October 8, 2009
For the full story on all of this, you'll have to nip over to SV-POW! I guarantee you won't regret it. My favourite 'fact' about potto neck spines: they demonstrate a link with the Chupacabras (no, I don't accept this, but some do take it seriously, apparently).
Observant readers will have noticed…
October 5, 2009
One of the most famous of 'missing' birds is the elusive Night parrot, an obscure nocturnal species discovered by John McDouall Stuart in 1845 (though not named until 1861). Small, reluctant to fly, highly nomadic and cryptically coloured, it's never been well known and even now there are only 23…
October 5, 2009
Thanks to everyone who had a go at identifying the Moroccan passerine pictured here yesterday, and shown here again. As virtually everyone said, it's a female or juvenile male redstart (Phoenicurus). The fact that it was seen in Morocco in December makes an identification as Common redstart P.…
October 4, 2009
Here's a bird I saw in the snowy Atlas Mountains last year...
Can you tell me what it is, and - better (as I know the answer) - can you tell me something interesting about it? Photo by Bob Loveridge.
October 2, 2009
As you'll know if you're familiar with the literature on the Loch Ness monster - and as you won't if you're not - Nessie is not only seen in the water; there are, in fact, quite a few claimed sightings that were made on land. The most interesting thing about these accounts is that they're…
October 1, 2009
I received some really nice cards for my birthday last week. But this has to be my favourite... (oh, after the one from the kids of course)...
I mean, how often do you see Balaeniceps rex on a birthday card? Not often enough in my view (with a nod to those who have a phobia of this daunting bird…
September 30, 2009
First of all, here are some temnospondyls. This composite image was compiled by repositioning the reconstructions provided by DeFauw (1989): looks neat, doesn't it?
So, I recently returned from the 69th Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, this year held in Bristol, UK: in other words,…
September 28, 2009
After all that talk of tapirs biting people's arms off and killing Brazilian farmers, it only seems appropriate to post these pictures, taken at Bristol Zoo on Sunday (a group of us went there after SVP). The keeper obviously has a great relationship with Denzil, the male Brazilian (or Lowland)…
September 22, 2009
I am reliably informed that a book I wrote during 2008 - The Great Dinosaur Discoveries (A & C Black, 2009) - is now out and available in the shops.
If you like my stuff you will, hopefully, want to own a copy: it's high quality, very nicely illustrated, and not all that expensive. While…
September 18, 2009
Yet again the world is going nuts over a weird, ugly carcass that is being identified by some as an alien, as a genetic mutation 'of some sort' (duh?), as a deformed dolphin (seriously: what?), or as an unidentified 'monster' that perhaps represents a new species. I've lost track of how many emails…
September 17, 2009
You may recall that we had a bit of an Andrewsarchus thing going on here back in August. As you'll know if you followed the articles in question, there is now some suggestion that Andrewsarchus was not the megawolf mesonychian once imagined, but instead a weird relative of those entelodont giant…
September 16, 2009
Once again I'm going to recycle an old book review, sorry about that. Have had no internet access at home for the last few days, so things have been difficult here, to say the least (like so many people, I now rely on constant daily internet access for work). Anyway, find below my review of…
September 12, 2009
Those of us who publish technical research papers like to see our work cited by our colleagues. Indeed, it's integral to one's success as a researcher (whatever 'success' means) that others cite your work, in whatever context. You might not like to see the publication of a stinging attack that…
September 10, 2009
What's going on in these pictures?
You might already know. If you do, feel free to spread the news.
September 9, 2009
If you're a long-time reader of Tet Zoo you'll be familiar with the remarkable fact that Greater noctules Nyctalus lasiopterus predate on nocturnally migrating passerine birds (this was discussed in a ver 1 article that I'll update and recycle for ver 2 at some stage). Various predatory microbats…
September 8, 2009
I'm somewhat pushed for time at the moment (massive, massive understatement), so nothing new here, sorry. Too busy with book jobs, SVP preparation, demolition work, baby care and other stuff. So here's some nonsense: if you've been with me from the start you'll remember this captivating image from…
September 6, 2009
In 1997, Polish palaeontologist Gerard GierliÅski worked together with artist Marta Szubert to create the amazing furry green(ish), life-sized Dilophosaurus model you see here (and below), nicknamed Dyzio. It was displayed at the Polish Geological Institute's Geological Museum at Warsaw and, while…
September 6, 2009
Yes, yes there are.
Stay tuned, all will be revealed. And if you know what this is all about, and where it went and how it ended up and so on, please don't spoil it for everyone else. Yet.
September 3, 2009
Purely because it's semi-topical - well, it was jokingly alluded to in the brief tapir article from the other day - here's a little bit of information about the world's biggest ever tapir, Tapirus augustus Matthew & Granger, 1923, the Pleistocene Asian species formerly known as Megatapirus (it'…
September 2, 2009
So I recently recycled the Madagascar pochard article from Tet Zoo ver 1, first published in 2006. As you might have realised if you read the 2006 article (and if your memory is exceptionally good), I made one major change for the 2009 re-posting: I chopped out the bit about the Pink-headed duck.…
September 1, 2009
Dave Hone (of Archosaur Musings) kindly provided the following photo, taken in Seoul Zoo. It features a South tropical American tapir - but which one? Test your skills...
I love tapirs. But they're not always nice. In 1998 a Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus at Oklahoma Zoo bit a keeper's arm clean…
August 30, 2009
The recent article about Meller's duck Anas melleri inspired me to recycle my ver 1 article about another of Madagascar's endemic ducks, the Madagascar pochard Aythya innotata [male shown below]. Meller's duck is endangered, with a global population of between 3000 and 5000, but the Madagascar…
August 28, 2009
If you follow the comments here at Tet Zoo you'll already have seen the thread that's been developing on the 'Giant killers: macropredation in lions' article (originally posted back in February, and itself a re-post of a ver 1 article from November 2006). If you don't follow the comments, the…
August 26, 2009
If you said that the mystery duck from yesterday was a mallard, a weird mallard hybrid, a shoveler of some sort, or blah blah blah, then shame shame shame on you: you are a loser. If, however, you said it was a Meller's duck Anas melleri, then well done, you are some kind of freakin' duck genius,…
August 25, 2009
Some days ago I went to the Isle of Wight Tiger and Lemur Sanctuary (which is where I saw all those big cats). And while there, one of the undoubted highlights was this amazing beast...
What is it, and what can you tell us about it? You get points for being clever, not for trying to be funny :)
August 23, 2009
Time to finish with the mesonychians. Previous articles have looked at Andrewsarchus and the triisodontids, the mesonychids, and the hapalodectids. That's essentially it... though - as mentioned a few times now - Andrewsarchus doesn't seem to be a mesonychian after all. However, there are a number…
August 22, 2009
If you've been enjoying the series on mesonychians you'll be pleased to hear that it's not completely over. There are a few groups yet to come (though, as we'll see, whether they really are mesonychians or not is controversial. 1000 Tet Zoo dollars* to whomever guesses the names of the groups I'm…
August 20, 2009
No time for anything substantive, but here's a montage featuring some of the stuff we've been looking at while on holiday. Some of the cats here are rather unusual: the tiger in the middle of the top row was a Siberian x Chinese hybrid.
Getting good photos of the jaguars proved not so easy (see…
August 19, 2009
Yeah, what the hell, what have I got to lose, what's the worse that could happen, and other such platitudes... I finally decided, after an annoying number of prompts and requests and so on, to join the time-sucking black hole of frivolity that is Facebook. Thus far I've used it to piss around and…
August 18, 2009
First of all, I've been away (speaking about fossil cats again), though - as previously - you might not have known this given that a list of posts were scheduled to appear in my absence. Is there more on mesonychians to come? There might be, but I haven't yet had the time to finish it. Meanwhile…
