Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Today’s photos are from Athayde Tonhasca Júnior, and the topic is biological nomenclature: how these creatures were named. Do read all the captions. The descriptions are of course from Athayde, and are indented. You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. This beetle had the bad luck of being described in 1937 by Oskar … Continue reading Readers’ wildlife photos
I doubt that many of us accept the existence of yetis, those Himalayan creatures that are supposed to be hairy apes, more or less humanoid. Previous hair and footprint analyses have been inconclusive, though a 2014 paper identified hairs from Ladakh and Bhutan, supposedly coming from yetis, as samples from paleolithic bears (maybe polar bears … Continue reading Genetic evidence shows that yetis are simply bears
by Greg Mayer Sean Graham, Richard Kline, David Steen, and Crystal Kelehear have just published a description of a new species of salamander from the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida (reference at bottom). It’s quite a handsome beast, with bold reticulations and an almost decorative frill of external gills. It’s a species of … Continue reading A large new salamander from the United States
by Greg Mayer The unidentified leucistic bird in the photos sent by my Wind Point correspondent have generated a lot of interesting discussion (as well as a heart-rending tale from one of our regular commenters). Most of the debate has been grackle vs. cowbird. When I first saw one of the pictures (the third of those … Continue reading More about that bird (and readers’ wildlife photographs)
by Greg Mayer In the following photos, we have no problem spotting the bird– it sticks out like a sore thumb. Rather, the problem is the bird is not a nightjar– it’s pretty much the opposite in terms of background matching! We’ve recently paid some attention to color variation in squirrels, and reader Jason sent … Continue reading What bird is that? (and some readers’ wildlife)
by Greg Mayer Why, so can I, or so can any man; But are there any to come when you do call for them?” [Update below.] In writing about today’s Loch Ness Monster Google Doodle, Jerry noted that I have taught about cryptozoology (the science of “hidden animals”) for many years, and we’ve written about … Continue reading “I can call monsters from the vasty deep…
Today’s Google Doodle, which contains this amusing animation, commemorates the 81st anniversary of a photograph (see below) that was long taken to be “proof” of the Loch Ness Monster. First the animation: As the Torygraph notes: The release of the images coincides with the anniversary of the publication of the renowed “Surgeon’s Photograph” of the … Continue reading Google Doodle celebrates (?) Nessie
I’ve had my contretemps with science writer John Horgan on this site, but, except for what’s in the title above, I’ll try to refrain from ad hominems. But I will characterize Horgan’s latest post on his Scientific American blog, “Dear ‘Skeptics’, Bash homeopathy and Bigfoot less, mammograms and war more,” as contrarian, ill-informed, and misguided. (This … Continue reading Criticizing skeptics, John Horgan officially becomes an Internet troll
This was just put up: an audio discussion between Seth “The Thinking Atheist” Andrews and Don Prothero, a prolific paleobiologist and author of one of my favorite evolution books, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters. The introduction begins at about 6:30, and the show continues for about an hour and five minutes after that. … Continue reading Don Prothero discusses fossils with the Thinking Atheist
But we already knew that, didn’t we? Nevertheless, a new paper by Bryan Sykes et al. in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (reference and free download below) used sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to examine the origin of hairs purported to be from various cryptozoological critters like Bigfoot and the yeti. You should be … Continue reading Science shows that yetis and Bigfoots are just well-known animals
