#fossil in amber

[clansbeforetime]

Happy Fossil Day!

National Fossil Day is an annual celebration held to highlight the scientific and educational value of paleontology and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations. - National Park Services

As we are a server who bases our lore very heavily on fossils, from the prehistoric environment down to our characters, the saber-toothed cats, we thought we’d hop in and celebrate this day with some fun facts about fossil animals you could possibly encounter here in the Baobab!

Deinotherium

The heavy-weight representative of TuskClan’s megafauna is colloquially known as simply “The Elephant”, though you may be quick to spot that these are no modern-day African Elephants. Instead, the proboscideans that you’d encounter out on the savanna are based on the famous extinct genus of DeinotheriumI, a close relative of modern elephants. They are known for their distinct tusk-shape, curving downwards instead of the modern elephants outward tusk!

An artistic reconstruction of the species D. bozasi

Caluma Benovskyi

Chameleons are some of the most recognizable reptiles on the planet, known for their prehensile tails and independently mobile eyes. Not much is known of the fossil chameleons of Africa, but there have been discoveries that show that there were indeed these funky little reptiles climbing around SunClan’s forests, changing colors to try and hide from even the most observant saber.

an artistic reconstruction of Caluma Benovskyi

Euthecodon

Out in the waters of BevyClan, especially in the crocodile lake, you’re likely to find yourself face-to-snout with one of the fiercest archosaurs left on the planet, the crocodile. The genus Euthecodon comprise of three species of long-snouted crocodiles, these beasts appear to have convergently evolved their signature snouts with modern-day gharials, and had originally been thought to have been an ancestor of the croc-cousins, though research has more heavily suggested that BevyClan is indeed home to true crocodiles.

photo taken at a zoo in the Netherlands, of the Euthecodon’s closest living relative, Mecistops

Alongside these fun fossil creatures, sabers in the baobab clans have found some unique collectibles today, be it strange bugs in tree-sap in SunClan's fallen trees, ridged shells in the cub islands of BevyClan, or odd reptilian teeth in TuskClan's sand dunes! Maybe doing a bit of research could help our sabers understand what the world was like before they were in it, and what the Baobab region looked like many moons ago....

Sources and fun extra reads!

Black, Riley. “An Extinct “Anchor-Tusked” Proboscidean.” Science, 24 July 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/an-extinct-anchor-tusked-proboscidean.

“Calumma Benovskyi, a New Fossil Chameleon from Kenya.” Www.chameleons.info, www.chameleons.info/l/calumma-benovskyi-a-new-fossil-chameleon-from-kenya/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Čerňanský, Andrej, et al. “The Only Complete Articulated Early Miocene Chameleon Skull (Rusinga Island, Kenya) Suggests an African Origin for Madagascar’s Endemic Chameleons.” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 10 Jan. 2020, p. 109, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-57014-5, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57014-5.

commondescentpc. “Episode 66 – Elephants.” The Common Descent Podcast, 28 July 2019, commondescentpodcast.com/2019/07/27/episode-66-elephants/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

“Euthecodon.” Wikipedia, 17 Mar. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthecodon. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

Hitchcock, Edward. Elementary Geology: By Edward Hitchcock. Google Books, M. H. Newman & Company, 1847, books.google.com/books?id=dZiyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA154&dq=dinotherium+++bank+++anchor&ei=-bFpSu_sCJKOyASrnpWgBA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

“National Fossil Day (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/index.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.

[pien-art]

together forever :)

what if we were little bugs holding hands encased in amber forever and ever :))))

prints available here :p

[amnhnyc]

What can we learn from a dinosaur feather preserved in amber? Let’s go behind the scenes of the Museum’s collection of amber fossils to find out!

[transparentfossil]

Fossil Tube-Making Caddisfly (Psychomyiidae) In Baltic Amber

[dozydawn]

“Butterflies may be far more ancient creatures than previously believed, reveals a new study of fossil specimens exquisitely preserved in amber. The oldest known butterflies fossilized in rocks suggest the winged insects date back to about 40 or 50 million years ago. But evidence from the five stunning amber specimens now suggests it is possible butterflies may have even fluttered around the heads of dinosaurs, which were wiped out 65 million years ago.”

22 March 2004.

[fancyfairywings]

Did fairies live during the jurassic age? I'd like to think they did, but I actually created these after a year or more of toying with the idea, which was sparked by that mosquito specimen trapped in amber on the top of the Jurassic Park owner's staff. First I had to conquer my Cricut to get the tiny wings done the way I wanted with embossing along the veins and I finally figured that out! And yes I've already fixed the blob on that last pendant, this was before the fix. I'll show off the finished necklaces here too when they're done soon as necklaces.

[adjpngs]

(1) mushrooms, (2) polaroid camera, (3) gravity falls question mark, (4) 1920s oregon map, (5) amber fossil, (6) jar of eyes, (7) gnome statue, (8) gravity falls journal 3, (9) dipper pines hat

[geologyin-blog]

Scientists uncovered a remarkable fossil: a feathered dinosaur tail preserved in amber.

The specimen was initially mistaken for plant material but upon closer examination by Lida Xing from the University of Geosciences, it was identified as part of a dinosaur.

[cupcakedex]

Fossil Pokemon cookies by snollia!

[chasingrainbowsforever]

Prehistoric Praying Mantis Encased in Amber

[spiny-ant]

dinosaur ant (N. macrops) stimboard would be really cool!!!

Graaaaagh

🦖-🦖-🦖|🦖-🐜-🦖|🦖-🦖-🦖

[starryspngs]

Amber

Source: X / X

[mycoblogg]

Tell me a shroom fact please

a recently-found amber fossil (dating to ~100 million years ago) suggests that dinosaurs ingested psychotropic fungi !!

in this fossil, we see some of the earliest recorded evidence of grass. atop the grass? a fungal parasite. in comparison with our fungi today, this fungus is most similar to ergot - fungi that grow on rye & produce alkaloids. ergot has been used as a medicine, a poison & a hallucinogen by humans for thousand of years.

"there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been eaten by sauropod dinosaurs, although we can’t know what exact effect it had on them." - george poinar jr, of the oregon state university's college of science.

the small chance that dinosaurs tripped on psychedelics keeps me going, tbh.

[transparentfossil]

2 Snails with Millipede Insects in Burmite Burmese Amber Fossil

[dozydawn]

“Mapping flow lines within the amber using UV light, in ‘angel wing’ specimen.”

[sourbeltstims]

AMBER DEPOSIT / MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD

MIDDLE GIF MADE BY ME!

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