I was looking through some “old” pictures I had taken and ran across this excellent example of crypsis:
Can you see me?
Photo taken in Joshua Tree National Park (California), six years ago tomorrow (3-12-2006).
Camouflage
March 11, 2012
Leave a Comment » | 
Biology, Natural selection, Personal, Zoology | Tagged: camouflage, crypsis, Joshua Tree National Park | 
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Posted by Troy Britain
The 45th Carnival of Evolution is now available!
March 6, 2012And it’s just lousy with bugs! This month the Carnival of Evolution hive is infesting Splendour Awaits, weblog of photographer and amateur insect enthusiast Adrian Thysse.
Creep or crawl your way over there and check out all the invertebrate wonderfulnessness!
Note: The Carnival is trying something a bit new this go around by presenting the article summaries and links in Google Docs – Presentation (a slide show format). If you have any difficulties seeing the slide window, please try another browser (Google Chrome worked best for me).
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
- CoE #44 CoE#43
- Carnival of Evolution #42 (The Hitchhikers Edition)
- CoE #41 CoE #40 CoE #39 CoE #38
- CoE #37 CoE #36 CoE #35 CoE #34
- CoE #33 CoE #32 CoE #31 CoE #30
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
Leave a Comment » | Biology, Blogging, Defending evolution, Education, Evolution, Natural selection | Tagged: arthropods, blog carnival, Blogging, Carnival of Evolution, evolution, insects | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
Creationists are just buggy about bugs
February 29, 2012A few months back Frank Sherwin, “Senior Science Lecturer” at the Institute for Creation Research, launched an amusing attack on evolution that is nigh on word-salad; this time focusing on insects, and how they are supposedly problematic for evolutionary theory.
As usual it is stated with the confidence and the faux authority that is typical of “creation science” practitioners but when you actually look at it and try to make sense of what is being said it quickly becomes apparent that much of it is really unintelligible nonsense.
Like this:
5 Comments | Antievolution, Biology, Creationism, Defending evolution, Evolution, Paleontology, Science, Systematics, Zoology | Tagged: arthropods, bugs, crickets, evolution, fossils, Frank Sherwin, ICR, insects, Institute for Creation Research, Paleontology | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
Hyracotherium misinformation at scientificamerican.com
February 27, 2012
I am going to give another wag of the finger, this time to Scientific American. They posted a number of paintings of reconstructions of various extinct “horses” in a picture gallery titled “Ancient Miniature Horses”, which includes an entry for the famous “dawn horse”, Hyracotherium.
However, the problems lies not in the painting, which is probably a reasonable guesstimate of what Hyracotherium might have looked like in life but rather with the blurb of information included with the painting:
Hyracotherium This genus of small early horse roamed the early woodlands of Asia, Europe and North America some 55 million to 45 million years ago. It was already larger than Sifrhippus, weighing about 22.7 kilograms. But when Richard Owen first discovered Hyracotherium in 1876, it was so diminutive that he thought it was some unknown hyrax species, a group of extant mammals that live in Africa and the Middle East.
Painting by Heinrich Harder used by S.A.
No, no, no, a thousand times no! It is bad enough when creationists claim that Hyracotherium is merely a hyrax (rather than a ancestral horse) and claim that Richard Owen thought so as well but to have a venerable science publication like Scientific American falling into the same pit of misinformation is extremely vexing.
4 Comments | Comparative anatomy, History of Science, Paleontology, Science, Science in the media, Systematics | Tagged: Eohippus, Hyracotherium, hyrax, Richard Owen, Scientific American | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
Happy Darwin/Lincoln Day!
February 12, 2012
…the Emancipator and the Evolutionizer, together again!!!
Happy Darwin/Lincoln Day everyone!!!
Leave a Comment » | Civil rights, Evolution, History, Politics | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Darwin day, Darwin's birthday, Holiday, Lincoln's birthday | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
The Proceedings of the 44th Carnival of Evolution is now available
February 9, 2012Ladies and Gentlemen… Mesdames et Messieurs… Damen und Herren… The Carnival of Evolution XLIV! This month the carnival is inhabiting The Atavism (great name) and is cleverly set up as a scientific symposium. See for yourself.
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
- CoE #43
- Carnival of Evolution #42 (The Hitchhikers Edition)
- CoE #41 CoE #40 CoE #39 CoE #38
- CoE #37 CoE #36 CoE #35 CoE #34
- CoE #33 CoE #32 CoE #31 CoE #30
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
Leave a Comment » | Biology, Blogging, Defending evolution, Education, Evolution, Natural selection | Tagged: blog carnival, Blogging, Carnival of Evolution, evolution, The Atavism | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
Up close and personal with mountain gorillas
January 19, 2012I shared this on Facebook a while back, thought I’d post it here as well―easy content… Seriously though, if you’re not amazed by this then there is something wrong with you.
I love the part were Daddy silverback pulls the young gorilla away from the funny looking hairless ape. I can almost hear him saying; “stay away from that, you don’t know where its been!” Click here for more on the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei).
Leave a Comment » | Animal behavior, Zoology | Tagged: animal behavior, Gorilla beringei, mountain gorilla, primates | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
Symphony of Science – Evolution
January 17, 2012Not my cup of tea* musically but fun just the same:
Hat tip to Michael Barton at The Dispersal of Darwin.
*technically no cup of tea is my cup of tea, as I loathe tea.
3 Comments | Biology, Evolution, Natural selection, Science, The Arts, Zoology | Tagged: Darwin, evolution, music, Symphony of Science | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
The Carnival of Evolution #42 is up!
December 8, 2011Oh no, not again…
Yep, it’s time for the Carnival of Evolution (#42)!!! This month it is being held at The Ocelloid and in case you can’t tell there is a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme. So grab your towel, pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and head on over for the latest batch of evolutionary goodness.
It’s either that or Vogon poetry…
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
- Carnival of Evolution #41
- Carnival of Evolution #40
- Carnival of Evolution #39
- Carnival of Evolution #38
- Carnival of Evolution #37
- Carnival of Evolution #36
- Carnival of Evolution #35
- Carnival of Evolution #34
- Carnival of Evolution #33
- Carnival of Evolution #32
- Carnival of Evolution #31
- Carnival of Evolution #30
Life! Don’t talk to me about life.
1 Comment | Biology, Blogging, Defending evolution, Education, Evolution, Natural selection | Tagged: 42, blog carnival, Blogging, Carnival of Evolution, evolution, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, mostly harmless, The Ocelloid | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
New shirts from Evo-T’s
September 1, 2011And now a word from our sponsor Evo-T‘s! [My internet T-shirt shop I use to help cover costs of domain names, maintain my secret antievolutionist fighting lair etc.]
There are a couple of new additions, one serious and the other not so much. First we have a great quote from noted physicist Stephen Hawking:
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. – Stephen Hawking
Perfect! This shirt comes in basic black with white print, in sizes for both men and women.
Next we have an anonymous “so bad, it’s good” biology joke:
Support Bacteria! They’re the only culture some people have.
Come on, you know that’s funny! Now, I command you to go buy one! They come in both men’s (dark green) and women’s (lighter green) sizes, with white print.
As always:
Please, I don’t want a repeat of the last time. Yellow down and gore everywhere (yuck).
Like this:
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Misc., Personal, Philosophy, Science | Tagged: bacteria, clothing, Evo-T's, Humor, philosophy, philosophy of science, Stephen Hawking, T-shirt | Permalink
Posted by Troy Britain
