Professor & Curator of Vertebrates @ Cal State Univ Long Beach Evol Behavioral Ecol of armor, weaponry, aposematism, antipredator behavior, urban ecology https://www.csulb.edu/mammal-lab Creator https://themammallab.com/ an online mammalogy lab manual
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Found in forests & gardens, Calotes calotes is a diurnal insectivore with excellent climbing skills. Its color-changing ability helps with camouflage and communication. A model species for studying urban adaptation. #TautonymTuesday #UrbanEcology #Reptile #Lizard #Herpetology Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Calotes calotes boasts a long tail, spiny crest, and vivid green body with red or orange on the head during breeding. Males perform head-bobs and push-ups to assert dominance and attract mates. #TautonymTuesday #ReptileBehavior #reptiles #Herpetology Photo: anukma
It’s #TautonymTuesday! Meet Calotes calotes, the vibrant Indian garden #lizard. Native to South Asia, this arboreal agamid is known for its striking coloration and dynamic displays. A classic example of a tautonym in reptilian taxonomy! #Herpetology #CalotesCalotes Photo: Rehman Abubakr #Reptiles
The long spikes may have evolved as sexual signals to attract mates, but later #ankylosaurs might have evolved more functional reduced (less spikey) armor as predation risk increased. Check out the @nature.com paper from Maidment, @richardjbutler.bsky.social, et al.! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Super cool new armored dinosaur from 165mya has been further described! #Spicomellus afer had spiked ribs and huge spikes projecting out of hits hips. It also sported a tail club with spikes and blade-like #weapons down the lateral surfaces, along with a spiked collar! #armor
New paper out today lead by @tsengzj.bsky.social where we test the 150-year-old hypothesis that the unique jaw torus in Nimravus is an adaptation to resist bite forces using FEA🦁🔪our results highlight some functional advantage of the torus, which are amplified at larger gape doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
One of the best part of our annual meeting is getting to announce all of our society's annual awardees! This year, we inducted 5 new Fellows to our society. These fellows were all nominated by their peers for their distinguished contributions to the field. Congrats to all of them! 🎉🦆🐝🪹🐒🦜🎉
And there is actually a SUPER Tautonym (aka nominate subspecies) for the subspecies Lynx lynx lynx! This subspecies is the Northern #lynx from northern Europe and western Siberia. If you made it through to this post, you have achieved uber-nerd status for the day - congratulations! #TautonymTuesday
Solitary, stealthy, and superbly adapted to forested habitats, #Lynx lynx sports tufted ears, a short tail, and large, snowshoe-like paws—perfect for silent movement in snowy forests. Its thick fur and powerful limbs make it a formidable ambush predator. #TautonymTuesday #Morphology
I'm starting a new series called #TautonymTuesday featuring a species where the binomial is the same name for the Genus and species! First up is #Lynx lynx, the Eurasian lynx! This elusive felid is the largest of the four lynx species, found across Europe and Asia. #Wildlife #CarnivoreEcology
Rabaiotti @danirabaiotti.bsky.social & Woodroffe (2019) found wild dogs shift to nocturnal hunting in heat—but moonlight limits this. Pup-rearing restricts this adaptation, raising concerns about climate resilience. Behavior matters in climate models! #ClimateChange link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Each African wild dog has a unique coat of black, white, yellow, and brown patches—like a fingerprint! This striking pattern helps researchers identify individuals in the wild and may aid in social cohesion. #WildDogDay #LycaonPictus #WildlifeResearch Photo: Timothy A. Gonsalves
Today we celebrate Lycaon pictus on World African Wild Dog Day! Known for its large rounded ears, long legs, and unique coat patterns, this social predator lives in packs and relies on cooperative hunting. Unlike other canids, it lacks dewclaws. #WildDogDay #Conservation Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Our #3Dprinted 1/4 scale #humpback whale skeleton is finally complete and hung up in our teaching classroom! My #mammalogy students printed the individual bones, and the #MarineMammalogy class painted and articulated the #skeleton with Dr. Jim Dines! It's about 11 feet long and looks amazing!
It seems that scientists got bored when they named some species -- The western lowlands gorilla: "Gorilla gorilla gorilla" Plains bison: "Bison bison bison" Northern European lynx: "Lynx lynx lynx" South African giraffe: "Giraffa giraffa giraffa" The roof rat: "Rattus rattus rattus"
We’ve got a curious new coworker at our Mukilteo terminal! This is Melvin, lovingly named by our Mukilteo terminal employees. He is an American Mink (Mustela vison) and has been spotted a few times in and around the employee stairwell and along the walkways.
Excited to be the lead feature on the CSU Long Beach home page right now, highlighting our mammal research activities and showcasing student research and our newest field project on small mammals! #CSULB #LongBeach www.csulb.edu/news/article...
This is an astounding act of pillage. Imagine this being your legacy: salting the earth that sprouted Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Car Talk, Sesame Street, This Old House, and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
Guinea pigs were domesticated over 3,000 years ago in the Andes for food and ritual use. Unlike many rodents, they don’t exist in the wild in their current form, making them a fascinating case of human-driven evolution. #Domestication #Evolution #GuineaPigAppreciationDay
Guinea pigs are masters of vocal communication—chirps, purrs, squeals, and “wheeks” all serve different social functions. They form strong bonds, recognize individual voices, and thrive in stable social groups. #AnimalBehavior #GuineaPig #RodentResearch
Happy #GuineaPigAppreciationDay! Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) are social, vocal #rodents descended from wild South American species. They’re herbivores with continuously growing teeth and a unique digestive system that includes coprophagy! #Rodentia #Caviidae #SciComm
New research suggests early humans may have evolved musicality from #chimp group vocal displays used to scare predators. These loud, rhythmic choruses weren’t just noise. They were survival tools: A powerful link between #music & #evolution. www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose... Photo: Martin Muller
#Chimpanzees live in dynamic fission-fusion groups with rich social lives. They form alliances, resolve conflicts, and even show signs of mourning. Their behaviors offer deep insight into the roots of human cooperation and culture. #AnimalBehavior #SocialIntelligence Photo: janegoodall.org
Happy #WorldChimpanzeeDay! #Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) share ~98.8% of our DNA. They live in diverse African habitats, from rainforests to savannas, and show incredible #intelligence, empathy, and tool use. #Primates #GreatApes #Conservation
Because every #bluesky timeline needs this little cutie! 😊 #dog #dogday
You didn't need a video of a happy armadillo playing in a sprinkler, but here you go #bluesky ... ☺️
Finally, Meg Wyman et al in 2017 found that meerkats reduce their soft “close calls” when noisy pups are present, likely because the pups’ begging calls already help maintain group cohesion. Dom females call more near pups, hinting at strategic signaling. doi.org/10.1093/cz/z... #AnimalCommunication
Another new study found even in dominant pairs, female #meerkats sometimes mate outside the group—but not for “good genes.” 23 years of data show extra-pair paternity is shaped more by social dynamics than genetics. doi.org/10.1093/behe... #MeerkatScience #BehavioralEcology #wildlifebiology
Happy #WorldMeerkatDay! New research shows meerkats don’t just forage randomly. Individuals hold consistent positions in the group. Dom females lead but gain less weight; older meerkats shift to the sides. Social roles matter! doi.org/10.1016/j.an... #MeerkatBehavior #AnimalEcology
Join us!!! 2 (!) PhD positions on wild chimpanzees and bonobos in the Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group and Wildminds Lab!!! 🤩🤩🤩
Sclerite thickness and frequency of sclerite perforations increased over time, suggesting that predation strongly drove the evolution of early animals and the existence of a Cambrian Arms Race.
So cool! The oldest evidence of a predator-prey arms race—from the Cambrian! Fossils of Lapworthella fasciculata show prey thickening their shells over time in response to predator attacks. Microevolution in action, over 500 million years ago! #Paleontology #Evolution www.cell.com/current-biol...
One of our ongoing unpublished projects led by Mariana Leyva involved measuring quills from museum skins and has shown that species with more robust quills have stronger warning coloration and experience greater risk from mammal predators than bird predators. #aposematism
Crofts & Stankowich 2021 discussed how porcupine quills are passive puncture tools with microscopic barbs that reduce penetration force but increase removal damage. These evolved spines anchor into predators and deterring repeat attacks. #WorldPorcupineDay doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
Porcupine quills are modified hairs. N Amer species' quills have barbed tips that detach easily when threatened. Contrary to myth, they can’t shoot them! North American species have ~30,000 quills and excellent climbing skills. #Porcupines #Mammalogy #SciComm
Happy #WorldPorcupineDay! Porcupines are rodents with over 30 species across the Americas, Africa, and Asia. They’re herbivores, mostly nocturnal, and known for their iconic quills used for defense, not offense. #PorcupineDay #WildlifeScience
Interestingly, the "Buffalo Bills" NFL team has a bison as its mascot but while the bison is called an American Buffalo, it is not a true buffalo, which include African buffalo (Syncerus) & water buffalo (Bubalus). The team is named after "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Very confusing! 😆 #BuffaloBills
Thanks to tribal leadership and conservation efforts, bison are thriving. They hold deep cultural significance for many Indigenous nations and are vital to restoring prairie landscapes. #BisonRestoration #IndigenousConservation #NationalBisonMonth #Ecology Photo: USGS
Bison have muscular shoulders to hold up their huge heads and thick coats for winter survival. Their grazing shapes prairie ecosystems, supporting biodiversity and soil health. #BisonEcology #KeystoneSpecies #GrasslandConservation #SciComm Photo: Jack Dykinga
July is #NationalBisonMonth! The American #bison (Bison bison) is North America’s largest land mammal. While they once numbered in the tens of millions, they were driven to near extinction by the late 1800s. #BisonRecovery #WildlifeScience #ConservationHistory
The joys of being a professor! Copied straight from my anonymous student evaluations from my Spring course in Mammalogy. All of the other responses were like the green ones 😊. There's always at least one red one, though... Can't please everyone...
I've always been curious if this was the reason for the scaly-tails!! Scaly-tail organ enhances static stability during Pel’s scaly-tailed flying squirrels’ arboreal locomotion | Journal of The Royal Society Interface royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
I talked about our research, basic coyote behavior and life history, how living in urban communities impacts coyote behavior, and what works to reduce conflict between humans and coyotes. It was good to take questions from the council members and have a thoughtful discussion about urban wildlife.
I was asked by the Seal Beach Police Department to speak to the Seal Beach City Council last night about urban coyote behavior and conflict as they review their revised coyote management plan.
The Iberian lynx was once the world’s most endangered cat—now recovering thanks to habitat restoration and rewilding. Lynx face threats from habitat loss, roads, and prey decline. #LynxRecovery #WildlifeConservation #BigCatDay photo: Diego Delso
Lynx have thick fur, large padded paws for snow travel, and keen eyesight for twilight hunting. Their ear tufts may aid in sound direction or communication. These adaptations make them elusive and efficient predators. #LynxAdaptations #CarnivoreEcology #SciComm
Happy #InternationalLynxDay! Lynx are medium-sized wild cats with four species: Eurasian, Canada, Iberian, and bobcat. Known for their tufted ears and stealth, they are solitary hunters adapted to forests and mountains. #WildCatConservation #Lynx #WildlifeScience
Day 2 of transect setup for our collaborative grazing project is done! Thanks to this great crew of awesome MS students for their hard work! We're interested in how different grazing treatments can reduce non native species and wildfire fuel!
Long, exhausting day yesterday setting up new small mammal trap transects for a project on grazing impacts on non-native vegetation and fire growth. Day 2 today!
Black bears are solitary, intelligent, and curious. They help disperse seeds and aerate soil. Human-bear conflict is rising due to habitat loss—education and coexistence strategies are key. #BearConservation #HumanWildlifeConflict #Ecology #BlackBearDay Photo: Paige Marple
Despite their name, black bears can be black, brown, cinnamon, or even blonde. They have strong limbs for climbing, a keen sense of smell, and can gain over 100 lbs in fall to prepare for winter torpor. #BearBiology #WildlifeResearch #SciComm photo: Outdoors International
Happy #NationalBlackBearDay! The American black bear (Ursus americanus) is the most widely distributed bear in North America, found from Alaska to Florida. Omnivorous and adaptable, they play a key role in forest ecosystems. #WildlifeScience #BlackBear #Mammalogy
Unique among deer, both sexes grow antlers! Males shed them after rut, while pregnant females keep theirs through winter. Antlers grow fast—up to 2.5 cm/day—and are used in foraging and dominance. #CaribouAntlers #WildlifeBiology #WorldCaribouDay #Zoology photo: Michael Miller/Univ Cincinnati
Caribou have hollow fur for insulation, large nasal turbinates to warm cold air, and wide, concave hooves that act like snowshoes. These adaptations help them thrive in extreme northern climates. #CaribouAdaptations #ArcticWildlife #SciComm #Mammalogy photo: Meeks, N.D. and Cartwright, C.R. 2005
Happy #WorldCaribouDay! Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are Arctic-adapted ungulates that evolved ~2 million years ago. They migrate up to 5,000 km/year and are vital to tundra ecosystems as grazers and prey. #WildlifeScience #Caribou #Evolution #ArcticEcology
You can support sea lion conservation by: -Reporting stranded or entangled animals to local rescue networks -Reducing plastic use and supporting sustainable seafood -Sharing research and raising awareness #ProtectOurOceans #SeaLionDay2025 #WildlifeScience
Research on sea lion health, migration, and population dynamics is essential for conservation strategies. Collaborative efforts between scientists, governments, and local communities are making a difference. #MarineConservation #OceanScience #SeaLionResearch
Sea lions help maintain the balance of marine food webs. However, they face growing threats from: -Climate change (affecting prey availability) -Entanglement in fishing gear -Pollution and habitat degradation #MarineConservation #OceanScience #SeaLionResearch
The California sea lion can dive over 900 feet and hold its breath for up to 10 minutes!
Happy World Sea Lion Day! Today we honor the seven species of sea lions, marine mammals known for their intelligence, agility, and social behavior. Found across the Pacific Ocean, sea lions play a vital role in marine ecosystems as both predators and prey. #WorldSeaLionDay #MarineMammals #SciComm
Congrats CSULB Class of 2025!
You can support tree kangaroo conservation through organizations like the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (www.zoo.org/tkcp) & advocating for rainforest protection policies. Every voice matters in preserving these incredible creatures! #ActForWildlife #RainforestConservation #TreeKangarooDay2025
Species like the Matschie’s tree kangaroo are listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Conservation efforts focus on: Habitat protection Community-led conservation Captive breeding and reintroduction programs #ConservationScience #TreeKangaroo #Biodiversity
There are 14 known species, many of which are threatened due to habitat loss and hunting. Tree kangaroos are important seed dispersers and indicators of forest health.
Happy Tree Kangaroo Day! Tree kangaroos are unique marsupials adapted to life in the treetops. Unlike their ground-dwelling cousins, tree kangaroos have strong forelimbs and long tails for balance, making them agile climbers in dense rainforest canopies. #TreeKangarooDay #WildlifeConservation
New lab t-shirts are in! 🥳🦨🦝🐯🦔🫎
😆 Hopefully the condor wasn't feeding at the time...
yes, and @gwenckatz.bsky.social , in a cruel twist of fate, I don't believe their Latin binomial is posted on a sign at the exhibit! 😈 SD Zoo has mish-mash of signage, some have binomials, others don't! The other tautonyms do have the binomial stated though.
That IS a tautonym but the zoo does not have them on exhibit.
Lol - mammals only in my mammalogy class! And there are a couple of mammals like that at the zoo too: Suricata suricatta (meerkat) and Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (capybara)! I wonder how those happened.
There are only a few dozen tautonym mammals (exact same name for the Genus and species) and only 3 at the zoo - diabolical!
In perhaps the nerdiest question I have ever written, I just added a bonus extra credit task to my San Diego Zoo field trip scavenger hunt: the first 2 students that email me photos of themselves next to exhibit signs of TWO mammals that are “tautonyms” will win a sticker and 5 extra credit points!
Final lab of the semester in mammalogy: Order Rodentia!
Honored to be awarded the 2025 @CSULB Distinguished Faculty Research, Scholarly, & Creative Achievement Award for my scientific research. I wasn't able to attend the ceremony last week, but I'm grateful for the recognition of my efforts & the hard work of my students and collabs.
The Department of Defense deemed a story about baseball hero and civil rights leader Jackie Robinson's time in the Army as "DEI" and deleted it.
A bite from a blue-lined octopus can kill a person. But for a female octopus, it's a temporary sedative that allows her mate to escape becoming her final meal. That story and more of the best from @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
Looks like I'll be on sabbatical in Spring 2026! Woohoo!
Proud to be part of this massive collaboration (217 authors!) out today in Scientific Advances examining diel activity in mammals using camera data from all over the world! www.popsci.com/environment/...
David Northall captured this amazing photo of a honey badger getting quilled by an African porcupine - a finalist for Wildlife Photographer of the Year for best photo. Awesome - two of my favorite animals in the world. Honey badger don't care...
sure thing
Sent in a special flight from China.
Look at this map. Look at it! This is what Amur Falcons do! Their migration is jaw-dropping. You do not want to miss Suresh Kumar's @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social webinar next week! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/amu...
Xin Bao and Yun Chuan look like they're wondering how the hell they got to San Diego from China. Or maybe it's just jetlag! @sandiegozoo.bsky.social
We are meeting with a lot of county agriculture commissioners right now as we prepare to launch a new study (in January) on reducing livestock🐂🐑🐐🦙depredation by cougars🐱 in California. I hope we can get lots of #LivestockOwners to participate!
A remarkable experience here at my house yesterday. I saw something moving in a tree outside my office window and I thought it was a squirrel at first. It wasn't. It was a very wet, very hungry Northern Olingo: a nocturnal creature that is incredibly difficult to see and not common 1/3 #mammals 🌿
Why are we listening to the opinions of "sick animals" when we should be using proven scientific methods to narrow down the source?? Just who ARE these "sick animals"? I bet they're on X...
Mr. Murderbritches is such a badass name... Video is worth a watch!
New study from @jmappes.bsky.social et al shows that wood tiger moths show variable warning colors, but genetic constraints don't limit their efficiency. Faster development reduces fecundity, highlighting complex trait interactions. academic.oup.com/evolut/artic... #aposematism #EvolutionaryBiology
Had the privilege of teaching with Lynn as a postdoc - a powerful mind.
For a full online #mammalogy lab resource with detailed Order and Family accounts, study guides, skull images, and technique exercises, checkout themammallab.com!
Check out the antics of Solana the Anteater @anteatersolana.bsky.social from the Singapore Zoo!
Family Cyclopedidae ("circle foot"), the silky anteaters, have light silky fur, big eyes, and are much smaller than other anteaters. These arboreal creatures live in forests from Brazil to Mexico, using their long tails to navigate trees and feasting on ants, termites, and beetles. #Wildlife #Nature
Giant anteaters & tamanduas are incredible! Giant anteaters, weighing up to 39kg, can eat 35K ants a day with their long, sticky tongues. 👅🐜 Tamanduas, smaller and more arboreal, use their prehensile tails to navigate trees. Both have strong claws for defense and foraging. 💪 #Biodiversity #Animals
First up is Family #Myrmecophagidae (𝑚𝑦𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑐𝑜+𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑠 = ant + eat), the #anteaters and #tamanduas! With mid-sized to large bodies (but larger than Cyclopedidae), long tubular snouts, & powerful claws, these edentate (toothless) creatures are masters at devouring ants and termites. 🌿 #Wildlife #Nature
Today we explore the #anteaters (Order #Pilosa: Latin 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑠 ="hairy"). Suborder Vermilingua means "worm tongue" and describes their long protrusible tongues used to capture ants and termites. Read on about the two Families: Myrmecophagidae and Cyclopedidae!
Male African elephants develop distinct personality traits as they age Wild males show consistent individual differences in aggression, dominance and friendly behavior www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
Thanks! We're proud of what we've been able to accumulate. This is a just a tiny selection of specimens from this one lab.
.... rodent zygomasseteric morphology, and review of #Primates, Scandentia, Dermoptera, and #Lagomorpha
