If you're enjoying this podcast, we would love to tell you about Common Descent.

Common Descent is a podcast about paleontology, evolution, and the history of life on Earth,

hosted by two paleontologists with an unending enthusiasm for the wonders of the world.

Each episode cover science news, followed by a deep dive into a main topic requested by the audience.

Recent episodes of feature topics like eels, hibernation, and fungi.

In addition to the main series, Common Descent also features side projects that explore science and pop culture,

where the host examined the science and movies or speculate on the hypothetical evolution of fictional monsters.

Listen to Common Descent on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's dusk, slowly sliding into a humid summer night in the late Cretaceous period,

somewhere in the world. There's a bit of a breeze cooling you down from the heat of the afternoon, rustling the leaves of a nearby ginkgo tree and setting its branches to creaking.

The creatures of the day, the dinosaurs, are starting to settle down for the night.

Some of them curling their bodies into the same positions we see birds roosting in today,

maybe even tucking their heads under a feathered arm.

And you can hear a chorus of nocturnal animals just getting started.

Nearby, crickets are chirping, calling out to potential mates with sounds they produce by rubbing their wings

together.

The noises they make aren't exactly the same as those made by the crickets you might have

grown up hearing, but they're still unmistakably crickets, singing duets in the twilight.

You head towards the sound, towards a pond you can see in the distance by the last rays of sunlight glinting off its surface.

Out of the corner of your eye you catch a glimpse of a small mammal darting up a tree.

It hisses quietly from the branches above. You must have startled it.

As you continue on towards the pond, you begin to hear a chorus of toads croaking.

...