G U L L S
love
dad
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Recent Life
H E S P E R O C Y O N / A N C I E N T D O G F A M I L Y
The long muzzled face looks like a dog.
The stance could be shared with a cat.
Long neck. Long tail. Too long for a
modern dog. The long torso allows for
considerable bend - like a greyhound.
The spring of the back adds to the animal's
propulsion. The leg's backward knee is
actually the animal's ankle. Beneath it
are the foot bones that never touch ground.
I C E A G E E L E P H A N T
The Pleistocene extends back over two million years.
It was a time of fluctuating cooling and warming climates.
At its peak the last Ice Age covered 30 percent of the
globe's land area. The fossils of this species of elephant
were uncovered in South America. Elephants populated
the Earth everywhere.
P A L A E O L O X O D O N A N T I Q U U S
Thirteen feet tall at the shoulders.
Just about fifteen tons on the scale.
It's hard to come up with the name
of a four-legged mammal that is larger.
The diverse and widespread family of
elephants is now reduced to a shrinking
pool, mostly domesticated or protected
inhabitants of government lands.
A L L I N T H E F A M I L Y
Flat footed. Every member of this family of species
uses its foot bones for feet, and not a leg extension.
The tree dwellers, Gibbons and Orangutan,
have arms that reach the full length of their body to
touch the ground. The Gorilla's head is larger than the
human's but half of its skull is made up of a massive jaw.
Only the human stance is totally vertical. What truly
stands out, though, is the size of the human cranium,
where the brain resides, holding within its confines
the ability of reason and imagination.
P R I M A T E R E S O R T
This lakeside resort is representative of a Pleistocene
environment that primates of all sorts continue to favor.
It has a healthy forest, access to plenty of water as well
as providing a comfortable, mild climate for lounging.
It's ideal for gibbons, orangutans, chimpanzees and
gorillas. Humans would add a Hyatt.
S A B E R T O O T H
11,000 years ago Ice Age saber toothed tigers
inhabited what is now Los Angeles. There were likely
human witnesses to the likes of these Saber Tooths,
Mammoth Elephants and Giant Sloughs.
It is in this arena that human awareness may first
separate these people from the ancients.
It is the isolation of human consciousness.
A new story begins.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Asteroid
A G E O F D I N O S A U R S
The dinosaurs dominated the landscape for
175 million years.
A S T E R O I D I M P A C T
One day 66 million years ago an asteroid 7 miles across
hit the Earth with the force of a speeding bullet.
The impact liquified rock twenty miles deep.
A mile high tsunami resulted. Clouds of debris blocked
sunlight for years, destroying photosynthesis because
of the widespread plant die offs. 75% of all animal
species were swept from existence as starvation and
toxins took their toll.
T O X I C V O L C A N T I C G A S
A second source of catastrophic death was also
occurring in India as volcanic eruptions belched
toxic gases, rich in sulfur, into the atmosphere.
The Earth's plants were not only cut off from
their ultimate energy bar, the sun, but the rain
came laced with chemicals only a refinery
would appreciate.
A G E O F M A M M A L S
The world is an empty place.
The noise and nuisances of life are gone.
Every life strategy you can think of is available
to those able to show up. Recovery from mass extinction
begins immediately.
First off, who are our survivors?
Generally speaking, small seed-eating animals
that can survive long periods without food.
Eventually DNA fills this land of opportunities
with animal improvisations of every sort.
The species best engineered to meet the
circumstance wins out over time. But
success is not guaranteed. There are always
new challenges that must first be met.
E L E P H A N T B I R D
The large bipedal predator like T. rex was gone.
An ostrich type bird eventually developed enough
to occupy this long empty niche. The musclebound
legs say this bird would never get off the ground.
A small head with a bird bill replaces a massive
jaw filled with teeth as in the earlier dinosaur version.
Apparently useless wings replace clawed forearms.
No need for a tail as counterbalance to the weight
of a heavy head and neck up front because of
its nonexistence.
This bird was a dinosaur with feathers.
P R I M A T E A N C E S T O R
The oldest known species of primate lineage.
Purgatorius appears in the fossil record about
100,000 years following the Cretaceous - Paleocene
extinction. It probably ate seeds and lived in trees
like a squirrel. The prominent nose makes it
easier to track down buried seeds.
How horrified they might have been
once they found out their distant offspring
would turn out to be apes.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Saturday, September 12, 2026
Pterosaur
H A T Z E G O P T E R Y X
They aren't dinosaurs but they grew up
in the same neighborhood along side
T. rex and Triceratops. They were
lightweight and agile, and they had wings.
P T E R A N O D O N
The first vertebrates to fly - true sustained
flight. Genetic roll of the dice stumbled upon
the solution by elongating the fourth finger
of the animal's forearm to enormous length.
Every Pterosaur had this basic wing
arrangement.
L U S O G N A T H U S
Tens of millions of years of uninterrupted tropical bliss
over most of the globe. Life was good.
Everyone knew their place in the grand scheme of
things. Earthly paradise had become the law of nature.
P T E R O S A U R I A
The Crustaceous was a time of behemoths
roaming the land. Even the flying reptiles
the size of a giraffe were able to become
airborne despite packing the weight of 550 pounds.
A R A M B O U R G L A N I A
A number of Pterosaur species had developed
wings that also served as forelegs. This approach
could provide a good living for those prone to
browse among the brush for small animals.
K A R I R I D R A C O
The brain made up in efficiency what it lacked
in size. The area set aside for flight
control had a highly specialized division of labor.
Organization proved superior in performance
when compared with general purpose memory.
This entire class of animals died alongside
dinosaurs when an asteroid the size of
Mount Everest hit the Earth 66 million
years ago.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 6, 2026
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