In this video, I briefly touch on the size limitations of the Avian dinosaurs that survived the K-Pg event and then discuss Antarctolestes Terminus, the lone surviving Non-Avian Theropod of this speculative evolution project.
Yes! I should probably make a short video before the video on the surviving Ornithiscians video. This project will follow the evolution of the 3 clades of surviving non-Avian dinosaurs as they spread out from their refuge in Antarctica into South America and Australia.
Antarctolestese and it's descendants will spred and speciate in South America, Antarctica, and Australia with time, but it is the only non-avian theropod that survived the K-PG.
Link to Puijila's project: www.deviantart.com/puijila/art/Megistornithids-981684153 Paper on the Troodontid teeth that have become more suited for eating plants www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app55/app20090047.pdf Paper on factors limiting the size of birds, including the pygostyle www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3843728/ Paper on the diversity of Enantiornithine birds that demonstrated that while they were very diverse in diet, many analogous animals like the enantiornithine Parabohaiornis and the modern Sandgrouse differed in that the unguals of Parabohaiornis indicate it was an arboreal animal. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.18.549506v1.full
This is a really intriguing concept and a great first episode can't wait to see more of the surviving non-avian dinosaurs can't wait to the other survivors
Whenever i see a *Spec Evo* that includes birds i always imagine *SERINA: THE WORLD OF BIRDS* it's a spec Evo about finches & fish guppies left alone on a lush planet and left to evolve into different forms over millions of years.
I think that the Smaller *PARROTS* 🦜 alive today have a better chance of surviving millions of years into the future because of their complex diets and adaptablity.
I think another reason they didn't get as big is due to competition with mammals as species like terror birds went extinct after direct competition with big cats when the American continents connected. so I think in a world where mammals didn't exist and birds didn't have direct competition they could have grown the opportunity to grow bigger then in our timeline
The large South American Phorusrhacids had already been long extinct by the time that Carnivorans arrived in South America during the GABI. The late surviving South American Phorusrhacids like Psilopterus were already the size of a Turkey. The last of the giant terror birds, Titanis, lived side by side with big cats in North America for millions of years after its South American cousins had gone extinct. There's not real evidence that big cats out competed them instead their habitat vanished and they were too specialized to continue.
To add on, a species of Smilodon did overlap in temporal range with Titanis. However, it and other sabertoothed cats were much smaller than the giant terror bird and only gotten bigger AFTER it went extinct in its habitat. Suggesting that even when carnivorans and giant phoruschracids were contemporaries, it wasn’t not one sided for mammals, it all depends on the environment.
@@DragonsoftheCenozoic Interesting and correct as well! But there is still a point to be made that the "terror birds" were rather constrained in breeding habits, resource availability and competitive exclusion from macropredatory habits in particular. It's pretty likely that without context shifts favoring carnivoran mammals, or even the complete absence of carnivorans may have allowed them to reach truly enormous sizes (eventually)
Cryptadia, Project Mustelon, Project Apallo, and Kappa all look really amazing and I'm very excited that more people are bringing their projects to youtube!
Still gotta make it through 63.4 million years before we get to the Pleistocene, and it will be a rocky road dealing with the Grande Coupure Extinction and the Mid Miocene Disruption, but we'll definitely get to Dinosaurs in the Pleistocene eventually.
So this little guy is the only non-avian theropod to survive the aftermath of the K/Pg extinction in this project, while also being the ancestor of any genera that come after. How many ornithischian genera have you decided will also pull through into the Paleocene?
Only two genera of ornithischians survived the K-Pg. I was hoping to have the video about them out several days ago, because I had all the art and script work done, but I haven't had a chance to record the audio, but hopefully I will be able to make the recording tonight and get the video posted tomorrow.
I already had my own project with Sabretooth Aliorames, Giant Struthiomimids, and some goofy ahh looking giant Abelisaurids. The Meteor still struck the but way smaller and smol dinosaurs survive.
Many cultures have called fossils Dragon, cyclops, or giant bones. In a world where the non-avian dinosaurs never went extinct it's likely that the term "Dinosaur" wouldn't even exist given how late it was coined so I'm going with dragon for the colloquial name for surviving non-avian dinosaurs.
One thing that’s far out there, but should be investigated by serious scientist is the very nature of the planet earth itself in a positive agent of evolutionary pressures for these creatures For instance: since modern physics have a loose understanding of gravity, it does not take for account that the gravitational forces on the earth has changed in the past that allowed large animals to evolve those forces no longer exist, and without those forces that exist that allow for dinosaurs to get to how they became, we will forever miss a port of how these forces change them through adaptation.
There is zero evidence of gravitational changes in the history of earth. Zero. The Dinosaurs got so big thanks to the fact that they had lighter bones, and air sacks tho make their bodies lighter. That is all.
"Real" dragons do NOT have six limbs, because they are not real. They are fictional/mythological creatures and have been depicted in various myths/stories across the globe and throughout human history to have anywhere from 0 to over a dozen limbs. Saying that a dragon HAS to have six limbs in order to be a "real" dragon is just stupid.
@@jessejarmon2100 No they are correct True Dragons are one of very few "Dragons" to be referred to as Dragons by their native people hence why they are considered True Dragons Most creatures you think of as Dragons ain't Dragons many of them were only called Dragons by Europeans when they were explaining them to fellow Europeans
