Mammals
Category archives for Mammals
Bovids Of The World
Posted by Greg Laden on April 13, 2016 
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, there are 143 species of bovids. The Animal Diversity Web is a bit less precise, indicating that there are “more than 140 extant and 300 extinct species.” That second number is highly questionable because today there exist sister species that are so similar I doubt they could be told apart…
How Dogs Won The World
Posted by Greg Laden on November 13, 2015 
Years ago I proposed a theory (not anywhere in print, just in seminars and talks) that went roughly like this. Humans hunt. Dogs hunt. Prey animals get hunted. Each species (or set of species) has a number of characteristics such as the ability to stalk, track, kill, run away, form herds, etc. Now imagine a…
Are alarming whale deaths linked to climate change?
Posted by Greg Laden on August 24, 2015 
We need to act urgently to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas pollution we humans create in order to slow down and eventually stop climate change. In the mean time we see case after case of something happening that seems unusual and that seems linked to global warming. We need not wait for the jury…
Are Pigs Really Like People?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 11, 2015 
We hear this all the time. Pig physiology is like people physiology. Pigs and humans have the same immune system, same digestive system, get the same diseases. Pigs are smart like people are smart. Pigs are smarter than dogs. And so on. Ask a faunal expert in archaeology or a human paleoanatomist: Pig teeth are…
Three pictures of cats
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2015 
Since it is Caturday, and I don’ think I’ve posted these before. A King Cheetah (a rather large form of cat) in South Africa: Picture Of Cat On Top Photo Credit: Gatto Mimmo via Compfight cc
Can Dogs Transmit Ebola? And, should Excalibur be put down? they put down Excalibur.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2014 
UPDATE: They killed the dog. UPDATE: I’m adding this here because it is my current post on Ebola. Thomas Eric Duncan, the person who became symptomatic with Ebola in Dallas, had died at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital (according to news alerts). A nurse’s assistant in Spain caring for Spanish nationals returned with Ebola from…
Baby Cries Cause Concern For Mothers Of Other Species
Posted by Greg Laden on September 20, 2014 
It has long been known by humans that female mammals can be attracted with the call of a young in distress. There is a famous documentary film of the Hadza, a foraging group in Tanzania, in which this method is used by young boys to trap Dasssies (rock Hyrax). First you catch a baby Dassie…
Global Warming Negatively Impacts Wild Monkey Diets
Posted by Greg Laden on September 20, 2014 
Yes, yes, we hear it all the time: More CO2 is good because plants love CO2 That is a rather dumb thing to say for a number of reasons; nature is not simple. You don’t change one variable and expect other variables to respond as though we were turning a garden hose up or down.…
Is Curious George an Ape or a Monkey?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 19, 2014 
Curious George is called a “little monkey” in all of the Curious George literature, TV shows, and movies. But Curious George has no tail, and generally, that means you are an ape. But, there is one monkey with no tail, or at least one that is vestigial and not visible: The Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus).…
Killing The Namibian Black Rhino for $350,000 UPDATED
Posted by Greg Laden on January 13, 2014 
UPDATE (March 27 2015): US gives Texan rhino hunter an import permit A Texan who won an auction to shoot an endangered black rhino in Namibia has been given a US permit to import the trophy if he kills one. The US Fish and Wildlife Service said hunting an old rhino bull helps to increase…