Where are all the field studies?
This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer.
A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork)
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
apnews.com/article/mast...
Fascinating…
10 anuran species x 4 muscles (3D diceCT scan data) x 40 to 168 fibres/muscle = a monumental study of form and function in frog legs by Leavey et al. WOW!! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Eugenia, P.M., Bona, P., Siroski, P. and Chinsamy, A. (2025), Analyzing the Life History of Caimans: The Growth Dynamics of Caiman latirostris From an Osteohistological Approach. Journal of Morphology, 286: e70010. doi.org/10.1002/jmor...
Spent the afternoon helping my students prepare for a big day tomorrow. The first day of sampling for our AHA-funded project starts at 7:30am tomorrow!!!
#artadventcalendar x #fossilfriday Valenictus sheperdi, an extinct tusked (but otherwise toothless) walrus from the Pliocene Purisima Formation of northern California - here shown cruising along an early rocky shore habitat. We named this earlier this year. 🐡🐬🦑🦖
Looking for reviewers before Christmas
Tahlia Pollock @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social has an amazing new study integrating 3D shape, biomechanics, and optimality modelling, helps explain why so many mammals evolve sabre teeth: functional optimality was a key driver behind the repeated evolution of extreme sabre-tooth morphologies.