Nature News: April–May 2024

Was pottery used in Australia before European settlement? Could Compsognathus be a juvenile of a much bigger dinosaur? What on Earth are weird Triassic reptiles like Drepanosaurus and Coelurosauravus? How did porcupines get to North America? We discuss these questions and more in our latest news episode.

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Contents
00:00 Intro
30:26 First evidence of pottery use among Australian First Nations people: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
46:05 Unified framework for theropod evolution: https://www.paleoitalia.it/wp-content...
01:25:32 Origin and phylogeny of "avicephalan" reptiles: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...
01:41:57 New specimen of the Pleistocene porcupine Erethizon poyeri: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/...

Relevant links
Albert's talk at PaleostreamCon:    • PaleostreamCon 2024 / The Dinosaurs T...  
New paper Albert coauthored on bird fossils of the Maastricht Formation: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...
Walking with Dinosaurs return press release: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/202...
Life on Our Planet spin-off announcement: https://deadline.com/2024/05/life-on-...
Study that coined the name Avicephala: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
Study on the back appendages of Longisquama: https://link.springer.com/article/10....
Previous episode where we discussed Coelurosauravus:    • Nature News: August–September 2022  
Evidence for digging abilities in drepanosaurs: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
Study on the phylogeny of early reptiles: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4155...
Study that described Avicranium: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
Study reporting examples of mountain lions killed by porcupine quills: https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.c...
Previous episodes where we discussed animals rafting from Africa to South America:
   • Humanity, a Prologue: Part 2 (Ahoy Me...  
   • Dinosaurs, the Second Chapter: Part 6...  
Previous episode where we discussed the Great American Biotic Interchange:    • Dinosaurs, the Second Chapter: Part 1...  

Corrections
01:51:10 - Albert meant to say "Hystricomorpha", not "Hystricognatha".

Disclaimer: Though we try to ensure the factual accuracy of our content, this podcast is not peer reviewed and we cannot always check relevant references during recordings.