Two almost bear patterns from a partial Symocyon of a sesamoid “thumb” 14 Apr 2010 I’m really sorry for that pun. I’ve been waiting for years… Anyway, Laelaps (Brian Switek) has a lovely report on the panda’s “thumb” (actually, the sesamoid wrist bone being independently used by a bear lineage and a lineage closer to racoons than to bears, result in the giant panda and the red panda respectively) being an adaptation to a tree-dwelling lifestyle before the bamboo stripping behaviour later evolved. Evolution Evolution
Evolution Verne Grant died 24 Aug 200718 Sep 2017 I’m very late to this, but one of the significant figures in the synthesis, Verne Grant, died in May. Grant’s book The Origin of Adaptations (1963) was one that influenced a lot of theorising about evolution. His essay on species concepts in 1957 pointed out that botanical notions of species… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Couple of organismic blogs 20 Jun 2007 No! Not orgasmic! [There, that should bump up the hits] You all know, of course, the inestimable Darren Naish and his wonderful blog Tetrapod Zoology. What? You don’t? Go there immediately and come back when you’ve read it all, and the old site too. [Fifteen days later] So, I wanted… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Asia’s empty forests 1 Sep 2008 The Annotated Budak has an absolutely wonderful post on megafauna, hominid impacts, biodiversity and biogeography up. Go read it immediately. Read More
Wow. Dennis Miller thinks that joke was obscure. I, on the other hand, am on the verge of being impressed…as soon as I look up a few words…
Interesting, because, IIRC, the corresponding bone on the panda’s ankle is also elongated, which could be explained in view of this tree dwelling past.