Some weird birds.
Baru: The Cleaver-Headed Crocodile
Ok back on my croc stuff, today discussing Baru. Like most the other crocs I've been talking about, Baru was a mekosuchine, a member of an endemic radiation of crocodilian native to Australasia. Baru is easily among the largest of this group and among the most robust, with massive curved teeth and almost inflated looking jaws. Left my interpretation of Baru darrowi, right the illustration by Willis et al. from 1990.
My reconstruction differs subtly in some regards, obviously the jaw material shown is from Ristevski et al. 2023 and elements of the posterior skull are based on the older Baru wickeni. My mandible also turned out slightly different, tho the quality of the images in the original description is not great so that is not guaranteed.
Anyhow, this head likely sat atop the body of what was a decently large crocodilian, with estimates suggesting four or even five meters in length for both currently recognized species Baru wickeni and Baru darrowi. As you can see below, I went for the lower estimate (which is the one given by proper publications), which still renders an immense animal all things considered, certainly holding up with many crocs of today.
Currently, there's two recognized species, one unnamed species and one that has been reassigned. The older of the named species is Baru wickeni, which was found in the Lake Eyre Basin and Riversleigh World Heritage Area during the late Oligocene. Like I already said, it was approximately as large and robust as the later Baru darrowi, but did differ in some regards. The skull had much more prominent crests, the nasal bone extended into the opening for the nares and importantly, the cutting edges of the teeth were smooth.
During the Miocene, Baru wickeni would be replaced by Baru darrowi, known from younger strata of the Riversleigh and the Bullock Creek fauna. Baru darrowi had less prominent crests, but in turn slight serrations on its teeth. Also the nasal bones did not extend into the nares. Baru darrowi is the species shown at the start.
The other two are then the unnamed Baru species from the Alcoota fossil site and "Baru" huberi. I talked about the latter before and how it is now thought to be something else entirely. Which leaves us with the Alcoota form. Generally regarded as a distinct species, fossils of the Alcoota Baru have been found from 2000 onwards near Alice Springs and appear to represent an animal more robust than the other known Baru. Below you can see a skeletal mount on exhibition at the Megafauna Central in Alice Springs (image by Aussie Bucket List) and a skull held by Adam Yates, an important researcher of this animal.
A little side note I want to mention is the name Baru. As you might have guessed from the etymology of various other mekosuchines (Kambara, Mekosuchus, Quinkana, Kalthifrons), the name actually ties into the native People of Australia. Specifically, Baru is a figure in the mythology of the East Arnhem Region, which describes him as a sort of totem crocodile that brought law to the lands he named. Baru also had a fight with Jarkitj (Willy Wagtail) after stealing fire for himself. Sadly I couldn't find much about the mythical Baru beyond a brief summary written up by George Pascoe Gaymarani you can read here.
Returning to the animal, one would suspect that the robust skull meant that it didn't quite hunt like modern crocodiles, especially considering the serrated teeth found in the younger species. Well, tho nothing concrete is known Willis and colleagues speculate that this might have been an adaptation to shallower waters. While modern crocs tend to ambush prey, grab it using a strong bite and conical teeth and then proceed to drown it, Baru may not have had that option. A modern croc can just drag a zebra for instance into deep water, weaken it and let go to adjust its grip without the risk of it getting away. In shallow waters, this may have been too risky and lead to prey escaping. So Baru's robust head and curved, sometimes serrated teeth were built to inflict a lot of damage upon prey when lunging, securing the bite and incapacitating it. Willis estimates that it may have taken prey as heavy as 300 kilos.
There's also the interesting tidbit of Baru wickeni coexisting with a diverse croc fauna, yet being conspicuously absent from more southern regions of Australia despite entering the respective drainage basin. I go into more detail while talking about Australosuchus, but the jist of it is that Baru was likely not as cold resistant as Australosuchus and thus not found as far north.
Alas, as with other mekosuchines, not much art of Baru exists aside from this absolutely fantastic piece by @knuppitalism-with-ue
As per usual, this deep dive is brought to you as part of me redoing the wikipedia page of this genus, which resulted in a major size increase. The image below is just to show the difference, but if you want to read it here's the link: Baru - Wikipedia
maybe i can gaslight myself into being okay
wait this is just cognitive behavioral therapy
The fossil of a 20cm baby crocodile from Germany.
@arminreindl pretty sure you saw this baby before, but it's baby 😭
Doesn't matter how often I see it, it will always be adorable The genus is Crocodilaemus btw and it might be a relative of the MUCH larger Sarcosuchus
Arboreal at twenty four! Closer to their chameleon origin, these very small, hyper-aggressive deathclaws can change their skin color. Settlers near forested areas have to take extra care minding pets and small children.
would you look at beautiful pictures of the trilobite beetle with me
@kibbits @basyacriptid @crystalmagpie447 @masterfisherer @yakamashi-ao3 LOOK AT THIS GUY!
Oh my gosh she's so beautiful
Oh I love I love I want to draw ohhh aaah aaaàaah help I love it too much
Donkestra
Monster Hunter Fan Art
A few years ago, I decided to make my own fan monster for Monster Hunter and accompanying armour set.
Would you befriend them or make a hat of them?
Hooded, colored! An unpleasant discovery was made when catching it: its deep chest cavity allows it to produce an abominable scream with an impressive duration. It was released shortly after.
“It’s literally impossible to be a woman.
You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong?
You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you wanna be thin. You have to say you wanna be healthy, but also, you have to BE THIN.
You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass.
You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean.
You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas.
You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time.
You have to be a career woman, but also, always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is INSANE, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining!
You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood, but ALWAYS STAND OUT and ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL. But never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that but ALSO, always be grateful!
You have to never get old. Never be rude. Never show off. Never be selfish. Never fall down. Never fail. Never show fear. Never get OUT OF LINE. It's too hard! It's too contradictory, and nobody gives you a medal or says 'thank you!' And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also, everything is your fault.
I'm just so tired of watching myself, and every single other woman tie herself into knots, so that people will like us.
And if all of that, is also true for a doll just representing a woman, then I don't even know." -Gloria the barbie movie
this is it. this is exactly it oh my god.
This is the speech. Write it on every goddamn wall out there.
There's something quite charming about relatively small objects that are way heavier than they look. ooohh you're one dense little freak aren't you
In an effort to avoid supporting megacorporations, I shall now be posing questions directly to tumblr that I would otherwise have googled.
If Mayonnaise is just eggs and oil, why it creamy?
Because it's also evil
Thanks!
Have scientists figured out what dark matter is yet?
Yup! It’s anything that takes up space, has mass, and is goth.
Wow!
What happens if you eat 23 packages of peeps?
You meet god
Thank goodness!
What's the correct way to eat a banana?
Whole, in one gulp.
Delicious!
Who is the Muffin Man?
Father of the Muffin Boy
Makes sense!
Why is my car making a ker-klunk noise?
Car's haunted
Uh Oh
How to fix a haunted car?
Slam into a priest in a crosswalk going at least forty miles an hour
It worked!
Where does the wax in scented candles go?
into the sky, where it turns into stars
Cool!
Why are weddings so damn expensive?
priest has to pay for medical bills related to haunted car crashing into him
....Ah
