Episodes
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(image source: https://a-z-animals.com/animals/polacanthus/)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Polocanthus… barely. Just a headsup, there’s a lot of tangents in this one, and there’s even more in the unedited version, which you can find on the Patreon. Fun times! This show is so professional. From the Early Cretaceous, this 16-foot nodosaurid had multiple spikes; many, one might say. Honestly, what else did you want to hear about Polacanthus? Its name sums it up pretty well, I’d say! Be happy with what you got.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://paleontologyworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/Mapusaurus_0.png)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Mapusaurus, a dinosaur with a name that sounds like Borat describing a dinosaur made out of his crap. “Mah poo saurus!” Except it’s actually named for the indigenous Mapuche people in South America, so stop making crass jokes like that, you racist. From the Late Cretaceous, this 40-foot carcharodontosaurid had some pretty good evidence of social behavior, even perhaps pack-hunting. Because the only thing that would be worse than encountering one of the biggest meat-eating land animals of all time is encountering a gang of his closest gym buddies. They’d all start a podcast, and it’d be horribly racist, much like the joke at the beginning of this description.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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Missing episodes?
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(image source: https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-cow)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Joel Rick discuss Hydrodamalis gigas, a manatee but big. Well, technically it was more closely related to dugongs, but y’all don’t know what those are and manatees get more clicks. From the Late Pleistocene to the Early Holocene, this 30-foot sirenian was a big player in the Ice Age and made it all the way to the eighteenth century… which means you probably can guess what happened next and why it’s extinct. Damn humans. I’m ashamed to be one of them. Maybe AI actually should take over the world…
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.deviantart.com/spinojp/art/Palaeophis-colossaeus-drinking-915269375)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Palaeophis, a literal sea serpent that was the biggest water snake to ever exist. Titanoboa who? That's what I thought. From the Early Paleocene to the Late Eocene, this 35-foot snake looked at the mosasaurs from the period past and was like “Heh, I can do that too, but slightly less big.” And it did! It’s nice sometimes to know your place enough to not always aim for the top. A comfortable C+. It’s what got me through college.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Plateosaurus-pictures)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Plateosaurus, a biggish bipedal herbivore and perhaps the biggest Triassic dinosaur, although not the biggest Triassic land animal as that goes to something like Lisowicia or Sillosuchus or some crap. From the Late Triassic, this 30-foot basal sauropodomorph has a name that either means Broad Lizard or Flat Lizard; no one knows for sure because the original author of the paper didn’t detail what the name meant. If he didn’t care enough to explain why he named it, why should you care about it you might ask? I honestly have no idea. Go listen to something else.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.sci.news/othersciences/anthropology/danuvius-guggenmosi-07779.html)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Danuvius, an ape that might have been the missing link between swinging through the trees, walking on the ground, and walking on two legs. That’s a lot of links we found in one animal. From the Early Miocene, this 3-foot-tall hominid basically swung on the ground on low vines while walking, kind of like a baby on one of those up-and-down jumper things. You know what I’m talking about, those jumping-baby-up-and-downs? That’s the technical term, yes. This is a professional show.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2023/05/17/news/new_series_of_prehistoric_planet_brings_dinosaurs_back_to_life-3281275/)
In this fifth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I’ve got holiday plans, okay?! Leave me alone, you Krampus!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the demons I sold my soul to in order to keep this show running satisfied, host Matthew Donald and co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Rapetosaurus. It’s a big longneck. What do you expect? It’s actually not even that big compared to other longnecks. Boy, I’m sure selling this hard, huh? See with you new episodes in 2026!
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.thoughtco.com/ornithopod-dinosaur-pictures-and-profiles-4043320)
In this fourth episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (I got a life outside this show, believe it or not!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly content consumers happy, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Laura Owsley discuss Proa. Proa? I barely even know-a. That’s a quality joke. See you with new episodes in 2026!
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://pixels.com/featured/albertosaurus-mohamad-haghani.html)
In this third episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (this show has been consistent for over half a decade at this point, give me a break) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and keep the weekly release record going, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lawrence Mack discuss Albertosaurus. Three guesses where it’s from, and the first two don’t count. No, not Mt. Elbert, you idiot. See you with new episodes in 2026!
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://jurassicdna.com/dino-tracker/orkoraptor/)
In this second episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes to Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (it takes a lot to keep the weekly release of this show going for 6+ years!) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and thus keep the algorithm gods satisfied, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Orkoraptor. It’s a raptor ork. That’s pretty cool. WAAAAAAGH! That was a 40k reference. See you with new episodes in 2026!
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeBeforeUs/comments/147x7b2/tullimonstrum_gregarium_the_enigmatic_tully/)
In this first episode of Paleo Paleo Bites, where the show takes a month off releasing new episodes so Matthew Donald can rebuild a backlog of episodes to release later (life is hard, yo) and digs up older episodes to rerelease and thus keep the content farm going, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Tullimonstrum. I mean… just look at it! It’s so crazy that this thing existed. Or maybe it didn’t. Oooooh. See you with new episodes in 2026!
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(image source: https://novataxa.blogspot.com/2017/08/borealopelta.html)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Borealopelta, a stout armored bugger that would have been mediocrely notable if it weren’t for, I dunno, have literally the best preserved fossil of all time? Seriously, the mummification made it so we could even see its organs. There’s no joke here, that’s just damn cool. From the Early Cretaceous, this 18-foot nodosaur is so well preserved that we know its color, a reddish-brown built for camouflage. Seriously, what the hell did this thing need camouflage for?! Were those spikes made of taffy? This fossil seriously shocked me so much that I forgot that it lived far before Albertosaurus and kept saying in the episode that Albertosaurus could have maybe preyed on it, so sorry about that.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://dinopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Miragaia)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Stephen Curro discuss Miragaia, a long-necked stegosaur that could be mistaken for a sauropod, as long as one ignored those spikes and plates. They blend in, so I get it. From the Late Jurassic, this 20-foot stegosaur is currently in the crosshairs of big bad paleontologists like Jack Horner threatening to absorb it into the genus Dacentrurus, which look, I know it’s science and science should persist no matter our personal desires, but c’mon, Miragaia is a cool name! Don’t invalidate it! I still have difficulties pronouncing that “ruru” in Dacentrurus.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Hypsilophodon-pictures)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Allen Brooks discuss Hypsilophodon, a tiny dinosaur with an unremarkable appearance and a ridiculously convoluted taxonomical history. Just what our listeners have always wanted: a boring dinosaur with complicated info. Yay! From the Early Cretaceous, this 8 foot neornithoschian dinosaur was once thought to be related to a bunch of other boring dinosaurs that look like it, but it turns out nah, that boring plan they all came up with independently. That’s cool I guess.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.dreamstime.com/peteinosaurus-reptile-tail-was-carnivorous-flying-pterosaur-lived-italy-triassic-period-image156432121)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Ben O’Regan discuss Peteinosaurus, an early pterosaur that’s notable in that it’s an early pterosaur and nothing else. Have you seen a small pterosaur? Then you’ve seen Peteinosaurus. I’m really selling this episode, huh? From the Late Triassic, this 4-foot-wingspan eopterosaurid might have been an early dimorphodontid, whatever that’s worth. Man, I don’t mean to be too harsh on this guy, I’m sure he’s a lovely fellow. I’d love to have beers with him someday.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalyia)
Host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Nobody McNooneson discuss Dalyia, a creature that no one gives a damn about so it functions perfectly as doubling up as an apology and explanation for what happened to Paleo Bites-oween and why it ended early. I pity the poor singular Dalyia fan that was really excited when this popped up in their feed and were like "YEAAAAAH, finally some recognition!" I look forward to their angry email. From the Late Cambrian, this worm-like organism of an indeterminate size is also known as the Clustered One with its species name racemata, making it the perfect metaphor for my situation and me as a whole. I'm the clustered one. That's deep, guys.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/did-ancient-primates-walk-alongside-dinosaurs-new-evidence-backs-up-theory)
Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this fourth day of Paleo Bites-oween, this one on actual Halloween (but don’t worry, the celebration of Paleo Bites-oween will last the whole week still) host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Purgatorius, a tiny squirrel-like mammal that seems innocent enough until you learn that it eventually evolved into the most terrifying monster of all… HUMANITY. AAAAGH! Yes, humans are the real monsters. I’ve read Frankenstein. From the Early Paleocene, this 6-inch primatomorph survived the meteor that killed the dinosaurs and then kept on surviving until it became us. See, it’s Purgatorius because up until it survived and evolved into later representatives in the human ancestry, it had a choice between Heaven or Hell, and by choosing to continue to evolve into humans, it chose Hell.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://dinosaurpictures.org/Zuul-picture)
Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this third day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald unearths an older Halloween episode from years back to rerelease in all of its glory. Kind of like a fossil. Or a mummy. From the Late Cretaceous, this 20-foot ankylosaur had a really big tail club and a really funny name, based off the demon dog from Ghostbusters. And just like Ghostbusters, 100% of this episode was improvised. I can only assume that Ghostbusters had no script and was just the actors riffing, anyway.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Vampyronassa)
Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this second day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Lexi Ryan discuss Vampyronassa, a fricking vampire squid… it’s not as cool as it sounds. From the Late Jurassic, this 4-inch vampyromorph cephalopod is basically the same as the one vampire squid species around today, except it lacks retractile filaments. Whatever those are. I don’t have those either, as I have retractile dysfunction. Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week. I mean, literally, as it’s Paleo Bites-oween.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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(image source: https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/how-find-desmodus-ark-survival-evolved-fjordur)
Happy Paleo Bites-oween, where we will host Halloween themed episodes all week, every day! On this first day of Paleo Bites-oween, host Matthew Donald and guest co-host Natasha Krech discuss Desmodus draculae, the biggest vampire bat ever known and thus a perfect way to start off the spooky season. Except it’s not that spooky. Or that big. It’s actually kind of cute. Look at it, happily licking up that blood from the incision on the Macrauchenia. Dawwww. From the Late Pleistocene, this 2.5-foot-wingspan bat first evolved millions of years ago but might have lived all the way up to the 18th century. I guess it’s those vampire lifespans of theirs. They live forever, after all. I’ve read Twilight.
Want to further support the show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdXnbmbdvKBVoUexcFBgMNQ for ad-free episodes, and sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha.
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