What Was The First Dinosaur?

Eons: Surviving Deep Time

PBS

Natural Sciences, Science

4.9 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2022

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Exactly where and when dinosaurs first evolved are still open questions in paleontology; it’s hard to even say what the first dinosaur was. In this episode, we dig into the evidence for dinosaur origins in the Triassic Period (between 252 and 201 million years ago) and try to understand the world they lived in. Being able to point to the first dinosaur might tell us something about how the biggest mass extinction of all time influenced the course of life on our planet.

Eons: Mysteries of Deep Time is produced by Complexly for PBS.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're enjoying this podcast, we would love to tell you about Common Descent.
0:04.0	Common Descent is a podcast about paleontology, evolution, and the history of life on Earth,
0:09.0	hosted by two paleontologists with an unending enthusiasm for the wonders of the world.
0:14.0	Each episode cover science news, followed by a deep dive into a main topic requested by the audience.
0:19.6	Recent episodes of feature topics like eels, hibernation, and fungi.
0:23.5	In addition to the main series, Common Descent also features side projects that explore science and pop culture,
0:28.7	where the host examined the science and movies or speculate on the hypothetical evolution of fictional monsters.
0:34.4	Listen to Common Descent on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:41.0	It's a warm, dry day around 230 million years ago in what's now northwestern Argentina.
1:04.0	You're standing on a floodplain, surrounded by winding channels snaking their way across the late Triassic landscape. It looks kind of like a vast grassland, except you're in a time before grass even existed.
1:14.3	Depending on the time of year, it could be raining,
1:17.5	or the ground could be desiccated and cracked.
1:22.0	It could be hot or cold or even near freezing.
1:26.7	The climate on the southern part of the supercontinent Pangaea is one of seasonal extremes in temperature and rainfall.
1:33.1	During the rainy season, those winding channels fill up and short woody shrubs cling to their banks, taking advantage of the water while it lasts.
1:46.9	When the floodplain dries out, though,
1:52.7	it becomes a less hospitable place to live. Too dry most of the year for trees to grow here.
1:59.5	To your right, you see the entrances of small burrows dug into the earth, with ancient mammal relatives called cyanidonts peeking out.
2:02.6	This time of year, they're hiding from the heat of the day, trying to stay cool.
2:08.6	And they're not the only animals near you, and what we now call the Kancha de Bochas
2:12.6	Bocha's member of the Ishiwalastal formation. You're in a cradle of dinosaur evolution.
2:23.3	One of the places where we found the fossils of some of the oldest members of that branch of the tree of life.
	...

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