The BIOGEOGRAPHY of the DINOSAURS

80 million years ago an entirely different class of animal ruled this Earth. The warmer temperatures allowed reptilians to grow bigger than any animal ever had before, bringing about the age of the Dinosaurs.

But with a natural history spanning more than 180 million years, there's a lot to know about these creatures.

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Special thanks to:

Cisiopurple on Deviantart for his many dinosaur drawings used in this video

Sources / Extra Materials:

[Pykenike]

When you can hear how eloquent he chooses his words, you know he got inspiration from the best dino out there. The thesaurus

[AlternateHistoryHub]

Wow this covered such a long span. You really outdid yourself on this one. Fantastic video!

[amphoramorph]

definitely the coolest thing in palaeontology isn’t the memorising of names but the story of evolution and how ecosystems and species have reacted to a changing planet

[eucolecionodinossauros]

Actually, Pangea formed more like 250 million years ago, closer to the Permian - Triassic extinction, not the Triassic Jurassic Extinction. By that time Pangea was already begining to split apart.

[jackbrown]

Some respectful notes on the information from the video (primarily the first part):

- Although Pangea was entirely connected, large interior deserts made it difficult for species to move to new regions. This is why the earliest dinosaurs are almost exclusively found in South America; they didn't spread further until the late Triassic.
- Carnivorous theropods do predate the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, though as stated the top predators of the time were not dinosaurs.
- The Triassic-Jurassic extinction corresponds more closely with the breakup of Pangea than with its formation.
- Although the continents began to separate in the Jurassic, the biogeography was still pretty consistent globally. Sauropods were the dominant herbivores, with some Ornithischians being present, while the dominant predators were Allosaurs and, secondarily, Ceratosaurs. When the biogeographies of Laurasia and Gondwana began to diverge during the Cretaceous, Gondwana kept the same biogeography from the Jurassic (with Allosaurs and Ceratosaurs being replaced by Carcharodontosaurs and Abelisaurs, respectively) while Laurasia developed the diversity of Ornithischians and Coelurosaurs (e.g., Tyrannosaurs and Dromaeosaurs) discussed in the video.
- Spinosaurs, although they could be longer than other large theropods like Tyrannosaurs and Carcharodontosaurs, were more gracile and therefore lighter weight. They would not have required buoyancy to support their body mass. Additionally, Spinosaurs were also found in South America and, in the case of Baryonix, in Europe.

As someone who was (and still is) very interested in dinosaurs, I think biogeography is a useful and interesting lens through which to understand them, and I commend the video for exploring it.

[Pwndbythnb]

I DIDNT EXPECT A FACE REVEAL minus that one time he showed a picture of himself and girlfriend

[conorcrowley]

Atlas Pro being one of few of the youtubers who's face matches and even improves on the voice

[MintyScales]

I cannot think of a better video title to wake up to than "The Biogeography of the Dinosaurs" and see the AtlasPro compass on my screen. This is the greatest gift to receive. Thank you, best channel.

[gaylordzapikowski]

You left out a very large and major part of the theropod family tree: The Carcharadontisaurians. They began in the Jurassic with early off shoots being the likes Allosaurus and Saurophaganax (aka Allosaurus depending on who you ask), and diversified into monstrous big game hunters in the Cretaceous. These were dominant in the ecosystems they were present in, which included Appalachia (Acrocanthosaurus), South America (Tyrannotitan, Mapusaurus, and Giganotosaurus), Africa (Carcharadontosaurus), and Europe (Neovenator). From what I remember, they tended to die out as the Late Cretaceous entered full swing. South America is very interesting in this case as when the Giganotosaurs left the fossil records, the niche for hunting large sauropods (maybe not Argentinasaurus, there was plenty of other sauropods in the area that could satiate them) was left totally vacant and afaik we haven't found anything that took their place. The Abelisaurids, as wonderful as they are, simply weren't capable of filling the niche left behind by one of the largest land predators to exist. As a matter of fact they seemed to be doubling down on the speed demon approach, with Carnotaurus being the fastest theropod we know of being built for running down prey. This was generally the case for Abelisaurids everywhere, constantly living in the Carcharadontisaurs' shadows (India and Madagascar being the obvious exceptions.

These amazing animals deserve some attention, but more importantly if you're interested in more biogeographics with relations to dinosaurs but on a smaller scale, check out Hațeg Island specifically. It's a wild ride of dwarfism beneath the shadow of a terrifying animal.

[StuffandThings_]

So... when are we getting the biogeography of ancient plants and forests? Would love to see maps of where the Progymnosperms, Calamites, Lycopsids, and Cladoxylopsids first colonized (although I do recall that the plains off of the early Appalachians were some of the earliest forested regions). So much to explore there!

[Zarhejo]

"the biogeography of dinosaurs" is one of the best possible titles for a video, of any kind. Except maybe "the biogeography of dinosaurs, PART 1/30"

[ThomasTubeHD]

When I looked at the screen, I see animated stuff, seconds later after I looked away and back again, I see a face reveal

[GojiGuru]

Finally, a video *real* people care about. 😛

—A paleontologist

[Joe_Potts]

Are we just gonna ignore the fact that he said he wasn't interested in dinosaurs as a child?
Like... thats a thing?

[russellst.martin]

I've been fruitlessly searching youtube for a video on this topic for a while now and this is exactly what I wanted to see. Thank you!

[NeosAvias]

AtlasPro: “Even as a kid I was never really interested in [dinosaurs].”

I present to you proof that AtlasPro was actually grown in lab to be a super-intelligent super-human.

[gabor]

Atlas Pro: *reveals face*
Me: So you're 3blue1brown's brother.

[Matt-wcmf]

"This large circular structure in southern Mexico."

Heh... We know what's coming...

[veggieboyultimate]

Tbh, I don’t see why many scientists think the Abelisaurs were the dominant carnivores of Gondwana, when it seems the carcharodontosaurs were bigger and just as prolific. Even though they were present in Gondwana and Laurasia, they were much bigger in the south than in the north than the abelisaurs, wouldn’t that make them the dominant carnivores of Gondwana?

[hardasanut]

Thank you so much for this! It's amazing how much a mapping can really help engage with data, even one as popularized as dinosaurs. Even if it's just a small fraction of the known knowns alongside a lot of "here be dragons" known unknowns, it really helps shake some cobwebs loose and reignite curiosity.