Archiv des Autors: Markus Bühler

Fossil treasures of Messel Pit part II: Crocs and gators

Publiziert am 14. Juni 2020 von Markus Bühler

The fauna of the area which would later become the Messel pit was quite rich in crocs. Some of them strongly resembled modern crocodylians, but some of them were oddballs which differed strongly from any extant species. The biggest crocodylian … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Amphibien, Krokodile/Crocodylians, Museen, Paläontologie, Reptilien | Schreib einen Kommentar

Fossil treasures of Messel pit part I: Fish

Publiziert am 22. Mai 2020 von Markus Bühler

The Messel pit is one of the most spectacular fossil sites of the world. It gives us an incredible insight into a subtropical ecosystem from the Eocene, about 47 million years ago. The special conditions of this Lagerstätte did not … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Evolution, Fische, Paläontologie | Schreib einen Kommentar

Shit happens part IX: The fatal snake hunger of a grebe

Publiziert am 17. April 2020 von Markus Bühler

Bizarre deaths and accidents of animals were already covered for several times on the blog, especially in the shit happens-series. Today I want to feature an interesting specimen to continue this topic. This is a partially dissected great crested grebe … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Reptilien, shit happens, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

The rasping Mouth of Death

Publiziert am 5. Februar 2020 von Markus Bühler

I haven´t posted new stuff on the blog since quite some time, but not because I´m no more writing, but due to the amount of work which is going into some future blog articles. For that reason I was looking … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Fische | 2 Kommentare

The weird little whales that hide within a cloud of their gut fluid

Publiziert am 3. November 2019 von Markus Bühler

Many animals have developed amazing anti-predator adaptions, from mimicry to the ability to autotomize certain parts of their own bodies. One of the most bizarre defense mechanisms among mammals is found in the two exant members of the genus Kogia, … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Blogposts in English, Säugetiere, Wale | 2 Kommentare

A tiny tusk within a broken tusk – just another narwhal oddity

Publiziert am 11. Oktober 2019 von Markus Bühler

The narwhal Monodon monoceros is almost a real-life fantasy creature. But not only due to its historical connection with the legendary unicorn – after all, a whale with an enormous tusk growing out of its head is much more fabulous … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Blogposts in English, Teratologie, Wale | Schreib einen Kommentar

The bird that follows in the footsteps of the dinosaurs

Publiziert am 3. Oktober 2019 von Markus Bühler

Technically, all modern birds are dinosaurs, descendents of a lineage of theropods that evolved complex feathers and the ability to fly. But to be honest… most of them don´t really look very „saurian“ anymore. Those fancy feathers, toothless beaks and … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Dinosaurier, Vögel | Ein Kommentar

Fishing for River Monsters in ancient Egypt

Publiziert am 9. September 2019 von Markus Bühler

I recently visited the Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto, a monumental museum about zoology, paleontology, history, archeology and ethnology. Among the many wonderful objects in the exhibition about ancient Egypt, one artifact caught my eye in particular. It was a … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Archeology, Curiosity of the Day, Fische, Megafische | Schreib einen Kommentar

How Vanuatuan boars grow circle tusks that impale their own jaws

Publiziert am 12. Juli 2019 von Markus Bühler

I wrote some time ago about zoological treasures in archeological, ethnological and historical museums. Today I want to share some quite interesting examples of such „treasures“ which I have seen in the Oceania exhibition of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Blogposts in English, Museen, Säugetiere, Teratologie | 4 Kommentare

Ein bizarrer Hybride aus Narwal und Beluga – wie ich den merkwürdigsten Wal der Welt rekonstruierte

Publiziert am 28. Juni 2019 von Markus Bühler

Kürzliche erregten neue Forschungsergebnisse um einen bizarren Hybriden aus Narwal (Monodon monoceros) und Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) weltweite Aufmerksamkeit. Er wurde nach Angaben eines grönländischen Inuit namens Jens Larsen 1986 oder 1987 in der Disko-Bucht im Westen Grönlands geschossen, und wies … Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein | Schreib einen Kommentar