References: Conway, J., 2009. Personal inspection of a real live dead Rhamphorhynchus, really!

March 28, 2009 10:36 AM

"My cat dragged in what appeared to be an odd-looking bird.Imagine my excitement when on closer inspection, it proved to be a real live dead Rhamphorhynchus! I had to dissect it immediately! Unfortunately, my camera jammed, so I had to paint the whole process." - John Conway's Paleontography
posted by brundlefly (22 comments total)

Pavlov called, he wanted me to play X-COM / UFO.
posted by krilli at 10:39 AM on March 28

C.f. related topic.
posted by krilli at 10:41 AM on March 28

my goddamn camera jams every time i discover a scientific-world-shattering example of a long extinct species, too. so i am feeling this guy. it's frustrating.
posted by barrett caulk at 10:46 AM on March 28 [2 favorites has favorites]

Holy crap. This is brilliant. It also reminds me of why I didn't go to medical school. I recall dissecting frogs in High School biology class. I didn't really mind the dissection all that much, what killed me was how sloppy of a process it was, and how it was pretty well impossible to fix a mistake (say, if you accidentally chopped off a frog leg or what have you).

I am not a precision instrument.
posted by The Giant Squid at 10:58 AM on March 28 [2 favorites has favorites]

YEEEYYYYY! Dinosaurs!
posted by leotrotsky at 11:05 AM on March 28

Nicely done. And what a stroke of luck for Fluffy to drag home the rare Himalayan Rhamphorhynchus.
posted by Devils Slide at 11:40 AM on March 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

YEEEYYYYY! Dinosaurs!

No. YEEEYYYYY! Pterosaurs! Not dinosaurs.
posted by Avelwood at 11:40 AM on March 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

Lovely.
posted by statolith at 11:53 AM on March 28

This is cool. Definitely left me wanting more, but that's a better side of "the right amount" to stop on than the other one.
posted by aubilenon at 12:01 PM on March 28

So cats are why their are no dinosaurs? Cats suck!
posted by srboisvert at 12:18 PM on March 28

those look delicious!
posted by sexyrobot at 12:32 PM on March 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

So cats are why their are no dinosaurs? Cats suck!

Oh dinosaurs are cute till they gang up on you. My brother was almost killed by a dino gang. Thank god for cats!
posted by RussHy at 12:54 PM on March 28

Small mammals > everything else on the planet.

I am filled with admiration when I look at my cats...like land sharks, silent, deadly, the perfect predator.
posted by Xoebe at 12:56 PM on March 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

Yeah the perfect predator.... I don't think Predator could be distracted from his human hnt by a piece of string
posted by spicynuts at 2:38 PM on March 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

Actually, sharks are known to be attracted to feet under blankets, so there are similarities to cats.
posted by orme at 2:43 PM on March 28 [4 favorites has favorites]

Small mammals > everything else on the planet.

There's a 160 million years of earth's history that say otherwise.

That said, I've taken to calling my kitty Microraptor. *kick* *kick* *slash*
posted by brundlefly at 3:42 PM on March 28

John Conway?
posted by erniepan at 4:20 PM on March 28

Oh man, I just assumed it was that John Conway. But I guess the "real" Conway has a somewhat plumper CV than this.
posted by DU at 5:03 PM on March 28

more rhamphorhynchus guts, plz.
posted by jessamyn at 5:50 PM on March 28

Pavlov called, he wanted me to play X-COM / UFO.

Wow, I was just playing X-COM half an hour ago. Too bad the dissection of the Rhamphorhynchus did not open up any new research opportunities (along the line of better weaponry, I mean).
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:16 PM on March 28

References:
Conway, J., 2009. Personal inspection of a real live dead Rhamphorhynchus, really!

Ha. If only I had known about this citation technique in college...
posted by DLWM at 5:45 AM on March 29

Too bad the dissection of the Rhamphorhynchus did not open up any new research opportunities (along the line of better weaponry, I mean).

No, no, you need to capture the Rhamphorhynchus Commander.
posted by krilli at 8:12 AM on March 29