Thread by @TanisBP

NEXT UP: No. 6 seed Ammonite (Didymoceras nebrascense) vs No. 3 seed Platyzilla (Obdurodon tharalkooschild)!!! #2021MMM

Platyzilla's scientific name O. tharalkooschild acknowledges the Indigenous Australian dreamtime story of Tharalkoo's infant that features the "cautionary tale" & "origin" themes often found in folklore. #2021MMM

In the dreamtime, Tharalkoo ignored the advice of the elders to stay close to home & instead explored upriver #YadaYadaYada leading to "the origin of the first platypus being the offspring of a male water rat (Bigoon) and a female duck (Tharalkoo)" (Pian et al. 2013) #2021MMM

Platypus's first scientific description: "Of all the Mammalia yet known it seems the most extraordinary in its conformation, exhibiting the perfect resemblance of the beak of the duck engrafted on the body of a quadruped... I almost doubt the testimony of my own eyes" (Shaw 1799)

Ammonites are an extinct group of shelled cephalopods. The animal is only inside the last chamber, the rest is a series of chambers called the phragmacone. #2021MMM

Each chamber of the phragmacone is filled with liquid & gas which is used to control buoyancy and maintain orientation within the water column #2021MMM

Because each segment is grown throughout life & this Ammonite is not fully symmetric, it would have dramatically different orientations & swimming abilities at various life stages (Peterman et al. 2020) tinyurl.com/fy8243b9 #2021MMM

Tonight's battle takes place 10 million years ago in Riversleigh Australia, home of the better-seed Platyzilla. Hungry, the Playzilla is searching for prey. #2021MMM

Playzilla senses something different in the water, perhaps food? [Gif of Darth Vader saying "I sense something" while looking around] #2021MMM

Modern platypus do not open their eyes underwater, relying on electric receptors in their bills to sense prey. These sensors are common to all modern Monotremes & is thought to be an ancestral trait (Rowe et al. 2008). tinyurl.com/b6a733bd #2021MMM

Transported forward 60 million years from its day, Ammonite finds itself in strange waters. Suddenly it notices a large animal's swimming approach and Ammonite spins vertically! The adult orientation of its spirals though is not suited for horizontal movement #2021MMM

There is a lot of debate if Ammonites were able to shut themselves inside their shells for protection using a structure called an aptychus (Parent & Westerman 2015) tinyurl.com/35m93rae #2021MMM

However, Kruta et al. (2010) described the aptychus of this Ammonite species as being thin & likely primarily used for feeding, not protection! (bit.ly/AmmonJaws) #2021MMM

CRRRUNCH!! #2021MMM

Platyzilla bites the wrong end of Ammonite & chips a tooth on the hard calcium carbonate shell! Ammonites lived with many predators in their day, including mosasaurs & fish. Those spirals had tubercule projections to help deter predators! tinyurl.com/36duf6nt #2021MMM

Platyzilla's teeth are adapted for crushing, but mostly soft & resilient foods such as "insect larvae or even small vertebrates such as frogs, small lungfish or even baby turtles" (Pian et al 2010). tinyurl.com/42h55dan #2021MMM

Platyzilla knows the value of it's teeth & rather than risk breaking them, it swims off in search of more easily masticated prey #2021MMM

AMMONITE SURVIVES PLATYZILLA!!!!! #2021MMM