These were the cats, dogs, bears, weasels, seals, and a sixth group that he called (in Latin) "ferrets".
Sunday, 19 October 2025
Viverrids: Rise and Fall of a Wastebasket
Sunday, 12 October 2025
The Family Life of a Spectral Bat
You might think from the scientific name that this is a close relative of the vampire bat but, while it does belong in the same family, vampire bats are a side-branch of that family thought to have diverged from the main branch around 50 million years ago. Its closest relative may be the far less fearsomely named "big-eared woolly bat" (Chrotopterus auritus), with which it shares some of its unusual feeding habits.
Sunday, 5 October 2025
Delphinids: Killer Whales
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| Orca / killer whale |
It's the biggest "dolphin" of all: the orca or killer whale (Orcinus orca).
That it is a dolphin has never been seriously doubted from a scientific perspective. It is one of just three species of dolphin to be listed as such in the first catalogue of scientific names in 1758 - and one of the other two is a porpoise, and so has since been moved elsewhere. On the other hand, it has been recognised as belonging to a distinct subfamily with the dolphins since 1846, and modern genetic studies confirm that its ancestors diverged from those of most other dolphins unusually early.
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