#soft tissue preservation

[krindor]

Send help im experiencing childlike wonder and an academic study-bug at the same time

[soft-cheek]

Today I learned that apparently there's a travelling pokemon fossil exhibit in Japan thatll set up at local museums with like life size statues of some of the fossil pokemon and don't get me wrong I would love to see it. But fucking

Do we see this are we looking at this, apparently we're claiming that aurorus has bone sails

So immediately I had to look into it like damn maybe they are? They like move though so I looked into it and

Well now wait just one minute ok so not only are they skin, which ok I figured as much, but also the fossil you use to resurrect this bitch is an impression fossil so already I'm like wait they don't even have any DNA from this bitch (which you wouldn't from the vast majority from fossils just anyway including almost all bone fossils too but I feel like I can justify pokemon resurrection magic more when you have the bone fossil) how on earth did they manage to resurrect a whole dinosaur from an impression fossil

But back to my previous point all I'm saying is that the skeleton they've got in this showcase is the equivalent to one of these

[miiilowo]

IT'S NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY IN THE US 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥 here's my favorite. it's name is Borealopelta and was found in Alberta. It's the only known one in it's species (borealopelta markmitchelli) (named after one of the people who helped prepare it) (it took him Seven Thousand Hours / 5 and a half years), and took 14 days to excavate out of its site. and yes it's in the ankylosaur clade if u thought it looked like one that's because it is

It's one of the best, if not THE best, preserved dinosaur fossils currently known . They found it's ORGANS preserved inside. It's ORGANS !!!!! It's rare for soft tissue to survive fossilization, so this has always been really really super duper cool for me and I like it a lot and it makes me very happy. I recommend looking into + at it on your own time because it's absolutely fascinating. it really just looks like an animal that went to sleep

The theory as to why it's so well preserved is that it likely died at or near the sea, sunk down to the floor and was quickly buried under the sand. Instead of being squished by layers and layers of sediment and rock, water carried in minerals and sort of made an Internal Rock Cast. They also discovered from studying the scales that it was likely an earthy reddish-orange tone . Nice for camouflage :-)

[alphynix]

Hassianycteris messelensis was an early bat that lived in what is now Germany during the mid-Eocene, about 47 million years ago.

It's generally considered to be very closely related to the common ancestry of modern bats – but a recent study suggests that the stem-bat evolutionary tree is actually quite a bit more complicated than previously thought.

It had a 35-40cm wingspan (~14"-16"), and thanks to the exceptional preservation of the Messel Pit fossil site we actually know some details about its external life appearance. One specimen preserves a soft-tissue impression of its ear shape, and fossilized melanosomes suggest that its fur was colored reddish-brown.

Its wing proportions indicate it was adapted to fly high and fast in open spaces, and its strong jaws and preserved gut contents show it mainly preyed on tough-shelled insects like beetles.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Colleary, Caitlin, et al. "Chemical, experimental, and morphological evidence for diagenetically altered melanin in exceptionally preserved fossils." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112.41 (2015): 12592-12597. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1509831112

Habersetzer, Jörg, Gotthard Richter, and Gerhard Storch. "Paleoecology of early middle Eocene bats from Messel, FRG. Aspects of flight, feeding and echolocation." Historical Biology 8.1-4 (1994): 235-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/10292389409380479

Jones, Matthew F., K. Christopher Beard, and Nancy B. Simmons. "Phylogeny and systematics of early Paleogene bats." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 31.2 (2024): 18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09705-8

Wikipedia contributors. “Hassianycteris” Wikipedia, 23 Jan. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassianycteris

[blueiscoool]

A Mummified 44,000-Year-Old Wolf Found in Siberian Permafrost

Scientists perform necropsy on an ancient wolf pulled from Russian permafrost that may still have prey in its stomach.

In a first-of-its-kind discovery, a complete mummified wolf was pulled from the permafrost in Siberia, after being locked away for more than 44,000 years. Scientists have now completed a necropsy (an animal autopsy) on the ancient predator, which was discovered by a river in the Republic of Sakha — also known as Yakutia — in 2021.

This is the first complete adult wolf dating to the late Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) ever discovered, according to a translated statement from the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, where the necropsy was performed. The discovery, scientists say, will help us better understand life in the region during the last ice age.

Photos from the necropsy show the wolf's mummified body in exquisite detail. Animals are preserved in permafrost through a type of mummification involving cold and dry conditions. Soft tissues are dehydrated, allowing the body to be preserved in a frozen time capsule.

Researchers took samples of the wolf's internal organs and gastrointestinal tract to detect ancient viruses and microbiota, and to understand its diet when it died.

"His stomach has been preserved in an isolated form, there are no contaminants, so the task is not trivial," Albert Protopopov, head of the department for the study of mammoth fauna of the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia, said in the statement. "We hope to obtain a snapshot of the biota of the ancient Pleistocene."

He added the wolf, which tooth analysis revealed was male, would've been an "active and large predator," so they will be able to find out what it was eating, along with the diet of its victims, which "also ended up in his stomach."

Another key aspect of the necropsy is looking at the ancient viruses the wolf may have harbored. "We see that in the finds of fossil animals, living bacteria can survive for thousands of years, which are a kind of witnesses of those ancient times," Artemy Goncharov, who studies ancient viruses at the North-Western State Medical University in Russia, and is part of the team analyzing the wolf, said in the statement.

He said the research project will aid their understanding of ancient microbial communities and the role of harmful bacteria during this period. "It is possible that microorganisms will be discovered that can be used in medicine and biotechnology as promising producers of biologically active substances," he added.

The wolf necropsy is part of an ongoing project to study the wildlife that lived in the region during the Pleistocene. Other species examined include ancient hares, horses and a bear from the Holocene. The team plans to study the wolf's genome to understand how it relates to other ancient wolves from the region, and how it compares to its living relatives. The team now plans to start studying another ancient wolf discovered in the Nizhnekolymsk region of northeast Siberia in 2023.

By Hannah Osborne.

[bluesunss]

Big Fools Choi Su-bong x F!reader

Fools part 2

part 1

summary: after realising he has feelings for his best friend, Su-bong decides he’d rather ignore her than face himself. she, however, decides to confront him at his place after a silence way too long. after all, only a fool would let such a great friendship slip through their fingers, right?

word count: 1.5k

warnings: idk how to put this but toxic self-preservation habits, avoidant personality. no games au, overall it’s mostly fluff. and tensionnn

a/n: this was requested by many, and here it is! lmk what you think!

Ever since Su-bong realized he had a crush, he figured it was safer to ignore you.

You, on the other hand, often found yourself waiting for any of his usual messages between shifts, before heading to work, at night before sleeping. It was strange - he still sent you about fifty dumb videos on social media, but when it came to your texts, he only responded with single letters - idk, k, ye, lmao. He used to be such a spammer, even letting you know when he was wiping his windows.

Your job took up most of your time, so you didn’t think much of it. But when your best friend didn’t show up for your Friday night hangout at your place, you knew something was off.

That very night, you decided to knock on his door to confront him about his mysterious disappearance. After leaving the hospital, you took an ice-cold shower, dried your hair, and slipped into something comfortable.

Before heading out, you grabbed your white coat - just in case the hospital needed you in an emergency. Then, you stopped by the store downstairs and bought a can of his favorite juice, microwave popcorn, instant noodles, and stuffed everything into a bag before paying.

The bell chimed as you stepped outside, the cool night air brushing against your shoulders beneath your jacket. You hailed a cab, and during the ride, your face remained pressed against the window, forming a foggy imprint. Your reflection merged with the strands of your hair sticking to the cold glass.

The driver stopped after about ten minutes in front of a nearly run-down building, covered in graffiti - one of them, you were a bit ashamed to admit, being a terrible idea between Su-bong and you: a massive purple T for Thanos, with your fingerprints stamped in the corner as if to mark your presence. He loved staring at it (it was hideous and someone even took their time to draw a middle finger next to it). But you had a soft spot for it. For the building. And for Su-bong.

The place had no elevator, so you climbed the stairs two at a time, reaching the fourth floor, slightly out of breath. You knocked lightly on the door labeled Mr. Choi and waited. No sound. No usual shuffle of his footsteps approaching, no crash of furniture followed by a curse as he struggled to move around. Just complete silence.

Your heart pounded as you rang the doorbell. Where was he? After a few minutes, you decided to leave - when suddenly the door swung open, revealing Su-bong, shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants hanging low on his hips, barely concealing his abs, his pecs, or the sharp V-line. Tattoos ran along his sides and down his arm, rings and piercings catching the dim light.

Shit. It was suddenly very hot. Scorching.

His eyes widened when he saw you. Without a word, he moved to slam the door in your face, but you wedged your foot between it with an outraged gasp and a small yelp of pain as the door nearly crushed your ankle. You pushed through and stepped inside his small apartment.

The air was cold, he had opened every window, and the place was a complete disaster. Sure, Su-bong was messy. His clothes were always scattered around, and the moment he entered your place, your floor would somehow be littered with trash and dirty socks. But this, this was another level. Empty cans, plastic wrappers, crumpled tissues, and a sink overflowing with dishes.

“What the hell! Did a tornado hit this place?” you exclaimed. “What in the world is going on?!” You scolded him, eyebrows furrowed. “Shit.”

You took a good look at him - his indigo hair was a disheveled mess, even more than usual, his eyes bloodshot, and he reeked of something sharp and acidic.

“Get out of my apartment,” he muttered.

You shook your head, dropping the bag of snacks onto his counter. Your jaw clenched.

“No, seriously, what the fuck is this? What’s wrong with you? This isn’t normal,” you shot back.

His eyes reddened further. “Why do you even care?”

“I care because you’re my damn best friend, and I’m worried about you!”

He ran a hand through his hair, eyes darting around for something. Then, they landed on a rectangular pack. He grabbed it, slowly, deliberately, then searched for a lighter.

“You smoke again?” You blinked in surprise. “I thought you were quitting.” He had said he’d switch to vapes, then try to stop altogether.

He ignored you, taunting you as he brought the lighter to the cigarette between his lips. With a small click, a flame flickered, igniting the tip. He expertly tapped the ashes off with his finger, letting them fall onto the already grimy floor. Then, he exhaled a cloud of smoke right into your face.

“Su-bong?” You hesitated. He was scaring you. Your heart pounded even harder. “What’s going on?”

Your voice softened. Slowly, carefully, you stepped closer. He watched you, his dark eyes following your every tiny movement. There was something cruel in his gaze, but you could see the cracks.

When you finally stood in front of him, you reached for the cigarette. His fingers barely resisted, parting just enough for you to take it from him. He watched your every move. Then, in a silent challenge, you raised the cigarette to your lips, your nurse lips, untouched by poison, and took a drag.

The smoke invaded your lungs. And you felt it instantly - you weren’t built for this. A coughing fit hit you, and you choked, throwing the cigarette out the open window.

“Ah, fuck!” you wheezed. “Ha, you exhaust me.”

Against his better judgment, he smirked, amused by your struggle. You shot him a glare, but suddenly, the laugh you had been holding back broke free, bubbling into the air. You both burst out laughing, and you collapsed into his arms, still shaking with mirth.

“Wow,” you murmured. “I tried to impress you.”

He finally calmed down, your friendship and laughs bringing you together once more. His hand slid up your arm, pulling you closer.

“You suck. Don’t ever smoke again, señorita,” he chuckled.

His body relaxed, Su-bong you knew was back. So you shoved him onto the couch, standing over him with a sharp glare.

“Oh, there you are! Now TALK,” you demanded. “What the hell is going on?”

His gaze locked onto yours, darkening again. He tried to look away, but you coughed, forcing his attention back. You caught him glancing at your breasts. “Eyes up here,” you scolded.

He groaned, finally meeting your gaze. “Happy?”

“Almost. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

He sighed. “Nothing. Just tired. The team’s pissing me off with some rap battle shit.”

Liar. You smirked. “And I’m supposed to believe that? I remind you, I’m a nurse - I get lied to about people’s problems every day.”

A lazy grin tugged at his lips. One hand rested under his head on the couch’s armrest. The other snaked around your waist, pulling you in until you stood between his legs. The heat of his touch burned through your clothes.

“A very pretty nurse,” he murmured. “I bet your patients lie just to get you to take care of them longer.”

Your heart stumbled. Men rarely had this effect on you - you were always in control. But now - your mind blurred. His fingers, that subtle yet friendly touch, seared through your chest.

“Oh, yeah?” Your voice dropped, breath warming.

He noticed the shift. His hand slid from your waist to your thigh, his breathing quickening. His violet hair was a tousled mess, his gaze glinting under the dim light. You stared at each other, hearts pounding in sync.

His fingers traced up your jacket. Slowly, he slid it one sleeve off your shoulders. Then, moving to the other, he did the same, leaving you bare under your white crop top.

So, so gently. His hands skimmed your skin, sending shivers down your spine. Then, they slipped under your top, gliding higher and higher until you raised your arms.

He stood, towered over you, helping you remove your shirt, his fingers brushing your cheek, his breath uneven. It was so hot. You were burning. Your top joined the mess on the floor.

His hand found your neck, undoing your hair tie, letting your hair tumble over your shoulders, your bare chest rising and falling. Already shirtless, his skin met yours, igniting sparks.

It was too late. Far too late. His hand cradled your nape, rings icy against your skin. The open windows sent exhilarating chills through your overheated bodies.

And he leaned in. Slowly. Infinitely slowly. Your gazes were veiled by your eyelids as they closed gently, like a breath, your breaths mingling. Your skin ignited. And your lips - just a millimetre away from brushing. The anticipation burned inside you. You burned for him to touch you.

He took his time. Grazed your mouth with his own.

But he could not anymore, his already low patience breaking, and he melted against you. His acidic, forbidden taste crashed against your pink lips, and in that exact moment, your entire friendship crumbled.

This was a big mistake. Big big mistake. But you had no time for regret, right now.

You were both such big fools, after all. Big fools with a crush, and the inability to express it vocally.

LMK WHAT YOU THINK GUYSS!!

@storytellers-randomshortstorys here it is!!

[lookitsrocknrollxo3]

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 poor baby

nikki sixx x female reader

requested .𖥔 ݁ ˖

word count: 708

˙⋆✮ just a little friendly reminder: my request box is always open, please feel free to send me any concepts you have in mind, much love babes, enjoy˙⋆✮

as you laid in bed, your head was throbbing. the sensation latching onto you, it felt as though its grip was getting tighter and tighter each passing minute. you tried everything under the sun, any remedy that appeared hopeful, but it seemed as though nothing was working out for you.

becoming desperate, overwhelmed with pain, on top of everything else, you felt a cold coming on. the tissue box following you around the apartment.

sneezing for the hundredth time today, you heard a familiar voice call out to you from the front door. normally you would run up and jump into nikki's arms, but you stayed in the comfort of your sheets, trying to preserve the small amount of energy you had left.

nikki noticed the small break in the routine the two of you had, raising his eyebrow, he knew something was up.

baby doll, are you okay? where are you?

your voice coming out in a faint whisper, trying to grab nikki's attention.

concern instantly coursing through nikki as he made his way to the bedroom, running in your direction. his lips turned into a saddened pout, seeing how ill you looked. his protective instincts heightening as he noticed the redness on your nose and the slight whimper you let out.

awe baby... i'm here, daddy's here.

he cooed, his tone holding a much more gentle touch, as nikki knelt down in front of you, gently running his fingers through your hair. you nuzzled into his grasp, feeling the headache weaken a bit, his fingers releasing the tension in your scalp.

i-i'm so tired, i-

nikki cut you off mid sentence,

i know angel, let me take care of you. don't move a muscle, daddy wants his baby girl to relax. i'll get you everything you need, you just stay here.

kissing your forehead as he stood up and headed to the kitchen. even though you were feeling under the weather, you missed being by nikki's side. the emptiness of the room made your heart sink into your chest. slowly, you stepped out of bed, peeking your head out from the door frame.

nikki's back still turned, his focus on the soup he was making you, he spoke, never leaving his attention off the pot on the stove,

little one, go back to bed. i hear you moving around. i'll be there in a minute, daddy is just making you something to eat.

your lips shaking slightly, as a frown crept up on your face. you thought about protesting but you knew there was no point, you were too exhausted to fight back. letting out a sigh, defeated, you crawled back to bed, pulling the blanket over your body.

after a few long minutes go by, or it felt as such. you opened your eyes, your vision landing on nikki, who was holding a bowl, a glass of water and balancing several other things in his arms. a soft smile never leaving his face. little by little, he set each item on the dresser that stood right next to you.

you sat up in bed, making yourself comfortable. you placed your hands out to grab the bowl of soup nikki made, but mid way he stopped you. his deep voice tsking, shaking his head in disapproval.

before you could say anything, you felt the cold metallic spoon hit your lips. the warm liquid causing you to let out a sigh of relief. the head cold you were feeling just briefly started to ease it's way to a bearable pain.

muttering out a single sentence, your weakened state not allowing you to speak much,

t-thank you

of course sugar, anything for my special little girl.

as the rest of the day went on, nikki was at your beck and call. every time you needed something, he immediately shot up, his attention only focused on you, he never left your side.

baby, it's time to take your medicine, open wide for me.

as you opened your mouth, swallowing the rancid cold medicine, nikki wrote down the time on a piece of paper so he knew when you had to take your next dose. he just wanted his precious doll to feel better, he hated seeing you like this.

── .✦

[mindblowingscience]

Most animals and plants never fossilize. For those that do, it's usually only hard parts such as bones and shells that preserve. However, in some exceptional cases, soft tissues such as muscles and gills survive the fossilization process and can present a wealth of information about the biology and ecology of ancient organisms. In a paper recently published in Palaeontologia Electronica, Dr. Adiel Klompmaker, University of Alabama Museums' curator of paleontology, and colleagues reported on a remarkable crab with multiple mineralized soft tissues preserved. This crab lived 75 million years ago during the Cretaceous in the area of present-day South Dakota in an ancient sea known as the Western Interior Seaway.

Continue Reading.

[cleverbunnycompany]

An amazing Ankylosaur; Borealopelta is probably among the best preserved dinosaur fossils, including skin impressions, stomach contents and soft tissue!

Studies have also shown it to have traces of reddish-brown pigments on its heavily armoured back!

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Monday Musings: Why are there so many perfectly preserved soft-bodied animals found in the Cambrian?

There are a number of ways to get the perfect preservations needed to fossilize soft parts but none of them are particularly common. On the other hand, most of them require water and there was quite a lot of it 518 million years ago.

Phosphatization occurs when large quantities of phosphate are present, either in sea water or from the tissues of a decaying organism. In some cases, microbes that fed on the tissue control the phosphatization. Many soft tissues are preserved this way in the Burgess Shale. The phosphate comes from the tissue itself and when pH is low and oxygen is absent, it becomes the primary method of fossilization.

Silicification is one of the most common ways to fossilize something because silicates is the most common rock forming minerals in the crust. Silica often replaces other minerals that have dissolved out such as calcite shells. This is usually seen to preserve things like trilobites. It doesn't often fossilize soft tissue.

Another form of preservation found at least in the Burgess Shale is carbonaceous film. This occurs when something is buried under several layers of sediment and diagenetically altered (in this case by heat and pressure brought on by compaction) and the animal lacks a hard skeleton or shell.

When we look at quarry locations on a paleo map,

and examine the rocks, we see that they lived and died in the right place at the right time (if the taphonomic and preservation bias don't lead us astray).

The Burgess Shale beds were deposited at the base of a cliff of calcareous reefs below the depth agitated by waves during storms. The most widely accepted hypothesis for burial is that part if the reef became detached, slumped and transported rock and debris several kilometers and quickly burying anything in its path.

On the other hand, the Maotianshan Shale was probably buried periodically under turbidity currents, basically an underwater mass wasting event. This is why we don't build our homes on old landslide deposits kids.

The Sirius Passet lagerstatte of Greenland was yet a different environment close to the boundary of an oxygen minimum zone according to geochemical analysis. It is thought that the original preservation was phosphatization that was later altered to silica by low grade metamorphism during the Devonian Period mountain-building events.

Finally, we have the Sinsk Biota of Siberia which inhabited an open marine basin where storms created back currents that sent many animals off into the oxygen depleted depths below. Anoxic conditions prevent growth of microbes that would normally decay flesh allowing soft tissues to preserve.

Now, it is also important to note that oftentimes, parts labeled soft tissue are not necessarily as soft as you believe. Take keratin for example which makes up nails, hair, feathers and sheaths over horns. It's not really that soft in some cases but it is softer than bone which makes it harder to preserve.

Whether we mean keratin or chitin (a natural polymer used to strengthen fungi and invertebrates) or internal organs which really are soft tissues, the Cambrian lagerstatten really are something else.

[ashmouthbooks]

Læg nu smukt din hånd i min by katekane

A6 quarto hardback with homemade bookcloth - first time making it myself! and the title stamped on the front cover with fabric paint. I have never watched a single Far til fire film (not even the modern remakes) but when I stumbled across this on ao3 I couldn’t pass it by. this fic touches on Danish queer history with such heart and warmth and wonderful characters (I should probably watch the films) that it became an instant favourite.

for ikke at tale om at når man har tilbragt tyve plus år i fandom på engelsk og med engelske canons så er det at læse fic på dansk, der har udgangspunkt i dansk kultur og historie, som regn for sjælens ødemarker.

craft talk under the cut.

this is my first time making bookcloth so I want about it the cheapest possible way - fabric square from Søstrene Grene’s craft section backed with tissue paper which was a) the only paper I had that was big enough for the fabric square and b) salvaged from a past gifty delivery. it went ok but after drying some of the tissue separated from the fabric. hashtag yolo etc. I decided to use it anyway, and I think the moisture in the PVA was just enough to reactivate the paste on the paper backing, because the finished case came out beautifully smooth - and soft. I opted not to infill the cloth so it’s open weave cotton and feels as soft as a pillow to the touch.

the endpapers are also from Søstrene Grene, decorative paper 120gsm. The textblock is printed on 90gsm Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White, I wanted a whiter paper than usual as the chapter end notes have colour photos that I wanted to preserve. headbands are sewn on, the core is leather cord and the thread is embroidery thread.

the title is stamped on using rubber stamps from, you guessed it - Søstrene Grene. (they actually have letter stamps with the Scandinavian alphabet characters but the London store only has that particular set in all caps and the lower case set only had the English alphabet. luckily an æ is easily improvised and I have both a steady hand and a fine tip paintbrush for the circle over the å.) the paint is shimmery metallic fabric paint from Lumiere.

[strongafmummytourney]

ROUND 1

CONTENDER 1: BEECHEY ISLAND MUMMIES

Also known as: Franklin Expedition Mummies, John Shaw Torrington, John Hartnell, William Braine Age(s): 19-20 (Torrington), 25 (Hartnell), 32 (Braine) Location: Beechey Island/Iluvialuit, Nunavut, Canada Means of Mummification: Burial in permafrost Notable features: Preserved soft tissues and cartilage including eyes, nose, lips, and internal organs. Hair preserved with color intact. Clothes preserved.

CONTENDER 2: GEORGE HERBERT LEIGH-MALLORY

Age: 37 Location: Mount Everest's North Face, Tibet Means of Mummification: Subzero mountain temperatures and dry air Notable features: Known for his incredible posterior in life and in death. Some climbing gear intact.

[alphynix]

The tuzoiids were an enigmatic group of Cambrian invertebrates known mostly just from their spiny bivalved carapaces. Although hundreds of fossils of these arthropods were discovered over the last century or so, only vague fragments of the rest of their bodies have been found even in sites usually known for preserving soft tissue impressions.

…Until late 2022, when several new specimens from the Canadian Burgess Shale deposits (~508 million years ago) were described showing tuzoiid anatomy in exceptional detail, finally giving us an idea of what they looked like and where they fit into the early arthropod evolutionary tree.

Tuzoiids like Tuzoia burgessensis here would have grown up to about 23cm long (~9"). They had large eyes on short stalks, a pair of simple antennae, a horizontal fluke-like tail fan, and twelve pairs of appendages along their body – with the front two pairs at the head end being significantly spinier, and most (or all) of these limbs also bearing paddle-like exopods.

The large carapace enclosed most of the body, and was ornamented with protective spines and a net-like surface pattern that probably increased the strength of the relatively thin chitinous structure.

Together all these anatomical features now indicate that tuzoiids were early mandibulates (part of the lineage including modern myriapods, crustaceans, and insects), and were probably very closely related to the hymenocarines.

Tuzoiids seem to have been active swimmers that probably cruised around just above the seafloor, with their stout legs suggesting they could also walk around if they flexed their valves open. The arrangement of their spiny front limbs wasn't suited to grabbing at fast-swimming prey, but instead may have been used to capture slower seafloor animals or to scavenge from carcasses.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Twitter | Patreon

[monsterlets]

we're all so used to dinosaur fossils being a thing I just wanna take a second to appreciate how wild fossils are. like people are surprised by soft tissue fossils cos soft tissue doesn't preserve for long but like. neither does bone. I wanna appreciate all the bone fossils we have for a second. because a bone fossil is not a bone, right, it's rock that filled the space where the bone used to be. because the bone disintegrated millions of years ago. the vast majority of the time, bones break down before they can fossilize. you gotta have the right conditions to make a fossil. it's just that in the enormity of geologic time, the right conditions are gonna happen sometimes

[thebibliosphere]

So your finger popped back in?

I once fell into a door crushing my finger between the wall and my hip and was told it’ll hurt to pull it back in and I barely felt it cause I don’t have proper pain receptors due to my gross motor dyspraxia is a theory

I was at a disability disco once and my shoulder popped out and it freaked out the staff and I just asked them to push my wheelchair back to my support worker and he’s just like

Yeah happens all the time

Did it scare you the first time it happened?

I honestly don't know the first time it happened because I've been doing it since I was a child. My parents just went, "Oh, that's normal, see your mother does the same thing," and it just kinda got swept under the rug as a weird quirk.

It's only now that I know I have hEDS, and I am more aware of trying to preserve my joints that I notice these things. Like it always hurt, but I used to just brush it off as "Wow, I sure am lucky! That should have broken my [insert limb here]. I must have hit it just right..."

Which, nope! Not luck. My wonky joints and soft tissue were absorbing all the impact and turning my body into a giant bruise. In some instances, a clean break would have been preferable, but hey, you deal with the cards you've been dealt.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Dilophosaurus wetherilli

Debut: Real Life, Circa The Early Jurassic (roughly 280 million years ago)

Hi I'm gonna talk about my favorite dinosaur now and you're gonna like it! Or maybe you won't, I don't know you! But y'know what I do know? Dilophosaurus!!! It's my best friend. They named it after the fact that it's got two (di) crests (lopho) on its head and also it's a reptile (saurus). A big reptile at that! In fact, it was the largest known animal of its time to walk the land in North America, and was almost certainly the apex predator of its environment, the Kayenta Formation (located across several of what are now the South-Western United States).

As you can see, this size chart demonstrates that the largest specimen discovered was about 7 meters (23 feet) long; no Tyrannosaurus rex, mind you, but still far larger than... some popular depictions might lead you to believe.

Also contrary to what some popular depictions might lead you to believe, Dilophosaurus would not have required the use of various biological mechanisms such as, for instance, retractable neck frills or venom-spitting to take down its prey; mechanisms which, mind you, are exclusively seen in animals as methods of self-defense, and would therefore only serve to scare away potential prey items.

Speaking of prey items, this stunning piece by Chase Stone depicts a pair of Dilophosaurus as having just brought down a prosauropod (a name for early sauropod relatives). Dilophosaurus did in fact live alongside at least one prosauropod, Sarahsaurus, the Holotype specimen of which bears tooth marks very likely left by a certain two-crested culprit! On that note I want to address another prevalent misconception in regards to life reconstructions of this animal...

On the left we have a (frankly hilariously sock-puppet-like) restoration by a sadly unknown artist, and on the right is another absolutely breathtaking rendering by Chase Stone. As you can pretty clearly see, the way the crests (among other things) are restored is very different between the two! For a long time, the crests were restored as seen on the left: very thin, and with a little protrusion jutting out of the back. This is due to something called shrink-wrapping, a trend in paleoart exemplified by the omission of tissues such as muscle or fat when reconstructing the animal, leading to much of the skeleton being visible through the skin, particularly in the case of the skull.

Stone's restoration, on the other hand, wraps the skull in a much more naturalistic-looking amount of soft tissue, and completely envelops both crests in a keratinous structure, much like the casque of a cassowary or a hornbill (in fact I believe the coloration is actually referenced specifically from a knobbed hornbill's beak).

This is due to the fact that the crests were likely a kind of bony core which would have supported a larger keratinous structure as is to be expected of... sigh... horny structures such as this. Stop smiling. Don't you know there's no fun allowed when you're learning about things? That's what school taught me, anyway. Ahem. As I was saying, the original shape of the crest was extrapolated from incomplete remains, which you can see a restored illustration of above.

Also worth noting is the inclusion of a thin, fluffy covering of feathers along the head, neck, and back of Stone's restoration. This is entirely plausible, as the current consensus is that dinosaurs and their close relatives, pterosaurs, were descended from a fluffy common ancestor due to the fluffy-feathery coverings seen in both groups being found to be basically the same stuff!

I could go on about so many things, like how tremendously fucked up and addled with tumors and infections the Holotype specimen was, or how we have a trace fossil which seems to preserve a Dilophosaurus sitting down in the mud like a big dumb bird, complete with an impression of its butt, but I trust that if these things pique your interest enough, you'll seek them out on your own time. Just remember not to have fun, because as we all know, fun is the one thing learning should never be.