Is the Number 34 Liberal?

Breaking news: The Trump Administration filed a lawsuit against the number 34 because the fake news media reported Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies, and therefore the number 34 has a liberal bias.

The previous paragraph might be similar to a headline one might find in The Onion satirical magazine, but the truth is scarcely less bizarre. The Trump Justice Department sent intimidating letters to dozens of medical and science journals, accusing them of having a liberal bias (as if that was some kind of crime) and threatening their tax-exempt status. The accusation baffles the American Medical Association, publishers of the well-known Journal of the American Medical Association, also known as JAMA. Most doctors are upper middle class political conservatives and are not known for having a liberal bias. Moreover, the letters give no specific examples…just vague references to “woke ideology” and gender pronouns. About a third of leading medical journals are non-profit and wouldn’t be taxed anyway. Other leading journals do make money from advertising, subscriptions, and access to articles for a fee. PLOS One is a vanity publication that makes its money from authors paying to have their studies published. It’s likely the operating margins for these publications is not large.

The goal of these letters is unclear. It seems like a strange way to force academia into fully agreeing with anything the Trump administration chooses to say or decide. Trump demands that science and fact support whatever crazy nonsense he believes, no matter how unscientific or dishonest. The letters clearly infringe on scientists’ 1st amendment rights. However, Trump is taking the fascist approach, insisting a fact isn’t a fact, unless the fascist dictator says it is a fact.

Trump 2.0 is unchained, and he can now do anything without being encumbered by checks and balances, since the Supreme Court ruled the President is above the law. He can order the assassination of anyone he doesn’t like, then pardon the assassin. Trump has usurped the role of Congress and is ignoring judicial rulings. Members of his own party fear his retribution, if they oppose him, so they let him do anything. Trump is threatening to deport legal citizens to a foreign gulag, and some of his officials say people who criticize Trump should be imprisoned for aiding terrorists. His administration is now arresting judges in a brazen attempt to intimidate the already intimidated judicial branch. Judges should have thrown Trump in jail a long time ago.

Trump may not be Hitler, but he is Hitleresque. Many of his actions and words sound similar to Hitler’s. He’s clearly a fascist with a cult following. His own party fears him.

Trump attempted the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, and he said he was going to terminate the constitution. He’s well on his way to destroying the U.S. constitution. When asked point blank whether he was obligated to defend the constitution, he said, “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer.” Half of America doesn’t care that we have become a fascist country.

I foresaw this happening because I realized Trump was going to win a couple of months before the election. Trump already ATTEMPTED THE VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. He said he was going to terminate the constitution. He is the biggest criminal in U.S. history and wants to be President to stay out of jail and to enrich himself. As soon as he was elected, he started a new bitcoin, inviting foreign countries and crooks to pay him bribes by investing in his cryptocurrency–an instantly impeachable offense. Nevertheless, half the country voted for him because they mistakenly think he would be good for the economy. Americans suffer from a psychotic type of amnesia because Trump presided over the biggest economic downturn in U.S. history during his first term. Now, people are beginning to have 2nd thoughts. Americans are standing on the edge of economic collapse and are just now realizing it. The economic fear index is high. Trump’s tariffs are about to take effect, and they will bring ruin to many small businesses and crush working class people’s personal finances. This will not surprise the rational people who recognized Trump as an insane buffoon, but half the country consists of stupid uneducated pigs who don’t understand the consequences of electing a crazy dummy as President. In a trade war between the U.S. and the world, the U.S. is going to lose.

NPR is the only major media outlet that has so far reported Trump’s attempt to intimidate medical and science journals. It’s not a coincidence that Trump wants to get rid of NPR and PBS and end their government funding. NPR and PBS get 90% of their funding from private donations, and this withdrawal of funds will mainly hurt the small rural stations that serve mostly Trump voters. Conservatives often accuse NPR and PBS of having a liberal bias, but they wouldn’t know because they never listen to anything that might educate them.

The Only Movie Ever Made about the Lewis and Clark Expedition was Riddled with Inaccuracies

The famous Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 seems like it would’ve inspired numerous movies and television series. Though plenty of documentaries have been produced about this great adventure, Hollywood has produced just 1 movie about it, and it is filled with laughable inaccuracies. The movie was entitled The Far Horizons. It was released in 1955 and featured a famous cast, including some of the biggest stars of the time. Charlton Heston played William Clark, Fred MacMurray (of My Three Sons) played Meriweather Lewis, and Donna Reed played Sacagawea. Modern critics lambaste the film for casting a Caucasian actress as a Native-American, but this is just a minor flaw compared to the other fictional inventions that dog this movie. There were not many Native-American actresses in 1955, and Hollywood casting directors couldn’t be expected to scour Indian reservations, then foot the bill for an actor’s drama class. However, some of the other inaccuracies are indefensible.

Movie Trailer for The Far Horizons

This movie is fair but highly inaccurate. They spray tanned Donna Reed, but she still doesn’t look like an Indian.

The movie portrays Sacajawea as desperately begging Lewis and Clark to let her join the expedition, so she could be reunited with her people. (She was being held prisoner by another tribe.) In truth Lewis and Clark needed Sacajawea because she was the only one in the expedition who spoke Shoshone, and she was indispensable as a translator when they traded for horses with the Shoshone.

Even more outrageous, the screenwriter invents out of whole cloth, a romantic relationship between Clark and Sacajawea. She was married to a French trapper, Charbonneau, who came along on the expedition and served as a cook. Charbonneau impregnated Sacajawea during the journey, and she gave birth and nursed her baby while still on the expedition. The movie depicts Clark in a knife fight with Charbonneau over Sacajawea, and Lewis intervenes and sends Charbonneau packing. The portrayal of Charbonneau demonstrates anti-French bigotry–in old westerns French trappers are often portrayed as dangerous, wicked, knife-fighting characters. Charbonneau was never forced to leave the expedition, and there was no conflict between him and Clark.

The screenwriter also invented a conflict between Lewis and Clark, supposedly because Lewis didn’t approve of the way Clark was leading Sacajawea on. Earlier, the movie portrayed Clark getting engaged to a woman Lewis loved. The resentment boils over, and they get in a fist fight. There is no evidence there was any conflict between the 2 whatsoever.

The movie shows the expedition constantly warring against the Indians. In truth the expedition got along well with the Indians most of the time with 1 exception when they had a skirmish with some Blackfeet after a sentry let an Indian steal his gun. In the movie Charbonneau riles up an Indian chief against the expedition. This never happened. Lewis and Clark liked the Indians they met, and the indigenous people didn’t yet view white men as a threat to their way of life.

The movie depicts an accident, resulting in the deaths of several men due to the supposed conflict between Lewis and Clark. This never happened either. Only 1 man out of 45 died during the expedition, and historians believe he succumbed to a burst appendix about the time the expedition started. There was no cure for a burst appendix in 1804.

The movie showed very few, if any, scenes depicting wildlife.

The real Lewis and Clark expedition saw abundant wildlife.

Lewis and Clark got along well with the Indians, and they liked them. In the movie the expedition was constantly at war or on the verge of war with the Indians.

The movie suffers as well from a stunning lack of scenes depicting the abundant wildlife encountered by the expedition. They often caught giant catfish and salmon, and they saw vast mixed herds of bison, elk, pronghorn, and mustang followed by packs of wolves. Grizzly bears on occasion attacked members of the expedition. Explorers battling giant bears holds great potential as a dramatic move scene, but the movie fails with this possibility as well. For all its shortcomings the movie rates a C+ as entertainment value. Movie buffs just need to know how inaccurate it is.

See also: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/revisiting-lewis-and-clark/

David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar

I attended a Van Halen concert performed in Augusta, Georgia during 1980 when the group was an exciting new sensation. Eddie Van Halen’s electrifying guitar playing, and the perfectly harmonized background vocals made them especially popular with rock and pop fans alike. The most memorable moment that I can recall was the start of the concert when David Lee Roth, the blonde-haired lead singer, sprinted to the front of the stage and tossed marijuana cigarettes into the audience. A chunky dude behind me caught one and I took a toke off it. I was 18 and an inexperienced pothead then, and I didn’t recognize the pot buzz yet. I also remember Roth performing many of his spectacular leaps. A year of so earlier, he broke his foot making one of his jumps and actually recorded “Somebody get me a Doctor” in a cast.

I like reading rock and roll musician’s biographies and autobiographies because I can vicariously enjoy the wild lives they lived while touring and recording their albums. The great rock and roll groups of yesteryear were constantly touring to promote their new albums, while they were still hot and would only take breaks when they were recording new material. Recently, I read the biographies of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. Reportedly, the 2 felt nothing but disdain for each other, and I thought it would be interesting to explore that conflict.

Roth met the Van Halen brothers when they all attended Pasadena College during the early to mid 1970s. Roth bought a sound system with a loan from his father and rented it to the Van Halen brothers when they played at parties. Eddie Van Halen originally sang and played guitar, but the brothers agreed to let Roth be the lead singer in exchange for free use of his sound system. They mostly played at parties for a fee, then graduated to rock and roll bars in Los Angeles. They learned about 200 songs and were at first just a cover band, but they did start writing their own songs and had a successful debut album in 1978 known as Van Halen I. They opened for Journey and Black Sabbath before they began headlining their own shows. This first version of Van Halen produced 6 good-great albums before Roth left the band. His musical tastes had expanded, while Eddie wanted to stick with hard rock. Eddie also resented Roth’s side projects, though the latter points out Eddie also had side projects. Roth opted for a solo career.

David Lee Roth spent a lot of energy as lead singer of Van Halen from ~1975-1985.

Many thought Van Halen was washed up after Roth left the band, but they hired Sammy Hagar to replace Roth. Hagar already had a successful career working for Montrose, then having a number of hits as a solo artist. “I can’t drive 55” and “Heavy Metal” are some examples of his better hits. Incidentally, Hagar notes he can usually get away with speeding because when cops pull him over and recognize the singer of “I can’t drive 55,” they just want his autograph. Hagar re-energized Van Halen, and they produced more good-great albums until For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge which is mediocre. After about a decade of touring and recording, Hagar wanted a break, but Eddie Van Halen insisted he come to the studio. Hagar refused to report for duty and was fired. Both Roth and Hagar concur that the Van Halen brothers could be abusive and were hard to get along with. Roth goes so far as to call Eddie a “crummy” human being.

Sammy Hagar re-energized Van Halen after Roth left the band. He was lead singer from 1985-1995.

Roth’s and Hagar’s autobiographies are quite different. Roth’s autobiography originally consisted of 1200 pages of transcripts from tape recordings made by a man who followed him around for most of 1996. His ghostwriter whittled it down to about 450 pages. There is some biographical material in it, but it mostly consists of vignettes–some interesting, some humorous, and with some attempts at a deeper meaning–that were spoken by a someone who was stoned. Roth was raised in a middle-class household, and his father was an eye doctor. He was a hyperactive youngster who today undoubtedly would be prescribed Ritalin. His parents did send him to therapists. He was not a spoiled child, and when he wanted an expensive item, his father would make him get menial jobs as early as the age of 13 to pay him back. He discovered marijuana at one of these menial jobs, smoking pot with undocumented Mexican laborers. He read a lot and in school he was excellent in subjects like literature and history but terrible in math. Roth is a bit of a thrill seeker. He took long primitive boat trips up the Amazon River with his bodyguard, and he’s climbed mountains in the Himalayas. He is a trained EMT and has worked on an ambulance over 200 times. Some accident victims were shocked to find themselves rescued by a famous rock star. Roth is his own man and never married, though he’s enjoyed the company of numerous groupies and more serious lovers. Unlike Hagar, he didn’t give many specific names in his book. The only mention he makes of Hagar is when he tells how the Van Halen brothers forced him out of the band.

Hagar’s autobiography is more straightforward and coherent. He tells of his upbringing in povery with an abusive alcoholic father. His parents were migrant farmers, and his father suffered from psychological problems following his experiences as a soldier in World War II. His father was a professional boxer who holds the record for most times being knocked down in a fight–a fact Hagar learned while watching boxing on television one night. His mother escaped his father and took her children with her. She struggled to eventually achieve working class respectability. Hagar is a family man. He’s been married twice and has fathered children with both wives, though he enjoyed his share of groupies when he was single and estranged from his first wife. He claims he had orgies with as many as 5 groupies in a tent set up on stage, while Eddie Van Halen was performing a guitar solo. He’s always been a hard worker, and unlike most rock musicians, he understands business. He’s started many businesses. His most successful venture was a tequila brand known as Cabo Wabo that he sold in 2007 for $80 million. No wonder he always looks so happy. His book is honest, except for his denials that he does alcohol and drugs. In 1 paragraph he will say he doesn’t do alcohol and drugs, and in the next paragraph he describes how hard he was partying with drugs and alcohol. In his book he takes a number of shots at Roth. He points out how Roth’s solo career lasted “2 minutes,” and he relishes the decline in the quality of Roth’s vocals. They both toured with Van Halen during a reunion tour in 2002, and Hagar describes Roth as a prima donna. He has even harsher words for Eddie Van Halen. He states Eddie was so far gone on alcohol and drugs that he forgot how to play live, and it took him 2 months to produce 1 song that he could have produced in 1 day when he was younger. Both Van Halen brothers drank cheap crappy beer and smoked cigarettes all day, though Alex eventually stopped drinking after an intervention.

Sammy Hagar and his post Van Halen group, The Wabos, performing Mas Tequila. He sold his tequila brand for $80 million. No wonder he always looks so happy.

I like Roth and Hagar and don’t prefer one over the other. Hagar seems like the more congenial person, but I find nothing objectionable about Roth who seems more of an independent loner. I also like both as lead singers for Van Halen. I do think Van Halen produced a greater quantity of quality songs when Roth was lead singer, but this is simply because they were young and fresh. By the time Hagar took over, they were beginning to pass their prime, but he pushed them to create more good music they likely would have never equaled on their own.

References:

Hagar, Sammy

Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock

William Morrow Publishers 2012

Roth, David Lee

Crazy from the Heat

Hyperion 1997

Late Pleistocene Cichlid Radiation

There are about 1,760 extant species of cichlid living in the world today, making them 2nd only to the Cyprinidae (carp and minnows) as the vertebrate family with the most species in all the animal kingdom. They are an ancient family. Scientists estimate they first diverged from perch 80-100 million years ago when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. However, the oldest known fossil of a cichlid dates to 48.5 million years ago during the early Eocene. There is also fossil evidence of cichlids living in Italy during the Miocene. Cichlids no longer occur this far north. Cichlids are a rapidly speciating family, and this gives scientists an excellent opportunity to study evolution.

A genetic study determined over 700 species of cichlids in Lake Victoria, Africa speciated during the Late Pleistocene over the past 150,000 years, and incredibly of these over 500 speciated within the past 15,000 years. Closely related species of cichlids, isolated over time, often come into contact with each other and hybridize. Scientists believe these periodic admixtures result in the facilitation of new speciation. These populations may not be isolated by geographic barriers. Instead, they evolved different feeding strategies causing them to occupy different ecological niches. Some specialized in eating other fish, others specialized in eating snails, insects, plankton, or algae. Then, species that overlap in territory, for some reason, begin mating again, thus hybridizing into yet more species. Scientists refer to the speciation of African cichlids as a “super flock.” Cichlid ancestry in Lake Victoria originated in the Nile and Congo River basins, and the hybridization of these 2 groups of cichlids led to even greater diversity. Cichlids are by far the most common fish in African rift valley lakes.

Chart from below referenced genetic study showing the ancestral relationships between different species of cichlids.

Cichlids really thrive in volcanic lakes in both Africa and Central America.

The Nile tilapia is the most commonly farmed fish and today is found in most grocery stores.

The Rio Grande cichlid is the only species of cichlid native to the U.S. Cichlids can’t endure harsh winters.

The Lake Chala tilapia colonized a volcanic lake and until recently when 2 other species were introduced was the only species of fish in that lake. Unlike most other cichlids, it lives in deep water.

Angel fish are popular aquarium cichlids.

1600 species of cichlids live in Africa, 120 species live in Central and South America, 9 species live in Asia from Israel to India, and the balance live in Madagascar. They can’t survive in regions with harsh winters. Scientists aren’t sure how cichlids colonized the Americas. Some thought they evolved before Gondwanaland broke up when South America and Africa were part of the same supercontinent, but it seems more likely cichlids arrived in America when rafts of vegetation with freshwater lenses drifted to America following storms. This occurred when the distance between the 2 continents was less than it is today. This is also how scientists believe some species of monkeys, rodents, and lizards made it to America.

The Rio Grande cichlid (Herichthys cyanogattatus) is the only cichlid native to the United States. It is an omnivorous species reaching lengths of 13 inches. It lives in the Rio Grande and its tributaries in south Texas. It’s an invasive species introduced to Florida and Louisiana. The Nile tilapia (Orechromis niloticus) is the most commonly farmed tilapia in the world. Egyptians farmed them as early as 3000 years ago, but the rest of the world didn’t begin farming them until the 1970s. Tilapia is 2nd only to crappie as the best freshwater fish I have ever tasted. They feed upon algae in the wild and are fed plant food in captivity, explaining why they have such a clean taste. The Lake Chala tilapia (O. hunteri) was the only species of fish that lived in this volcanic lake until 2 other species of cichlid were introduced by man. Volcanic lava flows must have isolated the ancestral population of this species. Unlike most cichlids, it is a deep water fish living at depths of 66-148 feet. Angel fish (Pterophyllum sp.) and several other species of cichlids are popular aquarium fish. Angelfish are native to the Amazon basin and feed upon small fish, insects, and other arthropods.

Reference:

Meier, J.; D. Marques, S. Mwaika, C. Wagner, G. Escoffier, and O. Seehousen

“Ancient Hybridization Fuels Rapid Cichlid Fish Adaptive Radiation”

Nature Communication Feb 2017

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14363

The Dire Wolf (Aenocyon dirus) Has Not Been Resurrected. Colossal Biosciences = Colossal Bullshit

The dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) has not been resurrected despite the false claims of publicity-seeking scam artists and the shoddy, scientifically ignorant journalists who reported this ridiculous prevarication. Their false claim is more than just an exaggeration–it is an outright lie. Instead, the animals the scientists who work for Colossal Biosciences created are gray wolves (Canis lupus) genetically engineered to look like the popular conception of a dire wolf’s appearance. No dire wolf DNA was spliced into the cells or embryos used to genetically engineer these animals. Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences, a “de-extinction” company, deliberately misled the gullible mainstream media into believing dire wolf DNA was used directly to create these specimens, but it was not. Yet, most of the mainstream media vomited forth this lie without any skepticism. Shame on CNN, ABC, PBS, the New York Times, the New York Post, and the numerous other news broadcasters who will now plagiarize this absurd falsehood. Time magazine even devoted a cover story to this trashy deception. A few media outlets did report this story with reasonable skepticism, so I must praise the BBC, The New Scientist, and the MIT Technology Review.

Time magazine is a shameful rag for devoting a cover story to a dishonest crooked huckster’s publicity stunt.

The co-founders of Colossal Biosciences with the 2 supposed dire wolf pups along with Beth Shapiro, a scientist. They are full of shit crooks. A previously published study suggested dire wolves had short red hair, but these pups were genetically engineered to have thick white fur, so as to appeal to a popular misconception and to look attractive.

This is what dire wolves probably looked like according to published data. Shapiro and Colossal Biosciences have not published their data, suggesting dire wolves had thick white fur. It seems unlikely they had thick white fur because most of their range consisted of warm and temperate climates.

The scientists hired by Colossal Biosciences (they employ over 130) used 2 dire wolf specimens with enough intact DNA to map the genome of this species. The 2 specimens include a 13,000-year-old tooth from the Wyandot Pit Fossil Site in Ohio and a 72,000-year-old ear bone from the American Falls fossil site in Idaho. They determined (from this yet to be published study) that dire wolves shared 99.5% of the genome with gray wolves. They chose 20 dire wolf traits that differed from gray wolf traits (out of millions of differing traits) to edit into wolf embryos. They deliberately chose mutations for white thick fur, and they deliberately shut down mutations for black and red pigmentation. In other words they cherry-picked a few dire wolf traits they liked and edited these traits into the dire wolf embryos. The embryos were implanted in large mixed breed dogs. 2 males were born in October 2024 and a female was born in January 2025. They are being kept in a large outdoor pen approved by the Humane Society. Colossal Biosciences is keeping the location secret.

The unpublished study of this experiment is to be co-authored by George Martin, a fantasy writer and creator of The Game of Thrones television series. I know it was popular, but I thought this show sucked and stopped watching it after 3.5 episodes. The final scene in one of the early episodes showed a kid being tossed out a castle window, and I didn’t want to continue watching that crap. An earlier study suggested dire wolves had short reddish fur, like extant dholes (Cuon alpinus), and this seems likely because they ranged into warm temperate and even tropical ecosystems. However, Beth Shapiro, a scientist who works for Colossal Biosciences claims their data shows dire wolves had long white fur. I doubt this is true. She needs to publish her data or she will lose credibility. I also doubt the tooth from Ohio is from a dire wolf. A small dire wolf could have teeth that overlap in size with a large gray wolf’s teeth. Colossal Biosciences hired Beth Shapiro who took a 3-year sabbatical from academia to work on this project. She claims the animals they created are dire wolves basically because she believes they look like dire wolves–a very unscientific statement. Actually, the physical appearance of these artificially created animals contradicts what a previously published study suggests they looked like. If she does not publish convincing data supporting her claim, her career reputation is headed for the toilet.

Colossal Biosciences is a self-proclaimed de-extinction company founded by George Church and Ben Lamm. The latter blatantly misled the press when he said dire wolf DNA was “used”. There was no dire wolf DNA edited into the gray wolf embryos. Dire wolf DNA was used to map the dire wolf genome, and then Colossal Biosciences cherry-picked a few dire wolf traits they thought would make the animals look attractive to the public, and they genetically engineered the animals based on those traits. He is seeking publicity to attract more investors so he can pay himself a big fat salary. Anyone who would invest in this company is a chump. It is worth $10.2 billion, but I would gamble that it has negative earnings and is hemorrhaging money. It’s not a publicly traded company, so that data is not available. Colossal Biosciences generates revenue by spinning off new technologies. They also hope to get federal grant money, but I doubt this will happen under any administration. The goals of bringing back extinct species and saving endangered ones is noble, but there is no money in it…except for the business crooks who run the company and bilk stupid investors out of their cash.

ReferenceL

Peri, A. ; et al

“Dire Wolves Were the Last of an Ancient New World Canid Lineage”

Nature January 2021

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03082-x

Gedman, G.; et. al.

“On the Ancestry and Evolution of the Extinct Dire Wolf”

Paper not published in a peer-reviewed journal

Click to access 2025.04.09.647074v1.full.pdf

Primeval Shad Runs

It’s hard to imagine how abundant river fish used to be during their spawning runs, especially the anadromous species such as herring and sturgeon. Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia, recounted how shad were so thick, he could catch them using a frying pan. Other early settlers waded into rivers and used shovels to toss shad onto riverbanks. During the 1700’s Andrew Barnaby reported that a group of men caught 600 sturgeon and 5,000 shad on a small stretch of the Potomoc River in just a day. During 1830 1 net caught 4000 shad and 310,000 herring, and another caught 450 striped bass averaging 60 pounds each on the same river. The total shad catch on the Potomoc River during 1837 was estimated to be 22.5 million totaling 110 million pounds. Today, adult American shad average 5 pounds, but they formerly averaged 7 pounds.

Shad was an important food source for wildlife long before humans colonized North America. They spawned on every river connected to the Atlantic Ocean. They are an anadromous fish living in the ocean but swimming up to fall line rocky shoals where they spawn. Eagles, ospreys, dolphins, bears, striped bass, and cod all gorged on schools of shad. They were a crucial food for Indians during early spring when their stores of corn, beans, and acorns ran low. Indians referred to the shad as an inside-out porcupine because they are so bony, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying this timely abundance of protein. Early European settlers caught barrels of shad and salted them to keep year-round in their root cellars. They also didn’t mind the bones and savored the sweet flesh. They were one of George Washington’s favorite fish, and a shad run saved American troops at Valley Forge from starvation.

Shad belong to the herring family known by the scientific name of Clupeiformes. The most popular and largest species in North America is the American shad (Alosa sapidissimus). Sapidissimus is Latin for delicious. The hickory shad (A. mediocris) is edible but not as tasty. The blueback herring (A. austrelis) and the alewife (A. psuedoharengus) are considered good eating. Menhadden (Brevoorta tyrannus), gizzard shad (Dorosomo capedianum), and the bay anchovy (Anchos mitchelli) are also members of the herring family that live in the Atlantic Ocean.

Shad were an important food source for settlers who lived in rivers in eastern North America. Many kept barrels of salted cod in their root cellars.

Photos of American shad and hickory shad. They are a bony but tasty fish. Early colonists liked shad, but they are less popular today because most people don’t know how to prepare them.

I watched a youtube video recently of a man who fried shad and didn’t care for the texture. He thought they were too soft and mushy. Frying is the wrong way to cook shad or herring. The best way to prepare herring is to cut them up with onions and marinate them in vinegar and wine. The acidity dissolves the bones, and they can be eaten as an appetizer or on a kaiser roll with butter. They are juicy and delicious.

Reference:

Cummins, J.

“A Compilation of Historical Populations on the Natural History and Abundance of American Shad and other Herring in the Potomoc River”

Always Draft 2012

https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/1/evae276/7934935

African Monkey Speciation

About 75 species of monkey occur in Africa, but scientists don’t agree on the exact number. Changing climates over time have contributed to the large number of species. Most species of monkeys depend on trees for safety and foraging resources. During dry climate phases, wooded habitats in Africa often became restricted to riverside gallery forests because trees need to grow near water when conditions are arid. As a consequence, monkey populations restricted to riverine forests became isolated from each other and evolved into different species. This is known as speciation. Africa is home to 16 species of colobus monkeys, 13 species of mangabey monkeys, 1 species of macaque, 1 species of gelada baboon, 5 species of baboons in the Papio genus, 2 species of mandrills, and 33 species of guenon monkeys. The diversity of guenon species gives scientists an interesting opportunity to study how these monkeys speciated.

Black and white colobus monkeys are the most common species of colobus monkey.

There are 13 species of mangabey monkeys. Monkeys get isolated from each other during dry climate phases when they become restricted to smaller forest islands separated by unsuitable desert grassland habitat. That explains why there are so many different but closely related species.

There are about 33 species of guenon monkeys.

1 study looked at the entire genome of mona monkeys. Another study looked at the entire genome of 22 species of guenon monkeys.

1 study looked at the entire genome of 22 species of guenon monkeys. Scientists believe monkeys began to diverge from each other about 10-15 million years ago. The study found genetic evidence of ancient hybridization which contributed to speciation. Species of monkeys isolated for a long enough time to become distinct species hybridize when populations come back into contact with each other following climate change. This hybridization contributes to further speciation. Populations isolated during dry climate phases then reconnect during wet climate phases when forest habitats again expand. Scientists found that some modern species of guenon can hybridize with each other and produce fertile offspring despite having been isolated from each other for 5 million years. Hybrids can eventually evolve into yet another species. Scientists determined clades with the most species are more admixed.

Another study looked at the genome of just 1 species of guenon–the mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona). There are eastern and western populations of this species separated by the Niger River. Scientists who wrote this study determined the 2 populations diverged 84,000 years ago. The eastern population shows evidence of hybridization with their closest relatives, but the western population does not. Scientists think these populations are beginning to evolve into different species. Guenon monkeys have rapidly evolved resistance to the malaria virus–another interesting discovery of this study.

Some speciation can also occur when populations of the same species stay in contact with each other. Some populations of monkeys become better adapted to different tree canopy levels. Monkeys preferring to forage on the ground or lower in the tree canopy may stop mating with monkeys that forage higher in the tree canopy and speciation may occur as a result of this difference in preferences. Monkeys in these situations may evolve different color patterns and physical appearances and stop recognizing monkeys with different preferences as potential mates.

References:

Ayoola, A. et al

“Population Genomics Reveals Incipient Speciation, Introgression, and Adaptation in the African mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona)”

Molecular Biology and Evolution 38 (3) 2021

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/38/3/876/5912538

Jensen, A. et al

“Complex Evolutionary History with Extensive Ancestral Gene Flow in an African Primate Radiation”

Molecular Biology and Evolution 40 (12) December 2023

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/40/12/msad247/7439455

Seal Evolution

One of the lies creationists claim about the Theory of Evolution is that there are no transitional fossils. There are thousands of species in the fossil record that could be considered transitional. The evolutionary lineage of many extant species is well documented, and there are many potential transitional species living today. Moreover, the fossil record of transitional species is well supported by genetic evidence. The fossil record shows the most ancient known ancestor of modern whales was hippo-like. And genetic evidence proves hippos are the closest living land relative of whales. An animal very similar to the earliest known ancestor of whales is still extant. The same is true for seals. The oldest known ancestor of seals was an otter-like animal. And genetic evidence proves the mustelids (a group including weasels, otters, skunks, and badgers) are the closest living land relatives of seals. Present day species of otters and hippos might be transitional species evolving from a terrestrial existence to an even more aquatic life.

Artists’s representation of Puzilla darwini, the oldest known ancestor of modern seals. It is otter-like, and genetic evidence shows mustelids are the closest living relatives of seals.

Artist’s representation of enaliarctos. It clearly has features transitional between a mustelid and a seal.

Allodesmus was yet another evolutionary step between mustelids and seals.

Genetic evidence suggests pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) diverged from the other caniformes (a group including bears, dogs, weasels, and raccoons) about 50 million years ago. They diverged from mustelids 46.15 million years ago. The pinnipeds are considered to be a sister group to weasels, skunks, raccoons, and red pandas. The earliest known ancestor of seals dates to 30 million years ago and is known by the scientific name of Puzilla darwini. It’s remarkably otter-like. Other ancestral species of seal include enaliarctos, pteranarctos, allodesmus, desmatophoca, and leptophoca. Genetic evidence suggests ancestors of earless seals diverged from ancestors of sea lions 25 million years ago. The oldest fossils of walruses date to 18-16 million years ago. The extinction rate for walruses exceeded the speciation rate between 12-6 million years ago. Scientists don’t know whether this is due to fluctuating sea levels or competition with newly evolved species of sea lions. Species with near global distribution are more resistant to extinction.

Today, there are 3 families of seals and 33 species. These include 18 species of true seals (the phocidae), 14 species of sea lions and fur seals (the otaridae), and 1 species of walrus (the odenibae).

References:

Park, T.; et. al.

“Charting the Course of Pinniped Evolution: Insights from Molecular Phylogeny and Fossil Interpretation”

Evolution 78 (7) July 2024

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379999642_Charting_the_Course_of_Pinniped_Evolution_insights_from_molecular_phylogeny_and_fossil_record_integration

Paterson, R.; N. Rybcynski, N. Kohno, H. Mudd

“A Total Evidence Phylogenetic Analysis of Pinniped Phylogeny and the Possibility of Parallel Evolution”

Frontiers Ecology and Evolution January 2020

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00457/full

Gelada Fields and Wild Coffee Trees

The highlands of Ethiopia host a unique fauna quite different from the typical species one expects when they think of Africa. During the Miocene, an era that ended 5 million years ago, much of the region was uninhabitable because of rampant vulcanism, then the climate fluctuations of the Pliocene and the Pleistocene made the environment a difficult region for many of Africa’s more famous species. During Ice Ages glaciers expanded on top of the highest elevations. The region is also isolated from the rest of Africa by rivers and rift valley cliffs. However, the isolation has protected some species that were formerly more widespread in Africa during the Pleistocene. Fossil evidence suggests gelada baboons (Therapithicus gelada) and mountain nyalas (Tragalophus buxtoni) occurred over much of Africa during the Pleistocene, but today they are restricted to the Ethiopian highlands. Both live in regions once difficult for humans to access. Geladas feed in troops of over 100, and when they forage through an area, they devastate the plant life. Certain species of plants then invade these gelada fields. Geladas sleep on cliffs, safe from predators, and they huddle together. This, along with their thick coats, helps them endure the cold nights of the African alpine grasslands. Nubian ibex also hop along the cliffs that predators have a hard time reaching.

Gelada baboons sit on their haunches and eat grass all day, creating gelada fields. They devastate the plant life when they forage. Different species of plants then colonize the disturbed area.

Mountain nyalas feed upon the aromatic herbs that grow on Afro-alpine grasslands.

Nubian ibex are safe from most natural predators on inaccessible cliffs.

Ethiopian wolves specialize in hunting large rats that inhabit the highlands.

Thick-billed ravens use their bills to sift through rat middens to find animal and plant matter. Wattled cranes also sift through rat middens.

There are 8 endemic species of rodents on the Ethiopian highlands including grass rats (Arvicanthus blicki) and root rats (Tachyoryctes macrocephala). Eagles and Ethiopian wolves (Canis sinensis) prey on these rats. The wolves specialize in ambushing them–their teeth are better adapted to hunting these large biting rodents than jackal’s teeth are. Ethiopian highland birdlife too is unique. The blue-winged sheldgoose (Cyanochen cyanoptera) is a grazing goose with a population that formerly was thought to have been founded by a vagrant from the South American grasslands where it was thought to have originated. The similarity with South American geese seems to be an example of convergent evolution because genetic evidence suggests it is most closely related to another species of African shelduck. Humans felling trees in Ethiopia’s forests opened up more favorable habitat for white collared pigeons and thick billed ravens, 2 of the more common birds in the country.

The Kaffa Biosphere Reserve in Ethiopia hosts more typical African wildlife including 178 species of birds, and an astonishing 300 species of mammals. Although over 600,000 people live here, there are still elephants, hippos, lions (though rare), water buffalo, reed buck, duikers, 4 species of mongoose, genets, servals, civets, honey badgers, olive baboons, and many other species of monkeys. Habitats include cloud forests, montane forests, riverine forests, bamboo jungles, and wetlands. Kaffa literally means coffee, and wild coffee trees still grow here.

Location and map of the Kaffa Biosphere Reserve in Ethiopia.

Wild coffee (Coffee arabica) grows in the understory of forests that used to be dominated by yellow wood, sandalwood, stink wood, and crotus. Today, these overstory trees have mostly been replaced by invasive Australian species. People still gather wild coffee fruits. The fruits are edible, but the coffee we drink is made from the seeds after they have been roasted and ground. Ethiopia is where coffee originated, and the country’s farms produce quality coffee. However, 85% of the coffee consumed in the world is grown in Latin America. The leading coffee producers are Columbia, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. Coffee is also grown in Hawaii where it has escaped cultivation to become an invasive species. C. arabica prefers to grow in the foothills of cloud forests, but another species C. camphora grows in tropical forests. Neither species can survive frost.

Reference:

Kingdom, J.

Island Africa

Princeton University Press 1989

New Study Reviews Evidence of Human-Megafauna Interactions in Mexico During the Late Pleistocene

A new study reviewed all the documented evidence of humans hunting or butchering megafauna in Mexico during the late Pleistocene. The authors of this study believe there is not enough research yet on this subject. Species from 14 different families of mammals became extinct during the late Pleistocene in Mexico including ground sloths, glyptodonts, elephant relatives, toxodons, horses; and some species of bears, wolves, and big cats. There is evidence of humans hunting or butchering some of these species, but the authors of this study make the wishy-washy conclusion that there is not enough evidence to determine whether human hunting caused their extinctions.

The authors of this study found 30 Mexican sites in the literature with evidence of humans exploiting megafauna. 15 sites were in the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt, 5 sites were in the Sierra Madre Oriental, 4 sites were in the Yucatan, 2 sites were in the northern Gulf Coastal Plain, and 2 sites were in the Sierra Madre Del Sur. 4 regions of Mexico have no evidence of human-megafauna interaction. Species of megafauna exploited by humans at these sites include 15 mammoths, 3 gompotheres, 3 camels or llamas, 2 horses, 1 bison, 1 ground sloth, 1 glyptodont, 1 pronghorn, 1 black bear, 1 big horned sheep, 1 tapir, 1 peccary, 1 saber-tooth, and 1 undetermined species of large canid. The evidence at some sites is obvious. At the Tocuila site there was evidence of 7 butchered mammoths. At other sites such as the 1 with the peccary, saber-tooth, and canid the bones are merely found in association with archaeological evidence.

Regions of Mexico. Map from the below study. The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt had the most evidence of human-megafauna interaction. It may have hosted the most favorable habitat for large mammals.

Artist’s depiction of paleoindians hunting mastodon. I don’t know who drew this. I doubt it took this many men to bring down a large mammal. 1 accurately thrown spear could kill it.

The authors of the study report that not many of these sites had good isotopic data or radiocarbon dates on the bones. Instead, the sites were dated using a combination of biochronology and radiocarbon dates of the organic matter where the bones were found. The authors mention the ridiculous conclusion from a study I wrote about a few months ago (See: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/flawed-study-suggests-anthropogenic-fires-caused-the-extirpations-of-megafauna-near-the-la-brea-tar-pits/ ) that determined megafauna near the La Brea Tar Pits became extinct because the environment became more arid. I suggested this was an absurd assumption because horses, camels, and lions are all well-adapted to living in arid environments.

Reference:

Solis-Torres, O.; J. Arroyo-Cabrales, P. Roberts, and N. Amano

“A Critical Review of Late Pleistocene Human and Megafaunal Interactions in Mexico”

Quaternary Science Reviews April 2025

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379125000204