laelaps | March 17, 2008
The lower jaw of Megalosaurus, presently the only fossil that can accurately be attributed to this enigmatic genus.
Although it was one of the first dinosaurs to be scientifically described during the early 19th century, the theropod Megalosaurus remains one of the most enigmatic (and problematic) large dinosaurs known. Even though an entire family, the Megalosauridae (established by Huxley in 1869), bears the name of this famous dinosaur, the group has come to be seen as a taxonomic wastebasket with no real meaning. Indeed, a new paper in the journal Palaeontology advocates dropping the…
laelaps | March 17, 2008Josh Donlan of Shifting Baselines wants to know what you think of Pleistocene Re-wilding. I recently aired some of my complaints about the hypothetical plans after reading Paul Martin's Twilight of the Mammoths, but while I don't support the idea I would encourage you to take the survey and add your thoughts to the discussion about this controversial topic.
laelaps | March 17, 2008
A pair of wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) playing at the Bronx Zoo (I apologize that it's a bit blurry).
As you might have seen in the last post, my computers and camera were stolen this past weekend so I have lost 99% of all the photos I've taken over the past two years. I still have a few I had burned to discs, though, so even though I don't know when I'll be able to take more photographs (being I have no camera) I'll still have some fodder for the Photo of the Day.
laelaps | March 17, 2008Saturday night, after returning from dinner with friends, I opened the door to my apartment and let my wife in. As I fumbled with the string of icicle lights that run around the room to provide a little illumination, she said "I'll turn on the computer.... the computer isn't here!" Before I could even say "What do you mean the computer isn't here?" I noticed that the back door was slightly open, the lamp was on the floor, and my laptop was gone too. We had been robbed.
As the shock set in, I noticed that the cats did not come out to say "hello" as they normally did whenever I walked in the…
laelaps | March 15, 2008... but this is ridiculous; [beware the blood & gore]
Although it's not clear how this giraffe died, the video does serve to illustrate an important point; spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) often hunt alone, and if an individual comes across a carcass there's more for them than if they had to share a kill with a hunting party. Such are the trade-offs that often direct hunting strategies; hunt alone and get a juicy giraffe to yourself every once in a while, or hunt in a group and get a piece of a carcass more regularly.
laelaps | March 15, 2008Yesterday I went on a bit of a rant (triggered by yet another frustrating message from the university administration) about my college career, and I wanted to express my thanks to everyone who took the time to offer advice and encouragement. The comments made me feel a lot better, and I will certainly persevere in completing my undergraduate education and ultimately move on to better things. If time permits, I'm planning on writing at least one review article for submission to a technical journal this year (in addition to my work on my book), so I'm definitely not letting my current situation…
laelaps | March 14, 2008Ah, spring break... I don't have the ability to go anywhere warm, but I am getting a new desktop computer that will soon allow me to store my mass of technical papers, work on my book a bit more, and play some World of Warcraft from time to time. I've got a few books coming during the next week, too, so even though I still have to work my day job I'm going to try and be as productive as possible on my day(s) off over break.
And now, for no other reason than the fact that I think they're cool, here's a video of a leopard seal (dining on a gentoo penguin);
laelaps | March 14, 2008If you do, head over to Ask a Biologist and help them celebrate one year of answering science questions on the web.
laelaps | March 14, 2008Bora has been tirelessly interviewing seemingly anyone and everyone who was in attendance at the 2nd annual Science Blogging Conference (including me), but now he's had his turn in the hot seat. Check out the interview with the "Crazy Uncle" of science blogging over at Confessions of a Science Librarian.
laelaps | March 14, 2008
A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) playing with two toys prepares to jump in the pool after throwing them in to the icy water.
laelaps | March 13, 2008I've successfully survived the test-taking aspect of midterms; now uneasiness sets in until the grades come back.
Relient K - "College Kids"
laelaps | March 13, 2008According to Lewis Black's hypothesis of the cause of cerebral aneurysms, when someone hears something incredibly stupid or irrational (i.e. "If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college.") the mind fixates upon it, becoming more and more stressed until a cerebral aneurysm occurs. If I should suffer an aneurysm in the next 24 hours, then, don't be surprised; I just read one of the most vapid statements I have ever come across. If you value your own health you won't proceed, but the comment from the Answers in Genesis article "A Meeting of Minds" (*snicker*) about the…
laelaps | March 13, 2008Things will probably be a little light here today. I've got two midterm exams, both of which I'm dreading, so it's cram, cram, cram until the last minute for me. Hence I don't expect to post much (if anything) today, but hopefully I'll be back to normal by tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the spiffy new banner, courtesy of Michael Skrepnick.
laelaps | March 13, 2008
The American bison (Bison bison) was almost entirely lost by the beginning of the 20th century, but a number of conservation projects sprang up during this time to try and restore bison populations. The individual animal photographed above calls the Bronx Zoo home, and the institution has a history of bison conservation; in 1905 the American Bison Society was founded at the zoo (with Theodore Roosevelt as honorary president), and by 1907 15 bison were on their way west.
Despite the efforts of conservation groups, though, the number of bison presently roaming North America is just a shadow of…
laelaps | March 12, 2008Like every kid who went on family outings to the NJ shore, I ended up coming home with any number of hermit crabs over the years. I'd make sure the sponge was wet, that they had food, that they were really in their shells and not just hiding elsewhere (probably terrorizing them in the process), but they generally didn't last long. My grief as to my departed pets is now made all the worse by a new paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B that suggests that hermit crabs have personalities. Oh Pinchy, how I miss you...
The experiment on responses of the hermit crab species Pagurus…
laelaps | March 12, 2008According to a news report released by CNN, a dolphin named "Moko" led a mother and calf pair of pygmy sperm whales back to sea after they had repeatedly stranded themselves on a sandbar near Mahia Beach off New Zealand. The story hails the dolphin as a hero, and while such anecdotes might be heart-warming there's no way to tell from the report just what happened. It could be that Moko came in to investigate, swam out back to sea, and the whales followed (bypassing the route that had previously led them to be stranded).
Perhaps Moko did try to communicate something, but whether any signals…
laelaps | March 12, 2008
As if I didn't have enough books to read this year already, this July will see the publication of Tyrannosaurus rex: The Tyrant King, a book wholly dedicated to the iconic dinosaur. It's edited by Peter Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (it's part of the Life of the Past series), and although I don't know what will be in the book I have to say that I love the cover. You can already pre-order the book, although I'm going to try my best to get a review copy to do a write-up on as we get a little closer to the summer.
I'm also looking forward to the much closer publication of Dogs: Their Fossils…