Episode 5: Ice Age (2002)

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Advait Jukar to discuss the 2002 classic Ice Age, the story of three unlikely Pleistocene mammals who team up to rescue a non-adult Homo sapiens, and in the process discover the value of family. If you like Cenozoic mammalian taxonomy, then you’re going to love this episode! Find Advait on Twitter @amjukar and at https://advaitjukar.weebly.com/

In this episode:

We geek out over the scientific names of prehistoric mammals, including:

Wooly Mammoth – Mammuthus primigenius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth

Sabre-toothed cat – Smilodon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon

Scimitar cat – Homotherium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium

Ground Sloth – Megalonyx (Bonus – where are sloths’ nipples?): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalonyx

Long-nosed llama – Macraucheniidae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrauchenia

Glyptodont (giant armadillo relative) – Dædicurus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doedicurus

Ancient proboscidean – Moeritherium (It’s not a tapir!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeritherium

Not actually a rhinoceros – Megacerops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacerops

Not actually Bigfoot – Gigantopithecus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus

Dodos don’t get enough credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo

Scrat was real all along! Pseudotherium argentinus: http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/pseudotherium-argentinus-07533.html

We also discuss:

Burrows dug by giant ground sloths: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/get-lost-in-mega-tunnels-dug-by-south-american-megafauna

GABI – Great American Biotic Interchange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Interchange

People – what a bunch of bastards! https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happened-worlds-most-enormous-animals-180964255/