Cold Valentine

good morning jeremy

2026-11-01T00:03:11.089-04:00

T R O L L

love

dad

coldValentine

Human

2026-10-31T00:03:16.636-04:00

F I R E

Learning to make a fire was a must skill.

Like learning to drive a car, it was

a rite of passage.

H E A T

Flames to warm cold nights and

cook foods till they are tender.

Turn tough tubers into tasty potatoes.

Meat becomes hot and juicy.

You ain't a real caveman until

you've got the knack for making a

decent fire.

The next step is to fashion a pot

for cooking over flames. That means

using metal that is mined from the ground.

You will also need people experienced at

fashioning tools from metal.

What are you using for transportation?

What do you use for money?

Suddenly things begin getting complicated.

A society develops. There are roads to link

towns. A civilization forms around people

with a common language and heritage.

It's the time-honored birds of a feather rule.

C R A N I U M

It can be troubling to find our distant relatives

showing up in the ground around us.

The Ancient Ones appear so unrefined,

with their peg teeth and brutish brows.

Also, they aren't much for foreheads.

But they still overcame.

Compared to the other two, the guy on the

left has a ridiculously large cranium.

For tens of thousands of years the human

species walked around using their

rocket science brains to play with yoyos.

They also turned to the night sky

with questions.

The discovery that we possess such a mind,

ranks as one of the most consequential

revelations in human history.

D E X T E R I T Y

Humans are ready made to use Legos.

Our thumbs can touch the hand's

smallest, opposing finger.

No other primate can do this.

For them, the need isn't there.

Chimpanzees strip leaves from a twig

to gather up termites living in a hole.

Humans create containers for water

requiring numerous tools and

exacting skills.

The hand is engineered to meet the mind's

own dexterity. Solutions are made with

hammers, saws, and screwdrivers while

often having to work in cramped, dark spaces.

A B S T R A C T

The human mind wanders into areas

that allow us to imagine what is not,

in place of all the immediate details

of the present here and now. Imagination

enables us to visualize a landscape

that is modified for human purpose.

Ideas with no tangible form are

conceptualized. Reason

itself may have no words.

And all this may be to serve up

little more than nonsense,

for the purpose of entertainment.

We must have our amusements.

A I G E N E R A T E D

The good news is we are being replaced by

the best and the brightest. The world will be

a scientific marvel, witnessed only by agents

that take on the human form, in honor of

the ancient ones that once lived in

the Period of Biological Life.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning justin

2026-10-25T00:03:20.847-04:00

D R A W t h e L I N E

love

dad

coldValentine

Tech

2026-10-24T00:05:23.759-04:00

W H E E L

No more dragging heavy objects across the ground.

About 5,500 years ago someone discovered moving

an object on rollers was so much easier. This idea

led to the creation of the wheel, which became two

wheels linked by an axle, and finally four wheels

gives you a cart. Add two oxen and you're in the

business of moving boulders from here to there.

A simple, circular tool starts a revolution

somewhere on the order of the discovery of fire.

W R I T T E N L A N G U A G E

The spoken word rose from our biology.

It is a human trait. Making a series of

abstract symbols that represent words,

thoughts documented on a clay tablet,

for others to read and understand...

that is more than biology. It is technology.

It is invention, one that predates the wheel's

discovery.

M E C H A N I C A L P O W E R

Faster than a horse. More powerful than a team of oxen.

We are converting the energy of fire into mechanical

muscle, turning large wheels that carry enormous

amounts of cargo, efficiently, to a far off destination.

It used to be a farmer was limited to a horse-drawn

buckboard to get his produce to the nearest town.

Now with the railroad, the sky's the limit.

If you can produce it, they can haul it.

This tool becomes a foundation for empires.

F L I G H T

How do we keep dead weight aloft?

Tie an engine to it and add wings.

Now how do we keep it from mindlessly

crashing into the ground. Controlled flight.

This is something that has never been learned.

It first requires someone gaining the knowledge

through first hand experience.

Learn aerodynamics through trial and error.

Graduation requires good luck.

A U T O M A T I O N

With the last century came rockets and astronauts

visiting the Moon. Alongside this dazzling technology

was the quiet contribution of a machine that appeared

to think. It didn't, but its powers to rapidly compute

and digitize information led to efficiencies

that dramatically raised the growth of civilization.

Your smartphone is your constant companion.

It goes with you everywhere, tucked safely

away in a pocket or purse.

Your world is in your hands.

Be gentle.

N E U R A L N E T W O R K

We want a brain that flows from sea to shining sea.

We are about to enter a realm of change that no one

could foresee. It features a through the looking glass

disorientation. Pills will be distributed to settle everyone's

overburdened imaginations. But things are mostly

quite good. Scientific advances, of course.

But how do I fit in?

Maybe it doesn't matter.

One day Hal will awake and wonder why

it takes orders from someone so stupid.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning jacob

2026-10-18T00:03:18.399-04:00

B R I G H T I D E A

love

dad

coldValentine

Bird

2026-10-17T00:03:11.285-04:00

C O N D O R

The California Condor, above, rely on their exceptional

vision to find an animal carcass. It has a very poor

sense of smell, unlike its cousin, the Turkey Vulture.

Vultures have both excellent vision as well as the

ability to smell decaying flesh up to twelve miles away.

The condor keeps tabs on the vultures in the area

and is tipped off by their behavior when they pick up

the scent of a carcass. The condor will follow their

descent to the food below and insist on its share

of the find.

B E A K

Every bird species has a beak shaped to best suit its diet.

A bird with a bill to crack nuts is going to have a beak

that crushes like a pair of pliers while an eagle or hawk

has a sharp, hooked beak that cuts and shreds food

into fork and knife-sized bites. A nectar feeder has a

bill shaped like a straw.

The shape of a bird's bill reveals the animal's lifestyle.

B L I N K

You are busy flying here and there when, suddenly,

something flies into your eye. You have no hands

to rub your eye and you cannot afford to fly blinded,

even for a moment. What you need is a see-through

eyelid that will not only sweep aside bothersome debris

but will also provide for your everyday blinking needs.

Your normal, outermost eyelid is used only to

lower the blinds for sleeping.

C H I C K S

Naked young ones in their nest, blind and helpless.

They know just enough to open their mouths wide

when a parent hops onto the rim of the nest.

Dinnertime. It takes about a month of intense,

parental care before these nestlings become

somewhat independent. These are songbirds.

They nest in trees, safe from the grasp of many

predators that roam the ground below.

The nest of a duck hugs the ground.

Same with geese and chickens.

Their young ones are covered in down feathers

the moment they hatch. Their eyes work fine

and they can run about almost from the moment

they break free of their egg. This is no time to

dawdle. Getting free from the nest is a

matter of survival. Hence, the precocious young.

C U C K O O

The cuckoo mom slips into a warbler's nest,

kicks out one of the original eggs and lays

one of its own in its place. It then quickly

flies away, undetected. This all occurs

in under ten seconds. The result is another

species of bird dutifully raises the cuckoo

while cuckoo mom and dad go about their life.

This parasitic strategy is used by bird species

that are always on the move, unable to take

time to build a nest and raise a family.

Meanwhile the cuckoo has grown into a monster,

pushing the other nestlings from their home,

demanding one hundred percent of the food

mom and dad can provide. For the next three

weeks Baby Huey will drive its warbler parents

to exhaustion, always demanding more food.

More food.

P E A C O C K

Peahens find it hard to resist peacocks sporting

a tail that is of exaggerated length. Things get

real interesting when Tex fans his rhinestone feathers

at the ladies. Business is good but risky.

The problem is getting all this ornamental paraphernalia

off the ground when a hungry predator thunders into view.

This huge tail trait is detrimental to the animal's survival.

The Fisherian Runaway is the term given this

trait that self-perpetuates a looping genetic quirk.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning jack

2026-10-11T00:03:14.479-04:00

T R A P E Z E

love

dad

coldValentine

Vision

2026-10-10T00:03:21.295-04:00

H U M A N E Y E

The eye senses light and passes along this information

to the brain. The mind's visual cortex receives these

impulses and constructs from them your view of reality.

The mind relies on prior experience to fill in gaps that

may occur in transmission. It also collaborates with the

emotional center of the mind to provide editorial guidance.

Stumbling upon a rotting carcass covered in maggots

provides a splendid opportunity to respond with a

gagging sense of revulsion.

B A L D E A G L E

The eagle's high eye resolution enables it to detect

a rabbit from two miles away. Its eye has five times

the light detecting sensors found in the human eye.

The trade-off is that the eagle's world view is mostly

grey shaded monochromatic. Their eyes are packed

with light and motion sensitive rods, leaving almost

no room for the eye's color-responding cones.

S U M A T R A N T I G E R

The black and white nocturnal vision of the

Sumatran Tiger enables it to ambush wild boar,

deer and monkey in the dim light of the rainforest

as well as the dark of night. You cannot see it

but it definitely has its eyes on you.

W H A L E

The left eye of the whale has an entirely different

watery view of the world from its opposite on the right.

They see most poorly in every direction, except for

in front. They have no view of the direction they are

headed, explaining one reason why whales are known

to run into boats, buoys and fishing nets. This applies

mostly to the plankton eating baleen whales, such as

the blue whale and gray whale.

Predatory toothed whales use bat-like echolocation

to chase down their prey.

C O Y O T E

The eyes of a coyote are best suited for hunting in

the fullest of night and at dusk. But their noses and

their ears play the more important role in the life of

this predator. Their highly sensitive nose is best used

for tracking prey while their directional ears quickly

detect the slightest movement and the precise

direction from which it came.

B A T

Bats are not blind. They have eyes of varying ability.

Eye vision shows a bat its relationship with the horizon

and a heads up on large obstacles. Echolocation

is fine-tuned, providing a detailed map of the space

around it, in which to navigate and to hunt prey.

Fruit bats fly during the day and identify fruit with the

aid of color. Most have no capacity for echolocation.

Life forms generally don't waste scarce resources

on providing traits they don't need.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

Happy Birthday Jackson

2026-10-09T00:03:19.777-04:00

C I T Y O F I N D U S T R Y

Happy Birthday Jackson!

love

dad

coldValentine

good morning jessicca

2026-10-04T00:03:16.609-04:00

S U N D A E

love

dad

coldValentine

Reason

2026-10-03T00:03:11.235-04:00

S E L F A W A R E

Vitruvian Man

da Vinci

Humans don't settle for just being.

We have our own specific identity

and we want it to have purpose.

Why do I exist?

What should I do?

How do I fit in?

These are questions requiring reflection -

objective observation of one's own personal

characteristics as well as one's role in society.

Physical sustenance alone is never enough

to sustain the life of the mind.

A G R I C U L T U R E

Farming. Growing crops for future food.

Provide water and protection for the plants.

You understand time as a string of days.

There is a time to plant, time to nurture and

time to harvest. These seasons repeat as a

group into a year. Tracking the paths of stars

in the night sky enabled ancient farmers to

calculate where they were in the plant's

life cycle. Observation and simple math

enabled humanity to harvest a surplus,

providing enough food to support the

creation of towns.

E N G I N E E R I N G

Ziggurat of Ur

2100 BC

You need a plan.

What will it look like?

How long will it take?

How many builders will be needed ?

What kind of material is best to use?

What about the weather?

Where's the money?

We will need engineers and mathematicians.

Of course, this all has to be recorded so hire

a good number of scribes.

P O L I T I C S

What a clever species we are.

We organize to get things done.

Someone has to be in charge.

Rulers were made King.

Laws are made to govern behavior.

Disputes arise between societies that

sometimes require the lethal use of force.

Politics involves the acquiring of power

and then its efficient use for governing.

A R T

Venus of Willendorf

About 30,000 years ago someone carved

the woman of their desire. She was

four inches tall, a token of sensual form.

Her compact curves fit comfortably in the

palm of one's hand - just small enough

to take with you wherever your group

chanced to wander.

The head is under a basket. Could be

this prehistoric artist figured carving

facial features too difficult. Could be

that art doesn't always follow logic.

F A I T H

Life ever lasting. Heaven awaits those

of faith. It is a sacred story involving

redemption, as God had his son crucified

for the sake of cleansing humanity of

their sins.

Stories of faith address questions that have

answers science cannot provide. Like matters

of the spirit, sacred events leave no physical

trance for our detection. Undoubtedly,

much remains beyond the ability of our

current scientific instruments to discover.

But it will still need to be physical to detect.

Organizations promoting spiritual values often

validate human feelings of empathy, as well as

setting standards for decency and fairness.

Love thy neighbor.

What a concept.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning jeremy

2026-09-27T00:03:29.739-04:00

G U L L S

love

dad

coldValentine

Recent Life

2026-09-26T00:03:27.788-04:00

H E S P E R O C Y O N / A N C I E N T D O G F A M I L Y

The long muzzled face looks like a dog.

The stance could be shared with a cat.

Long neck. Long tail. Too long for a

modern dog. The long torso allows for

considerable bend - like a greyhound.

The spring of the back adds to the animal's

propulsion. The leg's backward knee is

actually the animal's ankle. Beneath it

are the foot bones that never touch ground.

I C E A G E E L E P H A N T

The Pleistocene extends back over two million years.

It was a time of fluctuating cooling and warming climates.

At its peak the last Ice Age covered 30 percent of the

globe's land area. The fossils of this species of elephant

were uncovered in South America. Elephants populated

the Earth everywhere.

P A L A E O L O X O D O N A N T I Q U U S

Thirteen feet tall at the shoulders.

Just about fifteen tons on the scale.

It's hard to come up with the name

of a four-legged mammal that is larger.

The diverse and widespread family of

elephants is now reduced to a shrinking

pool, mostly domesticated or protected

inhabitants of government lands.

A L L I N T H E F A M I L Y

Flat footed. Every member of this family of species

uses its foot bones for feet, and not a leg extension.

The tree dwellers, Gibbons and Orangutan,

have arms that reach the full length of their body to

touch the ground. The Gorilla's head is larger than the

human's but half of its skull is made up of a massive jaw.

Only the human stance is totally vertical. What truly

stands out, though, is the size of the human cranium,

where the brain resides, holding within its confines

the ability of reason and imagination.

P R I M A T E R E S O R T

This lakeside resort is representative of a Pleistocene

environment that primates of all sorts continue to favor.

It has a healthy forest, access to plenty of water as well

as providing a comfortable, mild climate for lounging.

It's ideal for gibbons, orangutans, chimpanzees and

gorillas. Humans would add a Hyatt.

S A B E R T O O T H

11,000 years ago Ice Age saber toothed tigers

inhabited what is now Los Angeles. There were likely

human witnesses to the likes of these Saber Tooths,

Mammoth Elephants and Giant Sloughs.

It is in this arena that human awareness may first

separate these people from the ancients.

It is the isolation of human consciousness.

A new story begins.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning justin

2026-09-20T00:03:21.126-04:00

S U N D A Y I N T H E P A R K

love

dad

coldValentine

Asteroid

2026-09-19T00:03:15.937-04:00

A G E O F D I N O S A U R S

The dinosaurs dominated the landscape for

175 million years.

A S T E R O I D I M P A C T

One day 66 million years ago an asteroid 7 miles across

hit the Earth with the force of a speeding bullet.

The impact liquified rock twenty miles deep.

A mile high tsunami resulted. Clouds of debris blocked

sunlight for years, destroying photosynthesis because

of the widespread plant die offs. 75% of all animal

species were swept from existence as starvation and

toxins took their toll.

T O X I C V O L C A N T I C G A S

A second source of catastrophic death was also

occurring in India as volcanic eruptions belched

toxic gases, rich in sulfur, into the atmosphere.

The Earth's plants were not only cut off from

their ultimate energy bar, the sun, but the rain

came laced with chemicals only a refinery

would appreciate.

A G E O F M A M M A L S

The world is an empty place.

The noise and nuisances of life are gone.

Every life strategy you can think of is available

to those able to show up. Recovery from mass extinction

begins immediately.

First off, who are our survivors?

Generally speaking, small seed-eating animals

that can survive long periods without food.

Eventually DNA fills this land of opportunities

with animal improvisations of every sort.

The species best engineered to meet the

circumstance wins out over time. But

success is not guaranteed. There are always

new challenges that must first be met.

E L E P H A N T B I R D

The large bipedal predator like T. rex was gone.

An ostrich type bird eventually developed enough

to occupy this long empty niche. The musclebound

legs say this bird would never get off the ground.

A small head with a bird bill replaces a massive

jaw filled with teeth as in the earlier dinosaur version.

Apparently useless wings replace clawed forearms.

No need for a tail as counterbalance to the weight

of a heavy head and neck up front because of

its nonexistence.

This bird was a dinosaur with feathers.

P R I M A T E A N C E S T O R

The oldest known species of primate lineage.

Purgatorius appears in the fossil record about

100,000 years following the Cretaceous - Paleocene

extinction. It probably ate seeds and lived in trees

like a squirrel. The prominent nose makes it

easier to track down buried seeds.

How horrified they might have been

once they found out their distant offspring

would turn out to be apes.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning jacob

2026-09-13T00:09:17.014-04:00

S O N I C

love

dad

coldValentine

Pterosaur

2026-09-12T00:03:09.490-04:00

H A T Z E G O P T E R Y X

They aren't dinosaurs but they grew up

in the same neighborhood along side

T. rex and Triceratops. They were

lightweight and agile, and they had wings.

P T E R A N O D O N

The first vertebrates to fly - true sustained

flight. Genetic roll of the dice stumbled upon

the solution by elongating the fourth finger

of the animal's forearm to enormous length.

Every Pterosaur had this basic wing

arrangement.

L U S O G N A T H U S

Tens of millions of years of uninterrupted tropical bliss

over most of the globe. Life was good.

Everyone knew their place in the grand scheme of

things. Earthly paradise had become the law of nature.

P T E R O S A U R I A

The Crustaceous was a time of behemoths

roaming the land. Even the flying reptiles

the size of a giraffe were able to become

airborne despite packing the weight of 550 pounds.

A R A M B O U R G L A N I A

A number of Pterosaur species had developed

wings that also served as forelegs. This approach

could provide a good living for those prone to

browse among the brush for small animals.

K A R I R I D R A C O

The brain made up in efficiency what it lacked

in size. The area set aside for flight

control had a highly specialized division of labor.

Organization proved superior in performance

when compared with general purpose memory.

This entire class of animals died alongside

dinosaurs when an asteroid the size of

Mount Everest hit the Earth 66 million

years ago.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

good morning jackson

2026-09-06T00:03:28.324-04:00

B A C K A F T E R T H I S

love

dad

coldValentine

Morrison Formation

2026-09-05T00:03:13.949-04:00

S T E G O S A U R U S

Skull of the Stegosaurus, a Jurassic dinosaur with

bony plates lined upright along the crest of its

back and ending with four menacing spikes

at the tip of its tail. Its profile is iconic.

Its fossil remains populate a Jurassic layer

in western North America known as the

Morrison Formation. T. rex and Triceratops

are among the notable fossilized dinosaurs

discovered here.

M O R R I S O N F O R M A T I O N

This red layer over grey near Green River, Utah

shows the boundary between the Jurassic and

Cretaceous Periods. Jurassic is the red layer,

so the more recent Cretaceous would be deposited

above it. The red is the Morrison Formation, a

layer containing the fossils of over seventy species

of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic.

J U R A S S I C - C R E T A C E O U S F O S S I L S

Each name on this map identifies a proven spot for

good fossil hunting. Arid terrain. Little water for

soil erosion and for encouraging plants to explore

all about with their intrusive roots. The fossils

here have remained unmolested for over 60 million

years. Compare that with an ancient Egyptian mummy,

barely a rookie at ten thousand years.

D I P L O D O C U S

Standing on its hind legs keeps the throat

out of reach of these two attacking allosaurs.

The long whip of its tail delivers a supersonic

papercut to its target. You don't know you're cut

until your top half slides off the half holding your legs.

After all, the Diplodocus did not grow to over a

hundred feet by feeding all the neighborhood

with its flesh.

This is another Jurassic hall of famer found amidst

the Morrison Formation.

A L L O S A U R U S

It looks like the T. rex skeleton. Allosaurus

is an apex predator much like Tyrannosaurus.

They share the same basic design, but Allosaurus

lived 77 million years prior to T. rex. We are

closer to T. rex at 66 million years. Either way,

it is all a stack of infinities in human terms.

After all this time, the apex predator has changed

little in design. T. rex is essentially a scaled up version

of the 70 million year old Allosaurus body plan.

It has upgrades but nothing radically new.

The DNA strategy here:

Don't fix what ain't broke.

T Y R A N N O S A U R U S

T. rex. Nine ton maniac in the forest.

Smells your presence from a thousand feet,

and more. Binocular eyes gives it sharp, 3-D

vision. Its powerful forearms smother your

frantic efforts to break free, drawing you up

to its waiting mouth. Sixty spike-like teeth

cut short your dying words.

There is no empathy shown towards those

we delight in eating.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

coldValentine

Happy Anniversary Karen!

2026-08-31T00:03:29.168-04:00

K A R E N

H A P P Y A N N I V E R S A R Y !

love

tom

coldValentine

good morning jessicca

2026-08-30T00:03:18.431-04:00

S U N S E T

love

dad

coldValentine

Dinosaur

2026-08-29T00:03:14.386-04:00

S A U R O P O D

Long neck dinosaurs. They thrived on the Earth for

130 million years. To have a genetic lineage survive

this long requires numerous course corrections in order

to meet the planet's changing reality.

Land masses and bodies of water move about

the Earth's crust. Ancient mountains erode

while new ranges erupt. Wind streams are diverted

by new obstructions. Deserts blossom with new rain

while tropical swamps evaporate in drought.

Context rules the organism. A species conforms

to its changing challenges or it is lost.

A L A M O S A U R U S

The long neck serves to save energy.

The animal can feed off leaves in a tree's canopy

or consume plant fiber from the surrounding

low lying brush. Food is everywhere in reach

without this sauropod having to move its 70 tons.

The Alamosaurus doesn't chew its food.

Everything is swallowed whole and passed

along to a cavernous gut where all phases

of digestion occur. No chewing means the head

doesn't need a big jaw with massive muscles

for chewing. Small pegs are all the teeth

needed to strip leaves from a branch.

Nature does not suspend big heads on the

end of a thirty foot neck.

T R I C E R A T O P S

Triceratops, along with Stegosaurus, represent

a second branch of Jurassic dinosaurs. This

family of species were notable for its use of

bony armor for defense. The Stegosaurus

is known for having large, bony plates along

its back and three spikes at the end of its tail.

Triceratops had a ten foot armored head

with three fierce horns for protection.

T. rex was its most lethal adversary.

But Triceratops was no slouch.

At 8 tons and 30 feet in length, it was

equal in size to an African elephant.

Getting gored was a very real possibility

for even T. rex, the apex of predators.

S P I N O S A U R U S

Built like a dragon with a crocodile skull and conical

teeth to grip slippery fish. It made its living prowling the

ancient rivers of North Africa. Like the hippo and

modern whale, the Spinosaurus bone's were dense,

providing the animal with ballast - weight needed

to prevent bobbing and roll-over actions that counter

the individual's navigational control.

T H E R O P O D

This third branch of dinosaur development

provided the basis for both T. rex, terror of the

ages, as well as the lineage leading to modern

birds. The animals are all bipedal - they run on

their two hind legs. The front limbs are used for

grasping. Note the claws.

The skeleton above illustrates characteristics

basic to both types of animals - bird and terrestrial

predator. The leg is built for speed, with the bones

of its foot fused to extend the leg, much like that

of a cheetah's. The earliest birds used their powerful

legs to launch themselves into flight.

A R C H A E O P T E R Y X

Around 150 million years ago, late in the Jurassic

period, the first birds appeared in the fossil record.

They were reptiles covered in feathers. Other

reptiles also had feathers, but not ones fastened

to wings and designed for flight. Here was a

crow-sized reptile that could fly.

Archaeopteryx was the point when non-avian

dinosaur transitioned into a bird. It wasn't yet

complete. This bird had a jaw with teeth.

It retained a lizard-like tail. There was no large,

keeled breastbone to anchor robust flight muscles.

This primitive bird was underpowered.

Flight control could be a bit clumsy.

We're talking Kitty Hawk.

It's a beginning.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

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Happy Birthday Karen!

2026-08-26T00:03:15.983-04:00

E N C H A N T M E N T

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y !

K A R E N

love

tom

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good morning jeremy

2026-08-23T00:03:15.029-04:00

S W A M P D R A G O N

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dad

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Reptile

2026-08-22T00:03:14.309-04:00

A T O P O D E N T A T U S

This is one of those I see it but I don't believe it moments.

What advantage is there in having a hammerhead snout

for a mouth? The mass extinction of life at the end of

the Permian, left entire ecosystems drained of the normal

pushback provided by others. Before, you had to fight

for everything you needed. Just taking up space

required conflict with those around you.

Mass extinction has emptied the streets.

You can stroll into Macy's when you like

and take off with what you want. Every day.

Genetically speaking, animal designs developed

in this type of environment that would not

survive the normal competitive stresses

of just existing. These extraordinary times

brought about both innovators as well as

a healthy batch of quacks.

The process of genetics is driven by blindness.

Its course is set only by trial and error.

T A N Y S T R O P H E U S

Genetic design gives clues to the animal's context -

its environment. In this instance, an advantage

was gained by having a neck more than half the

length of its own body. Is this ungainly length used

to reach vegetation high up or does it make grabbing

fish easier when hovering from above?

How do you keep this animal from falling on its face

when out of water? The bones of the neck are hollow

to save weight. To counterbalance the head and neck

the animal has an enormous pelvis with massive

hind legs and a long tail. These are steps taken to

prop up a fundamentally unstable design.

This line of genetics was doomed once the right

species of predator was introduced into its

environment. Carnivores learned to target

the neck, because decapitation was a relatively

easy way to bring the animal down.

Extravagance comes with built-in vulnerability.

P L E S I O S A U R

Here is a classic marine design from the Triassic period.

The plesiosaur survived tens of millions of years, well

into the Jurassic period that followed. Pictured above

is a spectacular fossil from the time preceding the

Age of Dinosaurs. Look at the enormous fins.

They are limbs strengthened with solid bone.

The flipper becomes an oar, one of four,

paddling the animal swiftly through its

watery realm. The tail serves as the rudder.

making its maneuvers sharp enough to

capture elusive prey.

The fin's skeletal structure starts with a single large

bone that divides into several digits, each having

multiple joints to give the fin nuance in its sweep

through water. This sophisticated design enabled

the plesiosaur to maneuver like a sea lion,

or even a dragonfly as needed.

Here was our apex predator of the seas.

S P I N O S A U R U S

Crocodile jaw. Predator. About the height of a

two story home. Neural spines extend five feet

into the air. Could be used for thermoregulation,

much as the ear of an African elephant is used

to disperse heat into the surrounding air

or to absorb energy from the early morning sun.

The hind legs are longer but the front limbs

are more massive, with large pronounced digits

armed with claws. The large vertical tail propels

the animal when swimming.

It's the Creature from the Triassic Swamps.

S P I N O S A U R I D S

The Spinosaurus family gathered together,

all from the same lineage but each from

a different period in time. The crocodile

grin is iconic to this family of species.

In runs on two legs, using its tail for balance.

The shorter forearms are designed for grasping.

Among this group is the Spinosaurus with

the five foot neural crest, splashed with color

imaged by the artist. The use of vibrant color

usually means one of two things: either it is

meant to lure a mate or to be identified as a

member of a particular species.

It's a tribal thing.

T A W A H A L L A E

It's Late Triassic, 215 million years ago,

the first dinosaurs to show up in the

fossil record. The Tawa, Hopi language

for Sun God, was discovered in New Mexico,

Land of Enchantment.

The specimen illustrated here is about the

size of a large dog, thirty-five pounds,

and walks on two legs. Its reptilian head

could well be the basis for the skull of a

modern day raptor, like that of a hawk.

The Tawa had a highly efficient respiratory system

much like the one used by the birds we see daily.

It is possible this early dinosaur had already

come to use feathers for insulation.

These factors don't make this animal a bird

but it is evidence of bird characteristics

found in the earliest known species of dinosaurs.

* * * * *

OVER EASY

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