Tricolored Blackbird Population Crashes
Populations of California’s already endangered tricolored blackbirds (Agelaius tricolor) have fallen by 44 percent since 2011 and 64 percent since 2008, according to a survey coordinated by the University of California, Davis.
Anatomy Makes A Comeback in 'The Unfeathered Bird'
If you pay any attention to the world of zoological research (as you will do, given that you're reading a blog called Tetrapod Zoology), you'll know that the study of anatomy has very much come to the fore in recent years.
Natural History is Dying, and We Are All the Losers
After Near-Extinction, Recovery Declared for Two Island Foxes
Most efforts to rescue threatened species from the risk of extinction involve decades of hard work. Even our country’s national symbol, the iconic bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), required more than 40 years before it had recovered enough to leave the protection of the Endangered Species Act.
Plant Spores Hitch Long-Distance Feather Rides
Tiny spores from mosses, algae and lichens can stick in bird feathers, travel from the Arctic to the bottom of South America and grow into whole new specimens. Erika Beras reports
Pygmy Sloths Could Gain Much-Needed Endangered Species Protection
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) last week announced that the world’s rarest and smallest sloth could deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act (pdf).
Like Dinosaurs, Birds Can and Do Wrestle
No time to finish anything new, gah. In desperation, here’s a classic article from the Tet Zoo archives, originally published in March 2009.
Arctic Fox Origins Traced to Tibet
High terrains might have been the training ground for cold adaptation before the Ice Age struck
Monkeys Show Gender is Not a Fixed Variable in Childhood Behavior
Some say that the differences between boys and girls are just aping nature, but studies of primates tell a more complex story "Boys will be boys" is a popular refrain in schools.
Collaborating Chimps Make for a Sweet Deal
Pinnipeds Descended from One Ancestral Line, Not Two
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for… stem-pinnipeds at Tet Zoo. Or, probable stem-pinnipeds anyway. This minimum-effort post is brought to you on the back of work showing that pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) are monophyletic, not diphyletic, and that the taxa shown here – Potamotherium, Puijila and so on – really are [...]
Grasses' Secret: They Have Flowers, and Some Are Gorgeous
Growing up, I felt certain that grass and most trees did not have flowers. They just had leaves and seeds — that was all I could see, anyway.