A look at the Giant Cheetah, Acinonyx pardinensis – it’s basically a cheetah but bigger (and possibly slower) but it allows us to learn about the role of adaptation as an evolutionary mechanism.
Category Archives: evolution
Caturday Special: The Sand Cat, Felis margarita
The sandcat, one of the cutest and most amazing cats on the planet. This small, adorable bundle of fluff has been known to eat desert monitor lizards its own size and venomous snakes – although mostly it eats small rodents, lizards, birds and insects. They rarely drink, using their efficient kidneys to obtain moisture from their prey. They’re just unbelievable, something this cute should not be so tough but they are hard as nails and can teach us a lot about how we should adapt to our environment rather than unsustainably developing techniques and technologies that force our environment to adapt to us.
Be more sandcat.
On the Origin of a Species – The Slow Worm, Anguis fragilis
A look at one of the world’s most interesting reptiles and one of Britains few native reptiles, the slow worm, anguis fragilis – looking at its evolutionary history, remarkable behaviours and why they’re so great.
Grown Up’s Guides: UK Fossil Hunting
A guide by an adult for adult so they can feel more comfortable going with friends, family or their children to enjoy a day out hunting for fossils. Why? Because it’s cool and there’s a lot to see and learn about like bones and teeth and dinosaurs and ammonites and ammonoids and bivalves and crinoids and trilobites and sharks teeth and all this wonderful stuff. Just get out and do it!
On the Origin of a Species: The Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens
A look at this taxonomically, physiologically, anatomically confusing but absolutely, undoubtedly cute little species, the red panda, Ailurus fulgens. Once thought related to raccoons, or the giant panda, it now stands in a family of its own proving, even to cynics like me, that taxonomy is not just useless bickering about arbitrary classifications.
Caturday Special: The Leopard, Panthera pardus
With this study of the leopard we have written about every extant pantherine. There are no more big cat species of that genus left to cover. The leopard is a beautiful, generalist, opportunist species adapted for a wide variety of habitats, explaining it’s wide distribution. It is a cat also associated with the Greek God Dionysus, the God of wine.
On the Origin of a Species: Tapirs (Tapiridae)
Exploring the tapir family, how they evolved, their natural history and the four extant (currently living) and undisputed species of tapir – the Malayan tapir (Acrocodia indica or Tapirus indica), the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque). I also explore man’s relationship with animals and why tapirs are endangered.
Caturday Special: The Eurasian Cave Lion, Panthera spelaea
A discussion about the European or Eurasian Cave Lion and the interwoven nature of the relationship between lions and humans since prehistory.
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals – 1 – Wasps
It’s about wasps!
Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals: 10 – Bats (Order Chiroptera)
Bats! The order Chiroptera. Our mammalian cousins of-the-night, often considered a scary animal, associated with death, dark, withcraft and misfortune but are they really spooky? I argue no. They are a remarkably diverse order of species and even the spookiest of the bunch, the vampire bat, is a suprisingly conscientious and sharing species. So bats, some people may hate them but I think they’re just misunderstood.
