Today's post is a tribute to that bastion of all knowledge that is true and good (or at leasts contain enough believable information to get you through a NaBloPoMo post about animals), Wikipedia. I advise you to click on the link and find out ever so much more than you thought you would ever possibly need to know about the site that knows everything that you don't or thought you did. Or didn't. I also advise that you check out, or at least hover over, the many links in the article. Knowledge, I bow before thee!
Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel ("original bird" or "first bird"), is the earliest and most primitive bird known. The name is from the Ancient Greek archaios, meaning "ancient", and pteryx, meaning "feather" or "wing".
Archaeopteryx lived in the late Jurassic Period around 150–145 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now.
Similar in size and shape to a European Magpie, Archaeopteryx could grow to about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in length. Despite its small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx has more in common with small theropod dinosaurs than it does with modern birds. In particular, it shares the following features with the deinonychosaurs (dromaeosaurs and troodontids): jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest homeothermy), and various skeletal features.
The features above make Archaeopteryx the first clear candidate for a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds. Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role not only in the study of the origin of birds but in the study of dinosaurs.
The first complete specimen of Archaeopteryx was announced in 1861, only two years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of the Species, and it became a key piece of evidence in the debate over evolution. Over the years, nine more fossils of Archaeopteryx have surfaced. Despite variation among these fossils, most experts regard all the remains that have been discovered as belonging to a single species, though this is still debated.
Many of these eleven fossils include impressions of feathers—among the oldest (if not the oldest) direct evidence of feathers. Moreover, because these feathers are an advanced form (flight feathers), these fossils are evidence that feathers had been evolving for quite some time.
"Hi, I'm an apteryx. A wingless bird with hairy feathers."
Well, it stuck in my head, anyway. It's a line from a character in the B.C. comic strip. I didn't know until just a few years ago, however, that an apteryx is a kiwi bird.
Wow, it's nigh impossible to find a B.C. strip about the apteryx. The only two I could find in English weren't stellar representations of what I was looking for, and the rest were in Italian. I guess the kiwi is to the Italians like Jerry Lewis is to the French. So, here you go. Babelfish didn't do much with the translation, but I caught the gist of the strip.
IMAGINE COMIC STRIP HERE
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Screw the Italian strip, Kzinti found loads of English ones for me. Apparently my google-fu does not work on weekends.
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Well, vox doesn't seem to want to accept the pic in several formats, so my post goes downhill even more. I'll try again later, but I guess for now you'll just have to read the links and enjoy the NaBloPoMo avatar.
I sent out an email to the office today to announce that I'm doing food bank and spca drives again this year. As of Monday, I'll have boxes near my desk for two weeks to collect items from the wish lists of both places. Last year we gathered about 480 pounds of food plus $20.00 for the food bank. I told them I'd like to beat that this year. And even though it doesn't officially start until Monday, our HR lady has already given me some cash for the food bank so she doesn't forget. While I personally enjoy picking out items for the drive, cash is great because every dollar creates five dollars of distributed food, thanks to corporate food industry donations. I was a bit disappointed in our spca haul so I'm hoping to increase that by quite a bit this year. I sent around a rather timely link to an article from today's Ottawa Citizen which mentions the particular spca we're collecting for, adding a note about how animals need just as much help as humans. Wish me luck!
If you are the least bit offended by "naughty" words, do not check this out - I'm dead serious, it's bad. For those of you who share my sense of humour, this is the funniest post I have seen in a very long time on these here internets: http://www.regretsy.com/2009/11/19/lets-play-a-game/. Don't think less of me for laughing my fool ass off.
Today's NaBloPoMo post is brought to you by Not Having the Energy to do Even the Simplest of Internet Searches.
Today was job performance review day for me. It went very well. I'm not sure why I never feel on cloud nine after a review. I mean, provided the company doesn't decide to freeze bonuses next year (this year they paid our bonuses but froze salary increases), I'll get at least 10% for mine because of this review (well, barring the rating doesn't get changed, which is a small but real possibility, for various red-tape reasons). Of course, it's pretty much earmarked already, but that's okay. And we're all crossing our fingers that salaries aren't frozen again. That's all several months away, though, so I pretty much don't think about it until after Christmas.
That's it. I'm in one of those too-much-on-my-mind moods to write any more. This has been a really lame-ass entry for...
And I choose cats. Specifically a crazy long tuxcat named TK. Poor TK has issues and has been through several operations due to big nasty crystals that keep forming in his little kitty body. He is currently recuperating from his latest stinky vet adventure and we wish him all the best. I stole this pic of him from his lovely mom's blog (please don't sue me, LT).
Goatsucker!
Nah, I'm not mean enough to go around insulting youse guyses. I'm just calling out for El Chupacabras. Old EC is what you would call your cryptid (shout out to Ogopogo, yo!). That means it's a creature what's existence has been suggested but for which no scientifical-type proof exists.
EC is a relatively new animal and sightings are common in Puerto Rico, Mexico (La Chupacabra, La Chupacabra... oh wait, that's not right), and the US. Sightings have been reported from as far north as Maine to as far south as Chile. The common appearance is a heavy animal about the size of a small bear, with a row of spines along the back. Hey, I think they're talking about my cousin Mabel!
EC likes livestock like goats, sheep, turkeys, chickens. Various explanations have been given for sightings - coyote or similar dog-like animal with a mange-type disease being fairly common. One variety is said to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as leave behind a sulfuric stench. Dang, Mabel, I know it's you - fess up! You comin' to the reunion?
Anyhoo, while I go track down Mabel, here are a few pictures of what folks think ol' EC looks like.
Gee, I should have told my sister about my vox page years ago. She would have kept me in material several times a day. Hmmm, maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea. Anyway, it sure is proving valuable for NaBloPoMo. I think I should get her a present for all of her help. But sis, just don't expect it until mid-December, okay? And it might be wrapped in Christmas paper.
In North America, what are commonly called buffalo are actually bison. If the animals could talk, they would have verbally bitch-slapped us ages ago. They are the largest terrestrial mammals in North America. Buffalo are those animals from Africa, among other places, that appear to have a helmet of horns, or a severely-parted and shellacked pigtail hairdo. Luckily, at some point they looked in a lake or a mirror, and other buffalo species learned other hairstyles.
Check it out at this "difference between" website. And while you're there, you might find some other fun stuff to look up.
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Kzinti said:
Crap. I can't find my link. Dammit. You know me and links... I had one on the new research they... read more
on *not* a wingless bird with hairy feathers -
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Instructions? Moi? Shee-ya-right... read more
on short and sweet