Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
laelaps
Posts by this author
California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
The extinct whale Dorudon, from the new PLoS One paper.
When the English anatomist William H. Flower proposed that whales had evolved from terrestrial ungulates in 1883 he cast doubt upon the notion that the direct ancestors of early whales chiefly used their limbs for swimming. If they did,…
From his instance that human evolution has halted to his rather crummy review of Stephen Jay Gould: Reflections on His View of Life (see my thoughts on the book here), Steve Jones has been raising the hackles of his colleagues more than usual lately. Given that I am not a scientist I cannot count…
A North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
The right hip of Basilosaurus as seen in Lucas' 1900 description.
If you were a 19th century American paleontologist and you wanted a Basilosaurus skeleton there was only one place to look; Alabama. Even though fossils of the ancient whale had been found elsewhere their bones were most abundant…
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
A California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
G.J. Romanes
With the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth just two weeks away there is sure to be a spike in articles, lectures, and other events meant to honor the great naturalist. These homages to Darwin can be instructive, but they lack a personal touch; what we know of Darwin comes…
A North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
"Laelaps", seen photographing an otter at the North Carolina Zoo.
When the Cardiff Giant was making its first public appearance in the fall of 1869 the earliest ancestors of humans were still unknown. That our species had evolved and had its own fossil record was implied by Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, but…
A California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
The Giant of Cardiff. Note the leaf placed to protect viewer's sensibilities.
Given the speed at which information travels these days it is not surprising how quickly we forget hoaxes and humbugs. Every year people get their 15 minutes of fame by claiming to have seen ghosts, aliens, or fanciful…
A red wolf (Canis lupus rufus), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
It is another busy day, and since I am again left with little time to write here I have decided to post another "follow-up" excerpt from my book.**
A few days ago I mentioned that many paleontologists were skeptical that humans had lived alongside extinct mammals until discoveries made in Europe…
A meerkat (Suricata suricatta), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
A porpoise, or "sea-hog", from Appletons' Annual Cycloaedia.
I do not have much time to write today, so rather than type something from scratch I have decided to share an excerpt from my book (still in-progress).
In my recent post "Ancient Armored Whales" I briefly drew attention to a quote from…
A female Hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
The AMNH mount of the Warren Mastodon. From The American Museum Journal.
Glendon's session on Art & Science last weekend inspired me to intensify my search for bits of paleontological art, and I have been fortunate enough to uncover some more verses about a prehistoric beast. Here is Hannah…
A ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), photographed at the Duke Lemur Center.
From The Log of the Ark.
Young earth creationists love to talk about how there really was a global Deluge and that there were dinosaurs aboard the Ark, but rarely do you see any attempt on their part to visualize what life was like on Noah's ship. What did Noah and his family do to while away…
A grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
The skull of Basilosaurus, from the 1907 Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1900 the famous bone sharp Barnum Brown discovered the skeleton of a huge carnivorous dinosaur in Wyoming, and near its bones were a few fossilized bony plates. When H.F. Osborn described this creature as…
When I was a finalist in the annual blogging scholarship contest a few months back Amanda was one of the many people who supported me. (Thank you, again, to everyone who voted for me.) Now it is my turn to give something back.
Amanda is one of the brightest, not to mention kindest, people I know…
A restoration of the Warren mastodon entombed in sediment, from Popular Science.
In 1841 S.B. Buckley was the first to mount a skeletal restoration of Basilosaurus, but his efforts to do so have generally been forgotten. The skeleton changed hands several times during the 1840's and Buckley's…
A Megatherium, from The Testimony of the Rocks by Hugh Miller.
I can't believe I didn't think of it at the time. During Glendon's session on Art & Science last weekend he asked the audience for specific examples of how art & science influenced each other. A few examples from modern…
A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), photographed at the North Carolina Zoo.
A little more than halfway through the horror novel The Relic, a blood-spattered tale of a monster lurking in the bowels of the American Museum of Natural History, the scientist Greg Kawakita shows off his evolutionary extrapolation program to his colleague, Margo. It is a complex analysis system…