Mark Witton

I'm amazed to learn that anyone thought this was a viable hypothesis at all! There's nothing remotely skimmer-like about pelagornithid skulls, and skim-feeding demands such specialisations that a taxon couldn't be doing it in secret, so to speak.

His involvement certainly impacts how long it takes to get things done.

Brundle the bearded dragon taking an interest in my work by climbing on my keyboard.

No, computer, I'm not trying to turn on the "sticky keys" function. Something else is going on.

I see! I was struck by the strong silhouettes in your piece, which put me in mind of the book's closing illustration.

Nice! Is this based on the final image in the book (p. 290)?

And so begins the countdown to the frightnerman, doomsage, horrormeister. Thanks to @gizz47.bsky.social for this evening of terror, fear and blood. Blood? Blood.

Crimson, copper-smelling blood.

His blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

And bits of sick.

(Also, if the topic of dinosaur monsterisation is of interest, I discuss this at length in another book specifically on Tyrannosaurus ("King Tyrant", Princeton University Press). I would be happy to see if we can arrange a review copy if desired?)

Thanks for the review! On "tyrant dinosaurs": this has been used as shorthand for Tyrannosauroidea, the group that contains Tyrannosaurus and relatives. It's thus not a judgement of their character, just a loose anglicisation of their scientific name.

Spinosaur Tales: The Biology and Ecology of the Spinosaurs | Washington Independent Review of Books The Independent is an important voice in the community of readers and writers dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.

The lineage of an elusive yet fascinating dinosaur is teased apart with thoughtfulness and rigor. www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/s... @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social @markwitton.bsky.social #booksky

Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur - Nature Ecology & Evolution A juvenile iguanodontian from the Lower Cretaceous of China preserves both spikes and scales in its skin that are different from integumentary structures in either non-avian dinosaurs or extant squama...

Finally, another fuzzy ornithischian: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... This is a big deal for dinosaur #paleoart, confirming some of what we've been doing for a while now, but also showing that we've probably underestimated how weird the integuments of these animals could be.

My apologies back - I didn't mean to imply any judgment on your part! I know you know more than most about how palaeo docs are made. I made my comments as general conversation.

(This isn't to say that I'll rate a mediocre show just because it has one or two inspired creative choices, of course. A bad programme is a bad programme. But I feel that those of us close to these programmes - including fans - benefit from a considered outlook.)

Having been on the inside of several docs now, I take the wins when we see noticeable improvements in anatomy, movement, behaviour etc. Some TV projects don't want to do anything that deviates from the same tired cliches so, if a programme makes an effort to embrace new data and ideas, I'm happy.

Also (and I don't need to tell you, of all people!), some doc producers _want_ that cinematic Dinosaur™ look. Aspects of design or animation that the natural history-minded dislike are actively encouraged because they play well to general audiences (the actual markets for these shows).

I think I know (I don't think I worked on it) but I'm not saying, in case I get in trouble! There's only a month before all is revealed...

(Also... say, is that a lipped Spinosaurus? Yep.)

YouTube video by Netflix The Dinosaurs | Official Trailer | Netflix

Finally, I can break silence! I did a lot of creature design work for this show (collaborating, of course, with the production team) and think the animals are looking pretty good here! This was a lot of fun to work on - will be watching on Mar. 6!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZB...

Artwork by Mark Witton of a griffin standing in a desert landscape. In the rock at its feet is a fossilised skeleton of the dinosaur Protoceratops.

#WyrdWednesday The idea that ancient discoveries of Protoceratops fossils inspired tales of griffins has become popular, but in 2024 @markwitton.bsky.social and I wrote a paper examining it in detail and concluded it probably wasn't true

Read all about it here:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Hope you enjoy it!

I'll have what she's having (2026) | MarkWittonPalaeoart Uncropped print on 312gsm smooth fine art paper.

Prints of this image are available: www.markwitton.co.uk/product-page...

In a yellowing Cretaceous ginkgo tree, a chestnut, black and white Sinornithosaurus perches on a branch beneath a black, iridescent Microraptor. It has a small mammal in its jaws, which the Sinornithosaurus covets. Another Microraptor, all four wings spread, approaches to land. Ginkgo leaves fall around them, and X-shaped Microraptor silhouettes glide in the skies behind.

More new #paleoart and discussion at #Patreon: the colour schemes of Sinornithosaurus and Microraptor. What do we know, and what do their colours tell us? www.patreon.com/posts/sinorn...

#sciart #dinosaurs #paleontology #fossils

Caudipteryx in... this newfangled solid water (2026) 2 | MarkWittonPalaeoart Uncropped print on 312gsm smooth fine art paper.

If you like this winter scene of dinosaur mishap enough to want a print, I've got you covered: www.markwitton.co.uk/product-page...

It's a quiet winter morning in Cretaceous China. Mist clings to the bank of a frozen lake, but shadows from adjacent trees hint at their impending dispulsion from the coming sun. From the crunchy, leaf-strewn shore comes a turkey-sized, black and white, bird-like dinosaur, Caudipteryx. It steps onto the ice: one foot, then the other. All is OK. But then... whoa. WHOA. What's happening to the first foot? It's sliding away! And foot two? Also sliding! What fresh hell is this? _Solid, slippy water_? Caudipteryx leans forward, arms spread, tail raised, showing its striped tail fan. It stands there, legs akimbo, as frozen as the water beneath it. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

New #paleoart at #Patreon for #FossilFriday: Caudipteryx encounters a frozen lake, is unsure, prob. makes wee bokking noises as its feet slide apart hilariously.

Lots of discussion about the colour data of this animal in my Patreon post. www.patreon.com/posts/149439...
#sciart #fossil #dinosaurs

Thanks!

Finally, North America gets some spinosaurs!

OK, OK: North America finally gets _Spinosaur Tales_, by @davehone.bsky.social and me, from today. It's been out in the UK since Nov. and reviews have been v. positive. All your usual book vendors will stock it.
Info: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/spinosaur...

Spinosaur Tales with @markwitton.bsky.social is out now in North America. It's been getting top reviews already from readers, so if you like your giant, weird, controversial, carnivorous #dinosaurs and spectacular palaeoart, then check it out!

I can't think of many early palaeoartists with such a strong style, and his influence was huge considering he only did three palaeoart pieces. He's long overdue a reappraisal, in my view.

Plus, he moved palaeoart into a more artistically interesting place. As you say, he transferred a lot of his usual apocalypstic motifs to his pieces on ancient reptiles, and in some artworks his dinosaurs seem to take on those world-ending roles. That's quite a visual statement!

I have plans to write a paper on his palaeoart as there are lots of details within them that are often overlooked. I feel he's often written off for being so fanciful (which is somewhat understandable), but his pieces aren't bereft of all science. He was, after all, interested in science himself.

The psychology of "alternative" scenes like this is really fascinating. How did old-timey artists equate scenes like this with the natural world? Nothing in nature or reality looks like this. Consciously or not, it speaks to a sort of primordial supernaturalism.