Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
laelaps
Posts by this author
October 17, 2007
"Thinking again?" the Duchess asked, with another dig of her sharp little chin.
"I've a right to think," said Alice sharply, for she was beginning to feel a little worried.
"Just about as much right," said the Duchess, "as pigs have to fly...."
[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 9]
It…
October 17, 2007
Normally I try to write something substantial for this blog every day, even if it can't be a thoroughly-researched mega post like some of my more notorious writings. Yesterday was no exception, especially in light of the fact that a Rutgers philosophy professor, Jerry Fodor, has recently published…
October 17, 2007
This is Zeff, one of the Amur (or Siberian) Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) at the Bronx Zoo. She may look rather fierce in the above photo, but actually it's not so much a picture of a snarl but a yawn. The picture below directly preceded the one above, although somehow it isn't quite as…
October 16, 2007
Some of you may have noticed some changes to the front page of Sb and some new photos in the category sections, and I'm proud to say that one of my photos made the cut for this week under the Life Science section. Hence, I've decided to post the "full" version of the photo here. In case anyone's…
October 15, 2007
Welcome to the 10th edition of Oekologie, the best of what the blogosphere has to offer when it comes to the eponymous area of natural science. This edition is particularly special, however, in that it falls on Blog Action Day, so be sure to visit the event's main page to peruse the best of today's…
October 15, 2007
The WCS-run Bronx Zoo is one of my most favorite places to visit, their Snow Leopards (Panthera uncia) making a visit worthwhile in and of itself. While you may hear "George" the lion roaring or any of the many tigers resident at the zoo calling to each other, they are veritable chatterboxes…
October 14, 2007
In 1978, a paleoanthropological team including Mary Leakey, Richard Hay, and Tim White made a startling discovery at Laetoli, Tanzania; in a bed of volcanic ash that would later be dated to about 3.5 million years old were the footprints of ancient hominids. The preserved trackway, found to contain…
October 14, 2007
It's a whole new week, so I'm moving away from the artiodactyl theme (for now, at least) and the PotD will probably take on a more random aspect for a while. Today's photo is of the tiger cubs Terney (center, with tire), Changbai (left), and Koosaka (right), born at the Philadelphia Zoo a few…
October 14, 2007
Neil has got the latest edition of The Boneyard up at microecos, complete with some fantastic artwork by Dan McCarthy. The next edition will be up in two weeks at the HMNH.
October 13, 2007
What do you get when you put dinosaurs, terrorists, and Navy SEALs all in one place? The answer in "A mess," and in this case such a disaster carries the title Raptor Island. Starring Lorenzo Lamas, the film continues the long standing tradition of putting guns and monsters in the same place in the…
October 13, 2007
You might not normally think of them as artodactyls, but suids (i.e. pigs and their relatives) are another major family grouping within the order. Pictured above is one representative from Africa, the Red River Hog (Potamochoerus porcus), which lives in large groups of between 4 and 20 or so as…
October 12, 2007
Many of you have been asking about RSS feeds, tags, channels, and the absence of Laelaps from the main Sb page, and if you have I've got some good news for you. It's all been fixed, so you should be able to see this blog listed in the various channels and everyone should now be able to enjoy…
October 12, 2007
Progress on my chosen books for this past week has been a little bit slow; I had a very busy weekend and a presentation on the paleoecology of Laetoli, Tanzania at ~3.5 mya (which will soon become a post), so I haven't been able to read as much as I would like this past week. Still, I'm about…
October 12, 2007
Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, but I having something of an affinity for cheesy B-movies. I probably acquired the taste during childhood, when Jaws II, III, IV, and most of the Godzilla series would be playing on any given weekend, and even though I would be hard pressed to give any of…
October 12, 2007
Everyone now and then I come across a post so good that I wish I had written it myself; Matt of the HMNH has posted on such piece of excellent science blogging all about dinosaur furculas. It might not sound very exciting to those unfamiliar with dinosaur anatomy, but the ignorance of fused…
October 12, 2007
The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) is one of the larger varieties of antelope in Africa, sometimes being referred to as one of the "Horse Antelope" belonging to the Subfamily Hippotraginae [of which the Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) and Oryx (Oryx sp.) are also members]. Sable Antelope differ…
October 11, 2007
Part of the joy of blogging about paleo is that there's always something going on, and this year there seems to be no shortage of prehistoric news. This also seems to be a year marked by lots of IMAX paleo films, so here's a quick rundown of what's out there right now;
Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of…
October 11, 2007
My wife merely considers it a quirk a living with a paleontologically-oriented husband; whenever I feel like my efforts are futile, I hold my hands up against my chest with two fingers extended to represent the "useless forelimbs" of Tyrannosaurus. The evolutionary narrative of how Tyrannosaurus…
October 11, 2007
When I was first becoming acquainted with dinosaurs during the latter half of the 1980's, the standard "rule" for theropod dinosaurs was that as they grew bigger through the course of time their heads became more robust and their arms grew smaller. Just comparing the Jurassic predator Allosaurus…
October 11, 2007
Given that the last two "pictures of the day" were of artiodactyls, I figured I'd keep going with the theme for the rest of the week. Today I've picked out a pair of shots of the Mhorr Gazelle (Gazella dama mhorr), taken last January at the Philadelphia Zoo. As you can guess from the scientific…
October 10, 2007
Many of you have been asking about the RSS feed over the past few days, and if you have I've got some good news for you; it looks like everything is up and running now. Why not get a little bit of Laelaps delivered straight to you, every day?
October 10, 2007
On October 18th (next Thursday) the NYAS Science Allicance will be presenting a panel discussion entitled "How Various Media Outlets are Used to Popularize, Communicate & Promote Science" at NYU. Christopher Mims (Scientific American), Ann Marie Cunningham (NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science…
October 10, 2007
It seems that I'm down with the memes again, for as I was searching for some Thoughts in a Haystack I managed to once again become infected. Indeed, John has asked me to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to throwing around words like "pseudoextinction" in reference to my blog, and hence…
October 10, 2007
The photo I posted yesterday of a male Gerenuk (Litocranius walleri) has prompted some discussion about other long-necked artiodactyls, especially the living representatives of the family Giraffidae. Although the family once contained more members (like the oddly-ornamented Sivatherium), only the…
October 9, 2007
Category: Anthropology
As I mentioned just prior to my move to Sb, I spent this past Saturday at NYU at the "Evolutionary Anthropology at the Interface" conference, which was primarily a celebration of the work of Cliff Jolly. I'm still a bit over my head when it comes to knowing the full "Who's…
October 9, 2007
Even though the Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) most readily comes to mind when I think of a long-necked mammal, there are many other living artiodactyls that have long necks for their body size, one of my favorites being the Gerenuk, Litocranius walleri. Gerenuks are most commonly seen in East…
October 8, 2007
The finalists for the CollegeScholarship.com $10,000 scholarship have been announced, and SB's [I stand corrected, excuse the faux pas] Sb's own Shelley of Retrospectacle is one of them! Make sure that you go over to the voting page (the contest from here on out depends on votes from readers like…
October 8, 2007
Close-up of a cuttlefish, taken at Disney's "Living Seas" exhibit
The holidays seem to be coming earlier every year, and today is International Cephalopod Awareness Day! Indeed, it's always a good thing to be aware of cephalopods (it's 12 PM, do you know where Architeuthis is?), especially since…