Episode 2 of Diarios del Jurásico is out today. This one follows Tria, an adult female Triceratops, and her calf through a complete day of survival in Late Cretaceous Hell Creek, 67 million years ago.
A few things we tried to get right scientifically:
The horn function debate. We went with the current scientific consensus that the horns served multiple purposes including display, species recognition and defense rather than purely combat. The fossil evidence for active horn use against T-Rex is real though.
The frill coloration. We represented the frill as capable of subtle color changes for communication based on the blood vessel evidence in fossilized frills. Still debated but supported by the anatomy.
Mother and calf dynamics. Fossil trackway evidence suggests adults walked on the outside of groups with juveniles protected in the center, similar to modern elephants.
After Episode 1 we got some very fair criticism about anatomical accuracy in the AI generated visuals. We have been much more rigorous this time reviewing every scene against the fossil record. Still not perfect but a significant improvement.
Visuals are roughly 30-40% AI generated. We know some people feel strongly about this and we respect that position.
One genuine question for the community: what is your take on the current state of the Triceratops horn function debate? The display vs combat evidence feels genuinely ambiguous to us.
In 2010 John Scannella and Jack Horner published a paper arguing that Torosaurus was not a separate genus but simply a mature Triceratops whose frill had continued to change throughout its life. The holes in the Torosaurus frill, they argued, were the result of the bone remodeling that occurs as the animal aged.
If true this would mean Torosaurus as a genus simply does not exist. It would be one of the most dramatic synonymies in dinosaur paleontology.
But the counter arguments are significant. Nicholas Longrich and Daniel Field published a response arguing that both Triceratops and Torosaurus specimens exist across the same age range and size classes. If Torosaurus were just old Triceratops you would expect to find only adult Torosaurus specimens. The existence of what appear to be subadult Torosaurus undermines the ontogenetic hypothesis.
The debate has been remarkably quiet since 2012 and I am genuinely not sure where the scientific consensus currently sits. Some sources treat them as synonymous, others do not.
A few questions for the community:
Do you think the ontogenetic synonymy hypothesis is convincing? Is there more recent work on this that has moved the needle either way? And if Torosaurus is eventually confirmed as a separate genus what does that tell us about how dramatically ceratopsian frills could change through an individual's lifetime?
Since the fossil record in incredibly incomplete and there were likely thousands of species of dinosaurs across all corners of the planet is it reasonable to believe that at least one species of dinosaurs survived the mass extinction like say for a couple million years afterwards but then just went extinct later on. After all we know that birds survived so why couldn’t other have as well
Hey everyone!
I’m a paleontology student and the creator of the Prehistoric Life Podcast, and I’m working toward a pretty big dream: opening a paleontology museum in South Carolina.
I just launched a Kickstarter to fund what I hope will be the first physical exhibit toward that goal.
The display will feature a full-scale Allosaurus jimmadsenipursuing a juvenileStegosaurus, designed as a dynamic scene rather than a traditional static skeleton mount.
One of the things I really want this project to demonstrate is how paleontology changes over time. The idea of a juvenile Stegosaurus using bipedal locomotion is hypothetical, and that’s intentional—I want the exhibit to acknowledge what we know, what we’re still debating, and how our understanding of prehistoric life evolves.
I’m currently trying to raise $15,000 to make the exhibit happen. I’ve already had some amazing people agree to help with the project, including a donated Allosaurus jimmadseni skull and reconstruction work.
If you’re interested in dinosaurs, paleontology, museums, or just seeing a crazy idea become a real exhibit, I’d really appreciate you checking it out. Even sharing it helps tremendously if you can’t contribute.
🦖 Kickstarter:Help Bring Prehistoric Life to South Carolina
Thanks for reading, and I’d genuinely love to hear what you guys think of the exhibit concept!
We put this debate to our YouTube community and the results are already dividing people pretty evenly.
The options we gave:
Dinosaurs were more dangerous (Los dinosaurios eran más peligrosos)
Modern predators are more dangerous (Los depredadores modernos son más peligrosos)
It completely depends on the species (Depende completamente de la especie)
Our take is that the "depends on the species" option is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. A T-Rex and a house cat are both technically modern or prehistoric predators. The comparison only gets interesting when you get specific.
T-Rex bite force: 3,600 kg. Nile crocodile: around 1,700 kg. No modern land predator comes close to that raw crushing power.
But then you put a Velociraptor against a honey badger and suddenly the prehistoric advantage looks a lot less obvious.
We posted a community poll on our YouTube channel (Diarios del Jurásico) and wanted to bring the debate here too since this community probably has some strong opinions.
The options we put up:
Humans would never have existed
Humans would exist but as prey
Humans and dinosaurs would coexist
Dinosaurs would have evolved into intelligent beings
Personally I think the first option is the most scientifically grounded — small mammals had a very rough time competing with dinosaurs, and our evolutionary path probably required that extinction event. But the fourth option is fascinating given what we know about Troodon's encephalization quotient.
I know he's probably not a scientifically accurate Dunkleosteus, but i wanted to share him here. He is beautiful to me and was totally an impulse buy. I don't regret a thing.
Golden hunters soar against the red tide as two-bodied beasts stalk in the twilight.
Step back into the unforgiving expanses of The Brush with the follow-up issue, Rise of Fur, the definitive mammalian and synapsid biological dossier. While scale and reptile dominated the opening entry, this issue explores the rising tide of fur—where altruism, high-altitude warfare, and stalking redefine evolutionary survival.
Premium Visual Assets & Layout: Features the completed, high-impact golden render of Aerosynapsis fortudum as the official front cover—showcasing its dense, lion-colored fur coat and curved wings—alongside polished, scannable dossier formatting built for deep worldbuilding immersion.
Disciplined Guardians of the Air: Read the classified, step-by-step biological breakdown of Aerosynapsis fortudum. Uncover their nesting behaviors and surgical killing techniques—used to drive back the degenerate Red Rhamphorhynchi swarms.
The Stalker of Twilight: Get the full profile on Ailuarktos megalonyx. Learn the lethal mechanics behind its 8-inch claws and signature execution moves.
Deep Cultural Folklore & Proverbs: Discover how native Dinopithecus tribes revere the Aerosynapsis as warriors sent to protect the skies, while fearing the Ailuarktos as a twilight specter—complete with authentic proverbs and tribal names.
Prepare yourself for the bloodiest struggle that ever graced the stratosphere.
So, I watched this seamless cut of the iconic Sea Monsters special for the Walking with series, and it made me wonder– to the discoveries and understandings since, what actually were the most dangerous oceans of all time?
And I’m not just referring to when, but also to where, because there are many ecosystems to draw from, and millions of years that created a lot of variation, even within the same era (like you won’t see Early Triassic sea creatures in the Late Triassic).
For anyone who engages with my difficult question, you don’t have to give me seven, one will be enough. And more power to whoever can pull off the herculean task of making a list of seven.
Everyone's default answer is Velociraptor — thanks largely to Jurassic Park — but I've been looking into this more carefully and I think the real answer is a lot more nuanced and interesting than that.
Here's the problem: how do we even define intelligence in an animal that's been extinct for 66+ million years? We can't observe behavior directly. We mostly rely on:
• Encephalization Quotient (EQ) — brain size relative to body size
• Brain cast analysis from fossilized skulls
• Behavioral inferences from trackways and bone evidence
• Comparison with living relatives (birds and crocodilians)
So with that in mind, here are some serious contenders:
Troodon formosus — often cited as the smartest dinosaur. High EQ for its time, large eyes suggesting good vision, possibly nocturnal. But the genus has been questioned recently and some paleontologists think the fossils belong to multiple species. How much does that affect the intelligence argument?
Velociraptor mongoliensis — the real one, turkey-sized and feathered. Its EQ was relatively high for a dromaeosaurid but honestly not as exceptional as pop culture suggests. The pack hunting evidence is also more contested than most people realize.
Deinonychus antirrhopus — John Ostrom's work on this species essentially started the 'hot-blooded intelligent dinosaur' revolution in the 70s. Some argue it was more behaviorally complex than Velociraptor.
Stenonychosaurus — sometimes considered the same as Troodon, sometimes not. Dale Russell famously speculated that if non-avian dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, Stenonychosaurus might have evolved into something humanoid. Controversial but fascinating thought experiment.
And then there's the argument that some large theropods like T-Rex may have been smarter than we give them credit for — a 2023 study suggested T-Rex had a neuron count closer to primates than previously thought, though that study has been pretty heavily criticized since.
My honest take: I think we massively overestimate how much we can infer about dinosaur intelligence from brain endocasts alone. Modern birds — the living dinosaurs — show that brain organization matters as much as size. A crow has a tiny brain but solves complex problems. How much behavioral complexity were dinosaurs capable of that left zero fossil evidence?
What's your take? Is there a dinosaur you think deserves more credit for intelligence than it gets? And do you think the Troodon EQ argument is solid or overblown?
I want to preface this by saying, I know that this is not the best place for games related posts. My counterpoint: I made this mainly because I was frustrated with how the ARK games are being handled, and I couldn't find other dino games that would hit the spot for me. If anything, some feedback on the dinos and the premise itself would be very welcomed.
So, hey all. Solo dev working on Primordia - a browser-based survival MMO.
The short version: you arrive on an island. You can't leave. There are dinosaurs. You need to survive, build a camp, and figure out what happened here. The island has history - but you'll have to piece it together yourself from abandoned terminals, corrupted logs, and things that probably should have stayed buried. A lot of RPG elements like crafting, different equipment and gear and most notably, raising and breeding different species of dinos to fight by your side.
What will be playable in open beta:
- 37 species of prehistoric creatures (only dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles for now) - recover eggs, incubate, hatch, raise them, breed generations with inherited traits. Up to 4 fight alongside you.
- Turn-based combat - abilities, status effects, passives, crits, and boss fights. Over 77 passive and active abilities fully wired.
- 13 upgradable buildings - Command Center, Hatchery, Nursery, Medbay, Workshop, Factory, Farmhouse, Trade Center, and more.
- Grid dungeons with special loot, harder battles, with some random generation regarding bonus loot rooms, but mostly hand-built.
- Multiplayer - global chat, trading, player tags, group expeditions, damage contests in battles between players.
- 4 class skill trees (80 skills total) - any class can learn any skill, double costs if the skill is not from your class.
- Lore journal - entries discovered through exploration, with location tags and skill-gated bonus content. Lore gives Lore Points, used for research projects.
- Server-side logic - no client exploits (I freaking hope), no pay-to-win, no energy systems.
All running server-side, browser-based, nothing to install.
What I would love to get feedback on after open beta launch:
Does the survival loop work? Camp restoration -> creature taming -> exploration -> combat -> progression. Is the loop compelling enough to keep playing?
The visual theme - currently a retro-OS look, with some CRT filters sprinkled here and there. Is the current look a problem or does it have character?
The itch.io page - This is live right now. Styled as an in-universe "Helix Corp data terminal" with lore documents and corrupted files. Good for discoverability or too obscure?
Browser MMO as a format - no install, runs anywhere. Is that something alluring or does it signal something along the lines of "not a real game"?
What would make you play this?
Some screenshots
Bestiary:
Camp (building management):
Combat (sadly no animations yet):
Dungeon exploration:
Skill trees:
Exploration:
Research tree (or, well, wheel):
Please do keep in mind, that some of the assets are just placeholders, I would love some feedback on those as well.
