Author Archives: twilightbeasts

“Nice Beaver!” (redux)

Posted on December 1, 2017 by twilightbeasts

Beavers! Majestic dam makers of Canada. Living on a diet of maple syrup and poutine. Probably. I don’t know. Much bigger in the past, North America had Castoroides ohioensis, the giant beaver. As big as a bear. With its razor … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Beaver, Uncategorized | Tagged Castor, Castoroides ohioensis, Europe, Giant Beaver, Pleistocene, Pliocene, teeth, Trogontherium, UK | 2 Comments

Tamed: ten species that changed our world

Posted on October 31, 2017 by twilightbeasts

The strong autumn sun shines powerfully on the hills in front of me. Yellows, oranges, reds, and browns light up in a dazzling array of hues, as if the trees themselves are on fire. Three horses munch grass in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Aurochs, Dog, Horse | Tagged Alice Roberts, Apple, Dog, Flour, giant sloth, Horse, Tamed, Wheat, Woolly Mammoth | 5 Comments

Walking on thin ice

Posted on October 2, 2017 by twilightbeasts

No other animal symbolises climate change like the polar bear does. Just like the dodo has become the standard animal representing extinction, the polar bear has become recognised as the animal signifying our impact on the planet’s rapidly warming climate. … Continue reading →

Posted in Brown Bear, Polar Bear | Tagged American black bear, Asian Black Bear, Bigfoot, Brown Bear, Cave bear, Polar Bear, Sasquatch, Ursus americanus, Ursus arctos, Ursus maritimus, Ursus thibetanus, Wrangel Island, Yeti | 17 Comments

The lonely walk to extinction

Posted on September 8, 2017 by twilightbeasts

Our very species is an oxymoron. When Linnaeus added us to the taxonomic ranks of life, he dubbed humans Homo sapiens: literally meaning ‘wise man’. Sometimes I wonder how ‘wise’ we are. We can send people to live in space, … Continue reading →

Posted in Woolly Mammoth, Woolly Rhinoceros | Tagged Diceros biceros lonipes, DNA, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Island Dwarfism, Javan Rhinoceros, Mammuthus primigenius, Neanderthal, Rhinoceros sondaicus, Western Black Rhino, Woolly Mammoth, Woolly rhinoceros | 1 Comment

Discovering the mammoth: A tale of giants, unicorns, ivory, and the birth of a new science

Posted on August 2, 2017 by twilightbeasts

Mammoth. With one word, we can all conjure up a mental picture of a woolly elephant, tusks curving out and in, possibly in a herd, in a habitat cold and snowy with biting wind and unforgiving snow. Isn’t it weird? … Continue reading →

Posted in Cave art, Columbian Mammoth, Deinotherium, Extinction, Mastodon, Palaeoloxodon, Scientific Art, Stegodon, Woolly Mammoth | Tagged Bering, Blumenbach, book, Georges Cuvier, Leibniz, Mammoth, mummies, Natural History Museum, Pleistocene, Woolly Mammoth | 1 Comment

A very brief introduction to mammoths

Posted on July 18, 2017 by twilightbeasts

I was in Los Angeles when I first saw him. I stood in his shadow as he towered above me. I didn’t feel fear. Or panic. I felt awe despite being dwarfed. Light bounces off each bone, highlighting the curves, … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbian Mammoth, Deinotherium, Gompothere, Mastodon, Palaeoloxodon, Steppe Mammoth, Woolly Mammoth | Tagged African Bush Elephant, African Forest Elephant, Asian Elephant, Cave Lion, Columbian Mammoth, Cretan Dwarf Mammoth, Dolphin, Dorothea, Dorothea Bate, Elephas maximus indicus, Elephas maximus maximus, Eliphantidae, Fosters Rule, Giant Deer, Gompothere, Homo neander, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Homotherium, Ichthyosaur, La Brea Tar, La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, Loxodonta africana, Loxodonta cyclotis, Mammoth, Mammoth Steppe, Mammuthus, Mammuthus africanavus, Mammuthus creticus, Mammuthus exilis, Mammuthus lamarmorai, Mammuthus meridionalis, Mammuthus primigenius, Mammuthus rumanus, Mammuthus subplanifrons, Mastodon, Moeritherium, Neanderthal, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Primelephas, Proboscidea, Pygmy Mammoth, reindeer, Sabre tooth cat, Sardinian Dwarf Mammoth, Southern Mammoth, Steppe Mammoth, Straight Tusked elephants, The African Mammoth, Tori Herridge, TrowelBlazers, Woolly Mammoth, Woolly rhinoceros, Zygolophodon | 21 Comments

The Stuff Of Night-Mares

Posted on July 7, 2017 by twilightbeasts

Now that my thesis is nearly at the end, I can tell you all this secret. I have been so tiddled off at the archaeological paradigm that all ancient horses were wee tiny ponies. Victorian zoologists like Ridgeway and Ewart … Continue reading →

Posted in Horse | Tagged Akhal Teke, Celtic pony, Equus alaskae, Equus caballus, Equus caballus celticus, Equus enormis, Equus giganteus, Equus nevadanus, Equus pacificus, Equus taeniopus, Exmoor Pony, Horse, Lofoten Island Pony, Przewalski horse, Sccottish Eriskay, Tarpan | 15 Comments

The Devil on the mountain

Posted on June 27, 2017 by twilightbeasts

When hiking high in the Alps you may encounter the devil himself. Or so claims Swiss naturalist and mountaineer Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799), when he writes, that one will be only ‘in the company of the devil,…’ if climbing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cave art, Chamois | Tagged Alpine-Chamois, Alps, Apenninic-Chamois, Bjorn Kurten, Cave of La Pasiega, Chamois, De Saussure, Devli, Gamsgebirg, Goat, Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Ibex, Lion, Mammoth, Pyrenean-Chamois, reindeer, Riss glaciation, Rupicapra, Rupicapra (pyrenaica) ornata, Rupicapra pyrenaica, Rupicapra rupicapra, UNgulate | 1 Comment

An elephant shakes a tree

Posted on June 9, 2017 by twilightbeasts

Mammoths get all the attention. Like an annoying younger sibling, they hog a limelight that should be more equally shared. Occasionally, the mastodon gets a whisp of publicity, which is notable mostly for its rarity. The vast family of proboscideans … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbian Mammoth, Deinotherium, Extinction, Hippopotamus, Mastodon, Palaeoloxodon, Stegodon, Steppe Mammoth, Woolly Mammoth | Tagged African Bush Elephant, African Elephant, African Forest Elephant, ancient DNA, Asian Elephant, Hippopotamus, Mastodon, Merck’s rhinoceros, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Stegodon, Stegomastodon, Woolly Mammoth | 6 Comments

On the shoulders of giants

Posted on April 11, 2017 by twilightbeasts

In 1835 the young, and somewhat cavalier, Charles Darwin landed for the first time on the Galapagos archipelago. As well as sending hundreds of specimens back to England, Darwin enjoyed exploring the islands and watching the local species in their … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Tortoise | Tagged Aldabra giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys gigantea, Archaeoindris fontoynontii, Charles Darwin, Dodo, Galapagos archipelago, Giant Tortoise, HMS Beagle, Megalochelys atlas, moa, Zyglophodon | 5 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