Jacob C. Blokland
@blokoweka.bsky.social
Bird bones. OLD bird bones.
Vertebrate Palaeontology (Palaeornithology) Ph.D. Candidate @flindersuniversity.bsky.social, South Australia, researching the evolution of rail-like #birds and other bird groups 𓅬 | Illustrator ✐ | From Waitaha, Aotearoa ⸙
Vertebrate Palaeontology (Palaeornithology) Ph.D. Candidate @flindersuniversity.bsky.social, South Australia, researching the evolution of rail-like #birds and other bird groups 𓅬 | Illustrator ✐ | From Waitaha, Aotearoa ⸙
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Assoc. Prof. Trevor Worthy is our guest speaker for Thursday's Scientific Seminar. Presenting “Facing up to Genyornis – The hunt for the skull of Australia’s last Mihirung bird”, Trevor will cover the adventure to find its skull.
Thursday 11th September
RSSA Rooms, off Morgan Thomas Lane
6:00 pm
Thursday 11th September
RSSA Rooms, off Morgan Thomas Lane
6:00 pm
September 8, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Assoc. Prof. Trevor Worthy is our guest speaker for Thursday's Scientific Seminar. Presenting “Facing up to Genyornis – The hunt for the skull of Australia’s last Mihirung bird”, Trevor will cover the adventure to find its skull.
Thursday 11th September
RSSA Rooms, off Morgan Thomas Lane
6:00 pm
Thursday 11th September
RSSA Rooms, off Morgan Thomas Lane
6:00 pm
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Boat-billed Heron at Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge #CostaRica
I love their large eyes that help them hunt at night.
#herons #birds #nature
I love their large eyes that help them hunt at night.
#herons #birds #nature
August 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Boat-billed Heron at Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge #CostaRica
I love their large eyes that help them hunt at night.
#herons #birds #nature
I love their large eyes that help them hunt at night.
#herons #birds #nature
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Lovely naturalistic scene of birds and a butterfly in a papyrus thicket, carved by an ancient Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago!
Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
August 13, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Lovely naturalistic scene of birds and a butterfly in a papyrus thicket, carved by an ancient Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago!
Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
Faint traces of paint survive on this limestone wall relief from the funerary temple of king Userkaf. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
60 million years ago, eastern #Aotearoa New Zealand was #penguin paradise!
We describe 4 archaic penguin species from the Waipara Greensand, North Canterbury. This now totals 10 species from there, in addition to a diversity of Paleocene penguins from Otago and Chatham Island.
#fossil #birds
We describe 4 archaic penguin species from the Waipara Greensand, North Canterbury. This now totals 10 species from there, in addition to a diversity of Paleocene penguins from Otago and Chatham Island.
#fossil #birds
Multiple exceptionally preserved fossils from the Paleocene Waipara Greensand inform the diversity of the oldest stem group Sphenisciformes and the formation of their diving adaptations
Abstract. We report new stem group sphenisciforms (ancestral penguins) from the Paleocene of the Waipara Greensand (Canterbury, New Zealand), and describe
academic.oup.com
August 13, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
New Paleocene proto-penguins Archaeodyptes waitahaorum, Daniadyptes primaevus, Waimanutaha kenlovei, and Waiparadyptes gracilitarsus: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a... 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr et al.)
August 12, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New Paleocene proto-penguins Archaeodyptes waitahaorum, Daniadyptes primaevus, Waimanutaha kenlovei, and Waiparadyptes gracilitarsus: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a... 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr et al.)
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
August 4, 2025 at 3:53 AM
New Zealand birds never fail to amaze. The extinct Hodgen's rail, thought to be a diminutive relative of the Australian waterhen, turns out instead to be a giant crake!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
📷: Paul Martinson, Te Papa CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Now online in Journal of #Ornithology
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae) - Journal of Ornithology
Tribonyx hodgenorum (Scarlett, Rec Canterb Mus 6:265–266, 1955) was a flightless rail (Rallidae) endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand that became extinct in the eighteenth century. The affinities of this r...
link.springer.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Now online in Journal of #Ornithology
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae)
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Genetic analysis reveals that the recently extinct Hodgens' waterhen ("Tribonyx" hodgenorum; A, D, G, J in figure) was a giant, flightless crake in the genus Porzana: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🪶🧪 (📷Sangster et al.)
August 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Genetic analysis reveals that the recently extinct Hodgens' waterhen ("Tribonyx" hodgenorum; A, D, G, J in figure) was a giant, flightless crake in the genus Porzana: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🪶🧪 (📷Sangster et al.)
New #research out today led by George Sangster, with Trevor Worthy, Pascale Lubbe, Paul Scofield & myself.
Recently #extinct flightless #rail Hodgens' waterhen from #Aotearoa New Zealand is a 'giant' crake of the genus Porzana, rather than a nativehen of Tribonyx.
(📷 credits given in ALT text)
Recently #extinct flightless #rail Hodgens' waterhen from #Aotearoa New Zealand is a 'giant' crake of the genus Porzana, rather than a nativehen of Tribonyx.
(📷 credits given in ALT text)
Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae) - Journal of Ornithology
Tribonyx hodgenorum (Scarlett, Rec Canterb Mus 6:265–266, 1955) was a flightless rail (Rallidae) endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand that became extinct in the eighteenth century. The affinities of this r...
link.springer.com
August 1, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Birds are dinosaurs who shrugged off a couple apocalypses. Some eat bone marrow. Some drink nectar. They outswim fish in the sea. They smile politely at gravity’s demands.
I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.
I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.
July 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Birds are dinosaurs who shrugged off a couple apocalypses. Some eat bone marrow. Some drink nectar. They outswim fish in the sea. They smile politely at gravity’s demands.
I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.
I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
NEW #RESEARCH WOOHOO
Here's our description of Dorcopsoides cowpatensis sp. nov., a little #fossil macropodine #kangaroo from the late Miocene Ongeva locality in central #Australia.
doi.org/10.1080/0311...
Here's our description of Dorcopsoides cowpatensis sp. nov., a little #fossil macropodine #kangaroo from the late Miocene Ongeva locality in central #Australia.
doi.org/10.1080/0311...
A new fossil kangaroo species of the genus Dorcopsoides (Marsupialia, Macropodinae) from the late Miocene Ongeva Local Fauna, central Australia
The kangaroo tribe Dorcopsini is represented today by six species of New Guinean forest-wallaby. However, the group has a patchy fossil record beginning on the Australian mainland in the upper Mioc...
doi.org
July 31, 2025 at 2:19 AM
NEW #RESEARCH WOOHOO
Here's our description of Dorcopsoides cowpatensis sp. nov., a little #fossil macropodine #kangaroo from the late Miocene Ongeva locality in central #Australia.
doi.org/10.1080/0311...
Here's our description of Dorcopsoides cowpatensis sp. nov., a little #fossil macropodine #kangaroo from the late Miocene Ongeva locality in central #Australia.
doi.org/10.1080/0311...
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Came across this the other day... first time I've seen my work being used in the production of an AI image. The skull they've used is the same one I had drawn.
Had to laugh at "All rights and credits reserved to the respective". Sad that this type of thing is commonplace.
Had to laugh at "All rights and credits reserved to the respective". Sad that this type of thing is commonplace.
July 20, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Came across this the other day... first time I've seen my work being used in the production of an AI image. The skull they've used is the same one I had drawn.
Had to laugh at "All rights and credits reserved to the respective". Sad that this type of thing is commonplace.
Had to laugh at "All rights and credits reserved to the respective". Sad that this type of thing is commonplace.
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
It was fun diving into the world of ancient sound-scapes with GM and hearing analyses. I think the dromornithids will continue to suprise me at every turn
Great new research out by @phoebyornis.bsky.social McIn-ear-ney, Warren and Trevor, investigating the hearing capabilities of Australia's extinct Thunder Birds (Dromornithidae). Love the idea of these beasties booming across the landscape.
The hearing capabilities of the Dromornithidae (Aves), with inferences on acoustic communication and ecology
The preservation of bony structures which enclose the hearing organs (ECD) provide a basis for interpreting the hearing capabilities of the extinct, flightless Dromornithidae (Aves). Although the len....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 6, 2025 at 8:20 AM
It was fun diving into the world of ancient sound-scapes with GM and hearing analyses. I think the dromornithids will continue to suprise me at every turn
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Phylogenetic position of the recently extinct Nesotrochis "cave rails" of the Caribbean: www.avespress.com/uploads/down... New analysis suggests they were the closest known relatives of the (also recently extinct) New Zealand adzebills! 🪶🧪 (📷 @stervander.com et al.)
July 4, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Phylogenetic position of the recently extinct Nesotrochis "cave rails" of the Caribbean: www.avespress.com/uploads/down... New analysis suggests they were the closest known relatives of the (also recently extinct) New Zealand adzebills! 🪶🧪 (📷 @stervander.com et al.)
Great new research out by @phoebyornis.bsky.social McIn-ear-ney, Warren and Trevor, investigating the hearing capabilities of Australia's extinct Thunder Birds (Dromornithidae). Love the idea of these beasties booming across the landscape.
The hearing capabilities of the Dromornithidae (Aves), with inferences on acoustic communication and ecology
The preservation of bony structures which enclose the hearing organs (ECD) provide a basis for interpreting the hearing capabilities of the extinct, flightless Dromornithidae (Aves). Although the len....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 6, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Great new research out by @phoebyornis.bsky.social McIn-ear-ney, Warren and Trevor, investigating the hearing capabilities of Australia's extinct Thunder Birds (Dromornithidae). Love the idea of these beasties booming across the landscape.
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Very proud of this one, my first foray into #biomechanics using #FEA!
“Comparison of diverse mandibular mechanics during biting in Devonian lungfishes”, published today in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, based on Joshua Bland’s honours work:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
“Comparison of diverse mandibular mechanics during biting in Devonian lungfishes”, published today in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, based on Joshua Bland’s honours work:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Comparison of diverse mandibular mechanics during biting in Devonian lungfishes
Fossil lungfish from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Australia, feature some of the most remarkable and specialized mandible morphologies in their 4…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 5, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Very proud of this one, my first foray into #biomechanics using #FEA!
“Comparison of diverse mandibular mechanics during biting in Devonian lungfishes”, published today in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, based on Joshua Bland’s honours work:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
“Comparison of diverse mandibular mechanics during biting in Devonian lungfishes”, published today in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, based on Joshua Bland’s honours work:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Welcome a new family of #birds, the Caribbean cave rails, Nesotrochidae! They were—surprisingly—the sisters of NZ adzebills, all sadly extinct. New #OpenAccess paper out in Avian #Systematics w Gerald Mayr, Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong: www.avespress.com/uploads/down...
🧵
#ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶
🧵
#ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶
July 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Welcome a new family of #birds, the Caribbean cave rails, Nesotrochidae! They were—surprisingly—the sisters of NZ adzebills, all sadly extinct. New #OpenAccess paper out in Avian #Systematics w Gerald Mayr, Chen Guangji & Feng Shaohong: www.avespress.com/uploads/down...
🧵
#ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶
🧵
#ornithology #taxonomy 🧪🪶
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
In an unconscionable decision, the Smithsonian Institute has decided to no longer support the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 1 Jan 2026. Please someone step up and take it over.
Foundations: please step up and take over the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). This is an absolutely essential scanned archive of all of the old journals and books from the 1500s to about 1920. Has been indispensable for my research.
about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...
about.biodiversitylibrary.org/call-for-sup...
Call for Support: – About BHL
about.biodiversitylibrary.org
July 2, 2025 at 3:56 PM
In an unconscionable decision, the Smithsonian Institute has decided to no longer support the Biodiversity Heritage Library from 1 Jan 2026. Please someone step up and take it over.
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
June 16, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Bot-made art undermines research and public trust in science, say illustrators frustrated by inaccurate and outlandish depictions.
@kamalnahas.bsky.social @ella-maru.bsky.social @blokoweka.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
@kamalnahas.bsky.social @ella-maru.bsky.social @blokoweka.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Illustrators call out journals and news sites for using AI art
Bot-made art undermines research and public trust in science, say illustrators frustrated by inaccurate and outlandish depictions.
www.nature.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Bot-made art undermines research and public trust in science, say illustrators frustrated by inaccurate and outlandish depictions.
@kamalnahas.bsky.social @ella-maru.bsky.social @blokoweka.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
@kamalnahas.bsky.social @ella-maru.bsky.social @blokoweka.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
New Miocene artamid (butcherbird/currawong cousin) Miostrepera canora: link.springer.com/article/10.1... From New Zealand, where these birds aren't found today! 🪶🧪 (📷Worthy et al.)
June 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
New Miocene artamid (butcherbird/currawong cousin) Miostrepera canora: link.springer.com/article/10.1... From New Zealand, where these birds aren't found today! 🪶🧪 (📷Worthy et al.)
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
Less than two months before our book is finally released. If you are interested in bird behaviour or comparative neurobiology and want to learn more, this is the book for you!
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273...
And the ebook will be open access!
#neuroskyence #ornithology #birds 🧪🧠
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273...
And the ebook will be open access!
#neuroskyence #ornithology #birds 🧪🧠
June 10, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Less than two months before our book is finally released. If you are interested in bird behaviour or comparative neurobiology and want to learn more, this is the book for you!
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273...
And the ebook will be open access!
#neuroskyence #ornithology #birds 🧪🧠
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255273...
And the ebook will be open access!
#neuroskyence #ornithology #birds 🧪🧠
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
There is no tomorrow for Moa kind.
In this result of yesterdays #paleostream we explore the Holocene of New Zealand, a world we largely lost not even 1000 years ago.
In this result of yesterdays #paleostream we explore the Holocene of New Zealand, a world we largely lost not even 1000 years ago.
June 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
There is no tomorrow for Moa kind.
In this result of yesterdays #paleostream we explore the Holocene of New Zealand, a world we largely lost not even 1000 years ago.
In this result of yesterdays #paleostream we explore the Holocene of New Zealand, a world we largely lost not even 1000 years ago.
Reposted by Jacob C. Blokland
"AI images don’t succinctly or accurately communicate scientific concepts & could undermine public trust in science... inaccuracies wouldn’t fly if they were created by a person, “but for some reason, having this sheen of fake polish that comes with AI kind of erases all of those standards” 🧪#sciart
Illustrators call out journals and news sites for using AI art
Bot-made art undermines research and public trust in science, say illustrators frustrated by inaccurate and outlandish depictions.
www.nature.com
June 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
"AI images don’t succinctly or accurately communicate scientific concepts & could undermine public trust in science... inaccuracies wouldn’t fly if they were created by a person, “but for some reason, having this sheen of fake polish that comes with AI kind of erases all of those standards” 🧪#sciart