Serval (Leptailurus serval)

Introduction

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a species of caracal-lineage felid widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, but are less numerous in North Africa. There may be three subspecies of serval, with the South African serval (L. serval serval) being 145.5–174 cm, the East African serval (L. serval lipostictus) being 84–127 cm, and the West and Central African serval (L. serval constantini) being 108.7–119.7 cm in length.

The Cerrejón Formation, and Why It's so Important

Introduction

After the Cretaceous-Palaeogene Mass Extinction, ~66 million years ago, life on Earth began to recover. With non-avian dinosaurs no longer populating the Earth, placental mammals began to rapidly diversify. In contrast, aquatic environments provided a testing ground for the other major group of tetrapods: the diapsids. A coal mine in Colombia, which forms the 60–58-million-year-old Cerrejón Formation, provides an insight into just how reptiles survived and thrived in early Cenozoic South America, and even how the Amazon rainforest first arose.

The Bathonian Femur of Morocco and Other "Atlasaurs"

Introduction

In 1992, Mohammed Charroud and Bouazza Fedan mentioned an uncatalogued sauropod femur from Morocco, found in fossil deposits dating to roughly 167 million years ago. In 2020, it was suggested to be a giant cousin of the sauropod Atlasaurus imelakei. However, the same source also suggested that a number of other sauropods found across the southern hemisphere were also relatives of Atlasaurus. Were these all related animals, or are their suggested relationships based on nothing more than coincidence?