismal Biology and Anatomy Professor at the University of Chicago. 🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

Fun #JurassicPark fact from this week's guest, paleoartist Mark Hallett: Spielberg originally wanted to take his own chickens 🐓🐓🐓, outfit them with prosthetic dinosaur suits, and release them en-masse as a flock of Compsognathus 😂! 🔊 Listen to episode #86 now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Fun #JurassicPark fact from this week's guest, paleoartist Mark Hallett: Spielberg originally wanted to take his own chickens 🐓🐓🐓, outfit them with prosthetic dinosaur suits, and release them en-masse as a flock of Compsognathus 😂! 🔊 Listen to episode #86 now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Right? 😂😂😂

Calling all #JurassicPark fans! 📣 This week's guest, paleoartist Mark Hallett, provided an exclusive ✨️never before seen✨️ piece of Jurassic Park concept art for the famous T.rex 🦖 attack scene! 🔊 Listen to episode #86 and view more of Mark's art on our website: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Calling all #JurassicPark fans! 📣 This week's guest, paleoartist Mark Hallett, provided an exclusive ✨️never before seen✨️ piece of Jurassic Park concept art for the famous T.rex 🦖 attack scene! 🔊 Listen to episode #86 and view more of Mark's art on our website: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Like #JurassicPark? We've got an ✨️exclusive, never before seen surprise✨️ for you from the film 🎬 that we will reveal tomorrow. Watch this space and TAG your JP-loving friends below!

We love @nataliajagielska.bsky.social's paleoart! 🎉🎉🎉

Like #JurassicPark? We've got an ✨️exclusive, never before seen surprise✨️ for you from the film 🎬 that we will reveal tomorrow. Watch this space and TAG your JP-loving friends below!

We will never truly know what dinosaurs looked like - WOW 😲

Happy Pride Month, everyone!!! #Pride #Pride2025 #lgbt #lgbtqia+ #trans #paleoart #paleontology

NEW! Episode #86 is out! Listen to Painting Prehistoric Worlds 🎨 and Dinosaur Dreams ☁️ with the extraordinary, legendary, one and only paleoartist Mark Hallett. Ready, set, go! 🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Mark Hallett's visits to NHMLA 🏛 as a child had a major impact on his life. Later in life, Mark illustrated several pieces for the NHMLA/La Brea Tar Pits museums, including this stunning piece from the mural titled, "Trapped in Time". 🔊 Listen to episode #86 now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

At just 5 years old, Mark Hallett’s Aunt encouraged him to walk up the stairs to NHMLA with his uncomfortable prosthetic leg. He says, “unless I summoned the gumption to go to the steps, I would never see the ✨️wonderful✨️ things I knew were there.” 🔊 Listen now: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Paleoartist 🎨 Mark Hallett became obsessed with dinosaurs 🦕 when he was told by his father at 5 years old - sadly - that dinosaurs were extinct 😭. This news caused Mark's imagination to run wild and created the paleo art we all love. 🔊 Listen to episode #86 now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

NEW! Episode #86 is out! Listen to Painting Prehistoric Worlds 🎨 and Dinosaur Dreams ☁️ with the extraordinary, legendary, one and only paleoartist Mark Hallett. Ready, set, go! 🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mark...

Happy 🎉 #FossilFriday 🎉! This paleo nerd started young! Advait Jukar, age 6, is pictured here at the Natural History Museum in London with fossil elephants 🐘, including the skull of Stegodon ganesa that he would later study. Episode #85 is out now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/adva...

He's a paleo nerd for elephants! Advait Jukar fell in love 💕 with elephants 🐘 as a young child and is now studying them! Did you know: 🐘 Elephants evolved in Africa? 🐘 Tusks are incisors? 🐘 Hyrax are cousins of elephants? Learn more in episode #85: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/adva...

NEW! In episode #85, Ray and Dave explore the history of all things Elephantidae 🐘❗️with Advait Jukar @amjukar.bsky.social delving into their shovels, tusks, and trunks. Listen to episode #85 now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/adva... Learn about Advait Jukar: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/people/advai...

Hey, paleo nerds! Rocks rock! In episode #84, Ray and Dave go rock 🪨 hunting through the eons with Marcia Bjornerud, a structural geologist, author, and Professor of Geosciences at Lawrence University, Wi. Listen to episode #84 now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/marc...