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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 5m

You can hear the sound of something snapping multiple times in the video, even though it's out of sync. Even if it's a softshell, it's definitely cracking something hard. Also, I literally elaborated on how gharials performed compared to other crocodilians lol

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1h

It's not to say non-avian dinosaurs didn't put any effort into caring for their young, but their young wouldn't have needed them as much as young mammals need theirs. And could have left their parents earlier.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1h

But in raw numbers, that's still a lot of force. That's comparable to the weight of a fully grown African lion being pressed down on the poor turtle, except that this weight is also being concentrated on a few small, pointy teeth.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1h

Or in other words, ~451 pounds of force. Sure, that may not be very impressive for a crocodilian of its size. Compare that 121 kg gharial with the 123 kg C. novaeguineae in this table; the similar-sized crocodile bit with well over double the force at the molariform teeth.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1h

That might seem hard to believe, but if you look at actual bite forces measured from live gharials, this makes more sense. Notice how the gharial in the video crunches the turtle with the back of its jaws. A ~120 kg gharial can bite with a force of 2 kN at its molariform teeth.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 1h

Over a week ago I was directed to this video of a gharial crushing a turtle in its jaws. ...Yes, you read that right. A GHARIAL. www.reddit.com/r/Crocodiles...

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 6h

The last whopping TWO Avatars are female, wh- [walks away with hands up in the air, verbally reminding myself this is a blue check]

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 9h

Paleoart of Gryposuchus taking a carcharhiniform shark. Art by Wikipedia user Driptosaurus

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 17h

When you put it that way, non-avian dinosaurs just seem kind of bizarre, honestly.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 17h

This young Albertosaurus would've been able to find food well on its own and shifted diet/niche with age. In this respect, I guess you could say it was more like say, Epomis larvae, baby crocodilians, or predatory tadpoles than baby mammals. #FossilFriday

Young Albertosaurus maxilla. Doyon et al. (2026): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/evidence-for-dromaeosaurid-scavenging-on-albertosaurus-dinosauria-tyrannosauridae/300AD042B09D362B5C3E6CFC45F96A4E

Epomis larva preying on a juvenile European green toad. Photo by Gil Wizen: https://gilwizen.com/photography/epomis-beetles/

Baby alligator eating tiny fish. Photo by Mark Kostich: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/cute-baby-alligator-eating-fish-in-swamp-gm1298442944-391303549

Carnivore morph New Mexico spadefoot toad tadpole eating an omnivorous tadpole. Image source: https://tarheels.live/ecoevodevolab/spadefoots/

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 20h

Can’t sleep, arm hurts, so I’m doing whatever to get myself tired again and get to sleep

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Woops, sorry, I deleted my previous tweet b/c I accidentally showed a skeletal of a juvenile Sinornithosaurus instead of an adult. Anyway, 5 kg predatory dinosaur and a 5 kg predatory mammal. Both from the same ecosystem.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I could've sworn I posted this before. Eh, whatever. There is a skeleton of a Chalcolithic (Copper Age) young man from Bulgaria with evidence of being attacked by a large carnivore, probably a lion. Healing indicates he survived the attack, and was probably cared for later.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Titanoboa model at the AMNH. I love how they kept it *mostly* hidden.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

*Putting aside the fact that he will just respawn somewhere else even if he's somehow killed, unless he's killed by a very specific weapon.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Trying to decide which prehistoric creature would be the most suitable to pit against this guy*. Currently thinking a giant ground sloth might be the best option, but I'm curious to know what you guys think.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I can't be the only one who thinks these lobster claws look like some kind of mustelid skull, right?

Original image source: https://www.reddit.com/r/bonecollecting/comments/tuta34/not_quite_bones_but_check_out_these_gigantic/

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

herbivores as victims, not carnivores. (The authors briefly mention the possibility of a group of dromaeosaurids bringing down substandard young tyrannosaur, but still believe scavenging to be the most likely explanation)

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This is most likely the result of scavenging because 1) the body mass disparity between this young Albertosaurus and contemporary dromaeosaurids is greater than most predator:prey body size ratios, even those where the prey is much larger than the predator 2) most of these extant examples involve--

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This Albertosaurus was estimated to have had a skull ~63 cm in length, a femur 66 cm in length, and a body size of 6 m long and 533 kg. The body mass is comparable to an average adult male polar bear.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

New study describing a young Albertosaurus individual with tooth marks matching a dromaeosaurid. It's believed that the dromaeosaurid(s) scavenged the tyrannosaur after it died, suggesting dromaeosaurids would eat other carnivores in their carnivore guild. (Art by JAD)

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This has been my Bluesky handle since I first joined, so I'm not sure how or why it would suddenly just become invalid.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

T. rex by @lewislarosa.bsky.social because 1) its green sorta matches the dragon's 2) it's exquisitely drawn 3) it looks awesome. Dragon by Giovannino de' Grassi from the Historia Plantarum.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

An idea I thought of but will sadly never materialize. A T. rex with Fred Tatasciore's Megatron voice, and his dragon archenemy with Alastair Duncan's Raidriar voice (you can look these up if you're not familiar with them). Like Megatron and Raidriar, both bad guys.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This is what Viking vs samurai looks like to me now lol

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Update: due to how it looks and from what I've read of actual specimens, I'm pretty sure the one above is probably just a model (and not a very good one), not a real specimen. Nevertheless, AMNH does, in fact, have at least one taxidermied specimen. This one is AMNH 35866.

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Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I realized I'm most in my element in museums when I'm traveling alone. Even if someone shares my interest, I like going at my own pace. If I were dropped off at the AMNH, I'd spend the whole day blissfully marveling at everything, no matter how many times I've seen it before.

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