Archive for October, 2025

Halloween is not as Horrifying as Real Life in the USA Today

October 29, 2025

Good guys don’t wear masks. Real life is not like a superhero comic book that depicts masked men saving humanity. People who have to hide their identity to perform their jobs know their actions are morally repugnant. ICE agents wear masks because they don’t want their identities known. It’s the exact same reason bank robbers wear masks. ICE agents remind me of the thugs who captured and sent my relatives to the gas chambers during the Holocaust. Though most deported immigrants don’t face certain death, some do. They fled their countries of origin to escape violent gangs or dangerous political situations. ICE agents are cowardly NAZI scumbags, also reminiscent of the KKK. If they were righteous, they wouldn’t hide their identities.

The entire premise for these mass deportations is based on racist falsehoods. Undocumented immigrants don’t take jobs away from legal citizens. There is a shortage of labor in the U.S. because of the aging and rising affluence of the population, and companies desperately need more workers of all kinds. Undocumented immigrants don’t take government services away from legal citizens. They are not even eligible for federal benefits. They contribute more to tax revenue than they cost, especially in the long run, and payroll tax revenue from immigrants is the best way to save Social Security. Undocumented immigrants commit much lower rates of violent crime than legal citizens. The vast majority of gang members and drug dealers in the U.S. are legal citizens. Mass deportations won’t lower drug overdoses.

President Trump promised to be extra cruel to brown-skinned people, and he is fulfilling that promise. It’s so shameful that the American people voted for this. Trump is sending federal troops to intimidate people who didn’t support him in the last election. Trump falsely claimed he’s sending troops to cities to reduce crime, but violent crime rates were already shrinking. I don’t know why I haven’t heard a single mainstream media call out this obvious racism. With 2 exceptions Trump is not sending troops to red states which have much higher murder rates–proof this policy is racist. The states with the highest murder rates according to FBI statistics are Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ohio, Indiana, and Alaska. Trump is sending troops to just 2 cities in red states–Memphis and New Orleans, but those cities are controlled by black politicians. He is not sending troops to most red states because they are run by white people who support him. Instead, he is sending troops to intimidate black people and liberals, possibly as a precursor to lower rates of voter turnout during upcoming elections. Trump has mentioned sending troops to seize voting machines.

Red States have the highest murder rates, but Trump is sending troops to liberal cities controlled by black politicians to intimidate people who don’t support him. It’s obviously racist.

ICE agents wear masks to hide their identities, like bank robbers and KKK members. They are not the good guys.

ICE agents are cowardly, Nazi, scumbags. They are un-American.

Many legal citizens think they shouldn’t care if undocumented immigrants get deported. Their self-assurance is unwarranted. Between 2015-2020 70 legals citizens were deported, and since Trump took office at least 170 legal citizens have been detained. Most people don’t carry around their birth certificates, and contrary to popular belief, law enforcement agents don’t always give people a phone call in a timely fashion…if at all. I wonder how these people would feel, if men with masks abducted them and threw them in a detention center. ICE agents are picking up many people simply because they have brown skin. Some legal citizens have been detained, then refused release, even after offering proof of citizenship. ICE agents falsely claimed their documents were “fake.” In addition to this government terror reign inside the U.S., now the Trump administration is murdering brown-skinned commercial fishermen and falsely claiming they are drug smugglers, so that they look good among their racist supporters.

It’s ironic that the biggest criminal in U.S. history is having so many innocent people murdered and detained. The Trump crime family has used the presidency to enrich themselves by an estimated $3.4 billion, just since he took office last year. And there are millions of chumps who wrongly believe Trump is so rich, he only took the job from the goodness of his heart. Trump is a monster supported by un-American pigs.

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Vulture Archaeology

October 22, 2025

Bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) nest on cliffs, often inside caves and rock shelters where over many years they accumulate much organic debris, some of it man made. The dry high-altitude climate preserves these artifacts and specimens for centuries. Between 2008-2014 scientists studied 12 vulture nests found in the mountains of southern Spain. They catalogued all the items they found and carbon-dated them. They counted 2,117 bones, 86 hooves, 43 eggshells, 23 items constructed by people from esparto grass, 72 pieces of leather, 1 crossbow bolt, 1 wooden lance, slingshots, rope, and basket fragments. Some of these items dated to the Middle Ages and were 600 years old. People in this area made shoes from esparto grass and whole shoes were found in nests. The vultures used these items to line their nests and keep eggs and nestlings warm. The crossbow bolt and wooden lance were likely from carcasses of scavenged animals.

Bearded vulture and old vulture nest. From the below referenced study.

Bearded vulture range map.

Bearded vultures drop bones, tortoises, and small animals from great altitudes to break them for easier consumption.

Unlike most species of vultures, bearded vultures have feathers on their neck because they consume a cleaner diet of just bone and not rotting flesh.

Some manmade items found in bearded vulture nests excavated in southern Spain where the species has been extirpated for at least 70 years.

Bearded vultures are huge birds weighing up to 17 lbs. Unlike other species of vultures, they have feathered necks and actively hunt prey for a significant part of their diet, making them quite unique. Bones make up 70%-90% of their diet–also different from other vultures that primarily eat flesh. This explains why they have feathers on their neck. They don’t have to stick their heads in rotting flesh. They carry bones to great heights and drop them, so the bone will break, exposing the nutrient rich marrow. They do the same thing to living prey, including tortoises, hyraxes, marmots, hares, and even monitor lizards. (That must be terrifying for these small animals. Nature is monstrous.) They are known to knock ibex and goats off cliffs–another way they actively hunt prey.

Bearded vultures no longer occur in southern Spain. They were extirpated there over 70 years ago. Today, they live in the Himalayas and parts of Africa, and they have been reintroduced to the Alps.

Reference:

Margalida, A. et. al.

“The Bearded Vulture as an Accumulator of Historical Remains: Insight for Future Ecological Biocultural Studies”

The Scientific Naturalist September 2025

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70191

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More Species of Mammals Discovered Living in Costa Rica

October 15, 2025

If the U.S. government ever expelled me from this country, I would choose to live in Costa Rica. It’s a beautiful tropical paradise. The cost of living is very cheap and reportedly delicious fresh produce is available year-round. 28% of Costa Rica is protected wilderness, and I can imagine living in a home next to a nature reserve. Costa Rica is situated between North and South America, and accordingly it’s 1 of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world with more species of mammals than most other countries, despite its small size. I’ve written about Costa Rican mammal diversity before, but I came across an article updating the list of mammal species that occur there. Over the past 10 years, 22 new species of mammals have been discovered living in Costa Rica bringing the total number of mammal species known to occur in the country to an astonishing 271. By contrast the U.S. is 74 times bigger than Costa Rica but has less than twice as many species.

11 species of possum are known to live in Costa Rica.

Whales are now classified with the even-toed ungulates due to genetic evidence.

The Tacaruna bat was recently rediscovered to be living in Costa Rica after not being seen for 31 years.

6 species of cats, including the oncilla or northern tiger cat are known to occur in Costa Rica. All populations of these species are decreasing in abundance.

Dozens of species of rodents live in Costa Rica.

6 species of raccoons and their relatives live in Costa Rica.

The authors of the below referenced paper reviewed all of the scientific literature published over the past 10 years to update the list of species living in Costa Rica. They added 22 species to the list. 10 are bats and 8 are rodents. Some species were known formerly to have lived in Costa Rica but hadn’t been seen in decades. A colony of thumbless bats (Feripterus horrens) was rediscovered living in a tourist cabin after not beeing seen for 44 years. I couldn’t even find a photo of this species on the internet. The Tacaruna bat (Lasiurius castaneus) was rediscovered after a 31 yar absence. Costa Rica is home to 12 species of possums, 3 species of anteaters, 2 species of sloths, 2 species of armadillos, 4 species of monkeys, 6 species of cats, 6 species in the raccoon family and dozens of species of rodents and bats. Populations of all 6 species of cats are decreasing. Populations of 103 species of mammals here are stable, while 18 species are decreasing. 84 species are of unknown status. 3 species are increasing, including coyotes, sea lions, and spinner dolphins.

I learned about an interesting taxonomic controversy when reading the paper referenced below. Genetic evidence suggests whales should be classified with artiodactyls (hooved animals). Whales were formerly classified as cetaceans but apparently the genetic differences between whales, hippos, pigs, deer, etc. is not as great as assumed based on anatomical characteristics. (Of course, not all scientists agree with this reclassification.) Now, scientists can’t decide what name should be given to the combined whale and hooved animal classification. They’ve come up with all sorts of ridiculous names, but they’ve decided to call this order cetartiodactyl.

Reference:

Mora, J.; and L. Ruedas

“Updated List of the Mammals of Costa Rica, with notes on Recent Taxonomic Changes

Zootaxa 5357 (4) October 2023

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374869193_Updated_list_of_the_mammals_of_Costa_Rica_with_notes_on_recent_taxonomic_changes

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Glyptodonts were Armadillos, not Just Close Relatives

October 8, 2025

I find some of the most interesting and surprising topics for my blog from reading obscure scientific journals. I recently discovered Zootaxa, a journal I never encountered in my 18 years of doing research for this blog. I searched through their archives looking for additional topics and found the subject of last week’s blog entry, but in the bibliography of that article, I found reference to yet another surprising paper. Scientists long classified the extinct glyptodonts as relatives of armadillos but not actually armadillos. Glyptodonts were much larger and most likely subsisted on grass, while armadillos mostly eat invertebrates. Glyptodonts had stiff turtle-like shells; armadillos had flexible carapaces. Some scientists noticed anatomical similarities in the skulls and jaws of glyptodonts and small pink fairy armadillos in the Chlamyphoridae Family, and they did suspect a close relationship between the 2. Scientists succeeded in extracting DNA from a 12,000-year-old glyptodont carapace. They were able to map the whole genome. Amazingly, they determined glyptodonts were not just close relatives of armadillos but should actually be classified in the same family as the diminutive pink fairy armadillos.

Surprisingly, the extant pink fairy armadillo, the smallest species of armadillo, is the closest living relative of the huge extinct glyptodonts. Evolution can occur rapidly because scientists believe glyptodonts evolved to their enormous size shortly after divergence from fairy armadillos.

Based on genetic evidence, glyptodonts should be classified with fairy armadillos. From the below referenced study by Delgur et al.

DNA from doedicurus, a type of glyptodont was used in the 2 below referenced studies.

Glyptodonts were about the size and shape of an old-fashioned Volkswagon.

The species of glyptodont used in the below referenced studies belonged to the Doedicurus genus. They were huge animals 12 feet long and weighing 3000 pounds–about the size and shape of an old-fashioned Volkswagon. Some species had spiked clubs on their tails they used for defense and probably battles over mates. Scientists believe the first species weighed just 15 pounds, but they rapidly evolved into a much larger size and a diet dominated by plant matter instead of invertebrates. They diverged from smaller armadillos about 35 million years ago, according to genetic evidence. This evidence is consistent with the fossil record. Glyptodonts first appear in the fossil record about the same time. This rapid evolution is a good example of punctuated equilibrium, a process of evolution marked by isolated episodes of rapid speciation between long periods of little change. I hypothesize the rapid evolution of glyptodonts occurred after some unknown extinction event that left an ecological niche open for a large grass-eating animal.

There are 2 species of extant fairy armadillos–Chlamyphorus truncatus and Calyptophraetus retusus. The former lives underground in a desert area of Argentina where they feed upon insects, worms, snails, and some plant matter. The latter lives in scrubland habitat along the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Chlamyphorus is considered endangered; the status of Calyptophraetus is unknown. These types of armadillos can bury themselves in desert sand with surprising speed, but they still fall prey to domestic dogs and cats.

References:

Delgur, F.’ et. al.

“The Phylogenetic Affiliation of the Extinct Glyptodonts”

Current Biology 26 (4) Feb 2016

Mitchell, K. et. al.

“Ancient DNA From the Extinct South America Giant Glyptodont Doedicurus sp. (Xenartha Glyptodontidae) Reveals that Glyptodonts Evolved from Eocene Armadillos”

Molecular Ecology 14 2016

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New Species of Extinct Pampathere (Holmesina criptae) Found in Brazil

October 1, 2025

Until about 11,000 years ago, armadillos the size of bears roamed parts of South America and southeastern North America. The species that lived in Florida and coastal Georgia was Holmesina septentrionalsis and is known by the common name of northern pampathere. There were 3 genera of giant armadillos including the tonnicinctus, pampatherium, and holmesina. They should not be confused with glyptodonts, though they were related. Glyptodonts were much larger and had stiff turtle-like shells whereas pampathere carapaces were flexible, allowing them to roll up in the shape of a ball to protect themselves from predators. There were 6 species in the holmesina genus. Most species lived in South America–their continent of origin.

The largest pampatheres grew to 9 feet long. The species that lived in Florida grew to about 7 feet long.

Location of the site where 2 complete specimens of a newly discovered species of pampathere was discovered. From the below referenced paper.

Skulls of the newly discovered species. From the below referenced paper.

Image from the below referenced paper.

Cave explorers discovered the complete skeletons of 2 pampatheres in Lapinha Cave located in Bahia, Brazil. Scientists examined the specimens and determined they belonged to a previously unknown species, and they gave it the scientific name Holmesina cryptae. It had a more triangular-shaped head than any other species of pampathere. Its osteoderms, the boney plates that make up its carapace, were similar in some ways to those in the pampatherium genus and similar in other ways to species in the holmesina genus. Based on skull morphology, they placed it in the holmesina genus.

Reference:

Mauro, J.; F. Gais, F. Galleri, M. Fernandes

“A New and Most Complete Pampathere (Mammalia, Xenartha, Cingulata) From the Quaternary of Bahia, Brazil”

Zootaxa 4661 (3) 2019

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335474229_A_new_and_most_complete_pampathere_Mammalia_Xenarthra_Cingulata_from_the_Quaternary_of_Bahia_Brazil

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