preemptive
tetrapodzoology | August 2, 2009
If you've been paying attention you'll know that I've been absent for a little while: I've been at the Sea Dragons of Avalon conference, held at Street in Somerset and focusing on the evolution of marine reptiles (and other organisms) across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. The meeting also included a tribute to Arthur Cruickshank, a day of 'Arthur-themed' talks, and a public lecture by Ryosuke Motani. And then there were collection visits and field trips; all in all, a major event. It went well and I have a lot to talk about: more details soon (for information on the sign shown in the…
tetrapodzoology | June 4, 2009Since the publication of Taylor et al. (2009) - the sauropod neck posture paper - we've been running a whole series of articles on necks and neck posture, and all that it implies, over at SV-POW! Please check it out. I've been too busy to contribute anything, but that changes later today. Sorry, this is an annoying teaser...
Oh - while I'm here... I've been informed by Morgan Wirthlin that I've been nominated for the 3 Quarks Daily awards. Please go here for the link to the voting area. I never win these sorts of things so find it hard to get excited, but thanks for the nomination (and…
tetrapodzoology | June 1, 2009
Welcome to one of those annoying teaser posts - I'd post something substantive, if only I had the time.
But I don't.
The adjacent photo shows Pristimantis charlottevillensis, a strabomantid from Tobago that was named in 1995. Believe it or don't, strabomantids are sometimes known as squatting prophet frogs. The group was only named in 2008, and was previously included within the hyloid group Brachycephalidae [previously discussed here].
The photo was taken by John C. Murphy and is used with his kind permission.
Hey - how do people get those open thread things going?
tetrapodzoology | March 18, 2009
Firstly, happy Tianyulong day! How incredibly cool. Secondly, this is an annoying teaser - full post to appear soon. Sorry, but c'est la vie.
tetrapodzoology | April 24, 2008
Yesterday I attended the Centre for Evolution and Ecology workshop 'Modern Approaches to Functional Anatomy', held at the Natural History Museum (and organised by the Royal Veterinary College's John Hutchinson). Whoah: what a meeting...
Bipedal chimps and orangutans, leaping lemurs, autralopithecines, 'When Komodos destroy', pliosaurs and marsupial lions, hominid wrists, elbows and ankles, over-engineered dwarf elephants, how elephants use their sixth digits, the non-conservativeness of Sphenodon, self-righting turtles, bat canines... and McNeill Alexander! Shock horror, even the talks on…
tetrapodzoology | April 2, 2008
This picture borrowed from wikipedia. Full story later (about wahs, not wikipedia).
tetrapodzoology | December 11, 2007
You can knock it
You can rock it
You can go to Timbuktu
But you'll never find a nessie in the zoo
You may see an anaconda, or giraffe and kangaroo
But you'll never see a nessie in a zoo
More soon, really. For now, I'm afraid all you get is this poxy teaser post... plus some of the lyrics to The Family Ness, staple viewing for my 9-year old self.
tetrapodzoology | October 5, 2007
Time permitting... coming next: that cryptozoology stuff. If I say any more I'll spoil the surprise (there are a few technical errors in the map shown here - it's not meant to be totally accurate. It depicts various extant and recently-extinct Caribbean tetrapods. Well done to anyone who can name all the taxa).
tetrapodzoology | May 7, 2007
Here's the plan over the next week or so...
Australia, land of placentals; more sheep; giant anguids, legless and not; and It's all about me. Amazing social life of green iguanas to be published soon, and what about those long-promised posts on vampire pterosaurs, proto-narwhals, Piltdown, plethodontids, the probing guild, Cenozoic sebecosuchians and more Triassic crurotarsans? Yikes, I really do need more hours in my life.
Thanks to all for the congrats on the job, but don't get your hopes up as goes Primeval and other such projects.
tetrapodzoology | April 21, 2007
Hmm, how cryptic. Post to follow soon (thanks to Mark North for photo: that's him on the right). Calling all palaeo-artist friends and colleagues: please start sending me your temnospondyl images (see profile for email).
tetrapodzoology | April 9, 2007
More aetosaurs coming soon. If only I didn't have all this other crap to deal with first.
tetrapodzoology | March 26, 2007
Well, holy crap. Want to have your enthusiasm for a certain subject invigorated? Then attend a conference; preferably one that features amazing new data, unbelievably cool new video clips, valuable discussion of new ideas and sharing of concepts, is attended by the great majority of active people in the field, and - best of all - includes several scoops that are so stunning that it's difficult to imagine how far-reaching they might be. I've just returned from the 1st Annual Big Cats in Britain conference, held at the Dorchester Hotel in Hull (East Yorkshire). And I'm really, really excited.…
tetrapodzoology | March 19, 2007
Everybody's talking about it: that most controversial of ideas... were rhinos ever used in warfare? Sure, you've seen armoured war elephants, but what about armoured war rhinos? Well, there's good news, and there's bad news. Stay tuned, for all will be revealed. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you might need to see the movie 300 first, or at least its trailer...
tetrapodzoology | March 3, 2007
Coming next: that long-promised post on Australian giant cats. If this stuff is unfamiliar to you, prepare to be surprised. I still can't believe it. After that: the beluwhals, newts (pending fieldwork to be carried out on Wednesday), maybe more feathered dinosaurs.... and rhinogradentians. Spent today watching swimming rats. Only Rattus norvegicus but still cool.
tetrapodzoology | February 24, 2007
It's funny what you can find kicking around in the corner of a friend's flat. Full post to follow soon...
tetrapodzoology | February 18, 2007Sorry, another one of those really annoying teasers. But, come on, you love it really. Coming later this week...
... at long long last, those lost tree frogs...
... proto-narwhals and the case of the beluwhals...
... the amazing social life of the Green iguana...
... and maybe something on feathered theropods. Plus vampire pterosaurs, Piltdown, plethodontids and more. Oh yeah, and, err, rhinogradentians :) Check back soon, there will probably be something new (he says).
tetrapodzoology | January 25, 2007All of this yet to come...
... vampire finches....
.... vampire bats...
... more on vampire bats...
... and a remarkable interpretation of a group of pterosaurs. Sigh, if only there were more hours in the day. Also coming soon: Britain's lost tree frogs, Confessions of a part-time quadrupedal hominid, Gilbert White's pet tortoise, War rhinos, and more. I will be in the field this Saturday, in quest of bizarre finches. Watch this space.