Snake with Foot Found in China

(Hat tip: David J.) Read the full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6187320/Snake-with-foot-found-in-China.html

This story reminds me of a similar story--and one of my all-time proudest puns (see the title of this old blog entry of mine): http://peltzathand.blogspot.com/2006/11/individual-dolphin-found-with-likely.html

Why 'evolution'?

“Evolution” is the label or single-word concept we use in English as shorthand for what we would otherwise describe as the intellectual contribution of Charles Darwin.

But is this term really the best choice?

Etymologically, the term is derived from the Latin evolvere, meaning unrolling, or unfolding. Merriam-Webster’s defines evolution variously as “a process of change in a certain direction”, “the process of working out or developing”, etc.

I think it’s safe to assume that to most people, the term connotes change. I know that’s what I used to think of when I heard the word “evolution”: a living species changing over time to become something new.

And here’s this, from a prominent book on science education standards (Science for All Americans), regarding Darwin’s intellectual contribution:

“…Prior to Darwin’s time, the prevailing view was that species did not change, that since the beginning of time all known species had been exactly as they were in the present….

One line of thought was that organisms would change slightly during their lifetimes in response to environmental conditions, and that those changes could be passed on to their offspring…

Darwin offered a very different mechanism of evolution. He theorized that inherited variations among individuals within a species made some of them more likely than others to survive and have offspring, and that their offspring would inherit those advantages. Over successive generations, advantageous characteristics would crowd out others, under some circumstances, and thereby give rise to new species.”

(Italics mine.)

So again we see: the focus is on change, undoubtedly a result of our use of the term “evolution” to encapsulate Darwin’s main idea.

I propose to challenge this. Isn’t the existence of species-change less fundamental than common descent (i.e. the notion that all organisms are literally blood-relatives of each other, however distant)?

Wouldn’t common descent better capture the profoundest insight of Darwin’s intellectual contribution?

Mountain Lion Princes of Malibu

(Image source: US Dept. of Agriculture)

Via the Mountain Lion Foundation's weekly newsletter Cougar Clippings, I read this fascinating blog post (LAist.com) about the mountain lions being tracked in the Santa Monica Mountains. (The Santa Monicas are the coastal mountain range along the Los Angeles Metro Area's northwestern edge).

Here's an excerpt:

"The technology used to track the lions is improving fast. Today, the collars send GPS signals to a satellite that are downloaded at park headquarters in Thousand Oaks. They get a handful of locations every 24 hours, one during the day and one every two hours at night, when they are most active.... The tracking of each cat tells a different story, although their lives are all intertwined. Here's a break down of each..."

The post then goes on to describe the almost soap opera-like interactions (!) of all twelve plus mountain lions being tracked. Read it in its entirety here.

My Hollywood Debut

My hand--and my photograph of it with a Pacific Chorus-frog--is now featured on the website for Griffith Park (the "Central Park" of Los Angeles).


To see the original photograph and entry, visit my Orange County Nature post, "Pacific Tree Frog".

I'm hoping that this won't significantly change my lifestyle. If the paparazzi recognizes my palm while I'm out in public places, they'll probably start to follow me around and figure out where I live.

The Jungles of Illinois

(from May 4, 2007)

Amazingly, remnants of a 300 million year old jungle were recently found deep beneath the flat, blacksoil Illinois landscape not far from where I used to live (Champaign), in nextdoor Vermilion County.

Did you get that?

Remnants of a 300 million year old jungle were found by coal miners working no more than a 45 minute drive away from the University of Illinois.

"It covers about 15 square miles, all more than 200 feet below ground, and probably is the largest intact rain forest from that period ever studied, according to Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey."

"'It's that scale that makes what lies just above the Riola and Vermilion Grove mines significant,' he said."

"'We never encountered one whole forest preserved in one shot like this,' Elrick said Monday. 'The fossils just didn't stop."

"It's common to find small pockets of fossilized plants just above coal mines, he said. But in this case, experts believe, a fault that runs through the area unleashed a major earthquake that quickly sank the forest beneath a deep layer of mud, preserving it."

Read the full article here, via the Discovery Channel.

State-Run Schools Soon to be Run by the State

If you support the concept of public education, then I hope this story gives you pause:

"Oklahoma doesn't like Darwin, ... academic freedom"

UPDATE, 3/28/2009:
And now here's this: Will Texas Endorse Creationism?

Death Becomes Autumn

Note: I wrote the below almost exactly two years ago, on an earlier incantation of this blog. It will always hold true, and it is one of my favorite posts. Yet two years later I live in a place that does not experience dramatic seasonal differences.

If you live in a place that does, however, I offer the below as a timely thought for pleasure. As for me, I do miss fall. But seasons in California, are something. More on that, later.

If you’re a fan of creatures and you live in a place that experiences winter—I mean real, lifeless, snowy abyss kind of winter—now is about the time of year when it starts to hit you that you’d better say your goodbyes. There is no better symbol of this time of year than the ambience of the Halloween holiday. For animals, the ominous stench of death is in the air. Plant food sources are going dormant, the night air freezes, and the most one can hope is that he has sufficiently fattened himself up in his previous months of (relatively) carefree existence.

The cloud of death sends amphibians scurrying for shelter under rocks, logs, and underground burrows. Some insects and spiders spin themselves in silken cocoons, perhaps desperately clinging to the belief that they are constructing insulation, not their coffins. Other insects simply give up, sitting patiently while the cloud of death descends upon them, assured by the sight of their eggs (which will weather the storm) that their existence till now has not been in vain.

I don’t here wish to be down on autumn or such “Halloween ambience”—the fact is, I love this time of year. (Along with spring, summer, and winter, autumn is my favorite season.) It’s hard not to love the thrill of the eeriness that accompanies the impending dormancy of life, since we all know that we don’t have to take it seriously—spring will come again.