Past Time is a podcast that explores how we know what we know about the past. There's a special focus on the fossil record - it is hosted by two paleontologists - but delving into the story of the past isn't limited to dry bones. Today's paleontologists use techniques drawn from other sciences including Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Biology to figure out what extinct animals were like and how they lived. Whether you are just starting to learn about the amazing animals that have called this planet home, or you have been fascinated by fossils for a long time, we hope you will join us as we dig into past times. Keywords: Paleontology, Dinosaurs, Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Animals, Fossils, Extinction
https://www.pasttime.org/series/past-time/
Quick Bite: The Giant Before the Tyrant!
Last episode we featured Lythronax, the oldest-known North American tyrannosaur and a close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. But tyrannosaurs weren’t the only big carnivores to tromp through the Mesozoic of North America. Before the tyrant lizards were huge, there was another giant terrorizing the American West: Siats! Named for a Ute mythological giant, Siats was a bus-sized carnivore in the middle Cretaceous of Utah (99 million years ago). The giant had close relatives - the neoventors - on almost all the continents. This is a bit of a mystery because the continents were getting spread out by 99 million years, making it tough to explain how the neovenators conquered the world. In North America, this global dynasty replaced another family of giants: the carcharodontosaurs which included Acrocanthosaurus the top carnivore of the Early Cretaceous of Western and Eastern North America. The discovery of Siats shows different lineages of carnivorous dinosaurs could get really big and T. rex is just the last monarch to fill the giant carnivore niche in North America. It’s another toothy, terrifying tale on Past Time!
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