biomedicalephemera:

Pangolin - Manis spp.

The eight species of the pangolin genus, Manis, have been the object of curiosity for centuries, but it wasn’t until recently that their true position in the tree of life was understood. As insect-eating creatures that are highly specialized to lick ants and termites (and other nesting insects) from deep inside their nests, they were long thought to be closely related to the giant anteater and other Xenartha. It turns out, however, that this is an example of convergent evolution, where unrelated species develop the same specialization to perform the same function.

Thanks to genetic studies, we now know that the pangolins are most closely related to the order Carnivora. They’re the only extant member of their own order (Pholidota), however.

In addition to their highly-specialized tongues, pangolins have both scales and fur, providing a tough armor on their back and a soft under-belly, allowing them the ability to roll into a tight ball. Their skunk-like scent glands also allow them to spray an acrid deterrent in the face of predators prior to rolling up. Thanks to these defenses, the only serious predators that pangolins face are humans.

Unfortunately, two species of the genus are now known to be endangered thanks to traditional medicine and smuggling. Protection efforts and enforcement in most areas of rural Asia are lacking due to many factors, and habitat destruction combined with continued hunting does not lead to a positive outlook for those species affected.

The Book of the Animal Kingdom: Mammals. W. Percival Westell, 1910.

gastornis:

The Javan Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) once roamed the forests and mountains of theisland ofJava inSoutheast Asia. Last seen in 1976, these cats went extinct due to habitat loss, diseased prey species, and humans infringing on their natural habitat after civil unrest.

More reading:
IUCN Red List
A taxonomic revision of the tigers (Panthera tigris) of Southeast Asia (2006)
The Javan Tiger and the Meru-Betiri Reserve: A Plan for Management (1980)

Hasselet’s Dendrobium - Dendrobium hasseletii

This orchid lives high in the hills and mossy, montane forests of the Malaysian peninsula, as well as in Sumatra and Java. It has sparse, thin leaves, on a sturdy bamboo-like stalk. The flowers bloom from leafless parts of the stalk, in late summer and early fall. Despite its elegance, this orchid is one of the more difficult keepers, and as such is not widespread in the gardening and botanical circles.

Collection d’orchidées: aquarelles originales. Unknown German author/artist, late 1800s.

biomedicalephemera:

Method of the mussurana’s attack upon the jararaca.

Note the size difference between the two snakes. The mussurana is able to consume comparatively large snakes because its digestive system compresses the body of the other snake into a wave-like shape.

Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Theodore Roosevelt, 1914.

On pandas, preservation, and personal opinions.

Condor Vulture [Andean Condor - Vultur gryphus]

Andean Condors subsist almost completely on carrion, and unlike some vultures, are not inclined to hunt and kill fresh prey. However, as the largest flighted bird, one can almost see where the fear of infant abduction would come about.

Arcana: Or, The Museum of Natural History; Containing the Most Recent Discovered Objects. George Perry, 1811.

“Feldhase” - Field Hare

More widely known as “Young Hare” or “Wild Hare”, Albrecht Durer’s 1502 painting of Lepus europaeus is widely recognized as one of the masterpieces of observational art.  The gouache and watercolor methods used by Durer went against many taught in his day, and afforded his paintings a much more realistic nature than most early still life  pieces by other artists.

Feldhase. Albrecht Dürer, 1502. Gouache and watercolor on paper: 251 × 226 mm.

biomedicalephemera:

Method of the mussurana’s attack upon the jararaca.

Note the size difference between the two snakes. The mussurana is able to consume comparatively large snakes because its digestive system compresses the body of the other snake into a wave-like shape.

Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Theodore Roosevelt, 1914.

Here’s a jararaca! I’m still gonna find that other one, whether it wants to be found or not…

neaq:

Before and After: Dassen Island was once the home of 600,000 African penguins. It’s a much different story today. Paul reports from the field with a grim history lesson.

Nature is brutal.

Solitary tiger vs. African elephant!

Boa constrictor vs. crocodile!

Swordfish vs. everything aquatic!

It’s a veritable SPIKE TV show!

Hunting Big Game in the Wilds of Africa, Containing the Thrilling Adventures of the Famous Roosevelt Expedition. J. Martin Miller, 1909.

cwnl:

The First Lady of DNA

The story of Rosalind Franklin never ceases to fascinate, and the publication of her biography as told by Brenda Maddox is indeed pertinent: celebrating 50 years of the most illuminating discovery in life sciences, namely the revelation of the structure of DNA. In the 25th of April 1953 issue of Nature, three consecutive short papers ushered in a new era in biology by unveiling an ingenious model of the DNA structure, together with the X-ray diffraction data crucial for its formulation.

The best known of the three papers is the one by James Watson and Francis Crick, who both then worked at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University. Watson and Crick proposed that DNA forms a right-handed helix composed of two anti-parallel DNA strands, which are kept together by specific hydrogen bonds between adenines and thymines and between guanines and cytosines. The notion of complementarity was born, and it immediately suggested a conceptually simple mechanism for copying genetic information over generations of cells and organisms.

The other two papers presented X-ray data obtained by two research groups at King’s College, London, one led by Maurice Wilkins and the other by Rosalind Franklin. It was Wilkins who initiated the X-ray diffraction studies of DNA fibres and who obtained the first promising diffractograms suggesting that DNA could be helical.

However, it required the experience and experimental skills of Franklin to obtain high-quality X-ray diffractograms that contained the definitive information that Watson and Crick needed to propose their famous DNA model.

One of my favorite women in science.

I’m so glad that Rosalind Franklin’s work has been getting increasing coverage in the past decade and a half or so…she was an amazing woman who wasn’t afraid to call out her male colleagues (one who was her direct superior) when they were clearly bullshitting things to push their own (incorrect) theories.

For so many decades she hasn’t gotten the recognition that she deserves…hell, even Wilkins was far more lauded than she was, and he was only loosely involved in the theoretical work before Franklin figured out how to image the double helix using her own techniques. She deserves to be as lauded as Watson and Crick, not just for her work on DNA, but for her work on the tobacco mosaic virus, viral mechanisms, and x-ray imaging techniques in general.

Sadly, she passed away from cancer just a few years after this work was completed. Had she lived a longer life, I could easily see her being at least the equivalent of Barbara McClintock or (maybe) Anita B. Roberts. She would have been such a boon to Dorthy Hodgkin’s work.

Ammonitida

Can’t get much better than Hackel’s ammonites, in terms of illustration value. There are a few old interpretations of them as living creatures out there that look basically like the nautilus. Despite this, they’re more closely related to the extant coleoids - the squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish.

Kunstformen der Natur. Ernst Haeckel, 1904.

Method of the mussurana’s attack upon the jararaca.

Note the size difference between the two snakes. The mussurana is able to consume comparatively large snakes because its digestive system compresses the body of the other snake into a wave-like shape.

Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Theodore Roosevelt, 1914.