Paleo Bites

(image source: https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-cow)Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Joel Rick discuss Hydrodamalis gigas, a manatee but big. Well, technically it was more closely related to dugongs, but y’all don’t know what those are and manatees get more clicks. From the Late Pleistocene to the Early Holocene, this 30-foot sirenian was a big player in the Ice Age and made it all the way to the eighteenth century… which means you probably can guess what happened next and why it’s extinct. Damn humans. I’m ashamed to be one of them. Maybe AI actually should take over the world…Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/spinojp/art/Palaeophis-colossaeus-drinking-915269375) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Palaeophis, a literal sea serpent that was the biggest water snake to ever exist. Titanoboa who? That's what I thought. From the Early Paleocene to the Late Eocene, this 35-foot snake looked at the mosasaurs from the period past and was like “Heh, I can do that too, but slightly less big.” And it did! It’s nice sometimes to know your place enough to not always aim for the top. A comfortable C+. It’s what got me through college. Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Plateosaurus-pictures) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Plateosaurus, a biggish bipedal herbivore and perhaps the biggest Triassic dinosaur, although not the biggest Triassic land animal as that goes to something like Lisowicia or Sillosuchus or some crap. From the Late Triassic, this 30-foot basal sauropodomorph has a name that either means Broad Lizard or Flat Lizard; no one knows for sure because the original author of the paper didn’t detail what the name meant. If he didn’t care enough to explain why he named it, why should you care about it you might ask? I honestly have no idea. Go listen to something else. Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/danuvius-guggenmosi-07779.html) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Danuvius, an ape that might have been the missing link between swinging through the trees, walking on the ground, and walking on two legs. That’s a lot of links we found in one animal. From the Early Miocene, this 3-foot-tall hominid basically swung on the ground on low vines while walking, kind of like a baby on one of those up-and-down jumper things. You know what I’m talking about, those jumping-baby-up-and-downs? That’s the technical term, yes. This is a professional show. Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2023/05/17/news/new_series_of_prehistoric_planet_brings_dinosaurs_back_to_life-3281275/) In this fifth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I’ve got holiday plans, okay?! Leave me alone, you Krampus!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the demons I sold my soul to in order to keep this show running satisfied, host Matthew Donald and co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Rapetosaurus. It’s a big longneck. What do you expect? It’s actually not even that big compared to other longnecks. Boy, I’m sure selling this hard, huh? See with you new episodes in 2026! Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/ornithopod-dinosaur-pictures-and-profiles-4043320) In this fourth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I got a life outside this show, believe it or not!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly content consumers happy, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Proa. Proa? I barely even know-a. That’s a quality joke. See you with new episodes in 2026! Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://pixels.com/featured/albertosaurus-mohamad-haghani.html) In this third episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (this show has been consistent for over half a decade at this point, give me a break) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly release record going, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Albertosaurus. Three guesses where it’s from, and the first two don’t count. No, not Mt. Elbert, you idiot. See you with new episodes in 2026! Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.

(image source: https://jurassicdna.com/dino-tracker/orkoraptor/)In this second episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes to Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (it takes a lot to keep the weekly release of this show going for 6+ years!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and thus keep the algorithm gods satisfied, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Orkoraptor. It’s a raptor ork. That’s pretty cool. WAAAAAAGH! That was a 40k reference. See you with new episodes in 2026!Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.