By now at least half the town knows that Lib fell off a ladder tending to the pigeons in the “trap” on top of the pigeon loft. I use “trap” in quotes, because normally it is a pigeon racer’s term for sort of double entrance chamber used in racing pigeon competitions to control access. But …
Tag: Evolution
Update on “Beebesaurus”
… also known as Microraptor gui. I painted it a sort of irridescent black, to conform with what is known about its feathers. Can’t believe how much it looks like Beebe’s bookplate in his pre- WW I (1910) book Our Search for a Wilderness. Microraptor was dug up in China in 2003.
Beebesaurus
I finally got my copy, Beebe’s copy, of his book Our Search for a Wilderness, with his bookplate. The seller thought it was an iguana, but I knew it was a sketch of a possible “pre-Archaeopteryx” avian ancestor he had imagined. In 1910. I think it was 2003 when they dug up Microraptor gui. The …
#feathersdammit#FEATHERS
Pluvi Tweets about this fantastic photo of Cassowaries, and once again damns the lizards of Jurassic Park. Early adapters can risk looking weird, but those who cling to the old paradigm too long can come to look like Flat – Earthers…
Convergence
No one has ever explained this close evolutionary convergence to me; even Jonathan Kingdon thought they looked less alike than they do. Nearctic Meadow “lark”: an icterid ((New Word blackbird), common here and a lovely singer; and African Longclaw, also a bird of savannahs. But HOW? I am sure we will someday figure it out, …
New Toy
Supposedly Archaeopteryx— but except for the lack of the inner “killer claw” more of a typical feathered Theropod like Deinonychus. Also see A Field Guide to Mesozoic Birds.
Cryptic Cats
I always like finding new species, and am fascinated by “cryptic” ones that look just like others but have different DNA. (Are there really SEVEN Red Crossbills?) Not every species is really one, and if you obsess on the subject it will drive you mad. I like to argue and define, but my not quite …
Teaser
Would you consider these cats the same species? Thoughts on this and much more starting tomorrow. Returning soon to full service– the books go slowly, but too many good things to share… (And Annie D– recognize these creatures?)
Why Quammen’s Spillover is worth Your Time
David Quammen’s new book Spillover, on emergent diseases; or more specifically, on emergent zoonoses, came out a few months ago to a series of middling good but somehow lukewarm reviews. I vehemently disagree, but it takes a bit of unfolding. Why do some readers find such a book fascinating while others find it dull? First: …
Two rather biological quotes
From William Hamilton, the eccentric genius whose new biography is on the way, and from our old neighbor David Quammen, who chronicled Bill’s demise from the complications of malaria meds in his Spillover, review on deck at last… Hamilton, from volume 3 of his collected works: “For me it seems that the universe only needs …