Palaeocast

In this episode, we talk to our very own Dr Elsa Panciroli about her new book Beasts Before Us. In it, she tells the untold story of mammalian evolution, tracing the origin of synapsids back to the Ca...

16 Jun 20211h 1min

Crocodiles are often referred to as "living fossils", but if we compare modern and ancient species, does that label hold up? What different kind of morphologies (shapes) did past crocs have and how di...

30 Apr 202152min

Crocodiles are often referred to as "living fossils", but if we compare modern and ancient species, does that label hold up? What different kind of morphologies (shapes) did past crocs have and how di...

15 Apr 202135min

Terrestrial life as we know it couldn't exist without soil. Soil, as we know it today, is a layer of minerals, organic matter, liquids, gasses and organisms that not only provides a medium for plant g...

16 Mar 202150min

Part two of our interview with Dr Larisa DeSantis of Vanderbilt University on the 'dietary ecology' of Smilodon. Smilodon is probably one of the most iconic mammalian apex predators with its extended ...

1 Mar 202137min

Smilodon is probably one of the most iconic mammalian apex predators with its extended upper canines and robustly-built forearms. In fact, when we compare Smilodon to modern cats (felids), we don't se...

15 Feb 202136min

It wouldn't be outlandish to state that many a fossil collection has started with the acquisition of an ammonite. Their planispiral shells (termed a conch) are instantly recognisable and since that co...

1 Feb 202150min

The Soom Shale is an Ordovician lagerstätte in the Western Cape of South Africa. Whilst it lacks the diversity of organisms seen in other lagerstätten, such as the Burgess Shale or Chengjiang, it more...

18 Des 202059min