Author Archives: twilightbeasts

Side by side by Homo

Posted on April 27, 2015 by twilightbeasts

Of the many and varied animals that lived alongside the earliest members of our own genus, Homo, few are as captivatingly enigmatic as the hominins that are grouped together as ‘robust australopithecines’, or placed in the genus Paranthropus. These are … Continue reading →

Posted in Paranthropus | Tagged Australopitecus, Dear Boy, Homo, Human evolution, Marky Leakey, Nutcracker Man, Paranthropus, Paranthropus boisei, Paranthropus robustus, Robert Broom, Trowelblazer, Zinjanthropus boisei | 7 Comments

“Nice Beaver!”

Posted on April 23, 2015 by twilightbeasts

Childhood stories probably influence how we see familiar creatures. If someone talks about beavers, I think about Narnian beavers. In the delightful C. S Lewis book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the good beavers have cozy homes, make … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Beaver | Tagged Archaeoindris fontoynontii, Black Bear, C. S. Lewis, Carex, Castor canadensis, Castoroides ohioensis, Clovis culture, Giant Beaver, Laurentide Ice Sheet, Najas flexilis, Native American, Ohio beaver, Pocumtuck, Science Museum of Minnesota, The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe, Yonger Dryas | 8 Comments

The long reign of terror

Posted on April 16, 2015 by twilightbeasts

Something has survived. Bold capital letters spell out the above chilling sentence on the back cover to Michael Crichton’s sequel to Jurassic Park. No blurb. No description of the novel. Those three words say enough. That short, simple, yet powerful … Continue reading →

Posted in Terror Bird | Tagged Cariamiformes, Cretaceous, Florentino Ameghino, Francisco P. Moreno, Glyptodon, Gompothere, Great American Interchange, Isthmus of Panama, Jurassic Park, K-Pg extinction, K-T extinction, Kelenken guillermoi, Mesembriornis milneedwardsi, Michael Crichton, Museo de la Plata, Paleociconia australis, Paleogene, Phorusrhacids, Phorusrhacos longissimus, Seriemas, Terror Bird, Titanis walleri, Toxodon | 13 Comments

A sticky end for the Monster Birds

Posted on April 11, 2015 by twilightbeasts

California. A state well known for endlessly perfect sandy beaches, sun, wine, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hidden below the surface of this famous American state lies a more complex history that only reveals itself when we look a little closer. Locked … Continue reading →

Posted in Teratorns | Tagged A Game of Thrones, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Bird, California, California Condor, Cathartidae, Ciconiiformes, Condor, Dire Wolves, Ground sloths, Hollywood, La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angles, mammoths, Pack rats, Page Museum, Smilodon, Teratornis merriami, Teratornis woodburnensis, Teratornithidae, Teratorns | 7 Comments

The last Giant Deer

Posted on April 2, 2015 by twilightbeasts

There’s been recurring themes in much of the research we’ve undertaken while finding new Twilight Beasts for this blog. Overkill, as discussed by Ross in his harrowing blog on the Steller Sea Cow is one of them; environmental changes caused … Continue reading →

Posted in Irish Elk | Tagged Bronze Age, Castoroides ohioensis, Giant Deer, Irish Elk, Megaloceros giganteus, Megloceros, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Ornimegalonyx, Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Steller Sea Cow, Ulster Museum, Younger Dryas | 4 Comments

Overkill

Posted on March 25, 2015 by twilightbeasts

“But how could they have killed them all with just pointy sticks?” This question, or a variation thereof, has been asked of me, seemingly whenever I bring up the concept of overkill as the likely cause of Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. … Continue reading →

Posted in Sea cow | Tagged Bering, Bering Island, Bering Straits, Commander Islands, Extinction, Ground sloth, Holocene, Hunting, Hydrodamalis gigas, Mammoth, Mastodon, Medny Island, Megatherium, Naivety, Overkill, Paul S Martin, Pleistocene, Sirenia, St Lawrence Island, St Paul Island, Steller, Steller's sea cow, Wrangel Island, Yupik | 14 Comments

The strangest animals ever discovered

Posted on March 18, 2015 by twilightbeasts

I love reading through Charles Darwin’s diaries. Who wouldn’t? Written in his early 20s, Darwin writes detailed accounts of his days on board HMS Beagle. For me, these are accounts of fantastic, real, adventures: travelling where no Englishman had travelled … Continue reading →

Posted in Macrauchenia, Toxodon | Tagged Charles Darwin, Darwin's Frog, Edentata, Glossotherium sp, Glyptodont, HMS Beagle, Horse, Litopterna, Macrauchenia, Mylodon darwinii, Notoungulata, Pachydermata, Perissodactyla, Rhinoderma darwinii, Richard Owen, Robert Fitzroy, Robert McCormick, Rodentia, Stegomastodon, Toxodon | 12 Comments

The Islands of the lost fowl

Posted on March 12, 2015 by twilightbeasts

There’s more to Hawaii than Jimmy Buffett (okay, I admit – I’m a Parrothead!), Elvis, surfing or even Disney’s adorable and naughty alien Stitch. Even more so if you love earth sciences like us at Twilight Beasts. Hawaii is literally … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Hawaiian Duck | Tagged Anas, Anatinae, Chelychelynechen quassus, Coprolite, Elvis, Giant Hawaiian Duck, Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands, Homo sapiens, Hotspot, Jimmy Buffet, lava, Moa-Nalo, Pacific Plate, Pacific rat, Polynesian, Ptaiochen pau, Rattus exulans, syringeal bullae, Thambetochen chauliodous, Thambetochen xanion | 12 Comments

Real vampires in South America

Posted on March 5, 2015 by twilightbeasts

Vampires have captivated our imagination for centuries. Despite limited (and fairly predictable) on-screen deaths by stake, sunlight, or a splash of holy water, the sci-fi/horror genre is still going strong (if you ignore the recent Twilight ‘saga’). Old school classics … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Vampire Bat | Tagged Bram Stoker, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Common Vampire Bat, Desmodontinae, Desmodus archaeodaptes, Desmodus draculae, Desmodus rotundus, Desmodus stocki, Dieamus youngi, Dracula, Dyphilla ecaudata, Giant Golden Crowned Flying Fox, Giant Vampire Bat, Hairy Legged Vampire Bat, Macrauchenia, Megatherium, Mylodon, Nothrotherium, The Lost Boys, Toxodon, Twilight, Vampire, White Winged Vampire Bat | 97 Comments

When is an aardvark not an aardvark? When it’s from Madgascar!

Posted on February 25, 2015 by twilightbeasts

I think about extinction a lot. Its hard not to when researching Pleistocene mammals. One of the sobering things about this kind of research is that you become aware of the high likelihood of “unknown unknowns”: animals that existed but … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibymalagasy | Tagged aardvark, ancient DNA, ancient protein, eupleridae, Extinction, fossa, giant lemur, Madagascar, Malagasy | 4 Comments

	The most (and least)… on A very brief introduction to…
	The most (and least)… on The Nipple Tooth
	The most (and least)… on The burrowers
	The most (and least)… on The Stuff Of Night-Mares
	The most (and least)… on The beasts within

	The most (and least)… on A very brief introduction to…
	The most (and least)… on The Nipple Tooth
	The most (and least)… on The burrowers
	The most (and least)… on The Stuff Of Night-Mares
	The most (and least)… on The beasts within