Happy New Year!

Welcome back to our annual, traditional question-answering marathon!

As always, a big thank you to everyone who submitted questions for this Q&A, everyone who has listened and shared and engaged with us throughout the year, and especially to our Patrons, who make this podcast possible.

See you in 2025!

Check out our website for our blog posts and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast

Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/

Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent

The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Most theropod dinosaurs are sleek predators built for speedy movement and efficient hunting. Therizinosaurs are unusual. They’re slow and stocky and, in many ways, more like the famous plant-eating dinosaurs. This episode, we’ll explore the diversity of therizinosaurs, the winding path that paleontologists took to understand them, the many ways they became specialized for a diet of plants, and what was going on with those claws.

In the news: Parasaurolophus crests, Scottish bears, anglerfish evolution, and Clovis diets.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:07:30 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:46:45 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:14:20 Patron question: 02:00:30

Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast

Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/

Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent

The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Evolution involves the innovation of new features, but even more reduction of old features. Those reduced features might disappear, develop in a new direction, or just linger as a functionless evidence of deep ancestry. This episode, we explore how we identify vestigial traits, how they help us understand evolutionary history, and the various evolutionary paths vestigial structures can take.

In the news: giant worm lizards, drumstick evolution, dinosaur poop, and pterosaur transitions.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:04:00 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:36:45 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:22:30 Patron question: 01:56:50

Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/

Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast

Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/

Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent

The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0