Big Dig

August 26, 2015 12:20 PM

In Baylor County, paleontologists are assembling clues to the prehistoric world of Dimetrodon. [previously]
posted by brundlefly (6 comments total)

As a kid, stegos, triceratops, brontos, and dimetrodons were all my faves. The uprights and the flyers? Too fancy-pants and high-falutin'.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:38 PM on August 26, 2015

Lived in Seymour for many years. Saw tons of fossils all over the county. Mrs Kemp had many in her home and would teach about them on her front porch to all the kids. Good memories.
posted by bjgeiger at 7:29 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

If I understand it correctly (and I probably don't) Dimetrodon (or a creature like one) is what humans are thought to be descended from. I have grown used to thinking of ape like homowhatevers being human ancestors, but the idea of a dinosaur being a human ancestor blew my mind.
posted by vorpal bunny at 9:23 PM on August 26, 2015

But Dimetrodon is not a dinosaur! It's a synapsid - or what used to be known as a "mammal-like reptile" in the prehistoric life books of my not-very-distant childhood.
posted by Rissa at 3:17 AM on August 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thank you for posting this. This kind of gem is exactly what I come to Metafilter hoping to find.
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:50 AM on August 28, 2015

When I was a small child, I apparently announced in front of my entire primary school class that my career aspirations were to be a dimetrodon when I grew up. I'm happy to say, 30-odd years later, that I kind of succeeded in that.
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:47 AM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]