Paleontology

HOW BASED ARE PROTOTAXITES?

HOW BASED ARE PROTOTAXITES? I mean seriously… giant mysterious tower-organisms dominating prehistoric landscapes? For anyone unfamiliar, Prototaxites were massive life forms that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, with some specimens reaching around 8 meters (26 ft) tall. For a long time people argued about what they actually were giant algae, fungi, lichens, or something else entirely. Imagine walking through an ancient world before forests as we know them existed… and seeing enormous pillar-like organisms rising from the ground. They were looksmaxing long before us! What makes them even cooler is that scientists are still debating aspects of their biology and ecology. Most evidence points toward a fungal or fungus-related identity, but the mystery itself is part of the appeal. So I ask: How based are Prototaxites on a scale from 1 to prehistoric eldritch tree? Giant Ancient Weird Still somewhat mysterious Peak prehistoric lifeform or overrated fungal spaghetti tower? Feel free to speculate!