Here’s some of the amazing diversity of Mammaliaformes of Jurassic China. Volaticotherium glides in pursuit of a tasty bug. Agilodocodon, an excellent climber, already got one and brings it back to its young in the trees. Some Docofossors are digging up the lawn. Castorocauda, the largest mammaliaform of the Mesozoic, is going for a swim. With the exception of Volaticotherium, these are all Docodonts, a group closely related to the crown group mammals, having branched off a little before the monotremes did. I wanted to show off how much more diverse and interesting Mesozoic mammals were than we usually imagine. They did a lot more than cowering from dinosaurs and being eaten by them!
That said, Jurassic China also had some really cool dinosaurs.Yi qi, the actual real-life dragon, is going for a flight. A truly enormous Xiaotingia is having a drink. Please mentally halve the size of that big boy, I accidentally drew it way too large, that is a little birdie that should be easily outsized by Castorocauda. Finally, being neither a dinosaur nor a mammal, the not at all confusingly named pterosaur Cascocauda is sitting in the trees getting ready for a flight.
