Glacier Birds
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 9, 2020
High in the Andes among frozen glaciers, where virtually nothing survives, a small and plump, blue-gray feathered bird lays eggs and raises ...
Showing posts with the label Animals
Pierre André Latreille: The Entomologist Who Escaped Death Because of a Beetle
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 29, 2020
Pierre André Latreille owed his life to a beetle. The French zoologist is often considered to be the father of modern entomology, having mad...
The 1925 Serum Run To Nome: The Incredible Story of How a Remote Alaskan Town Was Saved From an Epidemic
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 25, 2020
In the winter of 1925, a small Alaskan town called Nome, situated on the edge of the Arctic circle, found itself on the brink of an unimagin...
Vinkensport: Belgium’s Competitive Bird Calling
Kaushik Patowary
Sep 4, 2020
In the Flanders region of Belgium, a favorite pastime among the old Dutch-speaking folks is raising and training the common chaffinch ( Frin...
Medieval Rabbit Warrens
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 31, 2020
Back in medieval England rabbits were not bred in cages but in specially crafted earthen burrows called warrens, or pillow mounds. These wer...
Bull Running in Britain
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 28, 2020
Bull running as a sport is mostly associated with the city of Pamplona, in northern Spain. But until the 19th century, Britain had a similar...
Of Mice, Men And Moon: A Short History of Animals in Space
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 18, 2020
More animals have flown to space than human beings. In the early years of space flight, all kinds of living beings from rodents to apes were...
A Racing Horse Named Potoooooooo
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 15, 2020
There was once a great racehorse in 18th-century Britain named Potoooooooo, who was famed for his endurance and speed. He won over 30 races ...
Pelorus Jack: The Dolphin Who Piloted Ships
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 30, 2020
The northern end of New Zealand’s South Island is a chaos of bays and sounds, and within this intricate coastline lies a narrow and treacher...
Thagomizer: Why Stegosaurus’ Spiky Tail Was Named After A Cartoon
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 13, 2020
Humans and stegosaurus missed each other by more than 150 million years, but people have always wondered how difficult or terrifying life wo...
The Polar Bear Jail of Churchill
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 29, 2020
Living in Churchill in northern Manitoba, Canada, has its perils. Situated on the banks of Hudson Bay, approximately 1,000 km north of the p...
OncoMouse: The Mouse That Disrupted Science
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 17, 2020
In 1988, the US Patent Office awarded for the first time in history a patent for an animal to the Harvard University. The U.S. Patent Numb...
Dürer's Rhinoceros: A 16th-Century Viral Fake
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 16, 2020
Five hundred years ago, Europe saw its first rhinoceros in more than a thousand years. The animal was fairly common during Roman times see...
Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov’s Two-Headed Dog
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 5, 2020
In 1955, at a meeting of the Moscow Surgical Society, a sensational exhibit was presented to the assembled guests. On the platform close t...
Clever Hans: The Horse Who Could Do Math
Kaushik Patowary
May 29, 2020
In a paved courtyard surrounded by high apartment houses in the northern part of Berlin, a small crowd had gathered to watch an old high s...
Turnspit Dogs
Kaushik Patowary
May 12, 2020
Observe the scene above depicting the inside of an inn at Newcastle, Wales, in the late 19th century. Men and women are sitting around the...
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
Kaushik Patowary
May 6, 2020
When cotton first came to Europe from Central Asia during the Middle ages, people were fascinated by the fluffy, fibrous balls that resemb...
The Green-Haired Mary River Turtle
Kaushik Patowary
Apr 9, 2020
The Mary River turtle lives exclusively in the waters of the Mary River in south-east Queensland, Australia. Despite being one of Australia’...
When Dead Whales Toured The Country
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 17, 2020
For almost three decades, from the 1950s though the 1970s, three gargantuan, smelly, whale carcasses toured the length and breadth of Europe...
Glass Flowers And Sea Creatures: Leopold And Rudolf Blaschka’s Ultra Realistic Glass Models
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 7, 2020
A glass flower at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. It is nearly impossible to preserve a dead specimen in a pristine manner. Larg...
