#fossil shells

Pecten novaezelandiae, Phailopecten marwicki, Mesopeplum crawfordi, Phailopecten triphooki, Phailopecten thompsoni, Pecten novaezelandiae marwicki, and Pecten novaezelandiae tainui.

One of the advantages of the outstandingly preserved sequence of marine sediments now exposed along the coastline between Hāwera and Whanganui, especially with the nicely datable layers of volcanic ash added whenever the Taranaki volcano and its predecessors went bang, is that you can trace the evolution of scallop species over millions of years.

National Fossil Day is an annual celebration held to highlight the scientific and educational value of paleontology and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations. - National Park Services

As we are a server who bases our lore very heavily on fossils, from the prehistoric environment down to our characters, the saber-toothed cats, we thought we’d hop in and celebrate this day with some fun facts about fossil animals you could possibly encounter here in the Baobab!

Deinotherium

The heavy-weight representative of TuskClan’s megafauna is colloquially known as simply “The Elephant”, though you may be quick to spot that these are no modern-day African Elephants. Instead, the proboscideans that you’d encounter out on the savanna are based on the famous extinct genus of DeinotheriumI, a close relative of modern elephants. They are known for their distinct tusk-shape, curving downwards instead of the modern elephants outward tusk!

An artistic reconstruction of the species D. bozasi

Caluma Benovskyi

Chameleons are some of the most recognizable reptiles on the planet, known for their prehensile tails and independently mobile eyes. Not much is known of the fossil chameleons of Africa, but there have been discoveries that show that there were indeed these funky little reptiles climbing around SunClan’s forests, changing colors to try and hide from even the most observant saber.

an artistic reconstruction of Caluma Benovskyi

Euthecodon

Out in the waters of BevyClan, especially in the crocodile lake, you’re likely to find yourself face-to-snout with one of the fiercest archosaurs left on the planet, the crocodile. The genus Euthecodon comprise of three species of long-snouted crocodiles, these beasts appear to have convergently evolved their signature snouts with modern-day gharials, and had originally been thought to have been an ancestor of the croc-cousins, though research has more heavily suggested that BevyClan is indeed home to true crocodiles.

photo taken at a zoo in the Netherlands, of the Euthecodon’s closest living relative, Mecistops

Alongside these fun fossil creatures, sabers in the baobab clans have found some unique collectibles today, be it strange bugs in tree-sap in SunClan's fallen trees, ridged shells in the cub islands of BevyClan, or odd reptilian teeth in TuskClan's sand dunes! Maybe doing a bit of research could help our sabers understand what the world was like before they were in it, and what the Baobab region looked like many moons ago....

Sources and fun extra reads!

Black, Riley. “An Extinct “Anchor-Tusked” Proboscidean.” Science, 24 July 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/an-extinct-anchor-tusked-proboscidean.

“Calumma Benovskyi, a New Fossil Chameleon from Kenya.” Www.chameleons.info, www.chameleons.info/l/calumma-benovskyi-a-new-fossil-chameleon-from-kenya/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Čerňanský, Andrej, et al. “The Only Complete Articulated Early Miocene Chameleon Skull (Rusinga Island, Kenya) Suggests an African Origin for Madagascar’s Endemic Chameleons.” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 10 Jan. 2020, p. 109, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-57014-5, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57014-5.

commondescentpc. “Episode 66 – Elephants.” The Common Descent Podcast, 28 July 2019, commondescentpodcast.com/2019/07/27/episode-66-elephants/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

“Euthecodon.” Wikipedia, 17 Mar. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthecodon. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Hitchcock, Edward. Elementary Geology: By Edward Hitchcock. Google Books, M. H. Newman & Company, 1847, books.google.com/books?id=dZiyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA154&dq=dinotherium+++bank+++anchor&ei=-bFpSu_sCJKOyASrnpWgBA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Fossilized mollusks from the Late Cretaceous (66-145 million years ago). Collected by Mark Rondeau in North Texas, U.S.A.

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Link to photo on Pinterest: https://pin.it/79Pfyyz

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Fossil shells on display at the Smithsonian