Yes, another flightless fossil bird blog entry… Darren Naish has published a new analysis on terror birds, entitling this one, “Raven, the claw-handed bird, last of the phorusrhacids.” I won’t even try to summarize the amazing things he has written about in his intellectually stimulating posting. Instead, I’ll share three of his remarkable images to encourage you to go look over there and read, firsthand, his answers to the questions: “Was Titanis really alive in the Late Pleistocene?” and “Did Titanis really manage to hang on this late?”
What Is Bigfoot?
Of the routine and infrequent fossil candidates submitted for consideration as to the origins of Bigfoot/Sasquatch, which one is your favorite? I begin with the premise that this unknown, yet-to-be-verified, hairy bipedal hominoid is an actual biological species. Getting beyond the argument of whether or not Bigfoot exists, what do you think might be the fossil candidate best matching the sightings and evidence of the classic Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot, Patty, and the specimens seen during encounters aligned with her, from the Pacific Northwest of the USA and Canada? The reconstructions of William Munns give some new views of how these fossil [...]
What Did A Dodo Look Like?
Besides my recent Cryptomundo postings on the dodo and the moa-nalo, I have written other past entries here, which have reviewed the following often cryptic flightless bird species: elephant bird, more dodo, terror birds, more terror birds, moa, more moa, and takahē. In line with a question during an earlier discussion about how might have the dodo really appeared, the famed artist and Hollywood special effects man Bill Munn, well-known for his reconstruction of Gigantopithecus (below), contacted me. Munns wrote: “I have done scientific reconstructions of the Dodo (of how they may have looked) with all coloration based on actual [...]
More on Caatinga Woodpecker
The following is the uncropped version of the photograph, via the BBC: A lost bird returns. The Caatinga Woodpecker (Celeus obrieni) had not been seen since its discovery in 1926 when Advaldo do Prado came across this one in eastern central Brazil. The country has more globally threatened species than any other. (Image: Guilherme R C Silva/BirdLife) Let us hope for as clear new evidence of the ivory-billed woodpecker will be developed soon. My thanks to Arthur Masloski. +++ Update from Mount Desert Islander. I found an article in Portugese with two nice pictures at this web site. From the [...]
Found After 80 Years: Caatinga Woodpecker
Caatinga Woodpecker, Celeus obrieni , the first sighting since 1926. Photo by Guilherme R C Silva. One of Brazil’s long lost birds, known only from a single specimen collected in 1926, has been rediscovered after an absence of 80 years. The rediscovery of the Caatinga Woodpecker (Celeus obrieni) has delighted conservationists worldwide and gives hope for other “lost” birds feared extinct. The single specimen has been considered a subspecies of Rufous-headed Woodpecker also known from South America. However, recently a recent review by ornithologists involved with the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithologists’ Union concluded that dramatic differences [...]
Moa-Nalo Superducks
Artist’s conception of the moa-nalo examples, Thambetochen chauliodous, and Ptaiochen pau. Image by Stanton F. Fink. Since the dodo was visited here yesterday, our island-hopping journey might as well continue with a view of the Hawaiian flightless birds, the moa-nalo. Moa-nalo are a group of extinct aberrant, goose-like ducks that formerly lived on the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific. They were the major herbivores on most of these islands for the last 3 million years or so, until they became extinct after human settlement. (Yes, the storyline sounds familiar.) The moa-nalo (the name literally means “lost fowl”; an “s” is [...]
New Dodos
The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, and went extinct several centuries ago, we are told. But there remains some controversy surrounding the extinction date of the dodo. In Nature 426, 245 (20 November 2003), David L. Roberts and Andrew R. Solow write in their paper, “Flightless birds: When did the dodo become extinct?” that “the extinction of the Dodo is commonly dated to the last confirmed sighting in 1662, reported by shipwrecked mariner Volkert Evertsz” (Evertszoon). Other sources, however, suggest the date is 1681. Roberts & Solow point out that [...]
Extinct: Caribbean Monk Seal
The news is sad. Until 1995, there was no concerted effort to establish the status of the population of the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis). While there had been only sporadic sightings, many were unconfirmed. Now, it appears, these pinnipeds exist no more. The above image is the only known photograph of a Caribbean monk seal, taken at the Bronx Zoo in 1909. The species was formally declared extinct in 1996, according to some reports. The history of the Caribbean monk seal and its relationship with humans remains unclear, though we have found some evidence to suggest that native tribes [...]
Top 10 New Species of Old and Recent Discoveries
The above is a new species with the common name of the “shocking pink dragon millipede” and the scientific Latin name of Desmoxytes purpurosea. It was first found on 28 August 2006, and first described in Zootaxa 1563: 31–36, 2007. It’s May. The end of May 2008. But apparently there is one more “top ten list” for 2007 that needs to be published. The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) has announced their list of the top ten new species described in 2007, which includes at least a couple extinct animals, as well. The media appears to be confusing this [...]
Save The Porcula
Porcula salvania (“Pigmy Hog of the Saul Forests”), as shown in a hand-drawn lithograph by Joseph Smit for the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. Good-looking, sexy animals get all the media attention, and the unique may be ignored due to human favoritism generally going to the attractive animals. Who cries for the plight of the poor pigs? The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) formerly was spread across India, Nepal, and Bhutan and now only is found in the wild in Assam. Today, the world population, not in captivity, totals a mere 150 or fewer. The species is more than a mere [...]
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