Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Our culture is special, but not especially uncommon

Posted 08 Sep 2015 / 0

National Geographic News “Sperm Whales’ Language Reveals Hints of Culture” It is interesting how the number of animal species displaying culture keeps getting larger. There’s a lot of evolutionary convergence involved here, as the phylogenetic tree of vertebrates is still only sprinkled with pockets of culture. But those pockets of culture are deep, and therefore Read More

A Minor Post, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Cetaceans, Communication, Convergence, Cultural Evolution, Exaptation, Human Uniqueness, Web

Urban Wildlife Podcast on big animals in big cities

Posted 27 Jul 2015 / 0

Urban Wildlife Podcast “Bangkok Pythons and Gotham Whales” This is a really interesting podcast that focuses on the wildlife of cities. This episode is about huge animals that manage to live in close proximity to cities, specifically in their waterways. The section on reticulated pythons — which can grow up to 23-25 feet long — Read More

A Minor Post, Cetaceans, Coevolution, Commensalism, Conservation Biology, Public Outreach, Radio & Podcasts, Reptiles, Urban Ecology

Identifying the genes that gave dolphins their big brains

Posted 27 Jun 2012 / 0

Science Now “Building a Bigger Dolphin Brain“

A Minor Post, Brain size, Cetaceans, Cognitive Ability, Genetics, Neuroscience

Are dolphins on their way to domesticating humans?

Posted 07 May 2012 / 0

Global Animal  “Dolphins Team Up With Fisherman” Now if only the dolphins can somehow get over that little “needs to breathe air every two minutes” problem with humans through artificial breeding. Seriously, though, this is really interesting as an analog for the kind of coevolution that probably occurred between humans and wolves. Just as was Read More

A Minor Post, Cetaceans, Cooperation, Human Uniqueness, Intelligences