Mark Witton

Brain work bad thanks to some sort of flu, so you'll have to write your own amusing #FossilFriday post about this giant #azhdarchid #pterosaur #paleoart.

A plinth panel from SVP2025 atop a suitcase filled with animal skulls from my palaeoart workshop. The panel was gifted from the organisers because I designed this year's logo.

Starting the journey home from #2025SVP. I didn't leave the conference empty handed...

Garfield Minott at microphone, holding sauropod model. Photo from Simcoe Muskoka Family Connections Black History Month event.

Carcharodontosaurus head model by Minott, as used in technical paper by Kent Stevens.

Minott Carcharodontosaurus head model from Paul Sereno lab website.

Mainstream palaeoart often seems lily-white in terms of the diversity of its contributors. But pieces of palaeoart that rank among the -MOST SEEN- works in the entire field were examples of black craftsmanship. This week came news on the passing of Garfield G. Minott (1966-2025)... cont

Thrilled for our triple author signing tomorrow (14 Nov) at @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social #SVP2025 #2025SVP in Birmingham, UK! Come see @markwitton.bsky.social (King Tyrant, 11-12noon), David Hone (Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior, 12-1pm), and Mike Benton (Dinosaur Behavior, 2-3pm)! buff.ly/TmWzwCS

Maybe we could Photoshop you in? Thanks for coming, glad you enjoyed it!

I'll be signing and sketching in copies of my (unintentionally orange) @princetonupress.bsky.social books this Friday, 11:00-12:00 at #2025SVP #SVP2025. #Pterosaurs and T. rex: what more could anyone want?

#paleontology #fossil #dinosaur

Thrilled for our triple author signing on Friday 14 Nov at @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social #SVP2025 #2025SVP in Birmingham, UK! Come see @markwitton.bsky.social (King Tyrant, 11-12noon), David Hone (Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior, 12-1pm), and Mike Benton (Dinosaur Behavior, 2-3pm)! buff.ly/TmWzwCS

Scenes from the #SVP2025 #2025SVP #paleoart workshop. We had terrific talks from @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social, @tetzoo.bsky.social, @palaeojules.bsky.social and @bobnichollsart.bsky.social, as well as fantastic discussion from attendees. Thanks to everyone who contributed, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Although #2025SVP officially starts tomorrow, today we have a Triassic field trip to Warwickshire, tours of @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social, workshops run by @markwitton.bsky.social & @graphicssci.bsky.social & our evening Walking With Dinosaurs event chaired by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social!

Spinosaur Tales: The Biology and Ecology of the Spinosaurs The Biology and Ecology of the Spinosaurs

Spinosaur Tales from David Hone and @markwitton.bsky.social is out now: a new book exploring the world of the legendary Spinosaurus, packed with science, illustrations, and the latest research. Perfect for #dinosaur enthusiasts!

Pick it up here:
uk.bookshop.org/a/2456/97813...
#Booksky

Sneaking glimpses at the set up of #SVP2025 #2025SVP, spotted some familiar logo artwork in the ICC.

Yes, lots. Obviously all pre-Zanno et al, but the debate up to that point is covered in detail.

Hone & Witton book Spinosaur Tales and a toy Jurassic Park Spinosaurus.

Two new #Spinosaurus-themed things just arrived at Tet Zoo Towers. Congrats @davehone.bsky.social and @markwitton.bsky.social for the release of what looks like a very well designed book. #dinosaurs

I'm late to my own party (again, sigh) but my new book on #spinosaurid #dinosaurs (written with @davehone.bsky.social) was officially released yesterday! Tons of info on and #paleoart of spinosaurs therein: research history, evolution, ecology, life appearance etc. Available wherever books are sold.

Looks great, looking forward to taking a closer look. (Alas, poor Q. lawsoni, once again finding itself in a nomenclatural pickle... But, hey, maybe there's a lesson in this about not taking 50 years to describe and name fossils!)

An evening chase erupts above the forests of Late Jurassic China between two gliding mammal-like animals. The sun sets between them, highlighting the leaves of the ginkgo tree they have leapt from. The mammals are darkly coloured, reflecting data from palaeocolour studies suggesting dark brown hues across most or all of their bodies.

The reality of being a freelancer is that you end up working a lot of evenings and nights, something #mammals have been doing since the Mesozoic. Here's new #paleoart of two #Jurassic gliding Mammaliaformes, Arboroharamiya, starting their day as the sun sets 160 million years ago. #sciart #fossil

Spinosaur Tales by @davehone.bsky.social and @markwitton.bsky.social. I got my hands on it early, and I can't recommend it enough for anybody interested in these enigmatic therapods!

I don't really buy that mammals were pushed into nocturnality by dinosaurs myself. There are lots of advantages to being active at night, it's not the "runner up niche" that it's often made out to be when discussing the Mesozoic.

Nanotyrannus is cool and all, but what if there was a brand new book written with, and illustrated by, @markwitton.bsky.social on Spinosaurus? Wouldn't that be really cool?

Listen to use talk about it here before it comes out in less than a week!

terriblelizards.libsyn.com/s11e10-spino...

Three grey squirrel-sized Megacous mammals are caught in the open on Halloween night in Jurassic China. Shedding ginkgo trees arc overhead and the full moon has risen high above. But eclipsing all this is a looming crested tyrannosauroid. The theropod doesn't seem to have noticed them yet, but there's a murderous glint in his eye and a Krugerian quality to his hands. The lead Megaconus turns around to his companions. "Hey, is this a vaguely sinister but actually safe Disney forest, or a genuinely sinister '80s slasher movie one? Because if it's the first one, we're cute enough to make it through this. But if it's the second one, we're a group of disposable mammaliaforms in a story where everyone is rooting for the killer. And let's face it: we breed like tiny mammaliaforms are meant to, and we all know what that means in slasher lore." He looks out of the picture at the pile of DVDs his artist will be watching tonight. "I think we might be boned, gentlemen."

It's #Halloween, so here's some scary #paleoart of the dreaded MAMMALIAN NOCTURNAL BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS. Which of these Megaconus will survive - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?

(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)

As the snow falls in front of the setting sun, Thag the Neanderguy pauses mid-step and looks behind him. He's thinking about the third series of Twin Peaks again. "Maybe it _was_ about the bunny", he ponders. But while Thag misses some of the nuances of event TV, he understands fashion very well. He's wearing all this season's newest Neanderthal gear, carrying his two dead rabbits in a looped strap alongside his thick, fur-lined boots. A pouch is slung over his left shoulder, containing various flints and bone tools. He's warm and stylish in his gloves, trousers, coat and shawl, and he's accented the whole ensemble with a cumberbund-type affair that he doesn't know what to call, but _who cares_: it looks cool. He realises that his body type has no significant waist, but this gives his body an important upper-lower divide. Even way back then, in the Pleistocene, you had to dress the body you had, not the body you wanted.

Over the next few hours/days I'll be uploading lots of new #paleoart to Patreon. First up is this #Neanderthal fellow looking whimsically over his shoulder, wondering if he locked the door to his cave. Lots of discussion about his appearance and clothes at
www.patreon.com/posts/142405... #sciart

[looks at clock]

Oh hey, look: all my emails sorted by 10:00, not bad going. Time to get on with some writing and painting!

Oh, wait: it's _that_ 10:00.

Terrible Lizards: S11E10 Spinosaur Tales oo woo oo Dave has *another* book coming out and so of course he wants to talk about it a bit on the pod. Happily for the listeners, this time out he has a coauthor and so we get to have palaeontologist and pal...

Pre-book promo podcast episode on Spinosaurus recorded with @markwitton.bsky.social terriblelizards.libsyn.com/s11e10-spino...

It's based on this, from Guthrie (2005).

For some reason, this (fossil-based, evidence-led) picture always gets a reaction...

Female (left) and male (middle) steppe lions pursue a bison calf over a grassy plain. The lions are tawny coloured above, with lighter undersides, and the male has a mane. The bison is, as in modern bison calves, pale over most of its body.

I had a go at drawing steppe #lions chasing a European bison recently, based on Palaeolithic artworks. I'm unsure about the markings around the lions' eyes but my main reference, which seems to otherwise give good data about colour distribution, suggests _something_ was there. #paleoart

Thanks Penny, I had a terrific time. Well done to you and the organisers for putting on a great show!

King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex by Mark P. Witton

Mark P. Witton

Tomorrow (Oct 19), see @markwitton.bsky.social at @newscientist.com Live to discuss his book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex. Stop by Our Planet stage at 11:55 am BST to hear about his fascinating research on the world's most famous dinosaur!

Learn more here: buff.ly/4YBFj1U

For #FossilFriday this week, and continuing the build up to my new book on spinosaurs with @markwitton.bsky.social, here's the tip of a dentary of a large Spinosaurus showing the huge sockets for the very large anterior teeth.