Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
laelaps
Posts by this author
July 28, 2009
A pair of purple mushrooms, photographed near High Point, New Jersey. Is there a mycologist in the house?
July 27, 2009
A progressive "march" of elephant evolution as portrayed in Ingersoll's The Life of Animals. From left to right Moeritherium, Palaeomastodon, Gomphotherium ("Trilophodon"), Mammut americanum (American mastodon), Elephas maximus (Asian elephant).
Every now and then I like to browse through old…
July 27, 2009
A red eft (Notophthalmus viridescens), photographed near High Point, New Jersey.
July 26, 2009
A water lily, photographed in Westchester County, NY.
July 25, 2009
An ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), photographed in Mount Kisco, NY.
July 24, 2009
A recent restoration of Deinotherium from Markov, et al (2001) "A reconstruction of the facial morphology and feeding behavior of the deinotheres." The World of Elephants, International Congress, Rome 2001. Taken from The World We Don't Live In.
Poor Deinotherium. Although it is one of the most…
July 24, 2009
A double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), photographed in Westchester County, NY.
July 23, 2009
The incomplete skull of Nicrosaurus (formerly "Belodon"), one of the earliest-recognized phytosaurs. It is missing teeth and it did not have an extended downward extension of the palate (the outline that extends below the upper jaw marked by the dotted line) like modern crocodiles. From A guide…
July 23, 2009
On August 14 I am going to be leaving on a two week trip to Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. It will be my first trip out west, and I am really looking forward to seeing places like Fossil Butte, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone. I will have my laptop with me, but obviously I will not be…
July 23, 2009
A Northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon) at the edge of a pond, photographed in Mount Kisco, NY. Many thanks to everyone in the comments who helped with the identification!
July 22, 2009
Apologies to everyone who has tried to leave comments since last evening. ScienceBlogs was getting a server update to (hopefully) fix all those submission timeouts and other problems. Everything should be working now, but if you are still having problems commenting make sure you hold on to the…
July 22, 2009
A patch of Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), photographed in Mount Kisco, NY.
July 21, 2009
Even though I regret dropping it due to time constraints I am glad the paleo carnival The Boneyard has taken on a life of its own. The latest edition, which is quite excellent, is up at The Dragon's Tales. I especially liked the chronological sequence of this one, and many thanks to Will for…
July 21, 2009
Mentioning Richard Dawkins is a quick way to polarize a conversation. One acquaintance once told me that she refused to read anything by Stephen Jay Gould because of Dawkins' criticisms while, on the other hand, many of my friends have voiced their exasperation with the English biologist's attacks…
July 21, 2009
A sunbittern (Eurypyga helias), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 19, 2009
A Bali myna (Leucopsar rothschildi), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 19, 2009
A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), with a common goldeneye in the background, photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 18, 2009
A West African long-tailed hornbill (Tropicranus albocristatus), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 17, 2009
I have been feeling a little down this afternoon, so rather than blog something new I thought that I would share something that has cheered me up a little bit: the trailer for the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Enjoy.
July 17, 2009
Yesterday the 13th edition of The Giant's Shoulders was posted over at Skulls in the Stars. It is an excellent edition in a "guided tour" format. The next iteration will go on display next month at The Dispersal of Darwin.
July 16, 2009
A red fox (Vulpes vulpes), photographed at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware.
July 16, 2009
A traditional restoration of Platybelodon as seen in H.F. Osborn's 1936 elephant monograph. From Lambert (1992).
Whenever I visit the American Museum of Natural History in New York I make sure to at least pass through the fourth-floor fossil halls before I leave, and one of my favorite displays…
July 16, 2009
Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 15, 2009
If you are going to be around Brooklyn, New York tomorrow night and don't already have plans you might want to stop by JLA Studios to check outGeeking Out, hosted by Gelf Magazine. Among the guests will be paleoartist Viktor Deak, the man responsible for the beautiful hominid restorations in the "…
July 15, 2009
If it were not for my wife, Tracey, this blog would probably not exist.
What you see here every day are the end-products of my efforts. What you do not see are the hours of research and writing that go into producing that material, and I could not do it without Tracey. She usually hears my ideas…
July 14, 2009
A Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 14, 2009
An illustration of Albert Koch's reconstructed "Missourium", or an American mastodon with a few extra bones.
Even though I find modern creationism to be intensely aggravating I occasionally like to browse older creationist texts. It is amusing to see how old creationist arguments have been…
July 13, 2009
A Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), photographed at the Central Park Zoo.
July 13, 2009
Hippopotamus amphibius, photographed at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Have you ever tried to walk along the bottom of a pool while fully submerged? It isn't easy. Keeping your feet on the bottom is enough of a task, and you would probably need a weight belt to take an underwater stroll. Hippos (…
July 13, 2009
A bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeiana), photographed in Westchester County, NY.