May 7, 2018
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Clades & Clades Prehistoric Press Release
ATLAS GAMES RELEASES TWIN EVOLUTION CARD GAMES FOR CHILDREN, CLADES AND CLADES PREHISTORIC The creative team behind Grandmother Fish—Jonathan Tweet and Karen Lewis—also created these games and funded them on Kickstarter. SEATTLE (May 1) — Clades and Clades Prehistoric are … Continue reading
May 8, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Chiroptera: Gliding, Flying, and Echolocating
The prehistoric mammals of the air are bats, two early bats, Icaronycteris and Onychonycteris, and an even earlier protobat, which is hypothetical. Icaronycteris (“Icarus bat”) evidently hunted moths with echolocation about 50 Mya, which bats commonly do today. Onychonycteris (“clawed … Continue reading
May 3, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Speech at March for Science—Seattle
Here’s the 4-minute speech I gave at the March for Science in Seattle, Earth Day 2017, April 22. That’s Karen up on stage with me, wearing a coral reef on her head. It was an honor to speak and a … Continue reading
April 24, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Pinnipeds: From Feet to Fins
The prehistoric mammals of the water are pinnipeds (“fin foots”): the walrus-like Valenictus; the seal-like Enaliarctos; and the otter-like Puijila. Valenictus lived around 5 Mya, and it had no teeth other than its tusks. It evidently ate mollusks, like modern … Continue reading
April 17, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Xenarthrans and Afrotheres: Prehistoric Oddballs
The prehistoric mammals of the land are two xenarthrans (“strange joints”) and an afrothere (“Africa beast”). The xenarthrans are a glyptodont and a ground sloth, while the afrothere is a mammoth. Glyptodonts (“carved tooth”) were giant armadillos that arose about … Continue reading
April 10, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Myriapods: Trash Munchers and Bug Hunters
The prehistoric arthropods of the land are Myriapoda (“countless feet”): a gigantic millipede, Arthropleura; a millipede relative, a pauropod; and a predatory centipede. Myriapods were the first land animals. They breathed air in and out through spiracles, which are holes … Continue reading
April 6, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Chelicerata: Claw-Horns of the Deep
The extinct arthropods of the water are chelicerates: a eurypterid, Hughmilleria; a Stylonurid eurypterid; and an early horseshoe crab, Lunataspis. Eurypterids walked on legs and swam with paddles. They also had chelicerae (“claw horns”), which were claws by their mouths that helped them … Continue reading
April 3, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Pantestudines: Long Necks, Big Teeth, and Hard Shells
The sauropsids of the water are a Plesiosaurus, a Pliosaurus, and an Odontochelys, an early turtle relative. Early in the Mesozoic Era, several sorts of lizard-like sauropsids swam and hunted in the water. While some lines of sauropsids led to … Continue reading
April 3, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Prehistoric Insects: Crawlers, Flitters, and Hunters
The arthropods of the air are flying insects, a cockroach, Aphthoroblattina; a butterfly, Prodryas; and a dragonfly relative, Meganeura. Over 300 million years ago, insects appeared that could lay their eggs on land they could fold their wings behind them, … Continue reading
March 20, 2017
by Jonathan Tweet
Comments Off on Dinosaurs: From Little Runners to Ponderous Plodders
In Clades: Prehistoric, the sauropsids of the land are dinosaurs, specifically a feathered Utahraptor (a theropod), an Apatosaurus (a sauropod), and a Stegosaurus (an ornithischian). The earliest dinosaur precursors were two-legged relatives of crocodiles, as were the first theropods, sauropods, … Continue reading