Our Blog
Note to readers: ‘Biological Expositions’ is a series of blog-posts each of which is equivalent in content to a book chapter. If a bio-bullet is likened to a starter, our routine blog-post could be seen as a light lunch and a biological exposition as a three course meal.
Dingo: Indochinese jackal as much as Australian wolf
photo © Goran tek-en photo © Ashleyflashley The dingo occurs commensally with the human species in Indochina. Its geographical distribution seems to fit...
Giant Panda Puzzleboard
Note to readers: Biological Expositions is a series of blog-posts each of which is equivalent in content to a book chapter. If a bio-bullet is likened to a starter, our routine...
Heaven on a barbed stick
Note to readers: Biological Expositions is a series of blog-posts each of which is equivalent in content to a book chapter. If bio-bullets are likened to a starter, blog-posts...
Shifting roles on the ecological chessboard
Nyamithi Hide, Ndumo Game Reserve, Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa photo by Bernard Dupont An experiment in a tropical ecosystem Location: Ndumo Game Reserve, KwaZulu...
Behind the bio-edge
If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day. ― John A. Wheeler ...there's no reason why scholarship can't be as seriously playful as...
Hunting dogs hide their wolfish emotions
Cuon alpinus photo © Johan Spaedtke Canis lupus photo © Kristi Herbert CC-BY-2.0 Hunting dogs hide their wolfish emotions The wolf, Asian hunting...
The puma as an unmasked leopard
Puma concolor facial colouration photo © Art G The puma as an unmasked leopard Panthera pardus facial colouration photo © Tedmek The puma is the American counterpart for...
Human brewing pays for the enzymes lost by stewing
Kiviaq, a dish made of little auks preserved in the hollow body of a seal, photo in the Public Domain Human brewing pays for the enzymes lost by...
Unexplained convergence of ear flags in klipspringers and buffaloes
Oreotragus sp. photo © Public Domain Syncerus nanus photo © Jamie Lantzy Unexplained convergence of ear flags in klipspringers and buffaloes...
Homo culinarius or Homo fermentarius?
Homo sapiens photo © Kelly B. Homo culinarius or Homo fermentarius? Fermentation of plums photo © brankmaster The modern human species is...
An evolutionary decision to spurn combustive consumption
Matorral, central Chile photo © Inao Vásquez An evolutionary decision to spurn combustive consumption The prime example, worldwide, of fire...
Meadows more powerful than adjacent forests
Mount Revelstoke National Park, photo, via Wikimedia Commons Meadows more powerful than adjacent forests Implicit in every textbook account of...
Marsupials avoid ever-growing teeth
Vombatus ursinus photo © JJ Harrison Marsupials avoid ever-growing teeth Marsupials in Australia have radiated into various forms corresponding...
Dental divergence between armadillos and bandicoots
Euphractus sexcinctus photo © Charles J Sharp Dental divergence between armadillos and bandicoots Isoodon macrourus photo © John O'Neill...
Koala is eucalypt-hyrax rather than Antipodean sloth
Phascolarctos cinereus photo © Dilliff Koala is eucalypt-hyrax rather than Antipodean sloth Phascolarctos cinereus mounted skeleton photo...
Removing D from the list of vitamins
Homo sapiens photo in the Public Domain Removing D from the list of vitamins ‘Vitamin D’ (-calciferol) cannot be called a human vitamin because it is an inactive substance made...
Why has the panther dimmed its lights?
Leptailurus serval normal morph photo © Lee Berger Why has the panther dimmed its lights? Panthera pardus normal morph photo © Lee Berger Most...
Cholesterol as cost of progress from primitive hunter to industrial seed-eater
Glyptodon photo © Heinrich Harder Cholesterol as cost of progress from primitive hunter to industrial seed-eater Lipids vary greatly in their proneness to...
Extra carbon to beat salt as opposed to heat
Atriplex canescens photo © Stan Shebs Extra carbon to beat salt as opposed to heat Vegetation of Great Basin in winter photo © Qfl247 The...
Even a monkey is not clownish enough to wear an orange tag
Leontopithecus rosalia photo © Su Neko Even a monkey is not clownish enough to wear an orange tag Leontopithecus rosalia photo © Steve Washington There is a psychological rather...
Animals too can be meristematic
African elephant (Loxodonta africana) © Muhammad Mahdi Karim Animals too can be meristematic Meristematic tissues are best-known in plants and currently defined as restricted to...