November 18, 2007
Now, I've described quite a few isolated dinosaur bones in my time. And I've been involved in some pretty hectic media whirlwindy events ('Angloposeidon', aka 'Europe's largest sauropod', was huge news: see here, as was Eotyrannus). But I've never been associated with any PR exercise that was as…
November 15, 2007
By now you might have heard the thrilling news that Britain has a brand-new sauropod dinosaur: it's an animal that I've obliquely alluded to many times here at Tet Zoo (since February 2006 in fact), and its study and publication have been many months - in fact years - in the making. Yes, it's (…
November 12, 2007
While googling for Tetrapod Zoology recently (how vain) I came across a bunch of interesting giraffe images, most of which I'll be recycling here at some stage in the future. I don't know anything about the history of the photo shown here; it looks genuine and I think it speaks for itself. It…
November 11, 2007
Within the immense anuran clade termed Neobatrachia, we've so far gotten through the hyloids (see previous anuran article here: you'll need to read also the articles on basal anurans, transitional anurans, and ghost frogs and so on). All we have left is Ranoidea, but this is the biggest, most…
November 8, 2007
So here we are, back with the anurans. In the previous article on neobatrachians (here), we looked at the basic division of the neobatrachians into the mostly New World Hyloidea, and the mostly Old World Ranoidea. While the characters historically used to differentiate hyloids (an arciferal…
November 7, 2007
Again, no time to complete any articles, sorry. Bloody annoying. Attended Witton pterosaur talk yesterday (it included revelations on winged hatchet-headed ptero-squirrels) as well as a Peter Burford talk on Gambian birds. Have found ten mins to post the above: fantastic pic from Matt Wedel (aka…
November 5, 2007
By now I think you'd have to have been hiding under a rock to miss the news on the accompanying image: taken on September 16th 2007 in north-west Pennsylvania, it depicts a large, rangy mammal, and was photographed with an automatic motion-sensing camera put in place by R. Jacobs. However, it…
November 4, 2007
Welcome again to Frog Blog, as Tet Zoo is now affectionately known. In the previous froggy article we got through the so-called transitional anurans, and I finished by introducing the largest, most speciose, most diverse anuran clade: Neobatrachia Reig, 1958. It contains about 96% of all extant…
November 1, 2007
Everyone interested in animals must, by law, have set eyes on that iconic image of palaeornithologist Kenneth E. Campbell standing next to a life-sized silhouette of the immense Argentinean teratornithid Argentavis magnificens [the image is shown below]. At the International Bird of Prey Centre,…
October 31, 2007
So here we are: anuran diversity part II - you have to have read part I (here) for the following to make proper sense. Yesterday I showed my video of Tiger the secretary bird (filmed at the International Bird of Prey Centre, Gloucestershire, last week) to anybody that would watch, and in the wee…
October 28, 2007
Welcome back, err, me! And, while I could have started with 'here are the things I saw on holiday', I became concerned that my list of bats and raptors might seem a bit mundane in comparison to what certain of my friends have encountered (wait until you see what Carel got to see). Anyway, to…
October 22, 2007
For, like, the second time in the last six years we're going on holiday. So, goodbye. Back soon. Just received a copy of Gasparini et al.'s Patagonian Mesozoic Reptiles; looks awesome. Anurans, beluwhals, red panda empire, and really, really bizarre new sauropods when I get back. Yesterday I went…
October 19, 2007
Yesterday - the day I posted an article on horned treefrogs - there was a peak on the site stats graph. In view of that I'm thinking that weird anurans are popular, so I'll try the same trick again. This time round we're looking at another group of 'horned' anurans: the Brazilian smooth horned…
October 18, 2007
As per bloody usual, I'm going to struggle to get a 'proper' post finished today, so yet again I'll have to settle for posting something short and sweet (PS - I failed miserably). Who am I kidding anyway - 95% of the bloggers in the blogosphere routinely produce articles that are shorter than my '…
October 17, 2007
Here's a photo of one of my favourite anurans: the fantastic Helmeted water toad, or Gay's frog* Caudiverbera caudiverbera, a large, robust Chilean species (the only extant member of its genus) that is said to mostly feed on other anurans (though it also eats insects and other arthopods, fishes…
October 16, 2007
I have tried desperately to not be distracted by the mysterious rodents, new gigantic dinosaurs and Iberian lynxes that have been on my mind lately - plus lots of things are happening with the 'Dinosaurs - A Historical Perspective' conference that I'm co-organising with Dick Moody, Eric Buffetaut…
October 14, 2007
So what was the mysterious beast shown in the photo? As usual, the Tet Zoo readership proved too clever to be fooled by such a rubbish trick. That white blurry streak in yesterday's photo was...
.... not a fox, lynx, marten, white carrier bag, draft excluder, house cat, tree trout, rhinogradentian…
October 12, 2007
Can you identify the mysterious cryptic beast shown in the photo? A prize to whomever gets it right*. The photo was taken in Europe, and the one person who was with me when I took the photo is not allowed to profer his opinion. I wish you the best of luck!
* Subject to availability.
October 10, 2007
By naughtily avoiding the long list of things that I'm supposed to be doing in my 'spare' time I've finally done it: adapted my monumental, keynote cryptozoology conference speech into an article(s) for publication here at Tet Zoo. Ok, so it wasn't so 'monumental' or 'keynote', but I thought I…
October 9, 2007
There's no way I'm going to have time today to post any of the promised articles - sorry. Once more, all I can do to combat the frustration is post a picture of the day: this one depicts the head of a Green turtle Chelonia mydas and was provided by Dave Hone, thanks Dave. Chelonia is a wide-…
October 8, 2007
So the other day I got to stroke a live pipistrelle. In the adjacent photo, Mike Pawling (chairman of the Hampshire Bats Group) is holding the bat; Vicki is touching the bat's back. Mike and his wife Chris hold permits and everything, and they take care of rescued bats that have been found injured…
October 7, 2007
So I've told you all about the Wellnhofer pterosaur meeting (three links), and I've told you all about the 55th SVPCA (here and here). But there was a third conference I attended recently (August 17th-19th) that I have yet to write about - it was that cryptozoology one. As some of you might…
October 5, 2007
Time permitting... coming next: that cryptozoology stuff. If I say any more I'll spoil the surprise (there are a few technical errors in the map shown here - it's not meant to be totally accurate. It depicts various extant and recently-extinct Caribbean tetrapods. Well done to anyone who can name…
October 4, 2007
I used to have a deep-seated sense of guilt that I didn't post enough dinosaur stuff here at Tet Zoo. After all, I might be the only writer at scienceblogs involved in palaeontology, so I have a duty to remind the world how incredibly cool and scientifically relevant long-extinct dinosaurs are.…
October 2, 2007
As discussed in previous articles on the 55th SVPCA, I've decided to publish a version of my talk here on the blog. Some time ago I published a collection of theropod images (go here), some of which might have seemed a bit random or unconnected. As we'll see here, those images are indeed connected…
October 1, 2007
As promised, here's the SVPCA group photo: a larger version can be viewed here on the SVPCA site (you can move your cursor around to identify people.. well, most people). I'm in the front row near the middle (I was skulking around at the side but got moved). Oh look, Dave Hone's wearing the same…
September 30, 2007
How did the centenary workshop on mammal bone identification go, I hear you cry? It went very well, thank you very much. Anyway, as promised here are more of various recollections from the 55th SVPCA, held at the University of Glasgow between August 29th and September 1st. For previous of my…
September 28, 2007
No time for nothing today, sorry. In desperation, I thought I'd blog a photo of a bronze hippo. Here it is. SVPCA part II next, then Becklespinax and Valdoraptor, then cryptozoology conference stuff (think monster pigeons and assorted other obscure extinct island-endemic giants), then…
September 27, 2007
Having spent the better part of the day recovering from the birthday celebrations of last night (and working, of course), I regret that I haven't had the time to post any of the promised articles (more SVPCA stuff to come next). So here's a picture of the day: it depicts the incredible mounted…
September 25, 2007
Without doubt, one of the coolest living animals on the planet is the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis, a giant flesh-eating lizard that kills water buffalo, eats children, harbours noxious oral bacteria and is impervious to bullets (ok, I made that last bit up)...
Unknown to western science…
