Category Archives: Animalia

All animals and general biology

Look like a Wild Turkey

Posted on January 19, 2017 by Roger Gosden

I want to look like a turkey. Don’t misread me. I want to look like one, not look like a turkey. The eyesight of wild turkeys is superior to every other inhabitant of eastern forests with the exception of raptors … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Environment, nature | Tagged artists and painters, Boy Scouts, cross eyes, First Avenue, Look Wide, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, naturalist, optical brighteners, Rembrandt, strabismus, Wild turkey | Comments Off

Feast of the Animals

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Roger Gosden

The Feast is held today, October 4. I don’t mean a feast of animals like a medieval banquet crammed with meaty dishes, but an ecclesiastical “feast” offered for animals, for blessing them and wishing them health and longevity. It commemorates … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia | Tagged Blessing of the Animals, Canticle of the Sun, Dylan Thomas, Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals, St. Francis of Assisi | Comments Off

Who’s seen a Thylacine?

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Only Aussies born more than 90 years ago can make a plausible claim to have seen a living thylacine: according to official records, the last of them died in Hobart Zoo in 1936. And, yet, thylacines still live! Few “extinct” … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Environment, nature | Tagged Bigfoot, Irian Jaya, Loch Ness Monster, Merauke, Tasmanian tiger, thylacine, West Papua | Comments Off

An Axolotl with a Tale for Regenerative Medicine

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Who would imagine that a salamander could offer clues for regenerating human limbs after amputation in an accident and on the battlefield, or even show how to thwart human cancer? Axolotls are the kind of weird creature you might expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Biomedical, Other | Tagged amputation, axolotl, blastema, neoteny, regenerative medicine | Comments Off

National Dog Day

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Roger Gosden

“Every dog has its day” was coined before Shakespeare, but centuries passed until dogs were given their Day. Not until 2004, and a dozen years after National Corndog Day, were they given a deserved honor, and National Dog Day came … Continue reading →