Scotch Tasting at the Academy May 10th

California Academy of Sciences is having a Scotch tasting night, with live music, salsa dancing and sweets. RSVP is neccessary. See here for more details.

Snakes evolved on land

I didn't really realize that there was a controversy of where snakes evolved (land or water). I always assumed it was in fact on land. A new study appears to support that theory.

The fossil snake—which has a primitive pelvis and robust, functional legs outside the ribcage—dates from about 90 million years ago.

Sebastian Apestegu­a, a researcher with the Argentine Museum of Natural Science, says the new fossil is not the oldest snake fossil ever found. Older marine snakes have been unearthed in North Africa and Eastern Europe.

But the species, named Najash rionegrina, is the earliest limbed snake ever found in a fully terrestrial deposit, he says.

So we lied

So we lied earlier when we said the East Bay Vivarium blog was up and running ... but now it is for real. I mean it. Expect posts whenever we have something interesting to talk about. Maybe once a week maybe more often. Feel free to leave relevant comments and give us a heads-up if there is anything you think we should be blogging.