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John Jackson

@johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
1.8K followers 679 following 163 posts

Natural History Museum London science and humanities research, collections, laboratories and libraries - Head of Science Policy and Communication - own views - 🦇🐝🦂🐞🦖🦀🦒🌳🍄🌎☄️ &c #NHMLondon #NaturalHistoryMuseumLondon #NHMScience

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Reposted by John Jackson
NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Library & Archives Open Day (free) 19 September 2025 When: 10.00 - 16.00 Where: Lasting Impressions Gallery (red zone) Our team have developed four themed displays: 🐋 Whales, science and conservation 🌱 Ordering and naming nature ✏️ Writing from the field ❄️ Polar expeditions #NaturalHistoryMuseum
Image of people standing round a table displaying library and archives material
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Eileen Cox NHM on symmetry and structure in taxonomy for naviculoid diatoms – microscopic plant plankton of huge importance in marine and freshwater systems. Systematic relationships are revealed through wall structure and should be the basis for diatom systematics. doi.org/10.5091/plec...
doi.org
Symmetry and structure re-visited: is symmetry still over-emphasised as a taxonomic character for naviculoid diatoms?
Background and aims – Over 40 years ago, I explored the use of symmetry and structure as taxonomic criteria for naviculoid diatoms, arguing that structure was the more informative character. This pape...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Apply now! Sillitoe Distinguished Research Leader in economic geology, Natural History Museum - working with the Resourcing the Green Economy Research Theme. Deadline 17 October 2025 jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
jobs.nhm.ac.uk
Sillitoe Distinguished Research Leader, Economic Geology:South Kensington
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
NHM London is looking for a Director of Research as part of our leadership team. Guide a world-class research community, set a strong vision for collections-based research, and ensure research excellence across NHM activities. plusportal.perrettlaver.com/VacancyDetai...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
‘It blew us away’: how an asteroid may have delivered the vital ingredients for life on Earth - looking forward to the new NHM Space exhibition www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
‘It blew us away’: how an asteroid may have delivered the vital ingredients for life on Earth
Extraterrestrial rocks, recently delivered by a space probe, could answer the big questions about alien lifeforms and human existence
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Reposted by John Jackson
Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
106 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️ Mimetite: - A lead arsenate chloride mineral - Forms in arsenic-bearing lead deposits - Part of a mineral series with pyromorphite and vanadinite - Its name comes from the Greek word "μϊμητής/mimetes" (imitator) since it looks like pyromorphite #minerals
A mass of rich yellow globular mimetite aggregates on brown limonite. From San Pedro de Corralitos, Durango, Mexico.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.Double terminated yellow-green hexagonal prisms of mimetite rising out of a black and red matrix. From Johanngeorgenstadt, Saxony, Germany.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.Pale green globular mimetite aggregates with some very pale yellow wulfenite. From Ojuela Mine, Mexico.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
#GlobalSeaweed-Protect researches biodiversity, aquaculture & sustainable livelihoods with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines: led by Juliet Brodie #NHMLondon plus @samsocean.bsky.social - @ukri.org funded oceanographicmagazine.com/news/natural... www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office...
oceanographicmagazine.com
Natural History Museum leads seaweed resilience research project - Oceanographic
The UK's Natural History Museum has launched a project to protect seaweed farming in southeast Asia from the worst impacts of climate change.
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Naturally curious? The team at @nhm-london.bsky.social developed our new on-demand, online learning platform naturallycurious.nhm.ac.uk And we've been shortlisted for a Webby! Please do sign up and vote for us! vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting...
vote.webbyawards.com
Webby Awards
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
touch of the Dali sofa about those lips?
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Whaling and natural history collections - @sophianicolov.bsky.social explores skeletal evidence and tales of whales in her historical research in this #NHMScience blog, part of Natural History Museum's development of a Culture and Collections Theme www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
nhm.ac.uk
Re-examining Britain’s role in whaling | Natural History Museum
Dr Sophia Nicolov explores what the Museum’s whale, dolphin and porpoise collection can tell us about Britain’s role in whaling.
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Reposted by John Jackson
Isabel Davis @drbeldavis.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
We're not just 🐋 and 🦕 at the Natural History Museum. Looking forward to this Generation Hope event @ NHM on reproductive health & colonial history with an environmental lens. 3rd May. Speakers: me, Akosua Paries-Osei, Annabel Sowemimo, & Mitzi Jonelle Tan. www.nhm.ac.uk/events/from-... #HistMed
Screenshot of event listing mentioned in the post. It reads: 'From Cotton to Frogs: Reproductive Rights through Collections and Colonialism. Uncover hidden histories of reproductive health in this thought-provoking event exploring collections, culture and colonialism through storytelling and discussion.'
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
FREE COURSE: Field workshop on the taxonomy and natural history of freshwater and limno-terrestrial meiofauna Apply now for a free place on the NHM NERC-funded upcoming short training course 27 Aug - 11 Sept. Applications close 31 May. www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
Meiofauna - from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/study/postgraduate/phd-opportunities/projects/meiofaunal-molecular-systematics.html
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
FREE COURSE: Taxonomic skills and field techniques for freshwater ecology and quality. Apply now for a free place on the NHM NERC-funded upcoming short training course running 19-23 May. Applications close 24 April! www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
Daphnia magna 

Dieter Ebert, Basel, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Reposted by John Jackson
Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
103 of #365Minerals Bastnäsite: - A group of three carbonate-fluoride mineral species which contain cerium, lanthanum or yttrium - Forms in alkali granite and syenite - Named after the type locality Bastnäs Mines in Västmanland, Sweden #minerals
An opaque, brown bastnäsite crystal showing parallel growth. From Pike's Peak, Colorado, USA.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.Hexagonal, brown crystals of bastnäsite on a beige matrix. From West Cheyenne Cañon, Colorado, USA.

Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.
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Reposted by John Jackson
Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
A new Denisovan fossil has been found! Remains of this ancient human species are rare, and generally found as bone fragments or individual teeth. Now, a jawbone dredged from under the sea is revealing more about their lives. Find out what it shows 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
nhm.ac.uk
Denisovan jawbone helps to reveal appearance of ancient human species | Natural History Museum
The fossil expands the Denisovan's known range by thousands of kilometres and provides new insights into how this species looked.
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
We were honoured yesterday to be a part of return of ancestral remains to Wathithi, Warrgama and Woppaburra representatives, who will take these Old People back to Country, also escorting ancestors from the Yadhaigana people and other communities in Queensland www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office...
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Reposted by John Jackson
MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
From phantom pregnancies to using frogs as pregnancy tests, medieval historian Dr. Isabel Davis joined BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour to discuss elements of her new book, "Conceiving Histories": www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
And more about the impact of the chytrid fungi carried by the Clawed Toads, which escaping amphibians intended for testing use spread to other amphibian populations with devastating results www.bbcearth.com/news/how-a-p...
bbcearth.com
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
One of the histories in @drbeldavis.bsky.social book is the use of the African Clawed Toad in the mid-20th Century as a way of detecting human pregnancy, featured in the new @nhm-london.bsky.social exhibition Fixing Our Broken Planet Listen to the gallery guide soundcloud.com/nhmlondon/st...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
The book Conceiving Histories by @drbeldavis.bsky.social is now published by MIT press mitpress.mit.edu/978026204948...
mitpress.mit.edu
Conceiving Histories
Inspired by the author's own experiences, Conceiving Histories brings together history, personal memoir, and illustration to investigate the culturally hidde...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Conceiving Histories - our NHM colleague @drbeldavis.bsky.social discusses the ambiguities of pregancy over time on Woman's Hour BBCRadio4 from 44:46 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Woman's Hour - Friendships, Nursery safety, Sudan - BBC Sounds
Can friendships between three people work?
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Reposted by John Jackson
Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
#FossilFriday A beautiful 'seed fern' from the opening spread of the plant chapter in 'Fossils. The Essential Guide'.
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Reposted by John Jackson
Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
If you missed my public lecture on stegosaurs last night at the @geolsoc.bsky.social, you can watch it here: youtube.com/live/MqSROKj...
youtube.com
Public Lecture - The Stegosaurian Dinosaurs
YouTube video by The Geological Society
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Reposted by John Jackson
NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
We're hiring! Are you our new Digital Systems Librarian? #NaturalHistoryMuseum #MuseumJobs #LibraryJobs #ArchiveJobs buff.ly/lAVSLg9
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Reposted by John Jackson
NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Become a member of our Library and Archives and use our Reading Room. Gain access to: ✔️A wide range of online resources. ✔️A world leading collection of printed books, journals, unique manuscripts, artwork and archives. ✔️ L&A membership is free. Learn more buff.ly/412DnR7. #NaturalHistoryMuseum
A photograph of items sitting on a table in the Library and Archives Reading room. In the foreground, a table with a laptop, a small pile of books and journals and open modern book showing images of butterflies. On the right is an open bound manuscript, with colour illustrations of caterpillars. It is resting on foam supports. In the background are wall to wall book shelves, a seated life sized model of Charles Darwin and computers on desks.
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Reposted by John Jackson
Dr Victoria J Burton @soilscholar.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I'm speaking on my @nhm-london.bsky.social community science #earthworm research in a free webinar with @biologicalrecording.co.uk on 24 March, sign up here: 🪱 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/earthworm-...
eventbrite.co.uk
Earthworm Watch: Insights Into Urban Earthworm Communities
Join Dr Victoria J. Burton (Natural History Museum) to hear abou using citizen science to gain insights into UK urban earthworm communities.
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
It is indeed - there are links at the bottom of the news story to more of the work from @adriftlab.bsky.social and @thelabandfield.bsky.social that give further cause for concern
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Rapid advances in scanning technology and data analysis open up new understanding of evolution and form - Morphological evolution in a time of phenomics, from @evoswami.bsky.social & Julien Clavel 👉paper doi.org/10.1017/pab....
CC BY  Goswami & Clavel https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.35
Linear, geometric, and landmark-free morphometric approaches, demonstrated on a 3D mesh of a mammal skull, Arctictis bintuong (MNHN 1936-1529) - the Binturong
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Seabirds in crisis: plastic ingestion produces dementia-like symptoms and signals of multiorgan failure: from @alixdejersey.bsky.social @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social @thelabandfield.bsky.social @adriftlab.bsky.social 👉news www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new... 👉paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
nhm.ac.uk
Plastic pollution causing dementia-like signs in seabird chicks | Natural History Museum
Looking fit is no guarantee of health for one of the world’s most plastic polluted birds.
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
We're saddened by the death of our colleague Richard Fortey last week - an inspirational palaeontologist, expert on trilobites, famous fungal enthusiast, and a much-valued part of #NHMLondon life. A Guardian obituary... www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Richard Fortey obituary
Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum who was also a bestselling science writer and accomplished TV presenter
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Life with the Neanderthals - a great interview with Chris Stringer #NHMLondon in Current Biology, starting from first encounters at the age of nine.... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Concerns on coral reefs and climate change loom large, but do turbid waters mean that giant clams are better adapted to environmental stress? #NHMLondon Nadia Santodomingo & Ken Johnson + colleagues from Universiti Malaysia Sabah @cardiffuni.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social t.co/ppS2Gr4aGt
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Dead wood is a significant part of the Carbon Cycle, but what are the factors involved in carbon storage and release - microbes, animals, water and temperature? Paul Eggleton NHM and colleagues investigate and consider implications for models doi.org/10.1146/annu...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Cambrian predation: Kuamaia lata has spiny frontal appendages instead of trilobites' sensory antennae Greg Edgecombe #NHMLondon, Robert J O'Flynn, Yu Liu & al MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology & Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
Cambrian invertebrate Kuamaia lata - related to a trilobite but with spiky frontal appendages rather than sensory antennae.

Junnn11, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Which lines are best for collecting?
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
There is - Culex pipiens form molestus, which is different to the form above ground. It had been supposed that it might have evolved quickly in London but the genes show that it has origins in the Nile valley and has presumably been transported by humans
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Bodies in the Thames - radiocarbon dating of human remains shows high proportion from Bronze Age and Iron Age, raising questions about funerary practices - research from @nic-arthur.bsky.social @drheatherbonney.bsky.social #NHMScience and Jane Sidell Historic England doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
The London Underground Mosquito lives underground, feeds on mammal blood & breeds in confined spaces - has it evolved in 200 years, or does it have a longer history? Research on genomes @yukihaba.bsky.social &al @flygirlnhm.bsky.social suggests older Middle East origins doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Diagram showing probable origin of Culex pipens form molestus in human agricultural areas, and subsequent transfer to the Tube CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0  https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.26.634793v2
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Yes! I liked that!
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
there is a clockwork fly trap, produced by the Owari clock company of Japan, on the @sciencemuseumldn.bsky.social collections site... collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co14... and a picture on an auction site with instructions... auctions.tennants.co.uk/auction/lot/...
auctions.tennants.co.uk
Lot 134 - A Japanese ''Owari'' Clockwork Fly Catcher /
Lot 134 - A Japanese ''Owari'' Clockwork Fly Catcher /
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
wonder what the prizes were?
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
this poster was produced by #NHMLondon in 1917, aimed at British soldiers in Egypt and Mesopotamia - 20k copies were sold. Illustration by Grace Edwards, a talented artist working drawings and models but, as with many other women at the time doing expert work, was not on the official staff list
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
A Bauer koala and Willughby’s birds
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Useful advice on flies -“Man’s greatest enemy”! Fight with flappers, whisks and Japanese clockwork fly traps…
Poster on fly control in Egypt
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Excellent open display of the intriguing and eccentric from @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social in the #NHMLondon Earth Sciences Library today
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Reposted by John Jackson
Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
New @adriftlab.bsky.social paper! In 2024 we visited Ducie Atoll in the Pitcairn Islands. What birds did we see? Who was NOT there? What was that sticky coating on some birds? Read our paper in Notornis @birdsnewzealand.bsky.social www.birdsnz.org.nz/publications... #seabirds #ornithology 🪶🧪
Jenn weighing a bird in a bag while sitting on the ground in the shadeA fluffy Christmas Shearwater chick dozing in its nest under a loga young White Tern chick sitting on a branch in the sunshineA panoramic view of the vegetation on Ducie Atoll showing the white sandy beach and 3m green trees under a blue sky
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NHM Library and Archives @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Spider Monkey. In the early years of the @nhm-london.bsky.social, it was policy to only allow visitor photography on the condition that a copy was then given to the museum. Miss Katherine M. Reynolds (1860-1932) took this photo during a visit in 1892. #WhoseTailIsItAnyway #MuseumArchives
A sepia photograph showing a skeleton of a monkey standing on all fours on a plinth. It's tail is curled. Under the photograph is handwritten '151. Skeleton of black-handed spider monkey'.
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Reposted by John Jackson
The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 01/01/2025
Researchers from the Crick, @uclofficial.bsky.social and @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social used a new way of analysing ancient DNA to better understand European migrations in 1-1,000 AD Findings were led by Leo Speidel with senior author @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-rep...
crick.ac.uk
Ancient DNA unlocks new understanding of migrations in the first millennium AD
Waves of human migration across Europe during the first millennium AD have been revealed using a more precise method of analysing ancestry with ancient DNA, in research led by the Francis Crick Instit...
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
something for @nhcooper123.bsky.social to answer I think!
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John Jackson @johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Male southern elephant seals are 5.3 times heavier than females but female helmeted water toads are 21 times heavier than males. What is the reason for sexual size dimorphism in evolutionary terms? #NHMScience @nhcooper123.bsky.social & al investigate www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Evolution of sexual size dimorphism in tetrapods is driven by varying patterns of sex-specific selection on size - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A phylogenetic comparative analysis of male and female body size across tetrapods globally shows that directional change in size is usually greater in males but reveals different underlying mechanisms...
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