How did seals evolve to hear on land and underwater? This #ProcB study found a specialised ear tissue enables amphibious hearing in pinnipeds, revealing this unique adaptation evolved more than 26 million years ago. doi.org/10.1098/rspb... | #Evolution #Palaeontology

If you want an up-to-date summary of whale and dolphin evolution, have a read of my new review paper in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com! I’ve tried to cover as much research as possible in this, so apologies if I’ve missed you! doi.org/10.1038/s443...

The evolution and diversification of Cetacea - Nature Reviews Biodiversity

Cetaceans are a highly diverse and enigmatic group of animals with a well-documented evolutionary history. This Review describes the macroevolutionary and palaeobiological history of Cetacea, from the...

doi.org

Rise of modern marine #fishes captured in an early Paleocene Lagerstätte @sanaaelsayed.bsky.social @friedmanlab.bsky.social @belals.bsky.social @gohar.bsky.social @hesham-sallam.bsky.social et al www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A newly discovered fossil ape suggests the closest ancestors to modern apes may have emerged in northern Africa, outside the traditionally studied regions of East Africa. Learn more in Science: https://scim.ag/4uSvmLJ

This major fossil discovery is also an important milestone for home-grown Egyptian paleontology. Congrats to the Mansoura University team, including UMMP's Sanaa El-Sayed! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea

The Early Miocene fossil record documenting hominoid evolution has long been restricted primarily to sites in East Africa, whereas contemporaneous North African sites have only yielded remains of cerc...

science.org

There's also a Perspective on it, by Dr David M. Alba and I, check it out here👇👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Masripithecus was very interesting to learn and think about!

The dawn of modern apes

An Egyptian fossil places the origin of modern apes in northeastern Afro-Arabia

science.org

Julia Arias-Martorell@julsam.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Check out this new Early Miocene ape, Masripithecus, from Egypt! 👀 Paper by Al-Ashqar et al.👇https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4102

Check out this new Early Miocene ape, Masripithecus, from Egypt! 👀 Paper by Al-Ashqar et al.👇https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4102

An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea

The Early Miocene fossil record documenting hominoid evolution has long been restricted primarily to sites in East Africa, whereas contemporaneous North African sites have only yielded remains of cerc...

science.org

Very happy to share that our paper on Masripithecus is now published in @science.org A new Early Miocene ape from Egypt that helps fill an important gap in ape evolution. Proud to be part of the Sallam Lab team, MUVP, and the Egyptian team behind this discovery.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An Early Miocene ape from the biogeographic crossroads of African and Eurasian Hominoidea

The Early Miocene fossil record documenting hominoid evolution has long been restricted primarily to sites in East Africa, whereas contemporaneous North African sites have only yielded remains of cerc...

science.org

#سلام_لاب #SallamLab #MUVP

Great work by my graduate student Abdullah Gohar on bear femur and rib histology published today in the Journal of Anatomy! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

New Publication Alert! Our new paper on black bear bone histology is out today in the Journal of Anatomy! Read the paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Bone histology reveals life history and regional remodeling in black bears

American black bears employ a dual skeletal strategy during hibernation: ribs remodel extensively, while femora maintain cortical strength to preserve locomotor capacity. This is the first comparativ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Read our paper here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

A new protocetid whale offers clues to biogeography and feeding ecology in early cetacean evolution | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Over about 10 million years, the ancestors of whales transformed from herbivorous, deer-like, terrestrial mammals into carnivorous and fully aquatic cetaceans. Protocetids are Eocene whales that repre...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Phiomicetus anubis turns 4 today! So proud of the little guy 🥹P. anubis is a 42-43 million year old "walking whale" from the Fayum desert of Egypt. #whaleontology 🧪🦖

#whalewednesday Endocranial anatomy of the OG protocetid whale, Protocetus atavus - protocetids had surprisingly large brains, indicating brain expansion occurred early in cetacean evolution; also retained well-developed olfactory bulbs (and smell). 🐬🧪🦖Read here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

It was for me a first opportunity to work with @muvp-eg.bsky.social , i.e., @hesham-sallam.bsky.social and @gohar.bsky.social , which was a blast! Thank you as well to @gsferreira.bsky.social and all other co-authors not on Bluesky.

Gabriel S. Ferreira (he/his) (@gsferreira.bsky.social)

🇧🇷 in 🇩🇪, 🐢 virtual paleo, functional morph -researcher at Senckenberg HEP | sci. coordinator of 3D Imaging Lab of the Uni. Tübingen gabrielsferreira.com

gsferreira.bsky.social

…and the accompanying models on MorphoMuseuM here: morphomuseum.com/articles/vie...

You can find the paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Regarding the sense of smell, we basically found that no part of the olfactory apparatus was significantly reduced, indicating that these amphibious cetaceans most likely had a good nose (likely much better than ours), and that the reduction of this sense most likely came later in their evolution.

patrick star from spongebob squarepants smells real good up hea

ALT: patrick star from spongebob squarepants smells real good up hea

media.tenor.com

Comparing the relative volume of the brain endocast, we found that this early whale was quite brainy, which is a surprise, as the first cetaceans with big brains were so far understood to be the fully aquatic basilosaurids.

We addressed two aspects of cetacean evolution: their acquisition of a relatively big brain and the evolution of their sense of smell. As other mammals secondarily adapted to the aquatic environment, cetaceans have been assumed to reduce their sense of smell (which is air-born in this group).

a cartoon of homer simpson sniffing something with his mouth open

ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson sniffing something with his mouth open

media.tenor.com

We ct-scanned the skull of Protocetus atavus, an amphibious cetacean coming from the Mokattam Formation in Egypt. The inner anatomy of the skull was reconstructed, and we were able to reconstruct the brain imprint (endocast) as well as the different components of the nasal cavity.

Fossil brain 🧠🧟 of a 45-million-year-old cetacean! We are proud to publish‪ @journal-evo.bsky.social l the result of Elena Berger’s Bachelor’s thesis @smnstuttgart.bsky.social. Thread 👇 ‬

Named after the cat-headed goddess Bastet, Bastetodon is symbolically linked to Sekhmetops, inspired by the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Mythology meets science in this incredible find! #SallamLab #MUVP

Our new discovery, led by @shorouqalashqar.bsky.social , has unveiled a new 30-million-year-old species of apex predator, #Bastetodon, in Egypt’s Fayum Desert! Check out the study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. @matt-borths.bsky.social @erikseiffert.bsky.social #SallamLab #MUVP

Thank you @gohar.bsky.social for a very nice invited talk on whale evolution for our group in Oslo yesterday!🐳🐋🐬

As usual, one of the best reconstructions of a protocetid early whale!

Tyler Stone@tylerstoneart.bsky.social · 2y ago

#FossilFriday 4 years after doing the rough sketch for it, I finally finished my illustration of Protocetus. My reconstruction looks very different from most, and the reason is simple: almost every illustration of this animal is wrong. #paleoart #paleontology #whale 🧵(1)

Oh groovy, our paper on the hindlimb biomechanics of the Triassic dinosauriform Lagosuchus is out! A quick thread for now. We uCT-scanned most of the existing skeletal material for this important outgroup to Dinosauria. We sorted through the elements and chose the best ones to make a 3D model from.

Dave traveled ✈️ to Egypt to interview Dr. Hesham Sallam, Egypt's first paleontologist and founder of the country's first Vertebrate Paleontology Center. NEW! Episode #80: Walking 🦶 Egyptian Whales 🐋 from the Sahara with Dr. Hesham Sallam. 🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/heshamsallam

#FossilFriday with its bizarre skull, the protocetid whale Makaracetus has become my beloved nemesis. It’s extremely hard to reconstruct, but @gohar.bsky.social recently told me that my illustration of it is the most accurate he’s seen, so I must be on the right track. #paleoart #sciart #whale