Random Palaeo-Work idea of the Day #10

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Mesozoic Mind.

Man, its been forever snce I did a Random Palaeo-Work idea of the Day instalment. Figured I'd be at least in the double digits long ago. Anyways, better late then never.

Prehistoric Paradise

Inspired by a vacation to Grand Cayman I took in late June, this documentary would document the geological and evolutionary course of the Carribbean, particularly Cuba to its wide variety of fossils preserved and strata there. It would make heavy use of timelapse shots from space showing the landmasses forming and moving overtime, but there would still be plenty of reconstruction .

Episode One

Art by tuomaskoivurinne


Episode one establishes the origins of the Carribbean in the Mesozoic due to the breakup of Pangaea and. A large portion of it is spent in a Mid to Late Jurassic formation known as the Jagua, which has a wide variety of marine reptiles on par with Britain's. Featured taxa would be:
  • The pliosaur Gallardosaurus
  • The plesiosaurid Vinalesaurus
  • An ophthalmosaurian ichthyosaur.
  • The pterosaur Nesodactylus
  • An unidentigied sauropod dinosaur.

Also featured is the late cretaceous Monos Formation, which a recent scientific paper by Viñola-Lopez et al. (2022) focused on to reveal how a biotic interchange occured between the Americas, the first known to us. A pterosaur and some flowering plant, one found in the study, are featured to represent it.

Naturally it ends with the K-Pg extinction.

Episode Two


Episode two is about the Cenozoic era and how species travelled to each island, either by land bridges or rafting as the Carribbean plate's movements created the islands, and has snapshots of endemic species.

Naturally, Cuba would get a ton of focus, with a big segment for its endemic sloths and the giant owl Ornimegalonyx.

However, other locations and fauna would be featured. Among them would be:
  • Hispanola: 
    • The giant raptor Titanohierax gloveralleni
  • Jamacia: the Club-Winged Ibis
  • Bahamas: the fellow giant owl Tyto pollens
  • Otodus megalodon, found on
  • Even a few extant but endangered life
    • Hutias, a kind of rodent native to the archaeperlago. 
    • Soledons, one of the few venomous mammals.

Episode Three

The Cuban Macaw

The final episode focuses on the arrival of humans to the islands and their very negative impact on thr environment, from the first Indeginous arrivimg to especially Europeans, thanks to habitat loss, invasive species, and anthropogenic climate change, which we need reminders of more then ever for action against them.

If you wanted more, sorry, this is just on on the fly spur of the moment idea, so I disn't want to flesh things out too much.

Sources

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