Hah! You call that a Marine iguana?
More like a goddam worm.
Looks like weasel beaked momma’s boy liberal to me.
I wouldn’t give that girlyBoy two days outside the green zone.
Marine my ass.
Semper Fi
ice9says
scooter stole.
I was going for marine aviaTOR. O well.
ice
LisaJsays
Nice. That thing’s huge. I saw my first wild iguanas in Costa Rica this summer, and your guy wins hands down.
SEFsays
Did you manage to resist the temptation(?) to copy Darwin in chasing them around the rocks and chucking them into the ocean?
xebecssays
Paging Doctor Maturin. Doctor Stephen Maturin.
Duvenoysays
Iguanids are remarkable animals, ranging in size from innoculous, little anoles to 7’+ giants. This is one of my favorites, although I’ve never seen one in the flesh. Someday…..
Thanks for the image!
doov
Mikelsays
When I click to see the larger image, I only get a screen-sized view of the tail end…
Sven DiMilosays
Duvenoy (@#11): The old Family Iguanidae has been busted apart. Marine igs and their herbivorous kin (including the desert iguana and chuckwallas of North America) now have the Iguanidae (sensu novo) to themselves.
But hell, yes: remarkable animals all!
asadsays
@ Mikel #12: You can use the arrow keys to scroll the picture (at least I can, on a PC using Firefox).
--PatF in Madisonsays
@ Mikel #12:
If you right click on the image and choose “Open Link in New Window” you should be able to get a window that scrolls.
(The arrows work, too.)
Dougsays
Is the tail of the marine iguana longer and larger, in proportion to its body, than the land iguana?
And they have shrinkage! Thought to be the only vertebrates to shrink. From the wikipedia article:
Marine iguanas have also been found to change their size to adapt to varying food conditions. During El Niño conditions when the algae that the iguanas feed on was decreased for a period of two years, some were found to decrease their length by as much as 20%. When food conditions returned to normal, the iguanas returned to their pre-famine size. It is speculated that the bones of the iguanas actually shorten as a shrinkage of connective tissue could only account for a 10% length change.
It’s “Click to embiggenate”, not “Click for larger image”.
Shhssss, biologists.
terrylongsays
Nice kitty!
Porky Pinesays
@TheSwiss
That’s a rather personal question!
For those of you that can’t get down to the Galapagos, I’d recommend [url=http://www.amazon.com/Galapagos-Tilda-Swinton/dp/B000M2E354/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1219696154&sr=8-1]Galpagos[/url]
It’s available in DVD/Blu-ray and HD-DVD (For those of you that are into defunct video formats) ;)
They sneeze during daytime to expel concentrated salts from the marine algae consumed.
I think their explosive sneezes are triggered by looking at direct sunlight, while warming on the shore. Solar powered sneezing occurs in 20% of humans, and may also have occurred in cetacean ancestors. A sneeze removes the gaseous CO2 in the lungs and replaces it with fresh air instantly, good for diving animals without gills.
Sven DiMilosays
Pretty incoherent question there, “George” (@#20). If I thought you really cared to know, I’d point out that the study you seem to be suggesting was done back in 1981.
Dougsays
George Sorros,
The rules for specification are man made just like the christian god-idea. Dummy!
The classification is useful to aid human study, the natural processes that actually do the work aren’t limited by your lack of understanding. Nature doesn’t fall within the scope of your arbitrary time limit, are you the only bonobo related animal that doesn’t understand that?
Suck it, christians!
Dougsays
Hi George,
How is that reading comprehension course going for you?
Sven DiMilosays
The test of speciation is the sterility of the experimentally produced hybrid.
yeah…it’s not nearly that simple. Reproductive isolation can take the form of postzygotic hybrid sterility (I guess you’re thinking about mules), but there are many other types of reproductive isolation; a quick googlization of the term will provide endless examples.
In the case of Galapagos finches, nobody doubts that they were once a single species. The fact that occasional hybridization occurs is to be expected if incipient sister species come back into sympatry.
The link I gave earlier, plus thesetwo offer abundant evidence for genetic differentiation among populations and nominal species, which could not occur if all the finches were one big species.
Darwin’s finches have never been subjected to the only valid test for speciation.
You know, that line sounds familiar–Davison? That you?
Steve_Csays
George. You’ll get banned because you’re an asshole that doesn’t contribute, or debate honestly, not because you “criticize” evolution.
So George, what’s your explanation for the diversity of life on the planet?
Sven DiMilosays
yep, knew it. Believe it or not, Davison, current ideas about species concepts have advanced a bit since Dobzhansky’s (and your) day.
Steve_Csays
Ohhhh… George is sound familiar. He’s a returning troll. Davison or Yamil sounds about right.
Hey John do you have a new blog that no one goes to?
Steve_Csays
Oh yeah. What’s the challenge??
Please. What’s your evidence that has falsified evolution?
Sven DiMilosays
Well, “George”‘s posts are disappearing right before my eyes, as we knew they would once PZ put his moderation shoes on. But I just…can…not….resist…one more rejoinder to JAD, who sez:
I challenge Myers to keep this thread alive and respond to my challenges.
What challenges, you decrepit blowhard? The challenge to obtain permits, travel to the Galapagos, collect finches, bring them back to the USA, domesticate them, and then see which ones can produce fertile offspring? Because that would prove what, exactly, again? That Theodosius Dobzhansky didn’t know everything there is to know about bird speciation?
You’re becoming a parody of a parody of yourself, and yourself was pretty ridiculous in the first place. Bye, John!
The Swisssays
Solar powered sneezing occurs in 20% of humans
Wow, this happens to me all the time!
I’m divided between relief for not being the only weirdo with sun-sneezing, and the warm feeling of being special, like in the better 20% of … ehm…
Well, I also have synesthesia…
Oh hell, I guess each one of us is special in its own special ways.
Longtime Lurkersays
You know, George, that these marine iguanas ate coconuts before the fall…
Sven, thanks for the new breakdown of our squamous friends-it always pays to get a new cladogram every six months or 6,ooo miles.
Sweet!
How long?
I hear those islanders live on weed, man.
That picture is a bit too dark. But iguanas are cool animals, yes.
@Olav: It’s just a dark lizard. Click the image for the big version, and you’ll see it’s a fine picture with lots of detail.
Hah! You call that a Marine iguana?
More like a goddam worm.
Looks like weasel beaked momma’s boy liberal to me.
I wouldn’t give that girlyBoy two days outside the green zone.
Marine my ass.
Semper Fi
scooter stole.
I was going for marine aviaTOR. O well.
ice
Nice. That thing’s huge. I saw my first wild iguanas in Costa Rica this summer, and your guy wins hands down.
Did you manage to resist the temptation(?) to copy Darwin in chasing them around the rocks and chucking them into the ocean?
Paging Doctor Maturin. Doctor Stephen Maturin.
Iguanids are remarkable animals, ranging in size from innoculous, little anoles to 7’+ giants. This is one of my favorites, although I’ve never seen one in the flesh. Someday…..
Thanks for the image!
doov
When I click to see the larger image, I only get a screen-sized view of the tail end…
Duvenoy (@#11): The old Family Iguanidae has been busted apart. Marine igs and their herbivorous kin (including the desert iguana and chuckwallas of North America) now have the Iguanidae (sensu novo) to themselves.
But hell, yes: remarkable animals all!
@ Mikel #12: You can use the arrow keys to scroll the picture (at least I can, on a PC using Firefox).
@ Mikel #12:
If you right click on the image and choose “Open Link in New Window” you should be able to get a window that scrolls.
(The arrows work, too.)
Is the tail of the marine iguana longer and larger, in proportion to its body, than the land iguana?
http://www.gct.org/iguana.html
States that Galapagos Islands land iguanas can be over 1 meter and weigh 13 kilograms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Iguana
Adult males are approximately 1.3 m long, females 0.6 m, males weigh up to 1.5 kg
And they have shrinkage! Thought to be the only vertebrates to shrink. From the wikipedia article:
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Iguana
Please! People have already told you this!
It’s “Click to embiggenate”, not “Click for larger image”.
Shhssss, biologists.
Nice kitty!
@TheSwiss
That’s a rather personal question!
For those of you that can’t get down to the Galapagos, I’d recommend [url=http://www.amazon.com/Galapagos-Tilda-Swinton/dp/B000M2E354/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1219696154&sr=8-1]Galpagos[/url]
It’s available in DVD/Blu-ray and HD-DVD (For those of you that are into defunct video formats) ;)
Anyone know if these iguanas sneeze at night?
They sneeze during daytime to expel concentrated salts from the marine algae consumed.
I think their explosive sneezes are triggered by looking at direct sunlight, while warming on the shore. Solar powered sneezing occurs in 20% of humans, and may also have occurred in cetacean ancestors. A sneeze removes the gaseous CO2 in the lungs and replaces it with fresh air instantly, good for diving animals without gills.
Pretty incoherent question there, “George” (@#20). If I thought you really cared to know, I’d point out that the study you seem to be suggesting was done back in 1981.
George Sorros,
The rules for specification are man made just like the christian god-idea. Dummy!
The classification is useful to aid human study, the natural processes that actually do the work aren’t limited by your lack of understanding. Nature doesn’t fall within the scope of your arbitrary time limit, are you the only bonobo related animal that doesn’t understand that?
Suck it, christians!
Hi George,
How is that reading comprehension course going for you?
yeah…it’s not nearly that simple. Reproductive isolation can take the form of postzygotic hybrid sterility (I guess you’re thinking about mules), but there are many other types of reproductive isolation; a quick googlization of the term will provide endless examples.
In the case of Galapagos finches, nobody doubts that they were once a single species. The fact that occasional hybridization occurs is to be expected if incipient sister species come back into sympatry.
The link I gave earlier, plus these two offer abundant evidence for genetic differentiation among populations and nominal species, which could not occur if all the finches were one big species.
You know, that line sounds familiar–Davison? That you?
George. You’ll get banned because you’re an asshole that doesn’t contribute, or debate honestly, not because you “criticize” evolution.
So George, what’s your explanation for the diversity of life on the planet?
yep, knew it. Believe it or not, Davison, current ideas about species concepts have advanced a bit since Dobzhansky’s (and your) day.
Ohhhh… George is sound familiar. He’s a returning troll. Davison or Yamil sounds about right.
Hey John do you have a new blog that no one goes to?
Oh yeah. What’s the challenge??
Please. What’s your evidence that has falsified evolution?
Well, “George”‘s posts are disappearing right before my eyes, as we knew they would once PZ put his moderation shoes on. But I just…can…not….resist…one more rejoinder to JAD, who sez:
What challenges, you decrepit blowhard? The challenge to obtain permits, travel to the Galapagos, collect finches, bring them back to the USA, domesticate them, and then see which ones can produce fertile offspring? Because that would prove what, exactly, again? That Theodosius Dobzhansky didn’t know everything there is to know about bird speciation?
You’re becoming a parody of a parody of yourself, and yourself was pretty ridiculous in the first place. Bye, John!
Wow, this happens to me all the time!
I’m divided between relief for not being the only weirdo with sun-sneezing, and the warm feeling of being special, like in the better 20% of … ehm…
Well, I also have synesthesia…
Oh hell, I guess each one of us is special in its own special ways.
You know, George, that these marine iguanas ate coconuts before the fall…
Sven, thanks for the new breakdown of our squamous friends-it always pays to get a new cladogram every six months or 6,ooo miles.
That lizard thing has a mullet.