A large songbird is singing while perched on a fencepost. He has a streaked brown, black and white back, head and wings and a bright yellow neck and breast with a black "necklace". His beak is wide open and eye partially closed as he sings loudly.
Lots of western meadowlarks belting out their songs this morning.
#Alberta #wildlife #birding #birds 🪶
Emu prints at Froggy Dam, Gluepot Reserve, South Australia.
The take away for palaeoart purposes is that when compared with the white shark, Cretoxyrhina had a significantly higher number of narrower teeth, including tiny symphyseal teeth which create a 'gap-toothed' appearance in the middle of the upper jaw. 5/5
Cretoxyrhina also has several symphyseal teeth, which again is typical of 'basal' lamniforms but absent in the white shark. Additionally, its teeth are narrower in shape than the very braod teeth of the white shark. 4/5
Lamnids have an unusually low tooth count among lamniforms; about 50 total rows in the white shark. Cretoxyrhina had a more typical dental arrangement with a higher tooth count similar to sandtigers and threshers; about 80 total rows. 3/4
Cretoxyrhina had a basically lamnid-like bauplan, and grew as large as exceptional white sharks (5.5 - 6 m +). Fossils suggest a few differences in appearance from the white shark; a blunter snout, bigger eyes, perhaps the tail had narrower lobes. The big difference is the teeth though. 2/3
Think this is pretty much finished - the big lamniform #shark Cretoxyrhina attacking the #mosasaur Clidastes. This is a scene from the Late #Cretaceous Niobrara Formation. #palaeoart
Spinosaurus mirabilis, the newly-described tall-crested Spinosaur variant, wanders past a rivebank covered with tiny, dark-green glowing insects. She's seen this show before, so pays no attention. The Moon, conversely, is watching intensely. REAL intensely. Like, back off a bit, guy, give the bugs some space.
New at #Patreon: #paleoart of Cretaceous fireflies and #Spinosaurus mirabilis. Fireflies have existed for 100 million years and, thanks to some cool science, we know what colours they illuminated themselves with. Details (+ more new art) at www.patreon.com/markwitton. #dinosaur #fossil #art
diagram of 7 different dragonfly species that can be found in the midwest.
the full set of dragonflies that i put together last year!
WIP... 👀
Speculative primitive spinosaurid
inspired by megalosaurids and Monolophosaurus
Colors based in Potamites montanicola suggested by my friend @cascoclauda.bsky.social as usual c:
#paleoart for @edgescience.bsky.social !!
#sciart One of the two pieces I entered into the SCMNH Art of Nature exhibition: the holotype mandible of the sea lion-like "double-tusked" walrus Dusignathus santacruzensis, found in ~6-7 myo rocks in Santa Cruz, CA. Watercolor and gouache, ~10x5". 🐡🐬🦖
Cambrian on my mind #sciart
It's not everyday you get to shake a dinosaur's hand
That fish in the background of every single shark photo you've seen: the pilot fish, Naucrates ductor. It's almost hard to find pics of oceanic whitetip sharks *without* pilotfish in them
Amazing footage from @asociaciontursiops.bsky.social shows two young males and a smaller female calf - is their boisterousness part of the explanation why males leave/are isolated from the social units they were born in, because they bring threat od injury to vulnerable calves? 🐳🦑🧪
Some beautiful shots for Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Years ago when I had my DSLR I dreamt of entering this, but most of the stories behind the photos are like, 'I slept in my car for a week in subzero temps to get this shot'
I'm not *that* dedicated
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Me, gearing up to catch the capybara
A black and white, turkey-like dinosaur stands on an icy lake in Cretaceous China. It braces against the slow splay of its legs. As its body incrementally lowers, inching closer to the ice, it hears a voice. The ghosts of the icy forest, perhaps? The spirits of its ancestors? Perhaps nothing else can hear it, but it's getting louder, sharper. Now it can make out a sequence of sounds. They are... words? The same phrase, repeated over and over? First a whisper, then a chant. Yes, it's very clear now. Louder again - a roar! A chorus! They cry: "GET BACK TO WORK, MARK, YOU HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT TO FINISH YOUR BOOK. THIS IS NOT A PRODUCTIVE USE OF YOUR TIME." Man, even my alt-text won't give me a break.
Another "I'm not dead post" while slugging away on Book 7. Here're revisions made to my recent Caudipteryx #paleoart piece after revisiting the distribution of melanised feathers in referred specimens. I also closed the split tail, following feedback from @albertonykus.bsky.social - thanks, Albert!
What a great surprise to receive my copy of @lewislarosa.bsky.social Kickstarter book “Carbon Based” in the mail today! I love it all!! Exhilarating hand-drawn illustrations from cover to cover🤩
Vector illustration of Thylacosmilus atrox, a sabertoothed sparassodont, carrying two babies on her back. It is low slung with sharp claws and a long skull with curved saber shaped canines. It is light brown with a darker back half and scattered white spots. The babies are darker in color to blend in with thier mother's back
#Marchofthemammals2026 day 21: Rounding out our trip to the semiarid scrublands and dry forests of Late Miocene Argentina with a momma Thylacosmilus atrox and her joeys. Kits? Who knows...
🚨 New paper I had the honor to illustrate! 🚨
Guilherme Hermanson and Serjoscha W. Evers take a look at the survivors of the K-Pg event among the turtles and besides size note that especially diet is something that sets them apart: many of them very shell crusher!
paper below:
Camarillasaurus cirugedae
If you didn't know this already have a fact to brighten your day. This is my cat Boris when he played Jones in Aliens. He was picked because he would hiss on camera because he was not a nice guy.
