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Robert Vander Velde

@robvander.bsky.social
428 followers 409 following 77 posts
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Ocelots are so cool with their weird number of chromosomes (for felines) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
That's true, if anything the new techniques should theoretically make it cheaper, if you are ever interested in the history of the science of it (though light on the politics/economics), this is a pretty cool book:
Book title page. Title: Insulin: The Crooked Timber. By Kersten T. Hall.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
A reddit post. User thefallenfew says "If the tornado picked up any trash it's a scab"
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
They grow up so fast...
An eagles' nest high in the tree. Two juvenile bald eagles (they are entirely dark-brown/black) sit high in the nest. An adult bald eagle (with white head and black body) sits on a branch above the nest to the left.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
The cadaver synod
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
A pair of Canadian eagles
Two perched bald eagles at different heights staring into the distance. Top eagle has its head rotated to look behind its back.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Most (all?) birds on the other hand have 4 color sensitive opsins, ranging into the UV. Researchers can train hummingbirds to detect feeders with and without sugar using LEDs at wavelengths the researchers can’t differentiate with their naked eyes www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A green hummingbird with ruddy red tail. It is feeding on nectar from small pink flowers while hovering. I haven’t identified it but maybe a Mangrove hummingbird? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Camera sensors use different filters to detect different wavelengths. To differentiate wavelengths, cone cells must express one opsin type, perhaps X inactivation explains this in new world monkeys, but only for MW and LW opsins and this doesn’t explain regulation in catarrhines and howler monkeys.
A mantled howler monkey resting on a branch. It has black fur with some dark brown fur on its back. Its tail is wrapped around a branch. It is "scowling" and is surrounded by leaves.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Researchers observed similar ratios in squirrel monkeys here, though the numbers are small: link.springer.com/article/10.1.... Females are still only trichromatic, since they can’t inherit more than two opsins. A question for another time is how these genes are regulated.
Central American squirrel monkey resting on a branch, looking away from the camera. Yellow/orange back and light grey limbs. Legs hanging below the branch.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
This should result in 50/50 trichromatic/dichromatic females. But what happens when mutations create opsins on the same locus that are sensitive to new unique wavelengths? Selection will favor the rarest allele until each composes 1/3 of the frequency. And 2/3 of females will be trichromatic!
A Panamanian white-faced capuchin holding fruit and eating with its hands, placing fruit on its mouth while it bares its teeth.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Males, with only one X chromosome, can’t inherit both. Females must inherit two DIFFERENT opsins from their father and mother to be trichromatic. If trichromacy gives a selective advantage a form of “frequency dependent selection” occurs, the less common an opsin, the more advantageous it is.
A Panamanian white-faced capuchin resting/straddling a cylindrical wooden railing. The monkey has black fur on its body and crown/top of head. It has white fur on the rest of its head other than the face which is bare.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
In between these two extremes are new world monkeys. Except for howler monkeys, all male new world monkeys are dichromatic and a fraction of females are trichromatic. This is due to their MW and LW opsins residing on the same locus of the X-chromosome.
Mantled howler monkey hanging from a branch by its tail. The monkey is mostly brown with a light brown back. Its mouth is open. It’s surrounded by green leaves.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Most mammals only have dichromatic vision, with their short wavelength opsin on an autosomal chromosome and their long- or medium-wavelength opsin on their X-chromosome. In humans two amino acids affect the color sensitivity of OPN1MW and OPN1LW, at positions 277 and 285.
The human genome showing the location of the short wavelength opsin on chromosome 7 and the medium and long wavelength opsins on the X-chromosome.The mouse genome showing the location of the short wavelength opsin on chromosome 6 and medium/long wavelength opsin (the same gene in mice) on the X-chromosome.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Trichromatic vision means an individual can detect colors along three axes. The axes are constructed from cone cells expressing unique opsins. In humans these opsins are called OPN1SW (short-wavelength), OPN1MW (medium-wavelength) and OPN1LW (long-wavelength).
A Panamanian white-faced capuchin staring into the sky. The monkey has black fur on its body and crown/top of head. Most of the visible eye is made up of black pupil. The monkey is behind a tree-trunk.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Catarrhine primates, including apes and us, have 3 molars, 2 pre-molars, 1 canine and 2 incisors per quadrant. With some exceptions platyrrhines have the same dentition but with 3 pre-molars instead of 2. Catarrhine primates also have trichromatic vision.
A Nilgiri langur skull with 3 molars and 2 pre-molars and a large canine visible. At the Harvard Natural History Museum. A howler monkey skull with 3 molars, 3 premolars and a large canine visible. At the Harvard Natural History Museum.
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Robert Vander Velde @robvander.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Thread: Color vision and primates; an excuse to share wildlife photos. There are two main groups of monkeys, new world or flat-nosed (platyrrhine) monkeys and old world or “down”-nosed (catarrhine) monkeys. “Monkeys” as a group are paraphyletic, since the group artificially excludes apes.
A Central American squirrel monkey walking across a high branch. The monkey has light orange fur on its body, with light grey fur on its arms and legs, dark grey fur on its crown/top of head and a black snout.
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