Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
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Posts by this author
November 24, 2007
Like many of the other photographs I've posted over the last week, this one also comes from the Primate Hall of the AMNH, this skeleton belonging to a gibbon (Family Hylobatidae). Gibbons are often called the "lesser apes" (they are not included in the Family Hominidae, which includes orangutans,…
November 23, 2007
As Sideshow Bob once opined, television is essentially a "bottomless chum bucket," and even when I am petsitting at a house with cable I usually prefer to read over endlessly channel surfing for a nature program that I probably won't like anyway. Some programs on PBS, however, are notable…
November 23, 2007
When I look in the mirror to shave every few mornings or so, I know I'm looking at a reflection of myself and not another human who happens to be doing just the same thing that I'm doing at the same time. Even though I can be a bit shy in person to person contact, I am not afraid of eye contact,…
November 23, 2007
There is a wide diversity of machairodont sabercats in the fossil record, but the genus Smilodon is undoubtedly the celebrity of the group. Indeed, Smilodon seems to set the bar for other saber-toothed predators in the popular media, the carnivore being synonymous with the La Brea Tar Pits (even…
November 22, 2007
One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving growing up was watching some of the natural history programs that would often air during the day, anxiously awaiting the later galliform feast. One such show I remember quite well was a PBS series called The Dinosaurs! (Part 1: "The Monsters Emerge," Part 2…
November 22, 2007
This is the impressive skull of a Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), the largest living crocodylian. What I find so interesting about the skulls of these animals is that the flesh is so closely attached to the underlying bone, the skulls of crocodylians requiring little imagination to…
November 21, 2007
A holiday Barosaurus outside the American Museum of Natural History.In theory I should have internet access over the next few days, but there is a possibility that I won't, in which case I just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Remember to appreciate the derived dinosaurian anatomy of…
November 21, 2007
I've been excited about the release of the Aussie killer croc flick Rogue for quite some time now, the film looking like a better-than-average horror story (at least compared to films like Primeval and, shudder, Lake Placid 2). My patience, however, is being stretched rather than rewarded, as it…
November 21, 2007
ID advocates continue to try and peddle an intellectual "dead parrot" as if there's nothing at all wrong with it. Hopefully Polk County citizens won't be duped, but it looks like the local school board are a bit too creationism-friendly.
At the conclusion of the PBS documentary "Judgment Day"…
November 21, 2007
Those who remember the Clinton sex scandal will probably recall the classic line "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is," Bill Clinton floundering about in order to obfuscate inquiries into his improper conduct. While this is example is a somewhat comedic attempt at playing with the…
November 21, 2007
As a follow-up to yesterday's photo of a juvenile Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), here's a photo of the adult. The differences between the adult and juvenile are quite striking; the adult skull has a more pronounced brow ridge, smaller incisors compared to the rest of the skull, more prominent…
November 20, 2007
The new issue December issue of National Geographic, a Dracorex peering at me from the cover, arrived in the mailbox today, and I can't say that I was a big fan of the dinosaur feature that I blogged about a few days ago. While the main body of the article, an essay by John Updike, is alright, the…
November 20, 2007
Things have been pretty busy lately; between schoolwork, my job, and reading I've been booked up over the past few weeks, making my blogging a little less prolific than I'd normally like. Here's a quick rundown of some recent personal news, though, that either didn't fit into anything else I wrote…
November 20, 2007
Sexual dimorphism in organisms is nothing new; it has long been known that in certain species one sex is often larger, flashier, or somehow markedly different than the other. In some species like the Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), the mail carries a brightly colored train that is used to…
November 20, 2007
The answer is probably readily apparent, but I thought that I'd put this picture up without identifying it straight away. What do you think it's from? I have no doubt most people will get it right, but ithis image reminds me one of the most interesting mechanisms for evolutionary change for…
November 19, 2007
There are plenty of glossy, coffee table books out there, but while many are filled with beautiful photography very few offer anything of value in the text. Evolution by Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu (text) and Patrick Gries (photography) is a striking exception, however, the informative prose…
November 19, 2007
Although the dinosaur halls of the AMNH are perhaps the most popular of all the exhibitions in the museum, the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs usually doesn't get as much attention as the Hall of Dinosaur Superstars Saurischian Dinosaurs. A few stop and look, but most pass right on through. "…
November 18, 2007
Usually when I get back from trips to the AMNH I unleash all the best photographs I took during the day in one post. This time, however, I think I'm going to parcel them out one by one in the Picture of the Day slot so they each get due consideration. This shot, however, is one of my favorites;…
November 18, 2007
Update will be a bit sparse today; I'm headed off to the AMNH in New York City with the undergraduate anthropology club, but hopefully I'll get some photos up later this evening when I arrive home. Among my favorite 4th floor fossils I'll also be headed back to the human evolution exhibit where…
November 17, 2007
As we've seen with the last two movies featured here, there are some animals that naturally make good movie monsters. Sure, filmmakers might tack on a few feet and enlarge the size of their teeth, but sharks, crocodiles, and bears only require a setting and a foolish group of cast members potential…
November 17, 2007
As some of you might know, in addition to my cats Chase and Charlotte I keep my apartment open to "transient" cats that need someplace to stay before getting adopted. Beatrice was the first cat we took in, but when she went to stay at a local Petsmart in the hopes that someone would see her there…
November 16, 2007
Just in case you haven't had enough of enigmatic dinosaurs over the past 24 hours, National Geographic is apparently planning a new article all about "Bizarre Dinosaurs" in their December 2007 issue. How do I know this? If you go to the National Geographic Society website featuring some…
November 16, 2007
John Scalzi visited the infamous AiG Creation Museum, took a slew of pictures, and now he's running a caption contest. You can find the full set of photos online and all the details of the contest can be found here (the deadline is this coming Sunday), but don't forget to check out the initial…
November 16, 2007
I'm sure other Gmail users have noticed how they modify the ads that show up based upon the content of your e-mails; a little creepy, but I can understand the logic of it. Still, discussing evolution in an e-mail exchange seems to only to attract creationist adverts, and I am sick and tired of…
November 16, 2007
I made yesterday all about sauropods as the announcement of Nigersaurus was sure to be big in the news, but in all the hubub some significant events were overlooked. First off, my fellow scibling Darren of Tetrapod Zoology fame announced the publication in the journal Palaeontology of a paper he co…
November 16, 2007
The Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is one of my all-time favorite animals, and anytime I get to see one up close is a treat. Perhaps my affinity to them stems from the fact that they are simply so bizarre, the long tubular jaw, huge claws, and bushy tail making these animals seem like…
November 15, 2007
Paleontologist Paul Sereno with the bizarre skull of the strange sauropod Nigersaurus taqueti, announced today in the open-access journal PLoS.When you hear the word "sauropod," what's the first image that comes to mind? For many people it's an immense, dull colored behemoth lumbering across the…
November 15, 2007
Barosaurus lentus by Michael SkrepnickBarosaurus lentus is one of the many dinosaurs that are both familiar and rare, one skeleton being mostly complete but the 5 others that are currently known are much less so. Known from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States, this…
November 15, 2007
There could scarcely be a better name for the skeletal remains of the extinct sauropod pictured above; Apatosaurus, the "deceptive lizard," proving to be the center of controversy for many years. The "tale of the missing skull" and the Apatosaurus/"Brontosaurus" controversies are perhaps the most…
November 14, 2007
I originally wrote this post off the top of my head, groping (somewhat unsuccessfully) to find the right words to express my enthrallment with natural history. I edited it substantially here without changing the main points of the argument, and I feel that while it could use some improvement it…