In 1863, naturalist Richard Owen published 72 pages of joy.

Is it related to the lemur? Aye.

Does it climb through the jungle at night? Aye.

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Smithsonian might terrify the Australian homeowner with their coverage of the

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A sub-continental crocodilian, found on that good ol’ Scientific Illustration tumblog.

It was painted by Wilhelm Eigener, one of Germany’s most sought-after nature illustrators of the second half of the 20th century.

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Originally published in A naturalist’s sojourn in Jamaica, by Philip Gosse, who had awesome sideburns. And a relationship with M&N Hanhart, prolific publishers of color plates.

Image from the Bio Diversity Library’s “Charles Darwin’s Library” collection.

SONG: “In the Light” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Zoologger: The first solar-powered vertebrate”, New Scientist, 18 January 2013, as used in the post “Solar powered animal.”

ABSTRACT: This started with a drum beat, then moved up to a super simple guitar figure (Young Marble Giants-style). Then, a contrapunctal bass [...]

New Scientist‘s Zoologger celebrates Ambystoma maculatum, the first known vertebrate to get energy directly from sunlight:

Then in 2011 the story gained an additional twist. A close examination of the eggs revealed that some of the algae were living within the embryos themselves, and in some cases were actually inside embryonic cells. That suggested the embryos weren’t just taking [...]

I can’t read the German here, but it sure looks like an illustration of a jackal and another illustration of snakes and scorpions. I’m guessing this was a tour of Egypt… although “Griechen” means “Greek.” Hmm.

Oh, I see. Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who wrote about India, Scythia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and North Africa – including Egypt – [...]

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I think I’m happier not knowing exactly what this is illustrating. I mean, I think I can guess, but that’s not nearly as joy-inspiring as embracing the idea of the hairy water tortoise exactly as depicted here.

The image comes from the New York Public Library, but I found it via Scientific Illustration.

Nature reveals the outdoor version of canaries in a coalmine – how researchers use swallows and homing pigeons to track pollution:

Nesting birds that feed on insects that hatch in lake or stream-bed sediments may make good biomonitors for pollution, says Thomas Custer of the US Geological Survey’s Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. That’s because [...]