Langebaanweg is a Mio-Pliocene aged fossil locality on the west coast of South Africa (about 120 Km from Cape Town), that has produced a staggering diversity and abundance of fossil material. In the first part of this series I went over the history of the site from its discovery, through six decades of research, most [&hellip ..read more

In 2017, the femur of a mammoth was discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth in a commercial gravel quarry close to the village of Cerney Wick, on the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire border in England. Subsequent exploration of this site yielded further remains of Pleistocene megafauna including horses, bison, hyena and elk, as well as Neanderthal hand tools. In the following years, the excavations at Cerney Wick expanded in scope into what is now the largest palaeontological dig in the UK. The potential for public interest in the site and its finds was quickly realised and the documentary ‘Atte ..read more

Near a small coastal town on the west coast of South Africa, amid rolling dunes and fynbos vegetation lies a palaeontological gem. The site is called Langebaanweg, named for the nearby town, Langebaan. A word believed to derive from Dutch for the long strip of calm water created by the saltwater lagoon, which characterises this part of the coast.  There are a lot of things that make Langebaanweg special, its age, its rarity, its extraordinary productivity and its long research history. In this multi-part feature, we will explore why more people should know about the site, the things we ha ..read more

Found in the fossil record between the Jurassic and the middle Miocene, Notosuchia was a highly diverse and strange group of crocodylomorphs, most notable for their terrestrial lifestyle. Joining us for today’s episode is Dr Yohan Pochat-Cottilloux from the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, who specialises in the study of crocodylomorphs. Together, we will explore the wide range of scientific methodologies that have so far been used to study the lives of these strange reptiles and discuss how they may have looked and behaved. Interpretative drawings of the posture of Zulmasuchus querejazus (ab ..read more

Sauropods are a group of magnificent, long-necked dinosaurs that are well known for their gigantism. Existing from the end of the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (201 to 66 million years ago), they hold special places in the hearts and imaginations of dinosaur lovers around the world thanks to their unique body shapes and their ability to achieve such vast numbers on the scales. For example, famous genera such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus measured up to 26m in length, and weighed 14,800kg and 46,000kg respectively. These colossal sizes have puzzled scientists for years: how had creatu ..read more

It’s been two centuries since the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, was named by William Buckland and to commemorate the date, the Natural History Museum hosted ‘200 Years of Dinosaurs: Their Rise, Fall, and Rebirth’. This international conference provides a snapshot of dinosaur research in 2024, demonstrating just how far our understanding of this group has come since 1824. In our coverage of this event, we speak to many of the leading palaeontologists in the field, as we look back over the last 200 years of research and consider what the next 200 might reveal. It has now been 200 years since th ..read more

The Middle Jurassic is incredibly important to our understanding of pterosaur evolution; however, the remarkable rarity and incompleteness of Middle Jurassic pterosaurs has long hampered scientific understanding of the lineage. Joining us this episode on the other side of the microphone is one of Palaeocast’s own team members, Dr Liz Martin Silverstone, a Technical Specialist at the University of Bristol who has recently described Ceoptera evansae, a darwinopteran pterosaur from the Isle of Skye. Together, we explore the new specimen, how it fits in to the group, and the insights it can give u ..read more

For over 150 million years, mammals scurried beneath the feet of dinosaurs. Despite being confined to small sizes, they diversified into numerous forms alongside their dinosaurian contemporaries. Although some Cretaceous mammals were about the size of modern badgers, most were not much larger than mice. This all changed 66 million years ago, when a giant meteor collided with Earth, wiped out the terrible reptiles, and set the stage for mammals to reach a new levels of diversity. Some of these post-apocalyptic mammals evolved remarkably high degrees of intelligence and opposable thumbs, others ..read more

Originally mounted in 1907, the Carnegie specimen is the best example of the sauropod dinosaur Diplodocus, and perhaps the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world. Casts of the specimen, including the London example known as “Dippy”, were distributed around the world during the early 1900s, and a final concrete cast was even created in 1957 for the Utah Field House at Vernal. Although the moulds used to create these casts were lost sometime during the 1960’s, new ones created from the concrete skeleton have allowed second generation casts to be made, with some elements being incorporated in ..read more

Life On Our Planet (LOOP) is a new 8-part series created for Netflix by Silverback Films and Amblin Television. This Steven Spielberg produced series, narrated by Morgan Freeman, is hugely ambitious in its scope, telling the story of life throughout the whole Phanerozoic Eon. Ancient organisms and environments are painstakingly recreated by the supremely talented Industrial Light and Magic, whilst modern natural history scenes add vital context to the story. This show has been worked on for six years, during which time countless papers were read and around 150 different palaeontologists contri ..read more