Tag Archives: Dire Wolf

In cold pursuit

From feathered dinosaurs to woolly mammoths, countless animals that no longer live have come to pervade modern popular culture. Snuck into a world of dragons, witches, and ice zombies in Game of Thrones (or A Song of Ice & Fire), … Continue reading

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Stuck in time

It is mid-November, and beads of sweat form on my forehead. Coalescence is inevitable. And it happens quickly; small beads merged into one humongous droplet, and it begins to meander its way down my nose, and there it dangles,  stubbornly … Continue reading

Posted in American Lion, Camelops, Horse, Mastodon, Sabre tooth Cat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The last trumpet of a giant

“The Columbian Mammoth of North America, Mammuthus columbi, is hereby designated as the official fossil of the state of Washington.” And so it was written. In 1998 the Washington State Legislature recognised the Columbian Mammoth as their official state fossil. The decision was not easy. … Continue reading

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The dreams of dogs

Late afternoon sunlight floods the back of my house, rendering the wide first floor landing a luminously golden Byzantine capsule, bathed in light-shafts of ruby, emerald and sapphire from the old Edwardian stained-glass window. I do much of my writing … Continue reading

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Dire times for bone crushing dogs

Dogs. (Hu)man’s best friend. For around 15,000 years, these furry, sensitive canines have been our close companions. All dogs alive today descended from a wolf ancestor into a massive array of variations today; from the laughable but slightly cute Chihuahua, to the unbelievable … Continue reading

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Ghosts of the desert

The sun sets over the plains of Vizcaíno Desert, Baja California península, Mexico; a vast desert watered by fog from the Pacific Ocean. A group of peninsular pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana peninsularis) stretch and lay about in the cool afternoon, … Continue reading

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The one with the sabretooth

Smilodon is the genus of extinct sabretooth that everyone knows. Stocky, hugely muscled, with canines that protrude far below the jaw, it is the archetypal Pleistocene predator. It was a member of the machairodontinae, an extinct subfamily of the Felidae … Continue reading

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