If there was a Period of Earth’s history that could be called ‘the one with the weird vertebrates’, it would be the Triassic. And if you don’t believe me, I ask you to turn your attention first to the erythrosuchids that had almost comically oversized heads, then to the massive dicynodonts who replaced their tusks...

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If I asked you to imagine a crocodilian you would no doubt conjure up a semi-aquatic ambush predator covered in scales, scutes, and with a long snout, lined with sharp teeth, capable of delivering bone-breaking bites. Most modern crocodilians fit this description, a testament to how conserved their anatomy and ecology is. This little diversity...

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Langebaanweg is a Mio-Pliocene aged fossil locality on the west coast of South Africa (about 120 Km from Cape Town), that has produced a staggering diversity and abundance of fossil material. In the first part of this series I went over the history of the site from its discovery, through six decades of research, most...

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In 2017, the femur of a mammoth was discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth in a commercial gravel quarry close to the village of Cerney Wick, on the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire border in England. Subsequent exploration of this site yielded further remains of Pleistocene megafauna including horses, bison, hyena and elk, as well as Neanderthal hand tools....

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Near a small coastal town on the west coast of South Africa, amid rolling dunes and fynbos vegetation lies a palaeontological gem. The site is called Langebaanweg, named for the nearby town, Langebaan. A word believed to derive from Dutch for the long strip of calm water created by the saltwater lagoon, which characterises this...

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Found in the fossil record between the Jurassic and the middle Miocene, Notosuchia was a highly diverse and strange group of crocodylomorphs, most notable for their terrestrial lifestyle. Joining us for today’s episode is Dr Yohan Pochat-Cottilloux from the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, who specialises in the study of crocodylomorphs. Together, we will explore...

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Before the rise of reptiles in the Mesozoic, synapsids dominated. Synapsida is comprised of all living and extinct mammals, and all species more closely related to mammals than to modern reptiles, birds, or amphibians. Originating in the Carboniferous about 320 million years ago, and then flourishing in the Permian (299 to 252 million years ago),...

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The field of evolutionary biology has been greatly influenced by the development of modern genetic methodology. The understanding of genes, genomes and the molecular mechanisms key to life on Earth are all goals of evolutionary biology in the 21st century, yet its potential applications seem to be near limitless. Palaeontology and evolutionary biology continue to...

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Sauropods are a group of magnificent, long-necked dinosaurs that are well known for their gigantism. Existing from the end of the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (201 to 66 million years ago), they hold special places in the hearts and imaginations of dinosaur lovers around the world thanks to their unique body shapes...

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In 12 years of podcasting, we have never actually taken the time to address the fundamentals of our field. Such questions could include: what is palaeontology, what is a fossil, how does one become a palaeontologist, and why is palaeontology important? For what should have been our very first episode, we’ve invited Prof. Roy Plotnick,...

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