Monatsarchive: Februar 2016

At the birdfeeder: Grosbeaks and bullfinches

Publiziert am 26. Februar 2016 von Markus Bühler

At the end of last year I made several bird feeders, among them two bigger wooden models for seeds. It took some time until I finally managed to instal one of them in the garden, but the birds quickly learnt … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Vögel | Verschlagwortet mit | Schreib einen Kommentar

The remarkably big caudal keels of swordfish

Publiziert am 20. Februar 2016 von Markus Bühler

That´s just another of those posts which focus on lesser known anatomical oddities in otherwise better known animals. This time it´s about one of the most iconic teleost fish, the grand swordfish Xiphias gladius. But I won´t cover its most … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Fische, Megafische | Schreib einen Kommentar

The oral oddities of ruminants

Publiziert am 7. Februar 2016 von Markus Bühler

In the last post I wrote about the strange anatomical structures in the beaks of spoonbills. This time I will cover again oral oddities, but in a fully different class of animals. Ruminants have always been among the most important … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Säugetiere | 2 Kommentare

Birds with weird beaks part III: Why spoonbills are even stranger than you think

Publiziert am 4. Februar 2016 von Markus Bühler

Spoonbills (Plataleinae) have obviously weird beaks. The overall elongated shape with the flat and proximally widened end is already a quite strong modification of the „normal“ bird beak. But you have to take a really close look at the beak, … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar