Christian Halliwell
@pryftan213.bsky.social
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Excited to announce that my second manuscript, “Fossilised Melanosomes Reveal Colour Patterning in A Sauropod Dinosaur” has been published in
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26
December 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Excited to announce that my second manuscript, “Fossilised Melanosomes Reveal Colour Patterning in A Sauropod Dinosaur” has been published in
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Some days ago I made a thread on Pleistocene crocs in honor of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, and now I'm bringing it here too.
Let me prefice this by saying that I of course understand their absence, obviously more unique fauna takes priority and I don't begrudge the team their choice
Let me prefice this by saying that I of course understand their absence, obviously more unique fauna takes priority and I don't begrudge the team their choice
December 8, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Some days ago I made a thread on Pleistocene crocs in honor of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, and now I'm bringing it here too.
Let me prefice this by saying that I of course understand their absence, obviously more unique fauna takes priority and I don't begrudge the team their choice
Let me prefice this by saying that I of course understand their absence, obviously more unique fauna takes priority and I don't begrudge the team their choice
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
A male Nanotyrannus lancensis sports their sharp and contrasting breeding season colors. They lift their head up and catch the whiff of the promise of hope... a female...
December 5, 2025 at 12:29 AM
A male Nanotyrannus lancensis sports their sharp and contrasting breeding season colors. They lift their head up and catch the whiff of the promise of hope... a female...
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Steppe lion enjoys the last days of summer.
But mornings are getting colder, winter is coming.
But mornings are getting colder, winter is coming.
November 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Steppe lion enjoys the last days of summer.
But mornings are getting colder, winter is coming.
But mornings are getting colder, winter is coming.
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Be weary of the beardogs! These swift pack hunters are not to be taken lightly. New update (backers only) posted to our Kickstarter! Link in thread
November 18, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Be weary of the beardogs! These swift pack hunters are not to be taken lightly. New update (backers only) posted to our Kickstarter! Link in thread
This is super cool (both the study and the artwork). Link to the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 14, 2025 at 5:56 AM
This is super cool (both the study and the artwork). Link to the paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Wang, W., Shang, Q., Wang, J. et al. Earliest long-necked sauropterygian Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis and plasticity of vertebral evolution in sauropterygian marine reptiles. Commun Biol 8, 1551 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Earliest long-necked sauropterygian Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis and plasticity of vertebral evolution in sauropterygian marine reptiles - Communications Biology
A newly discovered Triassic fossil marine reptile, Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis, reveals that an exceptionally long neck developing more than 40 cervical vertebrae evolved in nothosaurs before the ri...
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Wang, W., Shang, Q., Wang, J. et al. Earliest long-necked sauropterygian Lijiangosaurus yongshengensis and plasticity of vertebral evolution in sauropterygian marine reptiles. Commun Biol 8, 1551 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Yes, the #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge trailer is out today...
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — Season 3 Official Trailer | Apple TV
YouTube video by Apple TV
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Yes, the #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge trailer is out today...
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
October 31, 2025 at 3:09 AM
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
The Case of the Tiny Tyrannosaurus Might Have Been Cracked
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
The newest Dinosauria short film -- set in the early Jurassic Kayenta formation of Arizona -- takes inspiration from gothic fairy tales and horror. It fucking rocks, man
"Hunted by Moonlight" | Dinosauria Series | Animated Short Film (2025)
YouTube video by Dead Sound
www.youtube.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The newest Dinosauria short film -- set in the early Jurassic Kayenta formation of Arizona -- takes inspiration from gothic fairy tales and horror. It fucking rocks, man
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
The naturalist Jane Goodall died today at 91. Hope, she argued, is not merely “passive wishful thinking” but a “crucial survival trait.” Revisit a conversation with Goodall, from 2021: nyer.cm/F55JtsS
October 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
The naturalist Jane Goodall died today at 91. Hope, she argued, is not merely “passive wishful thinking” but a “crucial survival trait.” Revisit a conversation with Goodall, from 2021: nyer.cm/F55JtsS
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
NEW blog post! The evolution and fossil record of narwhals and belugas - the white whales! Emphasis on the surprising fossil record of belugas and the evolution of the bizarre tusk in the weirdest modern cetacean. 🐬🧪🦖 #whaleontology Read it here: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-...
The paltry fossil record of narwhals (Monodon) and the evolutionary history of white whales
Narwhals are certainly among the strangest and most immediately recognizable of all marine mammals, owing to their fantastic tusk. Narwhals ...
coastalpaleo.blogspot.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
NEW blog post! The evolution and fossil record of narwhals and belugas - the white whales! Emphasis on the surprising fossil record of belugas and the evolution of the bizarre tusk in the weirdest modern cetacean. 🐬🧪🦖 #whaleontology Read it here: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-...
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Large penguin from the Tangahoe Formation (Pliocene of New Zealand), a member of the same genus as extant king and emperor penguins: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 🧪🪶 (📷 @atennyson.bsky.social et al.)
September 19, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Large penguin from the Tangahoe Formation (Pliocene of New Zealand), a member of the same genus as extant king and emperor penguins: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 🧪🪶 (📷 @atennyson.bsky.social et al.)
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
#ZAVACEPHALE IS FINALLY OUT! 🥳 Our first definitive Early Cretaceous pachycephalosaur! (~15 my older than the previous oldest pachycephalosaurs) And the first hand material for the clade! I can't tell y'all how much of a pleasure it was to review this paper! ☺️
September 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM
#ZAVACEPHALE IS FINALLY OUT! 🥳 Our first definitive Early Cretaceous pachycephalosaur! (~15 my older than the previous oldest pachycephalosaurs) And the first hand material for the clade! I can't tell y'all how much of a pleasure it was to review this paper! ☺️
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
I think it's worth asking the degree to which the near-wholesale wipeout of megafauna across large swaths of the earth in the Pleistocene extinctions might have led to similar shifts in certain places
With the extinction of dinosaurs, dense, closed-canopy forests could proliferate, leading to shifts in fluvial structure and accumulation of organics. This represented a profound change in the landscape, illustrated here by the incomparable Julius Csotonyi.
September 16, 2025 at 7:16 PM
I think it's worth asking the degree to which the near-wholesale wipeout of megafauna across large swaths of the earth in the Pleistocene extinctions might have led to similar shifts in certain places
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
My latest! I wrote about a newly-discovered land crocodile the size of a siberian tiger, part of a larger story of competition between galloping crocodiles and predatory dinosaurs in South America that lasted well into the Cenozoic
This Crocodile Relative Was One of Dinosaurs’ Most Fearsome Predators
www.nytimes.com
August 27, 2025 at 6:03 PM
My latest! I wrote about a newly-discovered land crocodile the size of a siberian tiger, part of a larger story of competition between galloping crocodiles and predatory dinosaurs in South America that lasted well into the Cenozoic
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
August 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Meanwhile, in conservation reality and #whales -
A good article by Sue Arnold in Independent Australia on the population crash of Western Pacific gray whales.
"The latest estimate of 13,000 animals is less than half of the 27,000 population ten years ago."
🐳🌍🦑🧪
1/3
A good article by Sue Arnold in Independent Australia on the population crash of Western Pacific gray whales.
"The latest estimate of 13,000 animals is less than half of the 27,000 population ten years ago."
🐳🌍🦑🧪
1/3
Gray whale population crashes amid climate-driven starvation
Once considered a conservation success story, the Eastern Pacific gray whale is now vanishing — a stark warning of climate chaos in motion.
independentaustralia.net
August 27, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Meanwhile, in conservation reality and #whales -
A good article by Sue Arnold in Independent Australia on the population crash of Western Pacific gray whales.
"The latest estimate of 13,000 animals is less than half of the 27,000 population ten years ago."
🐳🌍🦑🧪
1/3
A good article by Sue Arnold in Independent Australia on the population crash of Western Pacific gray whales.
"The latest estimate of 13,000 animals is less than half of the 27,000 population ten years ago."
🐳🌍🦑🧪
1/3
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
See the latest update for Forgotten Bloodlines here! Get a look at some new screenshots, animals, and read about the status of the development!
t.co/osiJNC5Spq
t.co/osiJNC5Spq
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxbellomio/forgotten-bloodlines-agate/posts/4432676
t.co
August 23, 2025 at 9:07 PM
See the latest update for Forgotten Bloodlines here! Get a look at some new screenshots, animals, and read about the status of the development!
t.co/osiJNC5Spq
t.co/osiJNC5Spq
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
20 million years ago, Moropus inhabited the forests of North America
August 23, 2025 at 9:06 PM
20 million years ago, Moropus inhabited the forests of North America
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Dalén: Million year old mammoth DNA allowed to discover mammoth ghost lineages. Who thought mammoth species could hide? #eseb2025
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9
August 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Dalén: Million year old mammoth DNA allowed to discover mammoth ghost lineages. Who thought mammoth species could hide? #eseb2025
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
when the AI bubble finally collapses and everyone who spent a year smugly hyping it suddenly has to come crawling back with their tail between their legs, i just want to say i am not going to be the bigger person about it. i am going to be meaner than you can even believe
August 20, 2025 at 3:19 PM
when the AI bubble finally collapses and everyone who spent a year smugly hyping it suddenly has to come crawling back with their tail between their legs, i just want to say i am not going to be the bigger person about it. i am going to be meaner than you can even believe
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
Manmoth hunter
August 12, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Manmoth hunter
Reposted by Christian Halliwell
How we feel looking at all the incredible details on our 55-ft mosasaur! ✨
#edelmanfossilparkmuseum #rowanuniversity #dinosaurs #paleontology #mosasaur #jurassicpark #jurassicworld
#edelmanfossilparkmuseum #rowanuniversity #dinosaurs #paleontology #mosasaur #jurassicpark #jurassicworld
July 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM
How we feel looking at all the incredible details on our 55-ft mosasaur! ✨
#edelmanfossilparkmuseum #rowanuniversity #dinosaurs #paleontology #mosasaur #jurassicpark #jurassicworld
#edelmanfossilparkmuseum #rowanuniversity #dinosaurs #paleontology #mosasaur #jurassicpark #jurassicworld