What is the Tully Monster? It might be a vertebrate, or it might not, but scientists have unable to agree for 70 years.The first time I saw the Tully Monster, it was as a painting on the side of a U-Haul as the Illinois State Fossil. Wooster College has the image.
That's an unusual claim to fame. Since then, I've been curious about it, so of course I featured this video today. As for it being either a chordate or a mollusk, well, it would be even weirder than a conodont as a chordate and among the weirdest mollusks.
Speaking of weird mollusks, the next video declares Ancient Octopuses Were MUCH Bigger Than We Thought.
The Cretaceous Period is famous for enormous ocean-dwelling beasts. New research shows it boasted the biggest octopuses, and maybe the biggest invertebrates, of all time.Yikes! And I thought the Mesozoic oceans, particularly during the Cretaceous, were dangerous and scary enough. Oh, and the Tully Monster makes a cameo here.
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
The final video describes a fossil mystery even bigger, literally, than the Tully Monster, Those Ancient Giant Fungi Weren’t Fungi After All.
400 million years ago, Prototaxites might have towered high above all other terrestrial life. Ever since its discovery, we've been trying to figure out what this massive ancient organism could possibly have been. For a while the leading theory was that it was a fungus, but recent studies suggest Prototaxites might have been something we've never seen before...I showed a PBS Eons video about Prototaxites to my organismal biology students as an example of ancient fungus. If I were to ever teach that class again, I'd have to remove it. Good thing I'm retiring!
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
That's a wrap for today's paleontology holiday. Stay tuned for a musical post featuring both Randy Rainbow and the Marsh Family. Sing, dance, and laugh so we won't cry.
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