The Oddest Couple in the Fossil Record

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to ↓ More info below ↓ Check out our new poster! To figure out how Thrinaxodon and Broomistega became entombed together, scientists looked at the burrow itself, along with their fossilized bones. And it looks like their luck ran out, when a behavior that usually would’ve helped them survive just didn’t work. Special thanks to Julio Lacerda () for the excellent Thrinaxodon and Broomistega illustrations for this episode! And thanks to Fabrizio de Rossi () for the Thrinaxodon illustration that originally appeared in our episode on synapsids: Here is the study we primarily discuss in this episode: Fernandez V, Abdala F, Carlson KJ, Cook DC, Rubidge BS, Yates A, et al. (2013) Synchrotron Reveals Early Triassic Odd Couple: Injured Amphibian and Aestivating Therapsid Share Burrow. PLoS ONE 8(6): e64978. Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible: Dan Ritter, Ian Greenblatt, Amanda Straw, Stephanie Tan, Minyuan Li, Ben Cooper, Leonid, Robert Noah, Matt Parker, Heathe Kyle Yeakley, Jerrit Erickson, Jack Arbuckle, David Sewall, Anton Bryl, Missy Elliott Smith, Zachary Spencer, Stefan Weber, Andrey, Ilya Murashov, Larry Wilson, Merri Snaidman, Gabriel Cortez, Marcus Lejon, Robert Arévalo, Todd Dittman, Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle, Betsy Radley, Anthony Callaghan, Laura Sanborn, PS, Philip Slingerland, John Vanek, Eric Vonk, Henrik Peteri, Jon Monteiro, James Bording, Miles Chaston, Michael McClellan, Jeff Graham, Maria Humphrey, Daisuke Goto, Hubert Rady, Gregory Kintz, Tyson, Chandler Bass, Joao Ascensao, Tsee Lee, Robert Hill If you’d like to support the channel, head over to and pledge for some cool rewards! Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - References: