History ScienceMarchesOn / WalkingWith

* It seems Gastornis may actually have been a vegetarian, a mild disappointment to those who grew up with the FeatheredFiend that terrorized small mammals in the dawning years of the Cenozoic.

* '''Walking With Monsters''':
** It seems that early Devonian "amphibians" cannot crawl onto land with their limbs, see UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLife.

** The ''Tapejara'' species featured in the series has now been reassigned to ''Tupandactylus''.
** The giant ''Ornithocheirus'' was based on a specimen now assigned to ''Tropeognathus''. Though it was indeed very large for an ornithocheirid, the show chose high-end, improbable estimates for its stated size. In reality, the specimen probably had around an 8m wingspan.

** A tamandua briefly appears in the first episode of this series, likely supposed to represent ''Eurotamandua'' from the Eocene of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messel_pit Messel]], which was initially identified as an anteater. However, more recent studies indicate that it probably wasn't an anteater [[http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/03/the_anteater_that_isnt.php and quite likely it wasn't a xenarthran at all]].
*** However, the most likely alternative is that it was a primitive, arboreal pangolin with no armor. This makes sense (since anteaters originate in South America while pangolins appear in Eurasia, and other pangolins are known in Europe at this time) but also means that ''Eurotamandua'', in the flesh, would look very much like a tamandua even if it wasn't a real tamandua. The use of a tamandua as a stand-in should be perfectly excusable. The use of a coati as a stand-in for the giant platypus ''Steropodon'' in WWD, on the other hand... not so much.

** The [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Giant Spider]] in the Carboniferous was based on ''Megarachne'', which ultimately turned out to be [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherEXtinctCreatures eurypterid]] ("sea scorpion") rather than spider.

** ''Othnielia'' and ''Leaellynasaura'' do not appear to be ornithopods, but more primitive ornithischians.

** Just after they finished the ''Gorgosaurus'' models, ''Yutyrannus'' (a feathered tyrannosaur) was found.
** ''Mere days'' before the movie premiered, it was discovered that ''Edmontosaurus'' had a small fleshy crest on its head.

** If the related (and likely synonymous) ''Megapnosaurus'' is any indication, ''Coelophysis'' was probably nocturnal.

** ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Placerias]]'' and the [[StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cynodont]] aren't reptiles in modern phylogenetic sense, but instead mammal ancestors.
** There were no [[StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cynodonts]] of the size depicted in the program in the late Triassic[[note]]other than traversodonts. Given that some Mesozoic mammals reached similar sizes (such as the infamous ''Repenomamus''), cynodonts that big in that time period aren't strictly unlikely, but unknown from the area the episode took place[[/note]]. This is an example of ScienceMarchesOn rather than SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying because at the time the series was produced it was assumed that cynodonts of that size did live in Late Triassic in North America. This assumption was based on the discovery of [[http://chinleana.blogspot.com/2009/09/enigmatic-triassic-taxa.html two teeth]] from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinle_Formation Chinle Formation]][[note]]though these teeth were assumed to belong to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traversodontidae traversodont]] cynodonts, much different from ''Thrinaxodon'' that WWD-cynodonts were based on[[/note]]. However, [[http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~irmisr/chinleteeth.pdf post-WWD study]] indicate that these teeth can't be confidently referred to Cynodontia (or any other known group of Triassic amniotes, for that matter).
** Sorry, ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Ornitholestes]]'', you didn't actually have that horn-thing on your nose.)

** To quote page 125, "Scientist cannot agree on whether ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Mononykus]]'' was a bird or a [non-bird] dinosaur." The 2010 discovery of the ancestral alvarezsaur ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Haplocheirus]]'' confirms that ''Mononykus'' and other alvarezsaurs were not birds.

*** There also seems to be an increasing (but controversial) number of people who think that azdarchids didn't fly at all, making them the equivalent of (giant, slow) ostriches. What a sad note to end such a group of amazing animals.
**** Azhdarchids were not ostriches, they were enormous, fast-running, and carnivorous. They were basically the [[LightningBruiser Lightning Bruisers]] of the pterosaur world.
*** In any case, the flightless theory isn't really taken seriously anymore.

** ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Liopleurodon]]'' was only about 9-12 meters (30-40 feet) in length, rather than the 25 meter (80 foot) long juggernaut in the series (to be fair, they said it was a huge specimen, but still, they probably couldn't grow that big even then).

** Sorry, ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Ornitholestes]]'', you didn't actually have that horn-thing on your nose.

** A new specimen of ''Didelphodon'' (still being described) appears to hint that this mammal was [[http://pristichampsus.deviantart.com/art/Didelphodon-321270920 semi-aquatic]], rather than the badger-like animal depicted in the show.

*** With the discovery of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutyrannus Yutyrannus]]'', it seems that most dinosaurs in general, possibly only with the exception of sauropodomorphs and thyreophorans could have had feathers.

*** With the discovery of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutyrannus Yutyrannus]]'', it seems that most dinosaurs in general, possibly only with the exception of sauropodomorphs could have had feathers.

** The enormously long-necked ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Tanystropheus]]'' was potrayed as capable of losing and regenerating its tail like a lizard. In the past it was indeed suggested by palaeontologist Rupert Wild[[hottip:* :who also thought that ''Tanystropheus'' was closely related to lizards - nowadays it's generally considered to be more closely related to archosaurs than to lizards]] that this creature was capable of autotomy, but other scientists who studied its fossils didn't find evidence for that. It has also been portrayed as an accomplished swimmer, but we don't know for sure if it really was such - its body-shape was all but hydrodynamic, and some think ''Tanystropheus'' was a shore animal who used its neck as a fishing rod, catching small prey a bit like a heron.

While accurate for when it was made, it was over 20 years ago. New evidence of creatures that we can have no real idea on behavior, color and other details are always emerging. So, there are inaccuracies.

*** There also seems to be an increasing number of people who think that azdarchids didn't fly at all, making them the equivalent of (giant, slow) ostriches. What a sad note to end such a group of amazing animals.

*** However, the most likely alternative is that it was a primitive, arboreal pangolin with no armor. This makes sense (since anteaters originate in South America while pangolins appear in Eurasia, and other pangolins are known in Europe at this time) but also means that ''Eurotamandua'', in the flesh, would look very much like a tamandua even if it wasn't a real tamandua. The use of a tamandua as a stand-in should be perfectly excusable. The use of a coati as a stand-in for the giant platypus ''Steropodon'' in ''WwD'', on the other hand... not so much.

** There were no [[StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cynodonts]] of the size depicted in the program in the late Triassic. This is an example of ScienceMarchesOn rather than SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying because at the time the series was produced it was assumed that cynodonts of that size did live in Late Triassic in North America. This assumption was based on the discovery of [[http://chinleana.blogspot.com/2009/09/enigmatic-triassic-taxa.html two teeth]] from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinle_Formation Chinle Formation]][[note]]though these teeth were assumed to belong to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traversodontidae traversodont]] cynodonts, much different from ''Thrinaxodon'' that WWD-cynodonts were based on[[/note]]. However, [[http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~irmisr/chinleteeth.pdf post-WWD study]] indicate that these teeth can't be confidently referred to Cynodontia (or any other known group of Triassic amniotes, for that matter).

*** THAT might be nothing: It's possible that '''ALL DINOSAURS''' may have had some sort of feathering, save, perhaps, some ornithopods and thyreophorans. With the cases above, ''Yutyrannus'' proves size wasn't a feather limiter - it was a 30-foot long tyrannosauroid with a full coat of feathers. And the new discovery ''Sciurumimus'' is a possible feathered MEGALOSAUROID. It's likely that ALL theropods had some sort of feather coating, and with feathers encroaching in Ornithischia, it's possible that all dinosaurs had at least some relic. And since pterosaurs have hair-like coverings, it's possible that the ''common ancestor of all dinosaurs and pterosaurs'' had feathers, and all of its descendants had some sort of remnant of it. Theropods' feathers, Pterosaurs' hairs, ''Psittacosaurus'' and ''Tianyulong'''s quills, ''Diplodocus'''s "iguana spikes", and hadrosaur's back bumps. Hell, with that, the bumps on the back of ''Carnotaurus'' may be some form of feather relic. Either way, if you use this show as a basis of dinosaur feathers, [[WeirdAlYancovick EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!!!]]

*** THAT might be nothing: It's possible that '''ALL DINOSAURS''' may have had some sort of feathering, save Iguanodontids and Thyreophorans. With the cases above, ''Yutyrannus'' proves size wasn't a feather limiter - it was a 30-foot long Tyrannosauroid with a full coat of feathers. And the new discovery ''Sciurumimus'' is a feathered MEGALOSAURID. It's likely that ALL theropods had some sort of feather coating, and with feathers encroaching in Ornithischia, it's possible that all dinosaurs had at least some relic. And since pterosaurs have hair-like coverings, it's possible that the ''common ancestor of all dinosaurs and pterosaurs'' had feathers, and all of its descendants had some sort of remnant of it. Theropods' feathers, Pterosaurs' hairs, ''Psittacosaurus'' and ''Tianyulong'''s quills, ''Diplodocus'''s "iguana spikes", and hadrosaur's back bumps. Hell, with that, the bumps on the back of ''Carnotaurus'' may be some form of feather relic. Either way, if you use this show as a basis of dinosaur feathers, [[WeirdAlYancovick EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!!!]]

** It looks like another example may be approaching. It's [[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727713.500-morphosaurs-how-shapeshifting-dinosaurs-deceived-us.html recently been theorized]] that ''[[StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Triceratops]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' (which were featured in ''Death of a Dynasty'' as seperate genera) are actually the same animal in different growth stages.
*** Jossed for now due to [[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032623 recent studies.]]

** Jossed for now due to [[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032623 recent studies.]]