Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
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Posts by this author
Even if it is only due to repetition almost everyone is familiar with a few geological dates. That the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago and the earth is around 4.5 billion years old are figures that are at least familiar to many. (There are a few folks who would prefer…
A scimitar oryx (Oryx dammah), photographed at the National Zoo. This species may be extinct in the wild.
A model of the skull of Megaladapis From A Guide to the Fossil Mammals and Birds in the Department of Geology and Palaeontology in the British Museum (Natural History).
At a meeting of the Royal Society in 1893 the English geologist Henry Woodward read a communication from his Swiss colleague…
A Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), photographed at the National Zoo.
A cast of the lower jaw of Dryopithecus available through Ward's Natural Science Establishment.
For most of anthropology's history tools had been thought to be the exclusive hallmark of humanity. That only our species could use and manufacture tools was a sign of our superiority, be it the…
A small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea), photographed at the National Zoo.
The "reincarnated" Cohoes Mastodon. You can see him today at the Cohoes Public Library. (From Natural History)
For decades we have been hearing of the designs of some ambitious scientists to bring the woolly mammoth back to life. I first heard of such plans in the 1980's when I was a young child…
Rokan, a male Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) really wants to go inside. Photographed at the National Zoo.
The skull of Dorudon, photographed at the National Museum of Natural History.
Earlier this week Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum moved their blog, The Intersection, over to Discover. I think it was a good move for them, but their fresh start was immediately marred by a horde of hooting numbskulls. Many others have already covered this story, but in case you haven't heard…
The skeleton of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), photographed at the National Museum of Natural History. Notice the bone pathology around the roots of the teeth in the upper jaw.
A giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), photographed at the National Zoo.
A mother gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and her child. Photographed at the National Zoo.
It may not be accurate to call our species "the third chimpanzee", but there can be no separation between apes and humans. We are apes. This realization has only come recently. There has been a long tradition of…
A mother gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and her child. Photographed at the National Zoo.
Last week I spent some time writing about Dimetrodon and the various functions paleontologists ascribed to its sail (from a literal sail to a sign of coming extinction). It can be easy to forget that no two sails were exactly alike, though, and paleo-artist Michael Skrepnick (see my interview with…
A cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) marking its territory. Photographed at the National Zoo.
Last week I wrote about the shuffling and reshuffling of relationships between whales, hippos, pigs, and an extinct group of mammals called raoellids. One aspect of the paper I did not comment on, however, was the problematic placement of the enormous predator Andrewsarchus.
In November of 1924…
Tai Shan the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), photographed at the National Zoo.
You may recall that last December I shared a clip or two from Isabella Rossellini's delightful short film series on the mating habits of insects called "Green Porno." Some viewers were fascinated, others horrified, but regardless of your reaction you might be interested to know that on April 1st…
A number of people have been asking me about the status of my book lately. I only wish I had something interesting to report!
By mid-January I had completed about 100 pages, or roughly one third of the book. With that goal reached I began to draft my proposal but I began to feel discouraged. How…
A Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer), photographed at the National Zoo.
Hi, everyone. I noticed that many of the people who originally expressed interest in meeting up at the National Zoo tomorrow will not, in fact, be able to make it. As such I have decided to cancel the meet-up tomorrow. Don't fret, though. I hope to be back in the area sometime later this year and I…
Maiacetus.
I am having a lot of fun visiting the various museums and landmarks in Washington, D.C. this weekend, and while I don't have much time for blogging I wanted to share a photo from my brief stop at the National Museum of Natural History. Even though I spent most of the day talking to…
The Capitol building, photographed around 7:30 AM.
An earlier attempt at the same photo, taken while crossing the street.
An Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed at the Bronx zoo.
The big news in this week's issue of Nature was the discovery of a small ornithischian dinosaur covered in bristles, but there was another, shorter paper that caught my eye. In December 2007 Nature printed a short communication on Indohyus, a small artiodactyl that seemed like a good candidate for…
A very unusual reconstruction of Dimetrodon from the textbook Geology, based on a reconstruction by E.C. Case. Dimetrodon and other sail-backed creatures were once considered to have become too "spiny" to survive.
According to the old, if inaccurate, aphorism ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, or…
Sasha the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed at the Bronx zoo.