I suspect “WE”– call us Modern or in Europe Cro- Magnon– thought that our recently extinct fellow “hominins’”, to use the latest correct term– looked odd, as we did to them, even though we did mix genes. Most reconstructions are so steeped in reflexive egalitarianism– wrong word, but I’m looking for a synonym for sappy …
Tag: Pleistocene
Passenger Pigeons Again…
Another little sample from my evolving proposal: P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After the Ice … I will draw on contemporary scholarship from Pielou to Paul Martin to paint a picture of the late glacial world – one with little place for the passenger pigeon as a major ecological actor. One keystone will be Australian …
Giant Vampire Bat
…and while we are on the Pleistocene, why not a giant prehistoric Southwestern vampire bat that preyed on the megafauna? From Randy Babb’s drawing in Dave Brown’s Vampiro, for Dr Hypercube (the paperweight is a bronze nighthawk with hidden eggs by Steve Kestrel):
“Homotherium is perhaps my favorite felid…”
… says Nathaniel below. I agreed, then laughed at the oddity of a blog where readers could make that statement with a straight face, though there are a couple of others on the blogroll… Here is my favorite image of Homotherium serum, a frightening predator, in life bigger than an African lion and possibly cursorial …
Weekend Links
… good, bad, & strange. Bear with my light blogging for a couple more weeks please! First, good: Tazi pix! Right from the source, Almaty & environs– the bearded ethnic Russian guy is Konstantin Plakhov, who bred our Ataika, seen here as a pup at Kostya’s there and as a matron, here, below. Libby with …
Fat Horses
Large- mammal and Pleistocene maven Valerius Geist thinks more is going on with the spotted horse cave paintings below than just realism– be cites their exaggerated fatness as well: “Horses in top condition thus have a large gut-fill, expanded further by storage fat about intestines and omentum. Consequently, the belly bulges downward. Simultaneously, the fat …
Headline of the Week
From Arthur Wilderson: “Swedish flamingoes massacred in frenzied anteater attack”. It is actually true if a bit breathless… Prompted by this and perhaps the recent Zoo posts, Arthur added some thoughts on a distant relative, the ground-dwelling late- Pleistocene monster Megatherium: “I saw a mounted megatherium skeleton in Chicago’s Field Museum. I was pretty impressed, …
Thanks!
Busy– just finished an assignment for Shooting Sportsman, starting two pieces on spec for Double Gun Journal, taking notes for my forthcoming Living Bird review, reading galleys of Pete Dunne’s new installment in his seasonal birding series, Arctic Autumn (outspokenly pro- hunting, among other virtues, and yes, he gets a blurb!)… But need to thank …
One Link…
Long day, more visitors coming. But my speculations on the nature of the passenger pigeon at Living Bird are now online. Check them out and let me know what you think?
Science Links
A BBC news article seems to point to the “Overkill Hypothesis” as the major cause of the extinction of the American megafauna. Studies of dung preserved in a Wisconsin lake suggest “… a slow decline in megafauna that began about 15,000 years ago and appeared to last for about 1,000 years. “This discovery rules out …