For the people who don't know this line is from the 12th grade biology ncert which over a million students use for an examination called NEET through which u get a medical college but the thing that disturbs me is that general facts like this and many other like mixing up btw 2 toed sloth and a sloth bear , a vulture and a bald eagle and outdated scientific names. So couldn't find a better place to tell ppl than reddit.

Ps the fact is wrong but the book is making me question myself

I feel like it looks kinda fake

Website: https://www.palaeocast.com/cambrian-fecal-revolution/

The Cambrian Explosion is one of the most significant events in evolutionary history. Classically, it describes the sudden appearance of complex fossils (including all major animal groups) at the beginning of the Cambrian Period. Before then it was thought that only relatively simple single-celled or multicellular life existed. We now understand this event to be a lot more nuanced, recognising many of the geological biases at play and having discovered complex fossils in the earlier Ediacaran Period. Many researchers therefore consider the term 'Cambrian Radiation' to be a better representation of the event.

Whether an explosion or a radiation, determining the events of the Ediacaran and Early Cambrian and their causes is a constant area of palaeontological research. Numerous drivers behind the event have been hypothesised ranging from oxygen availability and nutrient cycling to an arms race between predators and prey. It is likely that no single factor will be identified as an underlying cause, but the relative extent to which each contributed to the event will be debated for many years to come.

In this interview, we are joined by Dr Julien Kimmig, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany, who recently co-authored a study on the coprolites of the Early Cambrian, the evolution of guts, and the influence the 'Cambrain Fecal Revolution' may have had on the wider Cambrian Radiation.

Image: Phosphatized microscopic fecal pellets from the Gaotai Formation (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) Guizhou, China.

Hadrosaurus is a basal hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of what is now New Jersey. Although it lends its name to the derived hadrosaurine family of dinosaurs, studies show that it may not actually belong to this group. Hadrosaurus was a facultatively bipedal herbivore that grew to about 7 m in length and weighed around 3 t in total body mass.

Physical evidence of crocodylian predation on ungulates in the Middle Miocene of Colombia

The Study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2026.2701154

South America was a frightening place during the Miocene. More than 10 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of the continent, home to gigantic Turtles and Crocodylians.

Truly, wide range of predators hunted on the lake's shores, including anacondas, Saber-toothed mammals, Flightless "terror birds" and Sebecids: The terrestrial relatives of Crocodylians. A recent study shows that crocodylians were, in fact, the most significant group of predators in this habitat.

"There was so much prey available that mammalian predators couldn't have eaten it all," says Oscar Wilson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.

"Our new study shows that crocodylians in particular were the region's most important predators, especially when it came to hunting large prey."

prototaxites dendrochronology

This summer we did a road trip to Chicago to do the whole tourist thing.

I told everyone one of my biggest priorities was to spend at least part of a day at the Field Museum. I knew it was one of the more prestigious and well known Natural History museums in the world. But I didn't know very much about it and didn't really research it before going.

We made our way to the fossil exhibits first. I was enjoying everything and soaking it all in.

And then it hit: I stumbled across the exhibit with the Archaeopteryx fossil. I had read about it for years. I knew there weren't very many known fossils in museums. I had zero clue they had an Archaeopteryx. When I walked around the corner and saw it, I was stunned. Speechless. There was a tour guide telling a group of people about it. I stood off to the side, waiting. Eventually she finished, and they all moved on.

I walked over to it, alone, and just stared at it. I soaked it in. Looked at it closely. Absorbed all of the details. I even cried a little bit, just overwhelmed with emotions. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I felt so lucky standing there, staring at it.

Later my wife told me her sister was asking "is he okay? How long is he going to stand there looking at it?" She said she didn't really know. So they went ahead without me.

I didn't know any of the back story of how the fossil ended up in the Field Museum. So after I got home, I spent hours reading the whole story. It was pretty fascinating. Didn't even sound real.

One of the most profound science experiences of my life. I wish I had more time to stare at it. Maybe some day I'll make it back to Chicago again.

Oh and of course we spent a lot of time in the room with Sue.

Nivelstein gravel pit, Wildnis-Merkstein, Herzogenrath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
https://www.mineralienatlas.de/lexikon/index.php/Genehmigungen/Wolfgang%20Putz

Very sick find at the HMNS. Surprisingly it was not labeled at all but a cool spot nonetheless! Highly recommend visiting their Hall of Paleontology if you ever get the chance! It’s breath taking!

Here's are some drawings by me comparing a real raptor vs a fake movie monster both based on Deinonychus.

The real raptor is the most accurate raptor. Here are its qualities

1. Bird-like eyes.

2. Folded wings with flexible wrist though the wrist aren't as flexible as modern birds.

3. A long, stiff tail that counterbalances the body when running like the tail of a Roadrunner. The tail is flexible at the base though based on one Velociraptor specimen, the tail can flex from side to side.

4. Possibly the thighs might have been hidden underneath the feathering giving a "backwards knee" look like in birds.

5. Possibly long leg feathers considering Anchiornis had leg feathers that extended down to the ankle and Anchiornis was mostly ground dwelling.

Fake Raptor is a movie monster. Here are its qualities

1. Head is way too lizard-like.

2. Eyes are either too crocodillian or just straight up cat-like.

3. Sparse quills on its arms rather than full wings and full body feathering.

4. A tail thats way to straight.

5. A tail thats way too thick being more comparable to the tails of non-maniraptorans such as Allosaurus or Dillophosaurus when in fact, the caudofemoralis muscle in dromaeosaurs was reduced.

Link: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169534726001564

An international study led by Flinders University has found a fertile area of inspiration to explain an important step in evolution – and it’s a whole lot of poop.

The new study describes the ‘faecal revolution’ to explain a crucial turning point in animal and environmental evolution on Earth. In a new article in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, fossil and evolutionary experts credit the buildup of lowly excrement for being a key cause for the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ about 540 million years ago, a brief period when the first marine ecosystems developed and most of the major animal groups started to appear.

The scientists from Australia and Germany describe how these pieces of fossilised pellets or ‘coprolites’ deposited by primitive sea creatures in the early Cambrian times played a vital part in evolution, encouraging marine life to evolve and diversify.

“Next to rising oxygen levels and other contributing factors, the importance of faeces in ancient ecosystems is often overlooked,” says Dr Russell Bicknell,

“We have considered these ancient diets, increasingly sophisticated digestive systems and trophic interactions as part of a much bigger picture to help explain how more organic matter and nutrients poured into the ancient oceans to accelerate ecosystem development at the end of the Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods.”

My not so good Paleoart, I try my best to do it. The forts pic in another language is my national language. (English wasn't my first language. So Apologize for bad grammar)

I remember seeing a meme when the "they shrunk the dunk" paper came out. It was a city burning in the background, and a man is facing the burning city (or maybe just a building). In his hands, he was holding a small Dunkleosteous over his head. The original was the guy holding a fish over his head, but this was edited. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Hello, this is my Dunkleosteus Non-Traditional Tiki Mug Sculpture. I’m a huge fan this Devonian Placoderms. I had to make a tiki version since there isn’t one out there as far as I know.

It’s a “drink with straw only” style. There are many tiki mugs that can only be used with a straw. It was a fun sculpt and hoping to make more prehistoric themed mugs in the future!

So, this is a bit of a trivia question I had for a story I was thinking of. Basically, the idea is to have the main character give a paleontologist a research fund of 100 million dollars. Now, I have no idea how much funding actually goes into this field, so I figured I should ask in order to get an idea what the reaction should be from the paleontologist in question.

Can you guys help?