mammals
edyong | May 21, 2009In the forests of South America lives the unusual but aptly named owl monkey, or douroucouli. You could probably guess by looking at its large round eyes that it's nocturnal, and indeed, it is the only monkey to be mostly active at night. But its eyes have many adaptations for such a lifestyle, beyond a large size.
The owl monkey's retinas are 50% larger than those of a day-living monkey of similar size, like the brown capuchin. The proportions of different cells in their retina are also different. Owl monkeys have relatively few cone cells, which are responsible for colour vision and fewer…
laelaps | May 21, 2009
The skull of the marsupial predator Thylacoleo, photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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laelaps | May 20, 2009
The skull of the giraffid Bramatherium, photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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laelaps | May 19, 2009
A restoration of the extinct adapid Darwinius, known popularly as "Ida." From PLoS One.
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So the big day is finally here. "Ida", a 47-million-year-old primate skeleton from Messel, Germany has finally been unveiled on PLoS One and in a flurry of press releases, book announcements, and general media hubub. Under different circumstances I would be happy to see an exceptional fossil receiving such treatment, but I fear that Ida has become a victim of a sensationalistic media that values audience size over scientific substance.
Before I jump into my criticisms of the paper describing…
laelaps | May 19, 2009
The skull of a crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus), photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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laelaps | May 18, 2009Late last week I received a rather curious e-mail. It read;
WORLD RENOWNED SCIENTISTS REVEAL A REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC FIND THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING
Ground-Breaking Global Announcement
What: An international press conference to unveil a major historic scientific find. After two years of research a team of world-renowned scientists will announce their findings, which address a long-standing scientific puzzle.
The find is lauded as the most significant scientific discovery of recent times. History brings this momentous find to America and will follow with the premiere of a major television…
laelaps | May 18, 2009
The skull of Arsinoitherium, from A preliminary note on Arsinoitherium zitteli.
As spectacular as the extinct Eocene mammal Arsinoitherium was, many scientists were not all that interested in it. Its size and weapons were certainly impressive, but it appeared to sit on a difficult-to-define side branch of mammalian evolution. This made it a less attractive subject of study than some of its close relatives among the paenungulata, the elephants, whose evolutionary history could be traced in greater detail. As H.R. Knipe wrote in his Evolution in the Past, Arsinoitherium just seemed to be…
laelaps | May 18, 2009
The skull of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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laelaps | May 17, 2009
The skull of Arsinoitherium, photographed at the AMNH's "Extreme Mammals" exhibit.
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laelaps | May 15, 2009
Paraceratherium greets you as you enter the new Extreme Mammals Exhibit.
My laptop is running a little slow, but here I am at the American Museum of Natural History's new "Extreme Mammals" exhibit. The selected casts, sculptures, and interactive displays live up to the exhibition's name. To my right is a life-sized cast of Puijila darwini, the transitional pinniped just announced a few weeks ago, and to my left is a reconstruction of the Arctic during the Eocene, complete with a Coryphodon munching on swamp plants.
The exhibit strikes a good balance between living mammals and bizarre…
grrlscientist | May 15, 2009tags: evolutionary biology, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, New York City, mammals, biodiversity
Because I write for ScienceBlogs, I have been invited to a special sneak preview of the "Extreme Mammals" exhibit hosted by the American Museum of Natural History, where I was a postdoctoral fellow for two years. This exhibit features the biggest, smallest, most amazing and generally the weirdest mammals to ever swim, fly or walk the face of this earth. "Extreme Mammals" opens to the public on Saturday, 16 May, but my goal is to take a lot of photographs to share with you here this…
laelaps | May 15, 2009
The giraffe-like restoration of Paraceratherium, from Natural History.
If I believed everything Hollywood told me I would accept that a paleontologist is someone who has a knack for finding numerous exceptionally-preserved, fully-articulated skeletons. The truth of the matter, however, is that most fossil creatures (at least as far as vertebrates are concerned) become known to science in bits and pieces. This was the case with the largest land mammal that ever lived, Paraceratherium.*
*[There is some controversy surrounding the name of this beast. At present paleontologists are still…
laelaps | May 15, 2009Yesterday the New York Times posted a review of the AMNH's new "Extreme Mammals" exhibition. The review pays more attention is paid to the evolutionary themes of the exhibit than to what is in it, but I will be bringing you a more detailed look at the displays during a special blogger preview early this evening (between 4 and 5:30 PM). I can hardly wait!
laelaps | May 14, 2009
A close-up of the rare, terrifying Montauk Monster, otherwise known as a raccoon. From Wikipedia.
Skeletons can be funny things. If you take a familiar animal like a horse, strip it of its flesh, and put the bones on display many people may have some trouble identifying what sort of animal it was. Skeletons can be even more unfamiliar when they are draped in the putrid and tattered remains of the soft parts of the animal, and it is no surprise that rotting carcasses of common animals are often said to be monsters.
Such was the case with the 'Montauk Monster', otherwise known as a raccoon (…
laelaps | May 13, 2009This coming Saturday the American Museum of Natural History is going to lift the veil on their new temporary exhibition Extreme Mammals, and I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to the blogger preview being held the day before. This coming Friday from about 4 to 5:30 PM I'll be wandering around the new exhibit, taking photos and (hopefully) blogging about it right from the scene. Expect lots of pictures of Ambulocetus, Uintatherium, and other fossil beasts that evening.
If you can't make it to NYC during the run of the exhibit, though, you can check out a lot of the materials being…
laelaps | May 9, 2009
A domesticated horse (Equus ferus caballus), photographed in suburban New Jersey.