Kai Caspar
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nomascus.bsky.social
Kai Caspar
@nomascus.bsky.social
1.3K followers 660 following 290 posts
Zoology lecturer @hhu.de | Armchair biologist | Focus on rodents underground and gibbons in the trees, also one of @themanybirds.bsky.social | Organismic vertebrate biology
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Reposted by Kai Caspar
johnrhutchinson.bsky.social
Another #DAWNDINOS paper submitted! A deep dive into locomotor function and biomechanics in the awesome Late Triassic "rauisuchian" Postosuchus.
February 9, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
brutalismbot.com
Prefabricated elephant slide, (1960s), Dresden, German Democratic Republic r/brutalism
February 7, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
evoneuro.bsky.social
FYI if anyone out there is interested, I’m happy to deliver this talk elsewhere via Zoom or in person
#birds
evoneuro.bsky.social Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 7d
Anyone in the #Lethbridge area, I will be giving a public talk this week to address the question I get the most: Why study bird brains? I will discuss how studying bird brains led to some major discoveries and helps us understand bird behaviour.
#yql #birds #Alberta
www.sacpa.ca/why-study-bi...
A wide format photo of a small multicoloured parrot, a species known as a mulga parrot, perched at the end of a long branch with the background blurred. At the top of the image it says: "Why study bird brains?"
February 7, 2026 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
plantophagy.bsky.social
This is a beautiful case of how real science happens & serious scientists work. Kudos to both set of authors: “This has been a humbling experience, but one that speaks to the self-correcting nature of the scientific endeavor.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
RETRACTED: Integrative phylogenomics positions sponges at the root of the animal tree
Determining whether sponges or ctenophores root the animal tree has important implications for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we examined support for these competing hypotheses by constru...
www.science.org
February 6, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
chriskrupenye.bsky.social
Imagination in bonobos!

I am thrilled to share a new paper w/ Amalia Bastos, out now in @science.org

We provide the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman animal can follow along a pretend scenario & track imaginary objects. Work w/ Kanzi, the bonobo, at Ape Initiative

youtu.be/NUSHcQQz2Ko
Apes Share Human Ability to Imagine
YouTube video by Johns Hopkins University
youtu.be
February 5, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
#ProtistsOnSky
no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...
February 2, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
amcell.bsky.social
2026. Aging populations threaten conservation goals of zoos | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Aging populations threaten conservation goals of zoos | PNAS
Improvements in wildlife husbandry mean that many zoo animals are living longer. This has put pressure on the finite holding capacity of zoos, whic...
www.pnas.org
February 4, 2026 at 3:47 AM
nomascus.bsky.social
Me: Unsuspectingly scrolling my timeline

Some Australian: Wanna see some POWERFUL OWLS?!
February 3, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
joschuaknuppe.bsky.social
Result from the Joggins Formation #paleostream! This Canadian site is an absolute classic and even if you are not familiar with its name you probably know at least one of its major players...
February 3, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
triloboii.bsky.social
#Cenozoicrewind2025 Last but not least, meet Flandriacetus gijseni!

#paleoart #vectorart #beakedwhale
Vector illustration of Flandriacetus gijseni, a large longirostrine beaked whale from the late Miocene of the North Sea, swimming towards the viewer. Its mouth is lined with many small, sharp teeth with two larger tusks at the tip of its lower jaw. It is black with lighter brown around its shoulders, with white on the tip of its snout, around the back of its head and on its belly. Text reads: Flandriacetus gijseni. Klaas Post, Mark Bosselaers and Dirk Munsterman. "A new longirostrine beaked whale Flandriacetus gijseni gen. et. sp. nov. (Ziphiidae, Cetacea, Mammlia) from the Tortonian of the North Sea Basin." Deinsea 23: 1-31 Dec 18 2025
January 31, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
alexwild.bsky.social
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is amazing, but y'all should know that it employs about 200 people to make those resources happen. Serving detailed biodiversity information takes significant resources, on the order of tens of millions of dollars per year.
January 27, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
rabihalameddine.bsky.social
Charley Harper, "Darwin's Finches", from "The Giant Golden Book of Biology", 1961
January 20, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
birdsoftheworld.bsky.social
MAJOR NEWS! We just launched an awesome new tool! The illustrated Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer lets users trace any bird’s lineage, compare species relationships, and explore major evolutionary milestones with a click of a button. SHARE and EXPLORE! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/phy...
IMAGE SHOWS GRAPHIC OF CORNELL LAB OF ORNITHOLOGY PHYLOGENY EXPLORER TOOL.
January 27, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
caecilianbiol.bsky.social
🚨NEW PAPER 🚨 #Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality, published in Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
Caecilians maintain a functional long-wavelength-sensitive cone opsin gene despite signatures of relaxed selection and more than 200 million years of fossoriality
The colonization of low-light environments exerts selective pressure to enhance non-visual senses while relaxing selection on vision, often leading to opsi
academic.oup.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:50 AM
nomascus.bsky.social
Another bit on eye-sight: I've put together a plot on visual acuity in birds and mammals. Interestingly, corvids seem to have acuity that is a lot better than expected for their eye size/passerines in general. Is anyone aware of structural peculiarities of corvid eyes that might explain that? 🧪🪶
Scatter plot with eye sight acuity (measured in cycles per degree) on the y-axis and eye diameter (in mm) on the x-axis. Birds tend to have higher acuity than mammals at a given eyesight, except anthropoid primates (monkeys and apes) that outperform most birds, except for a few raptors. Some birds of prey (falcons, eagles) exhibit the highest recorded acuity. Corvids cluster between other birds and anthropoids, showing higher acuity than would be expected.
January 25, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
triloboii.bsky.social
#cenozoicpaleo2025 Meet Itaboraitemnus macrodon!

#paleoart #sciart #toxodon
Vector illustration of Itaboraitemnus macrodon, a small very early toxodontian notoungulate, bearing its fangs and hissing at the viewer with its tail raised. This small mammal looks similar to a large rodent or hyrax, with blunt hooves hon the ends of its toes and long, pointed canines and third incisor teeth. It is reddish brown with a darker back and a light underbelly. Text reads: Itaboraitemnus macrodon. Luis Otavio Rezende Castro, Lilian Paglarelli Bergqvist and Daniel Alfredo Garcia-Lopez. "First record of Toxodontia for the Itaborai Basin (Paleogene, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and comments on the evolution of basal toxodonts (Pan-Perissodactyla, Mammalia)." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 32, no. 3 (2025): 34. Aug 20 2025
January 22, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
dinosven.bsky.social
NEW BOOK

I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of my first book "Die Welt der Plesiosaurier" (The World of Plesiosaurs), written by Achim Schwermann and myself and beautifully illustrated by @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social. 1/6
#Fossilfriday #palaeontology
January 23, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
lorenschmidt.bsky.social
wait so birds don't have a blue field entoptic effect at all? we just stare at the sky and see snow for reasons of evolutionary happenstance?
nomascus.bsky.social Kai Caspar @nomascus.bsky.social · 18d
Birds have a thick retina devoid of blood vessels - so how do they ensure sufficient oxygen availability?
They don't - neurons rely on glycolysis, metabolizing glucose released from the pecten.

Insane new study that includes comparative data on lizards and crocs.🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Oxygen-free metabolism in the bird inner retina supported by the pecten - Nature
While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:48 PM
nomascus.bsky.social
Birds have a thick retina devoid of blood vessels - so how do they ensure sufficient oxygen availability?
They don't - neurons rely on glycolysis, metabolizing glucose released from the pecten.

Insane new study that includes comparative data on lizards and crocs.🧪

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Oxygen-free metabolism in the bird inner retina supported by the pecten - Nature
While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
transitionalform.bsky.social
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
January 21, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
jdpardo.bsky.social
New paper presenting rather compelling evidence that the stem-vertebrate Haikouichthys had paired lateral and supranumerary medial eyes (!!!), and proposing that the medial eyes may have deep homology with the pineal and parapineal organs.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Four camera-type eyes in the earliest vertebrates from the Cambrian Period - Nature
Early vertebrates, particularly myllokunmingids, possessed four camera-type eyes (a pair of lateral eyes and pineal and parapineal organs), which indicates that these structures functio...
www.nature.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
fossilhistory.bsky.social
Paranthropus in the Afar, pretty neat find! 🏺🧪
2.6 million-year-old jaw from extinct 'Nutcracker Man' is found where we didn't expect it
A fossil jaw of a distant human relative was discovered much farther north than previously thought possible, revealing new information about diversity in human evolution.
www.livescience.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
tetzoo.bsky.social
Today (Jan 21st) is the day... TWO DECADES of Tetrapod Zoology. We start with a review of what went down in 2025... it was quite a busy year. Huge thanks to everyone who visits, reads and leaves comments at Tet Zoo, and especially those who assist with efforts. tetzoo.com/blog/2026/1/...
A montage of animals that had relevance of one sort of another to my 2025…. proboscideans, varanids, phorusrhacids, marsupials, and cryptids like long-necked seals and tatzelwurms. Cover slide from one of the several events on Mesozoic Art II. The art on the cover of the book is by the amazing Anthony Hutchings, who I’ve now worked with on several occasions (the results of a new collab are due out soon). Lightroom London gives you more than one opportunity to see the Prehistoric Planet dinosaurs at life-size, both outside (as here) and as part of the event. At right, me with actor Damien Lewis, the show’s narrator. Damien was one of several celebs at the opening event in July. Billie Piper was there too but I didn’t talk to her. Darren Naish being subtle and low-key in demonstrating enthusiasm for Spinosaurus. This replica skull was brought to the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival 2025 by the University of Portsmouth team.
January 21, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
serpenillus.bsky.social
Two more amazing Triassic reptiles. In this case from the Late Triassic Keuper Group of Europe. The huge phytosaur Nicrosaurus kapfii and one of the earliest plesiosaurs, Rhaeticosaurus mertensi

Part of my book of Triassic Tetrapods (currently in preparation)

#paleoart #sciart #reptiles
January 20, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Kai Caspar
kohngregory.bsky.social
Might be that learning to use tools individually needs nothing more than shared associative processes. But transmitting tool use socially across a pop requires a correlation between widespread tool availability and social learning opportunities, which is likely rare. m.youtube.com/watch?v=mDnt...
A Pigeon Solves the Classic Box-and-Banana Problem
YouTube video by drrobertepstein
m.youtube.com
January 19, 2026 at 11:19 PM