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. We look forward to your comments on this series.
The dead-pan ears of a menacing wildebeest
Connochaetes gnou photo © Vassil The dead-pan ears of a menacing wildebeest The black wildebeest is unique among African hoofed mammals in having the ear plain brown on both...
What unisex really means to the spotted hyena
What unisex really means to the spotted hyena https://vimeo.com/36715999 Crocuta crocuta © botswanadreams The spotted hyena has been described as sexually monomorphic because the...
Sex as work or play: spotted hyena versus human
Crocuta crocuta photo by botswanadreams via Vimeo Sex as work or play: spotted hyena versus human The human species and the spotted hyena, both intelligent, socially complex...
Eland and moose exemplify lip-reading ruminants
Taurotragus oryx photo © Quartl Eland and moose exemplify lip-reading ruminants Alces alces photo © Przykuta Ruminants – including the largest species of antelope and deer –...
More lipstick on deer than on antelopes
Aepyceros melampus photo © Muhammad Mahdi Karim More lipstick on deer than on antelopes The mouths of antelopes, such as impalas, tend to be less marked with dark and pale...
The look of feminine circumspection
Homo sapiens, adult male photo © Dan Savage The look of feminine circumspection The adult female human has eyeballs some ten per cent greater in volume, relative to brain volume,...
Domestic dog betrays ancestry by grazing
Canis familiaris photo © Christos Petrou via Flickr Domestic dog betrays ancestry by grazing Canis familiaris photo © Memphis Veterinary Specialists The domestic dog can be...
Buttonquails as diminutive versions of flightless giants
Turnix sylvaticus photo © Dr. Raju Kasambe Buttonquails as diminutive versions of flightless giants Although unrelated to ostriches or emus, the buttonquails of Africa, Asia and...
Lark-buttonquail as scaled-down ostrich
Quail plover (Ortyxelos meiffrenii) photo © Nicolas Huet le Jeune, via Wikimedia Commons Lark-buttonquail as scaled-down ostrich The lark-buttonquail of the Sahel – a diminutive...
Timor as a reality-check for Australian biogeography
Timor-Leste coastline photo © Graham Crumb Timor as a reality-check for Australian biogeography Map showing the relative locations of Timor-Leste and Australia photo © Wikimedia...
Click-language punctuated by a chestnut?
Equus ferus caballus photo © Saffron Blaze Click-language punctuated by a chestnut? The chestnut varies in size and conspicuousness among zebras and wild asses; even within...
Evolutionary divergence between rock hyraxes and rock-wallabies
Petrogale xanthopus photo © Adam Jenkins Evolutionary divergence between rock hyraxes and rock-wallabies Rock hyraxes and rock-wallabies are adapted to extremely similar...
Fishtailing between the sublime and the ridiculous
Mola mola photo © OpenCage Fishtailing between the sublime and the ridiculous The ocean sunfish and the oarfish – which coexist and share the same types of food – have extremely...
Dual-purpose colouration of common eland
Taurotragus oryx photo © Lip Kee Yap Dual-purpose colouration of common eland The northern subspecies of the common eland is perhaps the prime example of a mammal that uses the...
Khoisan rock art shows the true eland
Khoisan rock art © Lukas Kaffer Khoisan rock art shows the true eland Links to the images that inspired this bio-insight: http://rsr.akvo.org/ https://www.flickr.com/...
The unheard beckoning of an asinine chestnut
Common eland young bull (Taurotragus oryx) photo © Yathin S Krishnappa The unheard beckoning of an asinine chestnut Figure 1. Taurotragus oryx photo by farmgirl via Wikimedia...
White crests are symbols of different stripes among antelopes
Nyala angasii photo © Kjersti Holmang White crests are symbols of different stripes among antelopes Nyala angasii photo © Papphase The nyala and springboks are southern African...
Pacing in ancestral horse as a show for predators
Equus caballus photo © Dagur Brynjólfsson Pacing in ancestral horse as a show for predators No wild equid has ever been recorded fleeing with a pacing gait, the normal gait at...
An unremarked convergence between equine and elephantine
The 'toelt' demonstrated by Equus caballus photo © Dagur Brynjólfsson An unremarked convergence between equine and elephantine The ‘hyperamble’ – in which the footfall sequence...
No sitting for this hunting dog
Lycaon pictus photo © Bernard Dupont No sitting for this hunting dog It is surprising that – unlike the Asian hunting dog, the wolf, and the domestic dog – the African hunting...
Non-parallel gaits in hyena and wildebeest
Wildebeest trotting © Dipali Lath, via Wikimedia Commons Non-parallel gaits in hyena and wildebeest Both the spotted hyena and its prey species the white-bearded wildebeests find...