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Post by Melanie on Dec 24, 2021 0:50:49 GMT
Only one week is left in 2021. Well, this time I won't write about me or on Covid 19 but I would like to mourn the loss of three important scientists: First there is Storrs L. Olson, maybe the most notable Avian paleontologist in the 20th and 21st century, who died too early due to cancer. Then there is is his colleague Jean-Christophe Balouet who is best known for his paleontological work on New Caledonia. And than there was another notable ornithologist, William Richmond Postle Bourne, an expert on seabirds. In 1967, he was the first, who discovered that the Imber's petrel was an extinct (but to that time undescribed) petrel and he described the extinct Ascension Night Heron.
There were also some remarkle discoveries on recent animals. The smallest reptile Brookesia nana and the leggiest millipede Eumillipes persephone were described as new species. Another interesting discovery was the fact that Californian condors are able to produce eggs on the basis of parthenogenesis.
The most remarkle rediscovery was the Shark Bay Mouse (Gould's mouse) which was a case of mistaken identy for a very long time. Than there was the publishing of the rediscovery of the Black-browed babbler which was in 2020.
One sad news is the possible extinction of the Rotuma Forest Gecko, which was last seen in 1987.
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Post by koeiyabe on Jan 1, 2022 23:56:45 GMT
Yes, I regret to hear that Dr. Olson passed away. When I worked as an intern at the Smithsonian a few years ago, I found his office. I wanted to make a connection with him by sending an email about my strong interest in his research and my effortful research work on extinct birds, but he did not make a response.
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