Absolutely. Wonder who Dr. Polaris is. He should be delivering lectures on the university level on paleontology. Some of these RU-vid series videos are incredibly informative and well made. In some cases, the originator is just starting and never seems to get moving much. Regardless, they are immensely entertaining and often informative. Much more than I could ever generate.
Is this because the first large dinosaur fossil beds are in USA, Europe ,and Canada? Will the early mammal fossil beds are in South Africa and Russia. Basically Dinos , got a head start for more early fossils. Of course being first on the scene, you got the crystal palace Dinos that look like giant lizards.
Is this because the first large dinosaur fossil beds are in USA, Europe ,and Canada? Will the early mammal fossil beds are in South Africa and Russia. Basically Dinos , got a head start for more early fossils. Of course being first on the scene, you got the crystal palace Dinos that look like giant lizards.
I absolutely love the Permian! A period overshadowed by the Mesosoic and earlier Paleozoic in popular media, it was an alien world. I wonder how life would have continued had the end- Permian mass exitinction never happened. Keep up the great work!
@@TheThrivingTherapsid I specifically mean the end-Permian and Capitanian mass exitinction, i know there were three events, but the end Permian was by far the most severe and impactful.
1:04 Although I know better, it continues to surprise me how big Paleozoic land animals got. Growing up I had always thought of the dinosaurs as the first mega fauna but that's really not the case.
@@MrLolguy93 Lips likely evolved quite early in terrestrial animals, probably because lips had probably existed in amphibious forms too. I say this, because some of our most distantly related groups still had lips or something covering their teeth (excluding more specialized animals like gators and crocs). There was more than enough space for Gorgonopsids (A group of species btw, not a single animal) to sheath their canines, could say the same for many early therapsids like the Dinocephalians (Except for Tiarajudens, but that was a herbivorous animal due to its herbivorous dentition and the weak massive sabers were probably used more for intraspecific combat, look up the Vampire deer and you'll know what I mean).
Notice that the chin on gorgonopsids are very tall. They extend down all the way past the tip of the tooth. I believe this was to make room for lip covering over the canines, because this type of chin structure is so common in animals with large fangs. So personally, I think yes, they probably did have their saber teeth entirely covered.
The early and modest beginning of mammals, its quite fascinating how mammals developed. From fish with a spine, to amphibians that argue for territory, then to the Dimetrodon. Though I sometimes hear that people are appalled to be related to wild animals and humans are all incest descendants of two random humans, but same group proceed to enter a restroom, looks at the toilet, then crap on the floor itself like an animal.
@@etinarcadiaego7424 Exactly like its beyond insane, we have public restrooms, toilets are decent, now some people think I am talking about some third world country, no, I live in the US and I seen some restrooms where people shat on the toilet themselves.
I have waited so long for you to make a video about Dinocephalians, Anteosaurus is my favorite Therapsid. Your editing skills and narration have improved as well! Good job. I believe most therapsid were mesothermic.
It's funny how proto-mammals ruled the earth before the dinosaurs. It kind of makes the whole mammal takeover after the Cretaceous asteroid sort of a "payback time".
It would be great to watch a documentary or series just like Walking With Dinosaurs, but focused on the lifestyles and evolution of the Permian synapsids, and detailing the features that show their relationship to us 😀
Hi Dr Polaris, in relation to your Alter Earth Project, what’s the largest land predator during the Holocene? And what does New Zealand’s fauna look like? Also, how are pterosaurs doing by the time of the Holocene?
Therapsids are so underrated. If you don't mind my asking, do you have plans to cover the early evolution of mustelinae? As a ferret owner, layman accessible info is surprisingly sparse.
I just wish we knew precisely when fur evolved in synapsids... it's so tiring trying to figure out which synapsids to give smooth skin, which to give scutes, and which to give fur, because we have so little evidence on the skin of these animals. They seemed very varied unlike dinosaurs, which basically just had feathery, scaly, or both. It's generally easy to come to a decent conclusion on what kind of covering they had. When it comes to synapsids it just feels like a guessing game at times. You might as well spin a wheel. For the earliest synapsids your wheel consists of skin and scutes, just skin, or scutes and scale-like structures mixed in. For later ones you spin a wheel consisting of just skin, skin and scutes, fur, or fur and a mix of either scutes or skin. Whatever the wheel lands on is what you get, lol. It would have the same level of accuracy I have when trying to figure out what synpapsids looked like... At least we know cynodonts probably had fur. That's about the most luck we get.
Archosaurs and Therapsids are essentially remote cousin groups emulating each quite closely (with their present day descendants, outside crocs, now less reptile like).
It's a shame that dinosaurs hog the spotlight all the time, 'cos these Permian animals are amazing creatures. Thanks you for making these videos, I have learned so much from them. 😁👍
the permian was kinda like the birthing pains of life on land and it happend probably in one of the worst periods possible , since pangea would be a pretty hostile enviroment to animals that had adapted for life on earth just 50 million years ago ...
What I find interesting about Anteosaurus is the uncanny similarities with T Rex Both had ontogenic growth, huge bodies, bone crushing jaws, and were the apex predators of their times
Loved this video and I watch and read all I can about these interesting animals. I have never heard of the Anteosaurus so do you think this big guy to take on the Gorgonopsis? What a pair of predators they were!!!
Anteosaurus may actually hold the best claim to the title of “largest predatory land synapsid ever”, even including mammals; known rib material indicates it had an insanely robust torso akin to Tyrannosaurus, and scaling its known remains to those of Titanophoneus indicates much larger sizes than often stated. Some private reconstructions have given mass estimates of 1500kg based on GDI calculations.
There is something about these animals that has always baffled me since I was a child and learned they weren't dinosaurs in the scientific sense. It means there were no predatory quadrupedal dinosaurs, unless there is one I missed and for one reason or another I have always found that a little strange.
being bipedal proved to be a very effective way to chase preys on land. It is a majort trait of theropods (which encompass all carnivorous dinosaurs). Also I am pretty sure very few quadripedal archosaurs used their forelimbs like modern carnivorous mammals to grapple prey which is why bipedia was so useful.
There were predatory quadrupedal dinosaurs. Liaoningosaurus was a semi-aquatic ankylosaurid dinosaur that ate fish. It's unknown if this is all it ate, but one does not need to be carnivorous to be predatory, so to be a fish eater at all makes it a quadrupedal predator. There were also other dinosaurs which may have occasionally hunted, though most of them would've been primarily herbivorous. For example, some believe triceratops may have killed and eaten small animals often enough to be considered a true omnivore. They think this due to its beak structure. There is no actual evidence for this though- it's pure speculation. Technically speaking a predator is anything that kills to eat, including killing plants, but I know that's not what you meant so in this case I'm using predator to refer specifically to something that kills and eats animals.
I have an interesting theory for Biarmasuchids head crests and bulges the idea for me is that males would have used there claws and jaws if no one would back down or they were evenly matched and that the head gear would used in fights be to see who was more dominant by ramming each other like modern caprids, bovids and even extinct ceratopsians like pachycephalosaurus or as you said mating displays and species recognition either one is plausible to me at least.
Well he had said in a previous video that he's doing a lot of college work. And doing a speculative project like the one he's doing would take a lot more work than the history of extinct and extant animal groups right now. I think when he's done with this semester, then he'll probably do it.
Fun Fact: The most rarest, complex and the most unique physiology is not having horny scales because both reptil group, Synapsids and Saurus has that physiology, but having Boobs,this physiology make the new class oglf animal, the mammals.
Has anyone theorized that the "Bernetimorphs" might have had heads shaped like today's hippopotami? It seems that we see a lot of fossils "shrink-wrapped" to fit the actual shape of the skull and bone structure without giving enough thought to musculature and relative body fat. I feel, (and it's only my opinion), that these animals might not have looked like that in the flesh.
Typically people make the decision to give or not give an animal hippo-like cheeks based on whether or not the projection shows signs of muscle attachment. If it doesn't, then it was probably just a regular projection, like what we see on warthogs and ceratopsians. We also sometimes know how the muscles of animals within its clade are arranged- if it's impossible for a muscle to attach to a projection like this, or to attach in a way that would make it hippo-like, then we know right off the bat that it definitely did not hide the bone under hippo-like cheeks.
One thing that interested me and I don't think anybody has really thought about this. What would animals look like today or in the past if the landmasses, North America, South America, Africa, India, Eurasia, Australia, & Antarctica never joined back together after the Pangea break up? That would be an interesting rabbit hole that even I wouldn't know what to expect.
@@etinarcadiaego7424 you mean pseudoscience? Anything pertaining to the past cannot be proven by the scientific method, you have to rely on assumptions based on your own world view which is not unbiased.
@@Reg_The_Galah The scientific method does not seek to prove anything. It seeks to falsify things. If you do not understand this, then you do not get a say on what is and is not pseudoscience. If you think you've just proven something using your science, then you weren't using science. Science does not prove- ever.
@@Reg_The_GalahYou apologists love using dumb tricks and overused tropes to get your ideas across. I dont get where your ilk have a right to call established science pseudoscience. I would put confidence into someone who cares about the facts and where they lead,than into someone who already holds a worldview, and then warps reality and science to fit it,and then proceeds to belittle others that dont and calling them liars. Even if what you claimed about not being able to probe the past scientifically were true(its not),this would not demonstrate that the Creationist hypothesis is true. Its is unfalsifiable and purely faith based. You dont have any testable evidence for Creationism....are we all just supposed to stand down and take it and everything on faith and fear of eternal torment,or stand up and analyze and scrutinize everything, gaining knowledge and accepting the facts?
dificult to watch paleontologist trying to know what they do not know, ha ha, a succesful predator. must have been hard with disjointed knees ... ha ha.
Their knees were no more disjointed than those of a crocodilian. And compared to a komodo dragon, their knees were far less disjointed. Yet both animals are very successful predators.
