Argentina
gregladen | September 5, 2014I'm sure you've heard. The most complete skeleton of a titanosaur, a newly named species, Dreadnoughtus schrani, is being reported from Argentina.
It is not a bird. I mention that because we've been talking about how birds are dinosaurs lately (see:"Honey, I shrunk the dinosaurs" and "Flying Dinosaurs: A new book on the dinosaur bird link.").
Dreadnoughtus schrani is a sauropod. Brontosaurus, if it existed, would be a sauropod. These are the dinosaurs with the little heads, long necks, and long tails. In cartoons they are sometimes called "long-necks." Dreadnoughtus schrani is, as…
sastyk | March 20, 2012If you are interested, check out my peak oil review commentary for this week, which explores what collapse really is - and what we might do about it. The main issue is that it is a heck of a lot more normal than most folks imagine. The piece is a shortened excerpt taken from my forthcoming book _Making Home_. Looking at the history of collapse is really important for us to gauge from history how likely it is - and what we find is that collapse - in the sense of a radical, long term and consequential step down in complexity and comfort - is part of the background of a lot of human lives.
I…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2010tags: Fútbol Deporte Nacional, Tango y Fútbol, Argentina, Germany, World Cup 2010, soccer, football, Fútbol, satire, streaming video
If the Argentinian fútbol team plays as skillfully and as gracefully as this couple dances the Tango (and the implication is that they will), I think it's no contest: the Germans will lose on Saturday ... just sayin'.
laelaps | May 18, 2010A restoration of Megatherium from H.N. Hutchinson's Extinct Monsters.
For over a century and a half dinosaurs have been the unofficial symbols and ambassadors of paleontology, but this was not always so. It was fossil mammals, not dinosaurs, which enthralled the public during the turn of the 19th century, and arguably the most famous was the enormous ground sloth Megatherium. It was more than just a natural curiosity. The bones of the "great beast" represented a world which flourished and disappeared in the not-so-distant past, but, as illustrated by Christine Argot in a review of its history…
razib | December 17, 2009Apropos of my skepticism of Census projections of 2050 demographic balances, there's a new paper out on Argentina which is relevant. Here's Wikipedia on Argentina's self-conception:
As with other areas of new settlement such as Canada, Australia and the United States, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants. Most Argentines are descended from colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe, and 86.4% of Argentina's population self-identify as European descent. An estimated 8% of the population is mestizo, and a further 4% of Argentines were of Arab or…
razib | August 24, 2009Dienekes points to a new paper, Amerindian mitochondrial DNA haplogroups predominate in the population of Argentina: towards a first nationwide forensic mitochondrial DNA sequence database:
The study presents South American mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data from selected north (N = 98), central (N = 193) and south (N = 47) Argentinean populations. Sequence analysis of the complete mtDNA control region (CR, 16024-576) resulted in 288 unique haplotypes ignoring C-insertions around positions 16193, 309, and 573; the additional analysis of coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms enabled a fine…
awild | June 24, 2009...when I disappeared to Argentina recently, I was with my wife.
Here she is, collecting ants in the mountains near Tafà de Valle:
photo details: Canon 17-40mm f4.0 L lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 400, 1/250 sec, f11.0, with circular polarizer & gradient filter
on-camera fill flash
awild | April 25, 2009Pogonomyrmex micans, Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex ("Pogos") are known to myrmecologists as the classic harvester ants of North American deserts. They are conspicuous insects, the most noticeable of the desert ants, and something of a model organism for studies of ecology. Numerous scientific papers on pogos are published each year, and one species- Pogonomyrmex californicus- is mailed to school classrooms around the country to populate those plastic ant farms.
It's easy to forget amidst the celebrated riches of North American pogos that South America also…
awild | April 2, 2009Hikers at Purmamarca
Bits and pieces of landscapes, northern Argentina, March 2009.
El Palmar National Park
Cardon cactus, Amaicha del Valle
Termas de Reyes, Jujuy
Copina, Córdoba
Soybeans, ad infinitum
Purmamarca market
Purmamarca market
Purmamarca
Infiernillos, Tucuman
high desert, after late summer rains
On the road
awild | March 31, 2009Pampas grass against an Argentine sky. Córdoba.
Was Argentina fabulous? Yes. Am I exhausted after a sleepless overnight flight? Also.
I'll try to think of some things to write about the trip once I'm lucid. In the meantime I'd like to thank guest bloggers Scott and Eli for elevating the literary standards of the myrmecos blog during my absence.
photo details: Canon 17-40x wide angle lens on a Canon EOS 20D
ISO 400, 1/400 sec, f/14, circular polarizing filter.
awild | March 6, 2009Near Cruz de Eje, Argentina
Tomorrow I leave for three ant-filled weeks in northern Argentina. Don't despair, though, the Myrmecos Blog will not go into remission. Scott Powell will be taking the reins for the rest of the month, and Eli Sarnat will drop in once or twice to regale us with shocking-but-true ant adventures from the South Pacific. I've also pre-scheduled a few Friday Beetles and Sunday Movies.
We've got several goals for the expedition. First, Jo-anne and I are trying to get a better sense of the biology of the closest relatives of the Argentine ant Linepithema humile.…
zooillogix | August 28, 2008Imaginative but effective ads from the Buenos Aires Zoo. Via Toxel and thanks once again to Kevin Z.
"Get Much More for Less" Ads
"The Kangaroos Have Arrived" Ads
Many more below the fold
"Now We Are Open Late" Ads
"115 Years" Ads
Together Video (note that we cannot endorse the historical accuracy of this friendship...)
Argentine readers please take note: I still do not have a shot glass from this zoo and Labor Day is coming soon, which is a HUGE gift giving holiday up here in the States.
awild | January 29, 2008My lovely wife Jo-anne has been in South America the last couple weeks doing field research on Argentine ants while I tend the home fires here in Tucson. I hope she finds it in her to forgive me for the post I am about to write.
Earlier today I got an email explaining why I'm not getting my much-awaited phone call:
I'd call but there aren't any phones at this locutorio and we're on our way out to look for social spiders."
Excuse me? Social spiders? More important than me, your needy hubby?
Ok, I grant that social spiders are pretty cool, if a bit creepy. I remember those things from when…