article thumbnail

After the recent Gorilla vs Grizzly thread I think this is needed: Gorilla myth busting

Reddit Animals

Claim 1: A gorilla can definitely kill any animal below 400 lbs easily and still put up a good fight for those above that weight class The truth: Forest leopards in Africa are known to kill gorillas, and while rare, the current record is skewed heavily in favor of the leopard coming out the better in these encounters.

article thumbnail

Missing Syrinx Found! Mesozoic Vegavis vocalization verified

10,000 Birds

Primates are exceptional among the mammals, living amphibians (which represent only a small part of the original amphibian family tree) are pretty noisy too. Depending on one’s area of expertise, one might have this sort of knowledge about a few classes of fossils. Very few other vertebrates use sound so socially and so critically.

Groups 170
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

How much bird is there, anyway?

10,000 Birds

This is also a hard question to address because most data on animal size distribution does not compare across classes of animals, and/or focuses on groups that would not be helpful. Comparing mammals, birds, and reptiles, for instance, what is the distribution and range of sizes?

Mammals 177
article thumbnail

What happened with Archaeopteryx?

10,000 Birds

For instance, in primate phylogeny, postcranial traits (bony traits of the body, not the head) are usually useless because we can’t link teeth to bodies in most cases, and the teeth drive the taxonomy (though there are some recent exceptions ). .&# The trait must then be identifiable as to whether or not it exists in a certain species.

Mammals 252
article thumbnail

Birding Sepilok, Borneo (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

In that case, maybe the Banded Woodpecker (23-26 cm) is the right choice as it is right in the middle of the Sepilok woodpecker portfolio and thus a very solid choice for middle-class woodpecker users. At Sepilok, it can be hard to avoid taking photos of some non-birds, such as primates.