Lost Worlds: Hațeg Island

Intro 0:00
Discovery 1:43
The Dwarves of Hațeg Island 3:33
The King of Hațeg 9:55
Conclusion 12:27
#paleoanalysis #dinosaurs #dwarfdinosaurs #evolution
Today marks the beginning of a new adventure where we will be exploring different environments from Earth's past in their entirety! At the request of our Patrons, we will be beginning with different island habitats that have brought about the evolution of some of the most interesting and bizarre animals the world has ever seen. Islands can turn large animals into dwarves, take small scavengers and make them into apex predators, and re work the food web made of familiar creatures and turn it into something totally unrecognizable. And I find all that absolutely fascinating!
This month the Patrons have selected Cretaceous Hațeg Island as our first island habitat to explore!
An ancient island that is now land locked in Romania, but 70 million years ago was teaming with bizarre animals like Magyarosaurus. A Titanosaur the size of a buffalo, And Hatzegopteryx, a massive pterosaur that was the top predator on the island and probably fed on the Titanosaurs!
If you would like to vote on future Patreon poll videos, you can join the Cyanobacteria Army and help spread the glory of the goo!
/ paleoanalysis
Check out My Linktree to join me on social media!:
linktr.ee/PaleoAnalysis
Most of my music has been provided by MehoDrums. If you enjoy any of the tunes in my background or into, check out some of his other stuff and contact him if you want to have him compose some stuff for you!
linktr.ee/MehoDrums?fbclid=Iw...
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

[@adamthespinygiant]

I have a suggestion for a future video: how and why the Kem Kem formation was able to support so many large theropods like Carcharodonotosaurus, Delradromrus and Spinosaurus. Not to mention the other fauna that lived in Northern Africa 95mya that gave the area the name "The River of Giants".

[@Robo_19]

That’s actually a great idea.

[@adamthespinygiant]

@@Robo_19 plus, Spinosaurus is my favorite extinction animal. Just like me, Spiny is allergic to being normal.

[@Robo_19]

@@adamthespinygiant You’re not wrong about that.

[@artieziff345]

Don't know if there's a definitive answer, but the Kem Kem group spans over 5 million years, we don't know if the many species of spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids and the other large theropods coexisted at the same time

[@Jonnywaffles64]

oh fuck yeah. kemkem is so sick

[@stuartwhitehead3167]

Actually there were several flightless giant owls on different islands. Prehistoric Crete had its own monster owl that was likely flightless as well.

[@apexnext]

Thanks I needed a new demon in my nightmares. 😈🦉👍

[@user-lq4ct6dr5m]

We already got a giant owl in Italy

[@HogBurger]

Don’t forget such fossils have been recovered in The Bahamas. Which

[@stuartwhitehead3167]

@@HogBurger Of coarse. But I was pretty sure he was reffering to the Cuban species. Not as many people know about the giant flightless owl that lived on crete during the pleistocene.

[@bethanysmith5856]

I wonder if they inspired the mythical bird the Roc

[@lindagodfrey9994]

It would be really interesting if you talked about the giant owls of the Caribbean.

[@concept5631]

Agreed

[@frankhumphreys9778]

Yes yes yes

[@danielmalinen6337]

Hateg Island is a small glimpse of what the European archipelago looked like in the Cretaceous period, and it's good that some other area in Europe gets attention besides the British Isles. And I thank you that Europe can be featured in the paleomedia, because most of the modern media focuses mainly on North American dinosaurs and too little for the dinos of other continents. And Hateg Island is a fascinating phenomenon as an environment and ecology that was no bigger island than modern day Hispaniola in Carribbean. But Hateg was not as lonely as it is assumed, but according to modern computer modeling, it was bordered by chains of archipelagos that formed the mountains of Carpathians and Balkan Mountain surrounding the plain of today's Romania because the Great Adrian was pushed under the rest of Europe. And therefore Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria and Ukraine were also made up of several islands of different sizes based on geology and fossils. However, Europe's biggest mystery is the Nordic countries, whose fossil layers have been ground away as a result of several ice ages which have been like coarse sandpaper and have peeled away layers down to the bedrock. Fortunately, in Denmark and South Sweden, there are old basins in which Jurassic and Cretaceous layers have been preserved and saved from those ice ages. And thanks to that, in Denmark, for example, it has been found an unpublished remains of unnamed titanosaur, which was no bigger than Hateg's titanosaurs. But of course the rest of Europe is also interesting, like the child-sized abelisaur theropods from France, the mini-pony-sized ceratopsian from Hungary, the dog-sized Struthiosaurus from Germany and the very interesting Concavenator from Spain.

[@flightlesslord2688]

I wouldnt be at all surprised if, like the many dwarf elephants and mammoths that all evolved independently, many different dwarf sauropods existed throughout the Mesozoic on different islands.

[@derkjh]

Don't be Stupid.

[@robotboy719]

A major reason why North American dinosaurs receive so much attention is due to the fact that 1/4 of all dinosaur species discovered are of North American derivation.

[@wuestenfuchsxy]

@@robotboy719 plus USA has the biggest audience for dinosaur media, plus most media creators are from the US no wonder there is such a heavy focus on NA.

[@mrAMMW]

Im from romania and never heard that something like that existed here, crazy to think that such an inland place could be an island in the past. Also the Balaur Bondoc animal literally translates to plump dragon which is kinda cute

[@vladkornienko7889]

He was dummy thicc!

[@gydgeza8646]

there's a place in Salaj we like to visit every now and then to hunt for fossils because it's a really well preserved area of what used to be a shallow seabed millions of years ago. We find fossilized shells, little stone spirals, by the handful. Not to mention nummulites, the place is littered with them

[@petrucercel9855]

​@@gydgeza8646 You would enjoy our subway stations then. You can see thousands of fossils in the marble used to build them.

[@MrMarinus18]

It's not the only remarkable animal place in Romania. Romania also has a cave that's completely sealed off from the world with an entire eco system that's very similar to that of black smokers but on land.

[@artieziff345]

Speaking of dwarf dinosaurs, I would really like a video about the Langenberg quarry from Germany, that has to be one of the most interesting Jurassic ecosystems

[@ShagGnarok]

I’d love to see a video on those giant flightless owls they sound so cool

[@PaleoAnalysis]

That would be Pleistocene Cuba, which is actually already in the poll since they lived alongside Megalocnus, The pigmy ground sloth.

[@iosefiniosefin]

Greetings from Romania! 🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩

[@jamesabernethy7896]

Only found your channel a couple of months ago and really like it. Informative but light hearted with a splash of humour. Smooth use of eye-catching visuals that really set the scene. Really great.

[@daniell1483]

Hatzegopteryx is my favorite pterosaur, and I'm glad Hateg island gave us this flying giant. I'm not sure if it is precisely the largest flying carnivore, but it has to be damn close! I can't help but imagine the other inhabitants of Hatzeg island living in fear of this apex predator, like a prehistoric dragon or wyvern from famous myth (and D&D). It may not the tallest pterosaur, but who cares?! This animal was just too freaking cool. I bet it is the reason the island got so many votes.

[@bkjeong4302]

It’s the largest flight-capable predator.

[@MrMarinus18]

I think considering it's biology and environment Hatzegopteryx was a poor flyer. That it spend the vast majority of it's time on the ground and only really flew to move from island to island. After all there was no real need for it to fly well since it did all it's hunting on the ground and there were no predators either on either on land or in the air it would have to worry about. So it likely specialized for hunting on land only leaving just enough adaptations for flight so that it could migrate.

[@gioeleg6447]

Insular dwarfism/gigantism is such a fascinating phenomenon to me. No matter what the period. I'd really like to know if there were insular versions of the big mammal mega fauna in Pleistocene (not counting Caribbeans' ground sloths)

[@mhdfrb9971]

Loot at Bornean pygmy elephant. Smallest elephant in the world

[@cellardweller5245]

You probably already know of them but mammoths of Wrangel Island were really small. And also, survived the longest, still walking around when pyramids were being built.

[@guerreiro943]

In the Mediterranean sea there were several species of dwarf elephants living on the islands. They got extinct alongside the rest of the megafauna once humans got there.

[@PCB389]

They are called Elephants 😎

[@haumea2097]

Suggestion: a video on the nearby Csehbánya formation. It's really interesting yet obscure, and i'd like to see a professional paleoyoutuber like you mentioning it one day.

[@lizper]

I hope you do a video on the Giant flightless Owl. That sounds so cool

[@craigstephenson7676]

It’s gonna be in the Pleistocene Cuba video

[@readingking1421]

Tiny Titanosaurs!!! I love them😍 Super weird actually I never considered island dwarfism would be a thing back then. I'd love a dedicated video on the prehistoric life of Antarctica. Any era; the idea that it once had any life at all and is now that is wild.

[@reuireuiop0]

If I'd named their genus, would not've called em Magyarisaurus but Titinysaurus :D

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

Would second the ask for some prehistoric Antarctic coverage! Like David, I find the concept of a former semi-tropical forest on that icy continent absolutely fascinating, & it feels like it's a space that just doesn't get much discussion? Maybe because the fossils there have been so hard to access, pre-climate shift...?

[@Myuska2288]

I would love to see some videos on some of the important or fascinating people of paleontology. Even if you weren't able to make it a series, a video here or there would be something I'd love to watch. Either way, I'm excited to see some more historical examples of island habitats! They are such fun little biomes to see!

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

Fascinating! As an island-nation dweller, I've always found insular adaptation patterns really interesting (learnt a lot via Atlas Pro's vids), but hadn't ever come across a discussion of those phenomena as they affected dinosaur species. Big props to you & your Patreon supporters for bringing us this cool series! 💖

[@TurtleNerite]

Actually, at the same time period as Hateg, an another island was present at the place of the present day Hungary. It had several interesting animals, like Hungarosaurus (a Nodosaur, close relative of Struthiosaurus), Ajkaceratops (A 1.5 m long Ceratopsian) and Pannoniasaurus (a freshwater Mosasaur).

[@frankkenny6894]

I live on the former island of Siletzia. It was an island during the Eocene. Very few fossils have been found here but there is a lot of food for thought on what it flora and fauna must have been like and how it would have been different.

[@richjordan6461]

Jurassic Park /// really opened my eyes on how fearsome the pterosaurs probably were. The original three films I think did a lot for science outreach. The modern films, heavy on action, light on good science

[@erichtomanek4739]

Flora and fauna of islands is fascinating. Thanks for an excellent video. I've always wondered about what the islands that are now the Emperor Seamounts were like in their prime.

[@matthijsveen]

I'm obsessed with this island, it's just so cool. Looking forward to this video!

[@TheShootist]

Madagascar is right there

[@mhdfrb9971]

Madagascar is the modern day Hateg island

[@derkjh]

Are you on something?

[@matthijsveen]

@@derkjh How do you mean?

[@LDSG_A_Team]

I freakin love this channel

[@myrongainesthegoat]

same

[@Scott-wf9kp]

Fascinating as always. Imagining an encounter with a hatzegopteryx is terrifying, I can only imagine the havoc it wreaked in its time! I've been away from youtube for a little while due to life being busy, so it's time to binge all your wonderful videos. Thank you for your hard work!

[@jonwashburn7999]

Thanks. Never knew about the giant flightless owl.

[@crocodile9619]

Im excited for the history of earth late permian

[@martijn9568]

I'm personally still a bit suspicious whenever someone shows a Pterosaur just licking up a "small" dinosaur. Even if a dinosaur was the size of a cow, it would still weigh more than a 100 kilograms. It seems unlikely that any animals would pick that up like it is nothing, especially a Pterosaur weighing less than a 1000 kilogram. Wouldn't these large Pterosaurs make a lot more use of their claws rather than just their snout?

[@concon9107]

With it's head and neck being built as sturdy as they are my guess is that it could rip into and take chunks out of prey items with it's beak.

[@bkjeong4302]

For something larger than a human Hatzegopteryx would probably have done what modern marabou storks do with flamingoes: dismember its prey with its beak. It certainly has the robust build and strength for it.

[@pokemon1895]

Another fun, insightful, and entertaining video. I love the consistently high quality content you put out on this channel. Much appreciated.

[@collegeguy12gm]

This series is great! I totally understand and respect taking any time you need to finalize each video and script. Patiently awaiting next release.

[@ZeFroz3n0ne907]

Absolutely fantastic video P.A! Would love to see a video on the flightless owls! Keep up the amazing work, love the content you produce!

[@Gobinabox]

great vid

[@Ethan-cz8xq]

4:48 Same temperature as Florida but less humid? I know where I'd live in prehistoric Earth

[@catherinehubbard1167]

Really interesting and well put together. Thank you! How awesome it would be to see one of those giants flying!

[@martasd2568]

I made a writing exam at school on this theme like a year ago! It is absolutely gorgeous as you described. Awesome work can't wait to see South America or Australia in this project. And I have to say you are awesome narator. I such love these vidos.

[@nyxhighlander9894]

Yes to the series on interesting paleontologist just so I can get another video dunking on Cope and Marsh

[@spyrofrost9158]

Well that tears it. I'm going to travel back in time and settle on this island as a tiny dino rancher.... Hey, that's a good idea for a video game.

[@Vicki_Benji]

I really enjoy your video's, thank you!

[@predragpetrovic1012]

Europasaurus from late jurrassic Germany is probably my dwarf dino favourite ❤️

[@sauraplay2095]

Amazing video man!👍

[@acanuck1679]

I just discovered this edition of your series--and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the species you mentioned, the one that left the "biggest" impression was the "stocky cousin" (Hatzegopteryx) of Quetzalcoatlus (both Azdarchids). Very cool. Thank you.

[@stuartaaron613]

Fascinating video!

[@shadowscribe]

Awesome series idea and video. Looking forward to more!

[@huntermchuntface3904]

Nice. Finally a new vid. And seems to be an interesting topic :)

[@MseeBMe]

This was absolutely brilliant! Thank you!

[@martoneduard]

As a person from Transylvania i really appreciate making a video like this! Great job!

[@anamariab2956]

Thank you for this video. I am from Romania and I just discovered how rich life was in this area in prehistoric times.

[@alexandregrynagier1762]

No comment except the fact that your videos are damn cool, and thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@Transilvanian90]

Fun fact: Balaur Bondoc literally means Runt (small/stocky) Dragon in Romanian, likely because it kind of looked like a tiny dragon to its finders.

[@sardarasif1858]

Oh my god !, I was litrally trying to find your channel through my subbed channels. The reason being is that I somehow forgot this channel name and couldn't think of it. However the only way I knew is to watch a bunch of jurrasic period documentaries and make YT algorithm to suggest your channel to me. HOT Dang it worked ! I'm just so relieved right now and probably going to binge watch your all new video. Please keep up the good work. ^_^ I just can't get enough of it.

[@morewi]

>first man to hijack a plane Can't leave us hanging like that

[@garyburnham7673]

Great video

[@ultimulcretin5795]

Balaur bondoc is one of my favorite dinosaurs, also I am from Romania.

[@demos113]

Lovely work. 🙂

[@tornaperinso1484]

Great video! Thank you

[@TroyTheCatFish]

Amazing Video! :) 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 ❤❤❤ 💖💖💖

[@raphlvlogs271]

islands can also allow nearly extinct or ancient species to survive for much longer

[@sarahlynn4798]

Bravo 💚

[@travisbicklejr]

Excellent video!

[@SB-qm5wg]

Cool video. TY 👍

[@Jillybear265]

Man we better see that giant flightless owl video in the next poll frfr 😤😤

[@PaleoAnalysis]

It was in the last one, but it lost. 👀 Hint: Pleistocene Cuba=Giant Owl.

[@apexnext]

That means it could be in the next one! 👀

[@mikesnyder1788]

First rate presentation! Absolutely first rate! I read an article in "Scientific American" on this very topic so any additional information is greatly appreciative. First rate!!!

[@OsirisLord]

The fact that an avian dinosaur revolved maniraptorian features goes to show how wrong the "march of progress" idea of evolution is.

[@maozilla9149]

nice video

[@liammcnulty7677]

Big fan of Insular Environments, very excited for the series

[@digirogue6820]

Top tier video

[@MrEnglischjules]

top banana. i love your videos and the content... subject i love so much since a boy and did at Uni in the 90s.. and so much has changed...better discoveries and re examining etc. keep up the good work, sorry i cant be a Patreon member but i do app the work you put into them

[@tmc3.40]

Best vid about Hateg I’ve ever seen

[@lutilda]

All I can picture is a dinosaur petting zoo with these species 😂🥰

[@aitch365]

Wow. I’m hooked 😁

[@Aliasesarestupid]

I would also suggest a quick pop-up timeline and arrow to the time period mentioned for the first time in the video. Hard to remember them all for rookies like me

[@Shaden0040]

Please yalk about Mary Anning the FOUNDER of all paleontology. See Brn G, Thomas' channel for his recent spotlight on her.

[@dacian_1346]

Nice, I’m from Transylvania and Hateg is like 2h from my city, it’s a gorgeous place to visit and also an Unesco site too.

[@AlexIsModded]

Considering there were a number of flightless mega owls, I would totally watch a video about that. You could add it to the poll, and see what happens next month :D

[@connorwalsingham1962]

Hateg island is a perfect example of island biogeography

[@WarrenFahyAuthor]

Cool!

[@vassa1972]

Good stuff

[@takenname8053]

Super Nice

[@MrMachaelable]

Awesome

[@exalt2674]

Wow, you beat Prehistoric Planet 2 to the punch here.

[@VictorianTimeTraveler]

It's nice to hear from someone who doesn't mock and hate on early paleontologists. As though they would have come to better conclusions with fragmentary evidence

[@roberthines2741]

A video on the Ediacaran period would be pretty cool, I find the life of that period mysterious.

[@DISTurbedwaffle918]

I wonder if we will ever find an island with a pigmy ceratopsian; that'd be cool.

[@JesusMartinez-rr2ry]

Those tiny sauropods of Hateg island, along with other instances of sauropods that went through island dwarfism should all be classified as oxymorons, much like jumbo shrimp.

[@TheScrootch]

Interesting video. I'd love to maybe see something about deep sea gigantism and how it affected prehistoric animals

[@agrarianyeti8134]

If you need an idea for a pleistocene island, look at Santa Rosae off Southern California. It had giant swans and dwarf mammoths! Thanks for the awesome content.

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

Given how aggressive their modern descendants can be, giant swans sound fairly terrifying! 😅

[@kdawggg2413]

You should do a video on the Karoo formations in South Africa, I was in golden gate national park last week and found so much interesting information!

[@kyrab7914]

I'm glad you focused on animals besides hatzegopterex first. Normally focus is on the giant death stork (understandably), so cool to see more of the whole environment. Also I'm excited if we get to New Caledonia! I don't know much of anything about prehistoric times, but in modern day we're finding quite a few different geckos that are all funky lil guys.

[@PaleoAnalysis]

I will generally be doing these starting at the bottom of the food chain and working my way up.

[@kyrab7914]

@@PaleoAnalysis hell yiss! Was just not much hope for little New Caledonia in the polls 😔

[@nandajepara7360]

Finally upload

[@nicholasmaude6906]

In regards to other islands you could do a video about the development of New Zealand.

[@caseyleichter2309]

Supercontinents to island archipelagos, massive seas where there are supercontinents today - my god, geography is fascinating. I like Archipelago Earth, and would love to see what its lifeforms are like on the next go round. All I have to do is wait for, oh, a couple hundred million years for the major continents to break up again.

[@craigstephenson7676]

Can’t wait for the Cuba video, Ornimegalonyx is my favorite bird

[@sethoflagos2880]

Really enjoyed this one. Also +1 for a Kem Kem beds video as suggested by @Adam the Spiny GIANT below. Or the microplate of Avalonia during the closure of Iapetus. Or Armorica over the same time period.

[@graphosaurus]

Great video as always! One thing I have to mention though: wasn't Hepasteornis an alvarezsaur? Cuz they were insectivores.

[@graphosaurus]

That is, to say, they would never had hunted those herbivores in the first place

[@alexandramilos392]

As a romanian when i saw "Hațeg" in the title i was so excited for the video.

[@drillpower812]

Rólunk nevezték el az óriásgyíkot beszarás

[@BigBoobsMcGoo]

Just imagine a giant land owl hob-goblining toward you in the dark woods... I look forward to whatever video that ends up in, giant land owls are a whole new concept for me.

[@carolynallisee2463]

I have several questions- what is happening to the History of Earth series? Will you be still doing that? If not, can you at least cover the second half of the Permian, taking us up to The Great Dying prior to the Mesozoic Era? I was really enjoying that series!

[@PaleoAnalysis]

I will be continuing the HotE series.

[@carolynallisee2463]

@@PaleoAnalysis Brilliant!💖💖💖

[@derkjh]

Don't be Silly.

[@Latenivenatrix_Mcmasterae]

Balaur Bondoc is such of a weird and unique bird that I want it to have it’s own exclusive video or else I’ll eat Timtim

[@Unovan_aerodactyl]

A prehistoric ecosystem from my country 🗣🔥🔥🔥

[@krissyb1980]

I think the changes that happen when animals are isolated in islands are very interesting. From small to the biggest. Like Australia and Tasmania, I often think it'd have been so cool to see it before it was messed up by people but I guess that's true of everything.

[@flightlesslord2688]

The realm of the House of the Dragon, Vlad the Impaler, Dracula himself; a land of natural beauty but also supernatural terror, was once home to a realm ruled by a real draconic beast, and was full of other weird and wonderful creatures almost like something out legend. Quite poetic me thinks; Hateg is so bloody cool and wildly interesting! And it was discovered by an absolute badass by the sound of it? Seriously, coolest formation.