Organisms
pharyngula | August 18, 2014I think this is rather awesome: a detailed examination of the Cambrian fossil Hallucigenia, specifically an examination of the fine structure of its claws, has revealed clear affinities of the long extinct form to this adorable little guy, the velvet worm.
pharyngula | August 11, 2014But Mary tells me I have to post a picture of a British bulldog puppy anyway.
My Nice Doggy
pharyngula | August 8, 2014We know a lot about the sexy bits of male cephalopods — ask about hectocotyl arms and spermatophores sometime — but would you be surprised to learn that we don't know much at all about squid ladybits? Of course you wouldn't.
pharyngula | August 4, 2014We've been invaded by a pair of groundhogs who have taken up residence under our deck, and are apparently dining grandly on our weedy overgrown backyard. They're evasive, though, and I've only got this one poor shot of one of them resting in the dappled shade.
OK, here's a clearer shot of what they look like from the web.
These two are big beasts, and they probably outweigh our cat, who claws frantically at the door to the deck when they make an appearance. I have mixed feelings about their presence -- on the one hand, they have gnawed on things in the past, and now we've got a mating pair…
pharyngula | August 1, 2014
We're doomed. The Pacific striped octopus is exhibiting complex social behaviors.
Panamanian biologist Aradio Rodaniche first reported the Pacific striped octopus in 1991 off the coast of Nicaragua, noting its strange behavior—living in groups of possibly up to 40, laying multiple egg clutches, and mating face-to-face and sucker-to-sucker. Most other octopus species, for instance, come together only to mate.
Next thing you know, they're making spears, forming hunting parties, warring with one another. And then they develop city-states, philosophy, diplomacy, and politics, and all the…
pharyngula | July 25, 2014But we have to be clear that it is only a hypothesis at this point. I was reading about domestication syndrome (DS) -- selecting animals for domestication has a whole collection of secondary traits that come along for the ride, in addition to tameness. We are selecting for animals that tolerate the presence of humans, but in addition, we get these other traits, like floppy ears, patchy coat color, shortened faces, etc.; the best known work in this area is by Belyaev (YouTube documentary to get you up to speed) who selected silver foxes for domesticity, and got friendly foxes who also had all…
pharyngula | July 21, 2014This flower, over many generations, has warped the poor buff-tail sicklebilled hummingbird's beak into that bizarre curve.
HHMI
pharyngula | July 14, 2014There's a new vampire series on FX by Guillermo Del Toro, The Strain. I haven't seen it -- I don't get that channel -- but I've read the book, which I found interesting for making vampires utterly disgusting, and also for stealing biological analogues for the infection (alas, I thought the story started very well but got tedious by the end). Apparently, the model for the vampire parasite was the horsehair worm, or nematomorpha. These are best known as parasites of orthopterans.
I do have to object to one statement in that story: "Really, for my money, worms are among the worst animal groups…
pharyngula | July 11, 2014Cephalopods are the cutest creatures on the planet. How can you deny it?
Octosquid.io
pharyngula | June 30, 2014We've had a very wet summer so far here in the upper Midwest -- the potholes are full of water, our backyard is sodden, the plants are thriving, but that also means that this plague is drifting in vast clouds everywhere.
Alex Wild
The horror. The horror.