Tag Archives: Charles Darwin

Marching up the wrong tree

Posted on December 21, 2020 by twilightbeasts

Before Darwin published his theory of evolution through natural selection, On the Origin of Species, evolution wasn’t a new concept. It had been discussed by many different people of science as early as the Ancient Greeks. It was how evolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Homo sapiens | Tagged Charles Darwin, Evolution, Extinction, Homo sapiens, March of Progress, Thomas Henry Huxley | 3 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

On the origins of our species

Posted on July 13, 2016 by twilightbeasts

As families go ours is pretty amazing. You have ancient cousins who effortlessly chomped through the toughest of roots and hardest of seeds. Another relative was the first of our family to make it all the way to China around … Continue reading →

Posted in Denisovan, Homo sapiens, Neanderthal | Tagged Anatomically Modern Humans, Australopithecus africanus, Back to Africa, Candelabra, Charles Darwin, Denisova, Ernst Haeckel, Eugène Dubois, Herto Skulls, Hominidae, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens, Jan Freedman, Java Man, Lucy van Dorp, Multiregional origin, Neanderthal, Omo fossils, Origin of Species, Out of Africa, Paranthropus boisei, Qafzeh hominins, Raymond Dart, Recent African Origin, Richard Leakey, Skhul hominins, The Decent of Man | 9 Comments

In Patagonia

Posted on June 20, 2016 by twilightbeasts

Patagonia. The name conjures up exotic windswept plains, adventure, and danger. A by-word for a region as foreign as Timbuktu. This remote section of Argentina and Chile holds many mysteries. In the south, Tierra Del Fuego, the legendary land of … Continue reading →

Posted in Extinction, Ground Sloth, Horse, Macrauchenia, Sabre tooth Cat, Short Faced Bear | Tagged Arctotherium, Arctotherium tarijense, Charles Darwin, Extinction, guanaco, Hippidion, Humans, llama, megafauna, Monte Verde, Mylodon Cave, Mylodon darwinii, Panthera onca mesembrina, Pararctotherium, Patagonia, Pleistocene, radiocarbon, Ross Barnett, Smilodon populator | 5 Comments

Doing the crawl?

Posted on April 25, 2016 by twilightbeasts

The life aquatic has lured many animal groups back into its liquid embrace. Marine iguanas, penguins, whales and dolphins, sea-cows and manatees, seals and sea-lions all returned to the sea from land (and air!) adapted forms. It makes a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Giant Swimming Sloth, Thalassocnus | Tagged Charles Darwin, Evolution, Isthmus of Panama, Marine Sloth, Origin of Species, Pisco Formation, Pliocene, Ross Barnett, Thalassocnus | 5 Comments

Big find in little China

Posted on October 31, 2015 by twilightbeasts

Charles Darwin wrote 502 pages outlining his groundbreaking theory of evolution by natural selection. In it he provides incredible evidence of natural selection he gathered over 20 years, using many different species of animals, from humans breeding dogs to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Homo sapiens | Tagged Anatomically Modern Humans, Charles Darwin, China, Crocuta ultima, hominin, Homo errectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo naledi, Homo sapiens, Jan Freedman, Neanderthal, Omo River, Stegodon orientalis, The Descent of Man | 6 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 bizarre elongated llama

Posted on January 2, 2015 by twilightbeasts

In the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, landscape manufacturer Slartibartfast likes to take elements of his favourite geological features and pop them together to make something extra special – allegedly how Scandinavia came about! On finding out about Macrauchenia, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Macrauchenia | Tagged Bahia, Camelidae, Charles Darwin, Great American Interchange, Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, HMS Beagle, Isthmus of Panama, Macrauchenia, Macrauchenia patachonica, Mastodon, Monte Verde, Phorusrhacidae, Richard Owen, Ruminantia, Terror-Birds | 12 Comments

Darwin’s 18 pence

Posted on November 13, 2014 by twilightbeasts

South American Pleistocene beasts were super weird. They owe their peculiar evolution to events that happened deep within the very bowels of the planet, hundreds of millions of years ago. Almost all the land that we know today was squashed together … Continue reading →

Posted in Toxodon | Tagged Charles Darwin, Glossotherium, Glyptodon, Gondwana, Great American Interchange, Macrauchenia, Mastodon, Mylodon, Notoungulata, Pangaea, Richard Owen, Rodenta, Smilodon, Toxodon | 9 Comments

Mr Darwin’s lost sloth

Posted on May 8, 2014 by twilightbeasts

Ground sloths are weird. The two-toed and three-toed varieties of memetic fame that we are left with only hint at the absurdity of different genera such as Eremotherium, Megalonyx, and Nothrotheriops: bear-sized to elephant-sized behemoths, covered in shaggy fur, and sporting … Continue reading →

Posted in Ground Sloth | Tagged Beagle, Charles Darwin, Cueva del Milodon, DNA, Ermotherium, Glyptodon clavipes, Ground sloth, Macrauchenia patachonica, Megalonyx, Mylodon Cave, Mylodon darwinii, Nothrotheriops, Richard Owen, soft tissue | 18 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