Popular Dinosaurs
Book Progress #22
Posted from Laelaps 123 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
I'm a bit ambivalent about what I wrote yesterday. On the one hand I'm glad I finally got down to covering early tetrapods and think I came up with a pretty good foundation for the chapter (I wrote ~6 pages). On the other hand I'm not happy with most of what I wrote. I was writing away from my library so everything I generated was vague (and I'm sure some of it is wrong). At least I've got a place to start from, though. Rather than continue adding to the list I had created, dropping clues, I've decided to make a new Wordle for each update so I can see how the book evolves as I keep working o... (original story)
Another fraudulent Gigantoe
Posted from Laelaps 105 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
Greg Laden already beat me to it, but the alleged Bigfoot in a freezer has (as predicted) turned out to be a hoax. The three men involved in the hoax, Matt Whitton, Rick Dyer, and "professional Bigfoot hunter" (i.e. B.S. artist) Tom Biscardi, have admitted as much, although both Whitton and Dyer were nowhere to be found when scheduled to provide a written statement. It's a shame, really, especially since some of the most compelling Sasquatch footage ever seen has just come to my attention; Read the comments on this post... (original story)
It's not all about Darwin
Posted from Laelaps 98 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
There's going to be a lot of talk about Darwin in the coming year. It's practically impossible to talk about evolution without tipping our hat to him in some way, but as Carl Zimmer recently pointed out during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution (which he was kind enough to post) what we know about evolution does not begin and end with Darwin. The point is familiar but it still deserves reiteration, particularly since many efforts to communicate evolutionary science to the public fixate on Darwin and Darwin alone. As Carl himself said; Darwin deserves celebrating, but that doesn't mean we... (original story)
Psst... The Happening wasn't real
Posted from Laelaps 114 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
Growing up I spent a fair amount of time watching cheesy b-movies, mostly "revenge of nature" stuff. There was the walking commentary on the a-bomb known as Godzilla, the parable about dumping biomedical waste in Alligator, a mercury-created walking salami in The Prophecy, and many others, but the take home message was always "Don't mess with Nature." It's usually a rehash of the misunderstood Frankenstein mythos, offending "Mother Nature" instead of breaking the boundaries of "what God intended," and the atrocious film The Happening being only the latest installment in the genre. What I didn'... (original story)
Photo of the Day #331: Amur tigers
Posted from Laelaps 89 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
Two Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), photographed at the Philadelphia Zoo. Read the comments on this post... (original story)
History of Science Open Thread
Posted from Laelaps 144 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
It's only been in the last year that I've obtained a deeper appreciation for the history of science. Natural history is utterly enthralling, of course, but the history of the naturalists that have shaped our understanding of the world are just as fascinating. For my own part, the essays of Stephen... (original story)
Thomas Jefferson's All-American incognitum
Posted from Laelaps 152 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
Edouard de Montule's 1816 painting of the mastodon reconstructed in the Peale Museum. Note the down-turned tusks. Thomas Jefferson had an axe to grind when he wrote his Notes on the State of Virginia in 1781. Twenty years earlier the French naturalist Buffon had published the 9th volume of his e... (original story)
Barnum Brown brings Tyrannosaurus to life
Posted from Laelaps 75 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
H.F. Osborn and Barnum Brown's vision for "dueling" Tyrannosaurus. Dawn glows along the shore of a lagoon near the sea three millions of years ago in Montana. The landscape is of low relief; sycamores and ginkgo trees mingle with figs, palms and bananas. There are few twittering birds in the tree... (original story)
What did Tyrannosaurus eat?
Posted from Laelaps 67 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
Whatever the hell it wanted. A few years ago, though, there were plenty of shows that played up the debate over whether the famous dinosaur was a scavenger or a predator, and below is one such program. Called "T-rex: Warrior or Wimp?" the show is full of dramatic music cues and interviews with paleo... (original story)
Photo of the Day #347: Sandpiper
Posted from Laelaps 73 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
A sandpiper, photographed at the Prime Hook Natural Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. Read the comments on this post... (original story)
I've got your Basilosaurus right here!
Posted from Laelaps 113 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
There are few things that make me as happy as being able to find an elusive reference or seemingly ephemeral bit of information, and this afternoon I am smiling. After almost giving up I have been able to locate Richard Harlan description of Basilosaurus, reprinted in his book Medical and Physical Researches, and available for free download. There's lots of other great papers in the book (particularly if you're interested in the scientific study of apes), and I certainly recommend that anyone with a love for dusty old science texts give it a look. Stumbling across this collection of Harlan's ... (original story)
Photo of the Day #313: Giant Otter
Posted from Laelaps 137 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
A giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo. Read the comments on this post... (original story)
Book Review: A History of Paleontological Illustration
Posted from Laelaps 94 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
When I wrote my essay on violent interactions between prehistoric monsters in art, I thought I had touched on something intriguing. I penned a proposal for a more focused article on the topic and sent it out to magazines purported to feature articles at the intersection of science and culture. The... (original story)
The new Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology can't come out fast enough
Posted from Laelaps 82 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
One of the most difficult things about writing about fossil whales is that so few of them have been figured in books and papers. There are a few skeletal reconstructions that are reproduced over and over and over again, but in my research some genera are only mentioned by name. Georgiacetus is one s... (original story)
Photo of the Day #356: California sea lion
Posted from Laelaps 64 days ago
Dinosaurs! : Dinosaurs
A California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the Bronx zoo. Read the comments on this post... (original story)
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