What Even Is An Archosaur

American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) swimming in a freshwater spring, family Alligatoridae, Florida, USA

He is going to RISK (?????) HIS LIFE running through a HERD OF MODERATELY LARGER DINOSAURS in order to PROTECT HIS LEGACY

And I'm like "if he's stupid enough to have directly run into the leg of a sauropod it's better that he not breed"

I also called the rival getting eaten about 15 seconds before it happened.

Woah… octopus…

Nanaimoteuthis haggarti

Eocarcharia dinops

Dibango volans

Conuropsis fratercula

Tyler here is talking about comments regarding the new Muttaburrasaurus skull paper that greatly improves our understanding of the material.

Specifically it's about this reconstruction:

While I think that person had a shit take I also think it reveals a fascinating aspect of paleoart that many people aren't conscious about: we use art to legitimize science, something that is probably unique to paleontology. A piece of paleoart can change radically how the results of a paper are perceived. I have seen several time now papers raising eyebrows and starting debates, mostly because the artwork that came with it wasn't convincing or challenged preconceived notions without offering a satisfying alternative.

I noticed that a few times with myself, with discoveries challenging how I imagined certain critters. In these cases I often times doodled my way back into liking it, basically convincing myself with aesthetics. I don't bring this up to condemn this behavior. It's more of an observation that we can use in our favor. Being aware of it is half the battle. To better communicate and to better self check. Once again I recommend this little book for people more interested in the subject:

An artist’s concept of a juvenile Edmontosaurus disappearing into the lipped mouth of Tyrannosaurus