Our chosen fossil today is Eudibamus cursoris,which was first discovered in Germany and dated at 290 millions years old. This ancient parareptile (not a dinosaur, but appearing much earlier) was just 26 cm long and lived among the early amniotes in the early Permian. At this time, terrestrial vertebrates had rapidly diversified but were almost universally constrained…
Tag: reptile
Rattlesnake strikes are far more sophisticated than a simple ‘spring’ release
More than half of a rattlesnake’s body may be involved in striking behaviour, particularly where the strike is defensive, and the anterior third of body length is usually active when hunting. The remainder of the body ‘anchors’ the snake to a solid base position. Tracking the kinematics of a single strike reveals that different segments of…
Photographer captures turtle skeleton and discovers a clutch of eggs
Ted Kinsman, professor of photographic sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology, found this unfortunate expired snapping turtle at the roadside and made it the subject of his next project. What he didn’t expect was to discover a clutch of eggs within, revealed by X-ray. Turtles may have carry up to 30 fertilised eggs from…
In focus: How the tuatara got its knees
Our guest post this week comes from Sophie Regnault, a PhD student in the Structure and Motion Laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. The patella (kneecap) is probably the largest and most widespread of the sesamoids (a group of…
Skull of a python: can snakes hear through their jaws?
The vertebrate ear tends to have three parts: the outer, middle and inner ear. Snakes have greatly reduced outer and middle ears, yet with just the inner ear and one remaining part of the middle ear they are able to hear. The middle ear ossicle has become connected to the jaw, suggesting that vibrations of…
Anatomy To You 