How dinosaurs, fungi, and plants evolved together

Dinosaurs had a complex relationship with fungi and plants. We explore whether dinosaurs ate psychedelics, if they aided plant evolution, and even a carnivorous fungus.
For links to the main sources, all of the details we shared about Jeholornis, and our fun fact check out iknowdino.com/Jeholornis-Episode-528
Join us at patreon.com/iknowdino for dinosaur requests, bonus content, ad-free episodes, and more.
Dinosaur of the day Jeholornis, the first known bird to eat fruit.
Some of the main topics in this episode:
• The psychotropic fungus ergot in the Cretaceous
• Fungi in dinosaurian (Isisaurus) coprolites
• Dinosaurs feeding on flowering plants
• Dinosaur—angiosperm coevolution revisited
• "Hunting the Snark: the flawed search for mythical Jurassic angiosperms"
• Angiosperm evolution using phylogenomics
• Possible pre-Cretaceous origin of flowering plants
• Ancient pollen that may be from angiosperms
• How the end-Cretaceous extinction led to modern rainforests
• How plants fared after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

Last chance to Join our patreon (patreon.com/iknowdino/membership) at the Triceratops tier or above (by midnight on Friday, February 28, 2025) to get your exclusive Allosaurus patch. If you're already a patron at the Triceratops level or above make sure to update your address so we can send it to you! patreon.com/iknowdino/membership
See Privacy Policy at art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.