July 29, 2010
Category: Mesozoic dinosaurs • community • gratuitous self-promotion • pterosaurs
Another book with my name on it has just appeared. Again it's a kid's book: Dorling Kindersley's Know It All (Baines 2010) - a fantastically well illustrated, fact-packed encylopedia of everything science (and the successor to the highly successful 2009 Ask Me Anything). It's a multi-authored book (authors: Simone Bos, Julie Ferris, Ian Graham, Susan Kennedy, Darren Naish, Jim Pipe, Carole Stott and John Woodward). My section - titled 'Dinosaurs' - isn't just on dinosaurs; it also includes spreads on Palaeozoic tetrapods, ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs, Pleistocene mammals, and hominids. Does it really tell the Tet Zoo reader anything they don't already know? No, of course not. But it's still worth talking about, as I find it interesting that I'm increasingly able to get 'new' ideas on prehistoric tetrapods into popular books, and hence into 'mainstream' culture...
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Posted by Darren Naish at 8:22 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 26, 2010
Category: herpetology
Some weeks ago I wrote a bit about the Matamata Chelus fimbriatus: a weird, flat-headed South American pleurodiran turtle. It's one of the strangest creatures tetrapods on the planet, and there's so much to say about it that the previous article ended up being nothing more than the briefest of introductions. Today we start looking at the Matamata in a bit more depth. We start with its affinities and its long neck...
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Posted by Darren Naish at 12:32 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 25, 2010
Category: speculative zoology
Like it says. One day all will be revealed. Not yet.
Thanks to Tim Morris :)
Posted by Darren Naish at 5:09 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 23, 2010
Category: ornithology
Regular readers will, hopefully, have shared my surprise on learning - firstly - that oystercatchers are sometimes 'captured' and killed by bivalves, and - secondly - that someone was clever enough to photograph such an occurrence and publish it (Baldwin 1946). Prior to seeing Baldwin's paper, I might well have imagined that such cases can occur occasionally, but I wasn't aware of anyone recording them.
Today I'm very pleased to report that I'm now aware of numerous additional such occurrences: I owe a huge debt of thanks to Tet Zoo regular Dartian, who went ferreting through the ornithological literature on my behalf. As you'll see, he turned up some real gems. We can now say that sea- and wading birds of many different kinds are known to have been 'captured', disabled or even killed by bivalves on occasion. These occurrences are still comparatively rare, but they're far more numerous than I would previously had thought.
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Posted by Darren Naish at 11:13 AM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 21, 2010
Category: mammalogy
I said in the previous pronghorn article that the modern pronghorn - Antilocapra americana - is but the tip of the phylogenetic iceberg, if you will; the only surviving member of a group that was previously far more diverse [the adjacent photo (from wikipedia) shows Ramoceros osborni. Yes, it really looked like that, read on].
As we'll see here, fossil pronghorns encompassed a reasonable amount of diversity: there were kinds with deer-like pseudo-antlers as well as others that superficially resembled living African antelopes like kudu or nyala, there were tiny dwarf forms, and there were also some real oddballs, unlike anything before or since. All of this is very well known among palaeomammalogists, but as usual the information isn't widely available outside of the technical literature. My aim here is to provide a very brief, introductory review to fossil pronghorns: for in-depth treatments, the reader is directed to Janis & Manning (1997), Heffelfinger et al. (2004) and Davis (2007).
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Posted by Darren Naish at 4:52 AM • 37 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 20, 2010
Category: mammalogy
The Pronghorn or Pronghorn antelope* Antilocapra americana is a strikingly unique artiodactyl, endemic to western North America. Historically, it ranged from southern Manitoba and Washington in the north to northern Mexico in the south, and to western Iowa in the east. Between 40 and 50 million Pronghorns were alive in 1850; excessive hunting had reduced this number to 13000 by 1920. Subsequent conservation efforts have resulted in substantial recovery: there are currently between half a million and one million Pronghorns.
* Also known as the Cabrit, Prong Buck, Speedgoat (my favourite) or just Antelope.
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Posted by Darren Naish at 5:00 AM • 48 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 19, 2010
Category: mammalogy
Thanks to everyone who had a go at guessing the identity of the mystery stuffed carnivoran. I am pleased, I suppose, to say that NOBODY GOT IT RIGHT, but some of you did come close.
First of all, given that I specifically referred to the animal as a carnivoran (that is, a member of the placental mammal clade Carnivora), those of you suggesting that it might be a marsupial (like a Thylacine or Tasmanian devil) should consider yourselves chastised. Also, I should note that the file name was specifically written in code and did not contain any clues to the creature's identity.
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Posted by Darren Naish at 5:37 AM • 30 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 17, 2010
Category: mammalogy • picture of the day
Test your skills and identify this carnivoran (sorry the image isn't larger: this is all I got). It's not meant to be particularly easy, so good luck. The person who supplied the image is not allowed to play, and it would be appreciated if another individual who has used the same image on his own blog refrained from spoiling things as well :)
I'll publish the answer within the next day or so. Good luck.
Posted by Darren Naish at 7:36 AM • 55 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 16, 2010
Category: gratuitous self-promotion
I just received my copies of Dinosaurs Life Size, a children's book published by Barron's Educational in the USA and by New Burlington Books in the UK (Naish 2010). You can get it from amazon here (here from amazon.co.uk). You might wonder why I'm advertising a children's book when I could be publishing articles on gekkotans, amebelodontid proboscideans or solitaire hands (all of which are due to appear here very soon). Well, hey, it's my blog right?
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Posted by Darren Naish at 8:48 AM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK) who mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs. He also messes around with swimming giraffes, fossil marine reptiles, British big cats and stuff like that. An avid interest in modern wildlife and conservation has resulted in many adventures in lizard-chasing, bird-watching and litter-collecting. He can be contacted intermittently at eotyrannus (at) gmail dot com. For more biographical info go 
