Red bats
One particularly interesting thing they've been shown to do is eavesdrop on other red bats.
Posted by Darren Naish at 12:08 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Tetrapod Zoology
Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals - living and extinct
Profile
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 studies such things as the swimming abilities of giraffes and fossil marine reptiles. An avid interest in modern wildlife and conservation has resulted in many adventures in lizard-chasing, bird-watching and litter-collecting. I've been blogging since 2006 and a compilation of early Tet Zoo articles is now available in book form as Tetrapod Zoology Book One. Additional recent books include The Great Dinosaur Discoveries and Dinosaurs Life Size. For more biographical info go here. I can be contacted intermittently at eotyrannus (at) gmail dot com. PLEASE NOTE: I am now completely unable to keep up with email correspondence. I do my best to respond to all queries and requests, but please don't be offended if I fail to reply. I blog from and about conferences - please contact me for more info. Follow me on twitter: @TetZoo.
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Recent Posts
- Tetrapod Zoology has moved
- Goodbye Tet Zoo ver 2. This really is the end.
- Inside Nature's Giants: polar bear special
- Geckos love Tet Zoo
- Hoopoes and woodhoopoes
- What does it feel like to get bitten by a ground hornbill, I hear you ask?
- An introduction to hornbills
- When books die. And owls. I don't mean "when owls die"... I just mean: owls. As in: this article is mostly about owls.
- The bearded pigs
- Giant owls vs solenodons
Recent Comments
- DDeden on Pouches, pockets and sacs in the heads, necks and chests of mammals, part I: primates
- Jim on Slow-worms of 2008
- ctl on The Dufftown cat and its rabbit-headed kin
- Peter Jack on The mastiff cat hypothesis
- DDeden on Pouches, pockets and sacs in the heads, necks and chests of mammals, part I: primates
- Quasar on What does it feel like to get bitten by a ground hornbill, I hear you ask?
- David Marjanović on Pouches, pockets and sacs in the heads, necks and chests of mammals, part I: primates
- Lila on What does it feel like to get bitten by a ground hornbill, I hear you ask?
- DDeden on Pouches, pockets and sacs in the heads, necks and chests of mammals, part I: primates
- DDeden on Pouches, pockets and sacs in the heads, necks and chests of mammals, part I: primates
Archives
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Tetrapod Zoology backstory
The ones I participate in
- Ontograph Studios
- Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week
- Azhdarchid Paleobiology
- Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered, the Blog
- Southampton Natural History Society
- Chessel Bay Local Nature Reserve
- Ask A Biologist
Mostly on extant tetrapods
- Amphibian Species of the World
- AmphiaWeb
- Avibase
- The Beaked Whale Resource
- Biological Ramblings
- Birder's World Field of View
- Camera Trap Codger
- Carnivore Ecology & Conservation
- Croc Blog
- David B. Wake's Lab
- The EMYSystem
- European Field Herping
- Fretmarks
- Frog Matters
- The Global Owl Project
- The Glor Lab
- James F. Parham
- The Lizard Lounge
- The Losos Lab
- Marc van Roosmalen, Amazon Association
- The Marsupial Ring
- The Natural Stuff
- Ninjameys
- Penguinology
- Neil Phillips' Photos (UK Wildlife)
- Primate Info Net
- Reptiles & Amphibians of the UK
- The Reptipage
- The Rhino Resource Center
- Rigor Vitae
- The Shine Lab
- Sloth World
- SNOMNH Herpetology Blog
- The Tapir Gallery
- 10,000 Birds
- Tigr Reptile Database
- Ultimate Ungulate
- UK Wildlife - by Neil
- Venomous Snake Systematics Alert
- World Bird Info
Mostly Cenozoic
- Afarensis: Anthropology, Evolution, and Science
- Caribbean Paleobiology
- The Coastal Paleontologist
- D. Croft S. American mammals
- Fossil Turtle Newsletter
- Gerald Mayr palaeornithology publications
- K. Christopher Beard publications
- John Hawks Anthropology weblog
- March of the Fossil Penguins
- Olduvai George: Dealing with the Beasts
- Oludvai George Flickr site
- Paleocene mammals of the world
- Philip D. Gingerich
- Society of Avian Palaeontology and Evolution
- Stephen Wroe
- The Thewissen Lab
Mostly Mesozoic
- Ankylosaur Library
- Archives of the DML
- Australian Mesozoic Marine Reptiles
- Richard J. Butler ornithischians
- Chinleana
- Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings ver 1
- Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings ver 2
- DinoGoss
- Dinosaur genus list from Thomas R. Holtz's Dinosaurs
- DinoWight
- Dracovenator
- Early Bird
- The Science and Art of Gregory S. Paul
- Ichthyosaur Page (Ryosuke Motani)
- Jerry D. Harris
- Jurassic Journeys
- The Life of Madygen
- Luis V. Rey's Art Gallery, Dinosaurs and Paleontology
- Mark Witton's photos
- Matt Wedel
- Matthew F. Bonnan
- Mesozoic Vertebrates (BSPG)
- Mike P. Taylor
- Oceans of Kansas
- The Open Source Paleontologist
- Palaeoblog
- Palaeontography
- Paleocreations.com
- Paleo Errata
- Pan-Aves
- Philosophica Neopalaeontographica
- The Plesiosaur Directory
- The Plesiosaur Site
- Pterosaur.net Blog
- Susan E. Evans, UCL
- Theropoda
- The Theropod Archives
- The Theropod Database
- Why I Hate Theropods
- Zhe-Xi Luo publications
Palaeozoic
Cryptozoology
- The Aquatic Monsters Site
- Big Cats in Britain
- Still On The Track
- Cryptomundo
- Cryptozoology.com
- Loch Ness Investigation
- ShukerNature
- Virtual Institute of Cryptozoology
Speculative Zoology
- Conceptual Zoology
- Dougal Dixon's After Man
- Furahan Biology and Allied Matters
- The Future is Wild
- Metazoica
- Metazoica, the blog
- The Neocene Project
- Philosophica Dixonia
- Planet Furaha
- Spectim
- The Speculative Dinosaur Project
- Speculative Evolution Forum
- The Squamozoic
Toys and models
- The Dinosaur Toy Blog
- The Dinosaur Toy Forum
- Scheich figures at SPModels
- Tapir and Friends Wildlife World
Not easily categorised
- The Aquatic Amniote
- The Armchair Zoologist
- Ask Dr Vector
- Bestiarium
- Catalogue of Organisms
- Dinochick Blogs
- Dots in Deep Time
- The Dragon's Tales
- The Disillusioned Taxonomist
- The Ethical Palaeontologist
- Evolving Thoughts
- Fish Feet
- Hairy Museum of Natural History
- Laelaps
- The Lord Geekington
- Matt Bille's Sci/Tech blog
- News from Nemo Ramjet
- Nimravid's Weblog
- Pondering Pikaia
- Querencia
- StrangeArk
- Stenfugle
- The Theatrical Tanystropheus
- Traumador the tyrannosaur in The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
- When Pigs Fly Returns
- The World We Don't Live In
- Witmer Lab
- Zygoma
Invaluable resources
You've read the blog, now buy the books....
The Great Dinosaur Discoveries (US edition)
Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life
"Walking with Dinosaurs": The Evidence - How Did They Know That?
Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight (Guide 10; Field Guides to Fossils Series.) (Palaentology FG Fossils)
Many thanks to those who have donated!
Tetrapod Zoology
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November 30, 2007
November 29, 2007
The goat-eating hot water bottle turtles
Category: herpetology
You will doubtless have heard of the reportedly immense softshells from Hoan Kim Lake in Vietnam. They're not narrow-headed softshells: instead they belong to Rafetus, another genus of big Asian softshells. A lot of claims have been made about these turtles: that they approach 3 m in length and are as big as a double bed, that they live to be over 500 years old, that they are the same turtles mentioned in a story from the 1400s, and that they represent a new species...
Posted by Darren Naish at 8:50 AM • 37 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2007
Its cute little face
Late in the evening I sat in an airport lounge, finally reading Robert Twigger's book on python hunting, my head full of Robert Appleby's legacy, fossil giraffes, giant mustelids, and the song from the end of Portal. I thought...
Posted by Darren Naish at 8:57 AM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 24, 2007
Deer oh deer, this joke gets worse every time I use it
The fallow deer larynx is particularly interesting. Apparently, it used to be thought that the descended larynx was unique to humans and uniquely tied to speech. Presumably, the people that thought this had never looked at deer, as descended larynges are bloody obvious in the males of several species.
Posted by Darren Naish at 12:38 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 23, 2007
Homage to The Velvet Claw (part II)
Category: mammalogy
On to more of my thoughts about the TV series The Velvet Claw (part I is here). In the previous article, I discussed the art and animation used in the series, all of which was really quite good and...
Posted by Darren Naish at 9:15 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 22, 2007
Homage to The Velvet Claw (part I)
But perhaps best of all, the series includes some awesome speculative zoology. We see a future bear that, running through a polar landscape covering present-day New York City (the Statue of Liberty can be seen in the distance), has evolved to be a sabre-toothed predator of newly evolved megaherbivores. Best of all, the dingy industrial underworld of a future super-city is said to be inhabited, and in part dominated, by a smart, sleek, gracile predator. Foraging amongst what look like futuristic coal trucks in pursuit of rat-like rodents, it leaps on to a truck, scattering the rodents. They leap and flee, emitting loud metallic alarm calls.
Posted by Darren Naish at 5:54 AM • 29 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 20, 2007
Homage to The Velvet Claw (teaser)
Category: mammalogy
If you're like me, you'll know the TV series, and/or the book, well......
Posted by Darren Naish at 4:51 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 18, 2007
Polymorphism, squeakers, the hairy frog: an afrobatrachian's tale (part II)
Category: herpetology
During the breeding season, males and males alone develop frills of hair-like papillae along their flanks and thighs. These are supposed to increase the animal's surface area (and therefore allow more cutaneous respiration to take place) and to then allow it to remain submerged for an exceptional amount of time when it is egg-guarding. This was suggested by Dean (1912), but he imagined that male hairy frogs somehow arranged the eggs around their papillae: quite how the male was supposed to get the eggs into position I'm not sure (Dean had midwife toads in mind, but they 'only' have to wrap egg strands around their hindlimbs).
Posted by Darren Naish at 7:50 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 15, 2007
The world's most amazing sauropod
Category: Mesozoic dinosaurs
At last, readers with good memories will understand why I've been making all those veiled references to the inherent coolness of names that start with 'xeno'. The story behind Xenoposeidon's massive awesomeness is a long one, and the implications of its discovery are immense (sort of).....
Posted by Darren Naish at 11:00 AM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 13, 2007
Giraffe vs plane
Category: mammalogy
I don't know anything about the history of the photo shown here; it looks genuine and I think it speaks for itself. It seems to have been posted around the internet quite a lot already, mostly by people who seem to think that it's amusing - yeah, a dead animal that was hit by a plane, oh my sides...
Posted by Darren Naish at 4:29 AM • 49 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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