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Search Results
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Interview (radio, television)
Moby the sperm whale interview
In Edinburgh, Iolo Williams and Gillian Burke remain on the coast for a cetacean celebration before saying goodbye to the wild badger sett they’ve been following all series.Kitchener, Andrew C
contemporary collecting, cetacean collections, skull, Physeter catodon (sperm whale), and whale stranding
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Journal article
The prevalence of vestigial teeth in two beaked whale species from the North Atlantic
Beaked whales, Family Ziphiidae, occur in deep offshore and oceanic seas, where they are very difficult to study, so that much of our knowledge about them is derived from stranded animals. Most beaked whales (e.g., genera and ) have only one pair of mandibular teeth. A reduced dentition is widely...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Herman, Jeremy S ; Doeschate, Mariel ten ; Davison, Nicholas J ; Brownlow, Andrew …
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Blog post
Entangled Knowledges: Sharing collections in Albany
Since 2021 Ali and Andrew have been participating in a project which aims to highlight Menang Nyungar knowledge embedded in a historical collection of fishes and cultural objects and return this knowledge to the Menang community in Western Australia. Here they tell us about this collection, their recent visit to...Clark, Ali ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Research, Collections , Fish , and Colonial Histories And Legacies
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Journal article
A system for designating taxonomic certainty in mammals and other taxa
Taxonomy and systematics are fundamental to the success of conservation actions. A robust and accurate classification of living organisms is vital for understanding biodiversity, using limited resources wisely, prioritising conservation action, and for legal protection and regulation of trade. However, all too often current taxonomies are not based on the...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hoffmann, Michael ; Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki ; Breitenmoser-Würsten, Christine ; Wilting, Andreas
Taxonomy, Systematics , Conservation , Classification , and Species concepts
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Journal article
Cranial volume and palate length of cats, Felis spp., under domestication, hybridization and in wild populations
Reduced brain size, compared with wild individuals, is argued to be a key characteristic of domesticated mammal species, and often cited as a key component of a putative ‘domestication syndrome’. However, brain size comparisons are often based on old, inaccessible literature and in some cases drew comparisons between domestic animals...Lesch, Raffaela ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hantke, Georg ; Kotrschal, Kurt ; Fitch, W Tecumseh
skull, conservation, brain size, wildlife, hybridization, and cranial capacity
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Journal article
Genetic examination of historical North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) bone specimens from the eastern North Atlantic: Insights into species history, transoceanic population structure, and genetic diversity
Species monitoring and conservation is increasingly challenging under current climate change scenarios. For the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) this challenge is heightened by the added effects of complicated and uncertain past species demography. Right whales once had a much wider distribution across the North Atlantic Ocean, although the...Frasier, Brenna A ; Springate, Leah ; Frasier, Timothy R ; Brewington, Seth ; Carruthers, Martin …
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Blog post
On the edge: COP 15 and disappearing species
With COP 15 taking place in China this month, Principal Curator of Vertebrates Andrew Kitchener explores the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Thought to be extinct, but with potential sightings still reported, this bird is just one of many species we’re at risk of losing forever.Kitchener, Andrew C
Conservation , Birds , Natural Sciences , Audubon , and Natural World
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Blog post
Dedicated collector: Michael Daniels and his Eocene birds
A stunning collection of over 700 bird fossils has been bequeathed to National Museums Scotland. Collected in Essex by Michael Daniels, the fossils date from 54-56 million years ago, the beginning of the Eocene period. They represent the early stages in the evolution of modern birds and contain many species...Kitchener, Andrew C
Conservation , Fossil Hunters , Palaeontology, Birds , Collections, Fossils , and Natural Sciences
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Journal article
Biogeography in the deep: Hierarchical population genomic structure of two beaked whale species
The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth, yet little is known about the processes driving patterns of genetic diversity in its inhabitants. Here, we investigated the macro- and microevolutionary processes shaping genomic population structure and diversity in two poorly understood, globally distributed, deep-sea predators: Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius... -
Journal article
When did Alexander Philipp Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied, first describe Felis macroura?
The margay, Leopardus wiedii Schinz, 1821, is a Neotropical small spotted cat, whose nomenclatural history has long been confused (Thomas 1903; Pocock 1917; Allen 1919). This confusion began with Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du roi published in 1765,...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Sanderson, James G
Leopardus macrourus, margay, Leopardus wiedii, wild cat, Heinrich Rudolf Schinz, Reise nach Brasilien, and Felis wiedii
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Journal article
New fossils from the London Clay show that the Eocene Masillaraptoridae are stem group representatives of falcons (Aves, Falconiformes)
The Eocene taxon Masillaraptoridae includes long-legged, raptorial birds, the phylogenetic affinities of which are poorly resolved. Here, fossils from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, U.K.) are described, which corroborate the hypothesis that masillaraptorids are stem group representatives of the Falconiformes (falcons). Two partial skeletons are assigned to a new...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
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Journal article
Oldest fossil loon documents a pronounced ecomorphological shift in the evolution of gaviiform birds
We describe a stem group representative of Gaviiformes (loons or divers) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The holotype of Nasidytes ypresianus gen. et sp. nov. is a partial skeleton including the mandible and all major limb bones. The new species is the oldest unambiguously identified...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Nasidytes ypresianus, Walton-on-the-Naze, Aves, fossil birds, and London Clay
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Journal article
Early Eocene fossil illuminates the ancestral (diurnal) ecomorphology of owls and documents a mosaic evolution of the strigiform body plan
We describe a partial skeleton of a fossil owl (Strigiformes) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The holotype of Ypresiglaux michaeldanielsi, gen. et sp. nov. is one of the most complete specimens of a Palaeogene owl and elucidates the poorly known ecomorphology of stem group Strigiformes....Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
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Blog post
First British record of the short-finned pilot whale
What is the difference between the long-finned and the short-finned pilot whale? Andrew Kitchener explains how the examination of the skull of a stranded whale revealed the true identity of the species and the most northerly stranding of a short-finned pilot whale in the northeast Atlantic.Kitchener, Andrew C
Britain , Stranding , Whales, Short-Finned Pilot Whale, Pilot Whale , and Whale
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Journal article
Machine learning ATR-FTIR spectroscopy data for the screening of collagen for ZooMS analysis and mtDNA in archaeological bone
Faunal remains from archaeological sites allow for the identification of animal species that enables the better understanding of the relationships between humans and animals, not only from their morphological information, but also from the ancient biomolecules (lipids, proteins, and DNA) preserved in these remains for thousands and even millions of... -
Journal article
The Scientific Name of the Aardwolf is Proteles cristatus
The aardwolf is one of the four members of the family Hyaenidae (order Carnivora). It is referred to as either Proteles cristatus or Proteles cristata in the scientific literature and on animal diversity websites, but only one of these names is correct. In this short note, we seek to rectify...Werdelin, Lars ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Abramov, Alexei ; Veron, Géraldine ; Do Linh San, Emmanuel
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Journal article
Dental Anomaly Causing Severe Maxillary Lesions in a Male Sowerby’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens Sowerby, 1804)
Sowerby’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) is a poorly known cetacean species, and much of our current information comes from stranded animals. Herein, we describe a dental anomaly in an adult male stranded in 2019 in the Moray Firth, Scotland. The mandibular teeth (tusks) had erupted so their tips converged towards...Plint, Tessa ; Hantke, Georg ; Schwarz, Tobias ; Kitchener, Andrew C
beaked whale, dental anomaly, maxillary lesions, Mesoplodon bidens, and pathology
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Lecture
CryoArks: Animal biobanking for research and conservation
Join curator Andrew Kitchener and conservation geneticists Gill Murray-Dickson and Helen Senn to discuss how museums and zoos are coming together to share their research and help conserve endangered species around the world.Kitchener, Andrew C ; Murray-Dickson, Gill ; Senn, Helen
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Journal article
Expediency of photographs to study the distribution of wildcats in South-west Asia
By compiling a wildcat catalogue of georeferenced digital photographs from Southwest Asia, we investigated the plausibility of phenotypically identifying Felis silvestris caucasica (Caucasian wildcat), Felis lybica ornata (Asiatic wildcat) and Felis lybica lybica (African wildcat) through external phenotypic traits, in order to verify their known distribution, and identify any inconsistencies...Wuest, Dina ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Ghoddousi, Arash ; Gerngross, Peter ; Barashkova, Anna …
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Blog post
Frozen assets saving species with biobanks
How do frozen tissue samples from the 1960s help animal conservation in the time of COVID-19? Andrew Kitchener and Gill Murray-Dickson explore the importance of our Biobank and the CryoArks initiative for continuing research to answer the questions of today and the future.Kitchener, Andrew C