What does Pokemon have to do with
paleontology?
Let's find out.
For those that did not grow up in the
late 90's or early 2000's
Pokemon developed by Game Freak is one of the most popular franchises in the world.
There are Pokemon manga, anime, toys, and yes, video games.
The second highest selling video game
series in the world.
But why are we talking about
Pokemon?
Well, the main focus of the franchise are the eponymous Pokemon
 monsters that you can collect battle and trade.
And throughout the series history there have been a variety of these critters
that are based off a prehistoric
creatures. ever since 1996 with the
Ever since 1996 with the release a Pokemon Red and Green in Japan
 players could collect fossils and revive them Jurassic Park-style
into living versions of so called fossil Pokemon.
 These original 3 were the pterosaur based Aerodactyl
the ammonite-like Omanyte and Omastar
and the horseshoe crab turned Anomalocaris, Kabuto and Kabutops.
Throughout the years players have gotten a bunch more fossil Pokemon
all of them them based off of real extinct
species, some of them pretty obscure.
The sauropod-like Amaura and Auroras seem like classic choices
but rather than going with cliche
"Brontosaurs" the developers want for the
bizarre Amargasaurus look.
And then they're the real oddities like
Lileep and Cradily.
They're a line of Pokemon based off of extinct crinoids
a type of invertebrate related to starfish.
It wasn't until 2014 with the release
Pokémon X&Y that we got T. rex based Pokémon
Called Tyrunt and Tyrantrum, these 2 even have a little coat of feathers.
An extinct animal theme is
not limited to just fossil the Pokemon either.
Mamoswine, being the most obvious, is based off of woolly mammoths
while Yanmega and Scolipede resemble the giant dragonflies and millipedes
that existed three hundred million years
ago.
Helio art they're definitely
paleontology inspired
The fact that some of these Pokemon are
based off of lesser-known extinct animals
really drives home the idea that someone at Game Freak
is a paleo-nerd just like us.
Thank you for watching this Thagomizers spotlight
I want to know what your favourite fossil Pokemon are
let us know in the comments, or hit us up
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