Yes, another blog....
Ok, I know the world does not need another blog, but I find myself interested in keeping one so that I can share news and ideas more broadly than just with the Aquatic Amniote Paleobiology group I...
View ArticlePreservation biases of fossil cetaceans
I have been quietly writing a series of posts for this blog, lengthy and full of figures, and now that I am close to posting some of them, I came across something short and sweet that I cannot resist...
View ArticleCetacean response to climate change
A very recent review paper by Colin McLeod (see here for Univ Aberdeen press release) in Endangered Species Research, titled, "Global climate change, range changes and potential implications for the...
View Articleupdate on Cetacean response to climate change
I was just reading over another recent paper that may also prove relevant to this post as well as the previous one, so I thought I would post an update.Site fidelity in cetaceans is not new, but a...
View ArticleAquatic Mesozoic Mammals
I have been working on a Mesozoic mammal with some colleagues in Kansas (Michael Engel) and China (Dong Ren) and cannot help but comment on the strangeness that is the world of Mesozoic mammals, in...
View Articlefake Open Access publication
What can I say? This news from The Scientist was both so shocking yet so believable, that I feel a need to report it here, even though it has nothing to do with aquatic amniotes. I won't do this...
View ArticleHippos prancing about underwater (Hippo-Ecomorph Rant #1)
The origin of most marine mammals invokes some imaginary semiaquatic transitional form. In the last decade, many of these transitional forms have actually been found, including the semiaquatic...
View ArticlePaleobiology, the best excuse to have a broad focus
Ok, to start I would like to present something that I see as a fundamental aspect of the profession of being a paleontologist - the opportunity to delve into many aspects of science, in a word, being a...
View ArticleReview of "Sensory Evolution on the Threshold"
Last year Hans Thewissen and Sirpa Nummela published an edited volume with Springer Verlag entitled, "Sensory Evolution on the Theshold". The text covers how sensory biology in aquatic amniotes (and...
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Injured fossil mysticete and an investigation of osteosclerosis (and benthic...
I'm sorry to have been inactive for so much of the last month, but I've been busily trying to get some papers completed before the all-consuming teaching schedule takes over my life (1st year Anatomy...
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Misadventures in prehistoric animal reconstructions - The many faces of the...
This is Desumon, a cartoon desmostylian that was created by a natural history museum in Japan to help introduce the Desmostylia to the public. Desmostylians are very popular in Japan, which is just...
View Articlethe problem with microwear #1 (of many to come)....or... "if seacows eat...
Although I haven't published as much as I would like on the subject yet, many of you that know me know that I have spent an inordinate amount of my research life focused on the study of microscopic...
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Adventures in prehistoric animal reconstructions - A preview of a new...
Last summer (2008) I went to Victoria, British Columbia, to work on a new specimen (collected on my birthday in the summer of 2007) of a desmostylian that came from a locality similar to the type...
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Archosauriform dentitions possibly constrained by development differently...
Hi folks, I'm glad to be back after something of a hiatus. I had some important personal reasons to be away, but now am back in business and have several posts ready to go for the next several weeks,...
View ArticleTooth development in Trichechidae Part I
Alright, so this is not a complete post, but it's a start.This Monday I will be visiting the Mammalogy Collection at the AMNH for one last data collection trip for the study of tooth development in the...
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Recent Events: Physical Drivers and Marine Tetrapod Evolution – Symposium at...
It has been WAY too long since my last post, my sincerest apologies. I was consumed with a handful of projects, some of which are submitted, and some of which I presented at the Society of Vertebrate...
View ArticleEmerging New Research 1 – Recent Aquatic Amniote Literature Reviewed
Now that I have gotten the news of the recent symposium out of the way, I’d like to present a new type of post for me – an annotated review of recent literature on aquatic amniotes and matters relevant...
View ArticleAquatic Amniote Reboot - coming soon!
Hi everyone,Gosh, it has been way too long. I've learned quite a lot about blogging, especially what NOT to do. That primarily is: always have posts ready in advance, schedule, and keep at it.So, let...
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