mammals
laelaps | June 9, 2008
A Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus). Photographed in the spring of 2008 at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | June 4, 2008In the course of rooting through the literature for more information on Eohippus, Hyracotherium, and the various associated genera (it's been a chore to find out their names, much less the relevant papers!) I stumbled across this 1927 poem by Richard Ashman, published in The Science News-Letter. It is obviously not meant to be accurate, but I have to say that the concluding verses made me laugh.
The Diplo-doclodipus
A sad young Eohippus, once,
Who pattered through the gorse,
Was sobbing as he pattered, for
His fondest hopes were shattered, for
He'd failed in all that mattered, for
He wasn't…
grrlscientist | June 1, 2008tags: Mexican Long-tongued Bats, Choeronycteris mexicana, bats, Image of the Day
My good friend, Dave Rintoul, is on a much-deserved vacation camping in the
Chiricahuas and Gila Wilderness area at the moment, but he took a little time out from the fun and games to send me a couple images to share with you.
Two nectivorous Mexican Long-tongued Bats, Choeronycteris mexicana,
help themselves to nectar at a hummingbird feeder in Cave Creek Canyon in
the Chirichahua Mountains of Arizona and New Mexico.
Image: Dave Rintoul, 2008 [larger view].
laelaps | May 30, 2008The probable role of fossils in giving rise to myths and legends has been recognized since the 19th century, but it has only been recently that the connection between giant bones & footprints and mythology has been appreciated as a subject worthy of detailed study (see The First Fossil Hunters, Fossil Legends of the First Americans, and American Monster). It should be kept in mind, however, that there are modern legends just as there are ancient ones, and even during the age of major discoveries some fossils still seemed to throw support that the ancient world was inhabited by giants and…
grrlscientist | May 30, 2008tags: mountain cow, Baird's tapir, Tapirus bairdii, mammals, streaming video
This streaming video shows you a little bit about the mountain cow .. the tapir. In this case, the Baird's Tapir, Tapirus bairdii, the state animal of Belize, a country in Central America. This animal, which is endangered, is not a cow at all, but is related to horses and rhinoceros [1:47].
There is one mistake on this video. When a person discovers a new species they cannot name it after themselves -- that's a rule.
grrlscientist | May 19, 2008tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, mammals, Central Park, Image of the Day
Raccoon, Procyon lotor kit (with mother)
in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George [larger].
This image appears here, courtesy of Bob Levy, who writes;
A Central Park Raccoon known to her admirers as Raquel has been thought to have recently given birth to cubs in her Locust Grove den. At least that is what the scant observable evidence suggested to this reporter. My conclusion turned out to be 100% accurate. Or should I say 200% accurate since I saw two cubs inside the den. Her lair may have a posh…
laelaps | May 17, 2008
Zeff, a female Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed this past March at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | May 16, 2008
A white nosed coati (or pizote, Nasua narica), photographed last year at the Philadelphia Zoo.
edyong | May 15, 2008Hi folks,
I'm working on a large feature and I want to break the back of it over the weekend. So as a ittle bit diversion, I wanted to share with you two awesome videos that I took last weekend of gibbons moving with characteristic and incredible agility at Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens in Suffolk. Gibbons were one of the highlights of David Attenborough's Life of Mammals, and I was utterly captivated by footage of them monkeyi... er.. apeing about in trees, swinging through the canopy at high speed. (There's a second video and some commentary after the jump)
This style of movement, known…
laelaps | May 15, 2008
A greater mouse deer (Tragulus napu), photographed last year at the National Zoo.
[Note]: My brand new Nikon D60 arrived yesterday, so I'll soon have some brand new images to use for this daily photo post.
laelaps | May 14, 2008
A Plains zebra (Equus quagga), photographed last year at the Philadelphia Zoo.
edyong | May 13, 2008
Three-toed sloths have a reputation for being some of the sleepiest of all animals, largely due to a single study, which found that captive sloths snooze for 16 hours a day. That certainly seems like a sweet deal to me, but it seems that the sloth's somnolent reputation has been exaggerated.
A new study - the first ever to record brain activity in a wild sleeping animal - reveals that wild sloths are far less lethargic than their captive cousins. In their natural habitat, three-toed sloths sleep for only 9.6 hours a day, not much more than an average first-year university student.
Wild…
laelaps | May 13, 2008
An Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), photographed last year at the Philadelphia Zoo.
laelaps | May 12, 2008
Zeff, a female Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed last year at the Bronx Zoo.
laelaps | May 11, 2008
A female African elephant (Loxodonta africana), photographed last year at the Philadelphia Zoo.
edyong | May 9, 2008
This week's New Scientist includes a short piece from me about conformist rats.
Until now, only humans and chimps were known to succumb to peer pressure, to the extent that we often ignore our own experiences based on the preferences of others. But a new study in brown rats shows that these rodents are similarly prone to following the Joneses. They can even be persuaded to choose a piece of food that they know makes them sick if they smell it on the breath of a 'demonstrator' rat.
Bennett Galef and Elaine Whiskin at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontaria, Canada, trained rats to avoid…
laelaps | May 7, 2008
A lioness (Panthera leo), photographed last year at the Philadelphia Zoo. She is a representative of the "white lions" found in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve and Kruger National Park in South Africa.
laelaps | May 5, 2008
Zeff, a 13-year-old Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) photographed taking a drink on a hot day last year at the Bronx Zoo.
edyong | May 3, 2008I'm away for the weekend so I thought that I'd repost an article from the old Wordpress blog. This is actually the first ever article I wrote for Not Exactly Rocket Science and I've updated it slightly to take more recent findings into account. I'm considering doing these reposts every Saturday, but let me know whether you're keen on the idea.
Cancer cells are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. Having broken free of the rules and strictures that govern other cells, they are free to grow and divide as they please. In a short space of time, a lone cancer cell can form a mass of…