Small Obscure African Toads; Toads Part 14

Long-time readers of Tetrapod Zoology will know of my long-term plans to complete a series of articles that cover the TOADS OF THE WORLD, the first part of which was published in 2009….

What, If Anything, Is A Strabomantid?

Welcome to 2024! And we kick things off with frogs. What, I hear you ask, is a strabomantid?

TetZooCon 2023 the report

The tenth TetZooCon – that’s the Tetrapod Zoology Convention – happened between Friday December 1st and Monday December 4th, and I think I’ve just about recovered. Hosted once again at Bush House, King’s College London (KCL), it was the biggest, busiest and most successful of our events so far, as is fitting for the tenth one…

At TetZooCon 2023

Yes, TetZooCon 2023 is happening right now… more or less (I’m writing this on Thursday 30th November)… and that explains the lack of action here lately. A summary of what will be happening at TetZooCon 2023 has already been published here, but here are random thoughts before I leave….

New Species Round-up for 2023, Part 2

In the previous article we looked briefly at those new amphibian and mammal species named during 2023. This time we skip ahead to reptiles… including birds because – yes – birds are reptiles in the phylogenetic sense)….

New Species Round-up for 2023, Part 1

This is a time of ecological crisis and massive loss of animal diversity, make no mistake about it. But there’s still a vast amount of new stuff left to discover, and every year we see a significant influx of newly recognized species, even among tetrapods. In this and the next article, we take a whistle-stop tour of those tetrapod species new to science as of 2023. As ever, remember that new to science is not synonymous with new to humanity…

Announcing the 10th Tetrapod Zoology Convention

On December 1st, 2nd and 3rd, the 10th Tetrapod Zoology Convention – TetZooCon – happens at Bush House, King’s College, The Strand, London. With just over a month to go (yikes), now is time to buy a ticket and consider joining us. It’s going to be the biggest TetZooCon so far, and hopefully the best. Here’s a rundown of what’s due to happen…

Birdwatching in Tajikistan, Part 2

Welcome to the second of my articles on birdwatching in Tajkistan in Central Asia….

Birdwatching in Tajikistan, Part 1

I’ve recently returned from the most extraordinary trip to Tajikistan in Central Asia, an expedition that I and a team of colleagues made for… well, I can’t say precisely what for, but I will say that it involved field research on enigmatic, alleged large mammal species.

Alan Feduccia’s Romancing the Birds and Dinosaurs: Forays in Postmodern Paleontology

For something like four decades, Dr Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina has been arguing that everyone is wrong about dinosaurs….

The Remarkable Muscovy Duck

A great many ducks are remarkable. Among them is the Muscovy duck Cairina moschata. Let’s just consider for a moment how remarkable Muscovy ducks are…

The Strange Case of the Minnesota Iceman, Part 2: A Review of Heuvelmans's Neanderthal

Time for the second part in my Minnesota iceman series. The article you’re able to read was originally published at ver 3 (the Sci Am years) in two separate parts. For the first part on the Minnesota iceman, go here…

The Strange Case of the Minnesota Iceman, Part 1

The modern-day corpse of a human-like hominid, preserved in a block of ice, encountered by researchers in the 1960s, you say? Surely the zoological discovery of the century!

Laysan Ducks: Not as Degenerate as People Used to Think

I really like ducks, and my god there’s a lot to say about them. Here, we look at a small Hawaiian duck that once stood on the very precipice of extinction, some sources saying that it was reduced to a single individual at one point. I speak, of course, of the famous Laysan duck Anas laysanensis…

Five Years of Tetrapod Zoology ver 4

Today is July 31st, 2023 which means….

The Kleinmachnow Lion is Definitely Not a Lion

Over the past day (20th July 2023), social media accounts have been sharing a brief snippet of mobile phone footage purporting to show a lion (specifically, a lioness) walking at the edge of woodland in the Berlin suburb of Kleinmachnow…

The Great Florida Cassowary Relocation Event of 2023

Regular readers of Tetrapod Zoology will be aware that I’m a big fan of cassowaries….

Controversies in Ratite and Tinamou Evolution (Part I)

In spare time, I’m reviewing Alan Feduccia’s 2020 Romancing the Birds and Dinosaurs: Forays in Postmodern Paleontology. It’s an interesting book for sure, and I have quite a lot to say about it….

The Slightly Surprising Diversity of Zebras, Part 2

Back in October 2022, we looked at the diversity and evolution of plains zebras, a group that includes the Quagga. Here, we carry on with the zebra series, this time looking at Grevy’s zebra….

Birdwatching in Oregon

Back in December 2022, I had the remarkable privilege of visiting Portland, Oregon, for a conference. I’ve longed to visit the Pacific Northwest for my entire life and this was my first ever visit there. It was a dream trip and I had an amazing time, and while there’s a lot I could talk about… today we’re here to discuss THE BIRDS...