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Vertebrate Palaeontology, Indology, Languages
home page
who am I
animals in art
animals on islands
Research interests
: mammalian palaeontology, island biogeography, extinctions, comparative morphology, mammalian systematics and phylogeny, ethnobiology, geomythology.
A number of publications can be downloaded from this site, others can be requested (firstname.lastname@example.com) or downloaded from
(see below). My Dutch books can be lend at the
Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB)
at The Hague, the Netherlands (
printversion search results
). Note that
conference abstracts, posters and editorials
included here.
(Thomson Reuter Web of Knowledge)]
Scopus ID
Research Gate
Dutch Studies
Disclaimer: Any PDF files provided below are for personal use only and may not be reproduced. The files reflect the holdings of the various publishers and only contain the relevant pages, and may not be complete. Users are obliged to follow all copyright restrictions.
Van der Geer AAE, Lomolino M, Lyras GA
Islands before man: the species-area relationship during the late Pleistocene.
Journal of Biogeography
early view; DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12857.
Our aim is to assess the relative contributions of colonization, speciation and human activities on species richness (S) of mammalian communities among oceanic islands world-wide. To this aim, we compiled species lists and compared species–area and species–isolation relationships for mammalian taxa of 36 islands over three stages of community development during the late Pleistocene and Holocene: at colonization, or founding (Sf); after in situ speciation, but before colonization by humans (Ss); and during the Anthropocene (SA), that is, following human colonization and subsequent extinctions and species introductions. We used regression and correlation analyses to compare Sf and Ss patterns to assess the impact of speciation on the native assemblages, and compared these patterns to those expected by island biogeography theory (largely based on patterns for extant insular faunas). We then compared patterns for Ss and SA to assess impacts of human activities on insular community structure. Although patterns for Sf were consistent with those expected based on island biogeography theory (Sf increasing with area and decreasing with isolation), patterns for Ss were quite anomalous, with uncharacteristically steep loglog slopes (high z-values) of the species–area relationship, and no significant influence of isolation on Ss. Analyses based on contemporary assemblages (SA)indicated that human activities have rendered native assemblages highly depauperate, while anthropogenic introductions have inflated richness far above Ss on all but the largest islands. Long-standing models of island biogeography may prove inadequate unless their conceptual domains are expanded to include the effects of all three fundamental, biogeographical processes (immigration, extinction and speciation), the impact of human activities on each of these processes, and the likelihood that, at least for very large and isolated islands, a long-term equilibrium among these processes is seldom achieved.
Key words
: Anthropocene, extinction, island biogeography, mammals, palaeobiology, Pleistocene, speciation, species–area, species–isolation
Wiley Online Library
Van der Geer AAE, van den Bergh G, Lyras GA, Prasetyo UW, Due RA, Setiyabudi E, Drinia H.
The effect of area and isolation on insular dwarf proboscideans.
Journal of Biogeography
43, 1656-1666; DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12743
We investigated the hypothesis that insular body size of fossil elephants is directly related to isolation and surface area of islands worldwide. To this aim, we assembled data on the geographical characteristics (area and isolation) of islands and body size evolution of palaeo-insular species for 22 insular species of fossil elephants across 17 islands. Our results support the generality of the island rule in the sense that all but one of the elephants experienced dwarfism on islands. The smallest islands generally harbour the smallest elephants. We found no support for the hypothesis that body size of elephants declines with island isolation. Body size is weakly and positively correlated with island area for proboscideans as a whole, but more strongly correlated for Stegodontidae when considered separately. Average body size decrease is much higher when competitors are present. Body size in insular elephants is not significantly correlated with the isolation of an island. Surface area, however, is a significant predictor of body size. The correlation is positive but relatively weak; c. 23% of the variation is explained by surface area. Body size variation seems most strongly influenced by ecological interactions with competitors, possibly followed by time in isolation. Elephants exhibited far more extreme cases of dwarfism than extant insular mammals, which is consistent with the substantially more extended period of deep geological time that the selective pressures could act on these insular populations.
Key words
: Elephas, fossil record, insularity, island biogeography, island rule
Volmer R, Hertler C, van der Geer AAE.
Niche overlap and competition potential among tigers (
Panthera tigris
), sabertoothed cats (
Homotherium ultimum
Hemimachairodus zwierzyckii
) and Merriam's Dog (
Megacyon merriami
) in the Pleistocene of Java
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
441, 901-911. DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.10.039.
Highlights: Late Pleistocene tigers of Java belong to the largest known tigers; Shifts in body masses of tigers are probably caused by competition; Tigers on Java had highest competition potential with Merriam's Dog; Homotherium ultimum had the lowest competition protential with tigers; New regressions for body mass and prey mass reconstruction for large carnivores were calculated.
Key words
: carnivores, body mass, ecological character displacement, prey mass spectrum, Sangiran, Southeast Asia
Kolb C, Scheyer TM, Veitschegger K, Forasiepi AM, Amson E, van der Geer AAE, van den Hoek Ostende LW, Hayashi S, Sanchez-Villagra MR.
Mammalian bone palaeohistology: a survey and new data with emphasis on island forms
; DOI 10.7717/peerj.1358
Bone tissue and vascularisation types correlate with several biological variables such as ontogenetic stage, growth rate, and ecology. Mammalian bone displays a large variety of bone tissues and vascularisation patterns ranging from lamellar or parallel-fibred to fibrolamellar or woven-fibred bone, depending on taxon and individual age. Here we systematically review the knowledge and methods on cynodont and mammalian bone microstructure as well as palaeohistology. We present new data on the bone microstructure of two extant marsupial species and of several extinct continental and island placental mammals.
Key words
: Mammals, palaeohistology, island evolution, bone tissue,
Hippopotamus minor
Open Access]
Van der Geer AAE, Anastasakis G, Lyras GA.
If hippopotamuses cannot swim, how did they colonize islands: a reply to Mazza
48, 147-150. DOI: 10.1111/let.12095
How hippopotamuses managed to cross tens or even hundreds of kilometres of open sea to islands and why they did so are, as Mazza (2014) formulates it, challenging problems. The formidable body mass, barrel-shaped build and the relatively stocky, short limbs do not look as those of an apt swimmer. Furthermore, hippopotamuses have been described as bottom-walkers rather than surface swimmers (for details see below). Yet, the fossil record proves their existence on six islands during the Pleistocene.Mazza (2014, p. 2) suggests they were on 'probably most other Mediterranean islands', but there is no evidence to support this claim, despite the abundant fossil record from Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearics, Tilos, Rhodes and Karpathos. Arguing that hippopotamuses cannot swim in open sea, Mazza postulates that in all of these cases the only remaining option for colonization is by land bridge, either fully exposed or only one or two metres deep. If Mazza is right, and hippopotamuses cannot survive overseas dispersal, the available geological evidence should be reconsidered or an alternative explanation has to be looked for. There are some inconsistencies in Mazza's reasoning, which we address below in light of effective collaboration among biologists, palaeontologists, geologist and biogeographers as recommended by Mazza (2014).
Key words
: dwarf hippos, Crete, Cyprus, Madagascar, land bridges, overseas dispersal, Pleistocene, swimming
(for Academia members only]
Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA, MacPhee RDE, Lomolino M, Drina H.
Mortality in a predator-free insular environment: the extinct dwarf deer from Crete
American Museum Novitates
3807, 29 pp. DOI: 10.1206/3807.1
Age-graded fossils of Pleistocene endemic Cretan deer (
spp.) reveal unexpectedly high juvenile mortality similar to that reported for extant mainland ruminants, despite the fact that these deer lived in a predator-free environment and became extinct before any plausible date for human arrival. Age profiles show that deer surviving past the fawn stage were relatively long-lived for ruminants, indicating that high juvenile mortality was not an expression of their living a "fast" life. Although the effects on survivorship of such variables as fatal accidents, starvation, and disease are difficult to gauge in extinct taxa, the presence of extreme morphological variability within nominal species/ecomorphs of Candiacervus is consistent with the view that high juvenile mortality can function as a key innovation permitting rapid adaptation in insular contexts.
Key words
, juvenile mortality, Pleistocene, life history tables, longevity, survivorship curves
PDF AMNH Digital Repository
Van der Geer AAE.
Systematic revision of the family Hoplitomerycidae Leinders, 1984 (Artiodactyla: Cervoidea), with the description of a new genus and four new species
3847 (1), 1–32. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3847.1.1
Six species of the cervoid genus
are currently recognized from the Late Miocene sites of Gargano and Scontrone, in Italy:
H. matthei
Leinders, 1984,
H. apruthiensis
Mazza & Rustioni, 2011,
H. apulicus
Mazza & Rustioni, 2011,
H. falcidens
Mazza & Rustioni, 2011,
H. magnus
Mazza & Rustioni, 2011, and
H. minutus
Mazza & Rustioni, 2011. These species are interpreted as members of an anagenetic series in these two localities, which are considered as part of the same bioprovince but with different geological ages. Comparative analysis of postcranial, dental, and cranial material from Hoplitomerycidae resulted in the reinterpretation of this current taxonomic arrangement. Two distinct genera can be distinguished. The new genus
is restricted to Scontrone (Early Tortonian) and is characterised by the presence of second upper and lower premolars and the absence of a nasal (median) horn.
is restricted to Gargano (Middle and/or Late Tortonian), and is characterized by the loss of the second premolar and presence of a nasal horn. Both genera are characterized by orbital appendages in some species, but the morphology of these appendages differs between the genera. Six species can be recognized for
gen. n.:
S. minutus
(type species),
S. falcidens
S. apulicus
S. apruthiensis
S. magnus
(new combinations) and the newly described
S. mazzai
sp. n.
is represented by the
H. matthei
(type species) and 3 newly described species
H. devosi
sp. n.,
H. macpheei
sp. n. and
H. kriegsmani
sp. n.. These two multispecies assemblages are best explained as independent adaptive radiations with the two genera as sister taxa. There is no evidence that the two localities were connected during the Late Miocene.
Key words
: Gargano,
, insularity, Late Miocene, Scontrone,
Publisher preview
Van der Geer AAE.
The impact of isolation: Evolutionary processes in Hoplitomeryx
Ph.D. thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht
is an example of island evolution under extremely long isolation. Its evolutionary history agrees with that of other insular species. This includes both the pattern of its body size evolution (adaptive radiation) as well as the evolution of some of its characteristic traits.
lived on the Late Miocene palaeo-island of Gargano, today part of mainland southern Italy. The genus
is mainly characterised by four orbital horns, a nasal (median) horn, sabre-like upper canines and a closed metatarsal gully.
Insular mammals typically grow larger or smaller depending on a combination of factors. The trend is not only much more pronounced in the fossil record, related to time in isolation, but may also show fluctuations through time when factors change. on the other hand displays both smaller and larger species in a multispecies assemblage (adaptive radiation). Body size does not converge here towards a hypothetical optimal body size but diverges instead, driven by ecological release, character displacement and niche partitioning. The largest species have a suboptimal build with their very slender, fragile long limb bones with narrow articulation areas, very unlike the massive limb bones with broad articulation areas of mainland large deer of similar wither's height. Such vulnerable species likely would not survive under high-predation regimes. Its extraordinary long limb bones suggest a dietary niche of otherwise unreachable branches and leaves.
Key words
: adaptive radiation, body mass evolution, cladogenesis, insularity, Late Miocene, Mediterranean Islands, Neogene
PDF Igitur Repository
Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA, van den Hoek Ostende LW, de Vos J, Drina H.
A dwarf elephant and a rock mouse on Naxos (Cyclades, Greece) with a revision of the palaeozoogeography of the Cycladic Islands during the Pleistocene
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
404: 133-144. DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.04.003
During the Late Pleistocene, Naxos and adjacent areas, including Delos and Paros, constituted a mega-island, here referred to as palaeo-Cyclades. The extensive low-lying plainswith lakes and rivers provided a suitable habitat for elephants. Due to long-term isolation from the mainland and mainland populations, these elephants evolved miniature size. The species found on Naxos had a body size of about ten percent of that of the mainland ancestor,
Palaeoloxodon antiquus
. During the glacial periods of the Late Pleistocene,
P. antiquus
may have migrated eastwards and southwards in search of better conditions and reached the islands. The dwarf species of the various Southern Aegean islands (e.g. Crete, Tilos, Rhodos, palaeo-Cyclades) are each the result of independent colonisation events. The very small size of the Naxos species respective to the dwarf elephants from Crete is explained as due to the lack of competitors. The only other elements of the contemporaneous fauna were a rock mouse (
) and a shrew (
sp.). Submergence of the area, climate change, volcanism, hunting by humans or a combination of these factors during the terminal Pleistocene may have caused the extinction of this endemic fauna.
Key words
: Mediterranean, Naxos,
Palaeoloxodon lomolinoi
PDF at Publisher site
PDF at ResearchGate (for members only)
Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M.
Caves and fossils: Palaeontology in Greek caves and fissures
In: Mavridis F, Jensen JT (eds.)
Stable Places and Changing Perceptions: Cave Archaeology in Greece
, Chapter 3, pp.83-98. BAR International Series 2558. Archaeopress, Publishers of British Archaeological Reports, Oxford. ISBN 9781407311791.
Caves constitute one of the most important sources for fossilized remains of life of the past in Greece and adjacent karstic areas. The reason is that caves provide a uniquely favorable environment for the preservation of fossil animal and plant remains. First of all, caves have a uniform and stable temperature and humidity. They are essentially closed environments, buffered within a huge mass of isolating rock. Therefore, they can preserve remains of past life for thousands of years, as if in a natural refrigerator. Secondly, they are often sealed off for extensive periods of time, due to collapse of an entrance or because of complete filling with sediments. The preserved remains are thus undisturbed and safeguarded against damage from outside, as if in a natural safe or treasure box. The fact that caves often have a time limit – a beginning when they are first formed and an end when they are filled with sediment or collapsed – makes caves even more important for palaeontology as they provide a snapshot of geological time, undisturbed by previous or following life forms.
Van der Geer AAE.
Parallel patterns and trends in functional structures in island mammals
Integrative Zoology
Endemic mammalian species on islands are generally known to have followed a different evolutionary pathway than their mainland relatives. General patterns, such as body size trends, have been described regularly. However, most island mammal species are unique and each of them is adapted to a specific local niche as part of an equally specific ecological assemblage. Therefore, comparing island species across taxa, islands and time is inherently dangerous without understanding the adaptational value of the studied feature in the compared taxa and without taking the ecological setting of the taxa into account. In this contribution, general and recurring patterns are described per taxon. Some features, like body mass change and sturdy limbs, are relatively general, whereas most features, like bone fusions and change of orbital axis, occur only in a very few taxa. Some features are even contradictory, such as brain size and degree of hypsodonty, with each taxon having its own particular design. In conclusion, general patterns are more often than not just trends and need to be applied with caution.
Key words
: body proportions, fossil record, insularity, island rule, paleo -insular mammals, Pleistocene
(for Academia members only]
Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M.
Caves and fossils: Palaeontology in Greek caves and fissures
In: Mavridis F, Jensen JT (eds.)
Stable Places and Changing Perceptions: Cave Archaeology in Greece
, Chapter 3, pp.83-98. BAR International Series 2558. Archaeopress, Publishers of British Archaeological Reports, Oxford. ISBN 9781407311791.
Caves constitute one of the most important sources for fossilized remains of life of the past in Greece and adjacent karstic areas. The reason is that caves provide a uniquely favorable environment for the preservation of fossil animal and plant remains. First of all, caves have a uniform and stable temperature and humidity. They are essentially closed environments, buffered within a huge mass of isolating rock. Therefore, they can preserve remains of past life for thousands of years, as if in a natural refrigerator. Secondly, they are often sealed off for extensive periods of time, due to collapse of an entrance or because of complete filling with sediments. The preserved remains are thus undisturbed and safeguarded against damage from outside, as if in a natural safe or treasure box. The fact that caves often have a time limit – a beginning when they are first formed and an end when they are filled with sediment or collapsed – makes caves even more important for palaeontology as they provide a snapshot of geological time, undisturbed by previous or following life forms.
Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA, Lomolino M, Palombo MR, Sax D.
Body size evolution of palaeo-insular mammals: temporal variations and interspecific interactions
Journal of Biogeography
40: 1440-1450. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.120462.
We investigated the hypothesis that body size evolution of mammals is strongly influenced by ecological interactions, resulting in evolutionary divergence in body size in species-rich (e.g., mainland) biotas, and convergence on the size of intermediate but absent species in species-poor (e.g., insular) biotas. In order to do so, we assembled data on temporal variation in body size of palaeo-insular mammals and associated variation in ecological characteristics (colonization or extirpation of mammalian competitors and predators) for 19 species of fossil, non-volant mammals across 4 large (>3640 km2) islands ranging between the Late Miocene and Holocene in the Mediterranean area. These are the only fossil species for which fine-detailed time series are available at present. Our results are consistent with predictions based on an ecological interactions hypothesis of body size evolution. Following colonization (or first appearance in the insular fossil record) small mammals (such as mice, shrews, and pikas) tended to increase in body size. These trends, however, ceased or were reversed following colonization of the focal islands by mammalian predators or competitors. Thus, While body size evolution is likely influenced by a variety of characteristics of the focal islands (e.g., climate, area, isolation and habitat diversity) and species (e.g., diet, resource requirements and dispersal abilities), temporal trends for palaeo-insular mammals indicated that the observed trends for any particular species, island and climatic regime may be strongly influenced by interactions among species. Ultimately, invasion of a competitor often leads to the extinction of the native, insular species.
Key words
: biological invasions, body size fluctuations, competition, extinct species, fossil record, island evolution, island rule, mammals, Mediterranean palaeo-islands, predation.
Lomolino MV, van der Geer AAE, Lyras G, Palombo MR, Sax D, ROzzi R.
Of mice and mammoths: generality and antiquity of the island rule
Journal of Biogeography
40: 1427-1439. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12096.
We assessed the generality of the island rule in a database comprising 1593 populations of insular mammals (439 species, including 63 species of fossil mammals), and tested whether observed patterns differed among taxonomic and functional groups. To do do, we measured museum specimens (fossil mammals) and reviewed the literature to compile a database of insular animal body size (Si = mean mass of individuals from an insular population divided by that of individuals from an ancestral or mainland population, M). Then used linear regressions to investigate the relationship between Si and M, and ANCOVA to compare trends among taxonomic and functional groups. We found that this Si was significantly and negatively related to the mass of the ancestral or mainland population across all mammals and within all orders of extant mammals analysed, and across palaeo-insular (considered separately) mammals as well. Insular body size was significantly smaller for bats and insectivores than for the other orders studied here, but significantly larger for mammals that utilized aquatic prey than for those restricted to terrestrial prey. Our main conclusions are that the island rule appears to be a pervasive pattern, exhibited by mammals from a broad range of orders, functional groups and time periods. There remains, however, much scatter about the general trend; this residual variation may be highly informative as it appears consistent with differences among species, islands and environmental characteristics hypothesized to influence body size evolution in general. The more pronounced gigantism and dwarfism of palaeo-insular mammals, in particular, is consistent with a hypothesis that emphasizes the importance of ecological interactions (time in isolation from mammalian predators and competitors was 0.1 to > 1.0 Myr for palaeo-insular mammals, but < 0.01 Myr for extant populations of insular mammals). While ecological displacement may be a major force driving diversification in body size in high-diversity biotas, ecological release in species-poor biotas often results in the convergence of insular mammals on the size of intermediate but absent species.
Key words
: body size, dwarfism, evolution, fossils, gigantism, island rule, islands, mammals
Lomolino MV, Sax DF, Palombo MR, van der Geer AAE.
Of mice and mammoths: evaluations of causal explanations for body size evolution in insular mammals
Journal of Biogeography
39: 842-854.
We investigated the hypothesis that insular body size of mammals results from selective forces whose influence varies with characteristics of the focal islands and the focal species, and with interactions among species (ecological displacement and release) on islands world-wide. Our results, based on regression tree analyses, support the hypothesis that body size evolution of insular mammals is influenced by a combination of selective forces whose relative importance and nature of influence are contextual. While there may exist a theoretical optimal body size for mammals, in general, the optimum for a particular insular population varies in a predictable manner with characteristics of the islands and the species, and with interactions among species. This study did, however, produce some unanticipated results that merit further study – patterns associated with Bergmanns rule are amplified on islands, and body size of small mammals appears to peak at intermediate and not maximum values of latitude and island isolation.
Key words
: area, body size, climate, evolution, island rule, islands, isolation, latitude, mammals, regression trees
Van der Geer AAE. Seventeen capsules and sidebars on various themes within
Era 1 (Beginnings of Human Society)
World History Encyclopedia
, 20 vols plus intro vol, general editor Alfred J.Andrea. Santa Barbara, ABC-Clio, ISBN 978-1-851-09929-0.
The human family lineage: 8 million years ago to 20,000 years ago
(pp 38-41, main capsule, overview),
The Late Miocene climate and environments of central, eastern, and southern Africa
(page 44, main capsule),
Ardipithecus ramidus
(page NA),
The footprints at Laetoli and the significance of walking upright
(page 50, main capsule),
Australopithecus afarensis
(pp 51-53, main capsule),
The importance of Hadar: the discovery of "Lucy"
(page 52, sidebox),
Australopithecus africanus
(pp 54-55, main capsule),
Swartkrans and the Taung child
(page 54, sidebox),
The robust australopithecines:
(pp 56-57, main capsule),
Homo erectus
in Asia
(pp 66-68, main capsule),
The odyssey of the Zhoukoudien fossils
(page 67, sidebox),
Homo antecessor
at Atapuerca, Spain
(page 68, sidebox),
The lifeways of
Homo erectus
(pp 110-111, main capsule),
The adaptive radiation of
Homo erectus
(pp 192-193, main capsule),
What happened to
Homo erectus
in Asia?
(pp 201-201, main capsule),
Molecular biology and the Eve Hypothesis
(page 79, sidebox),
Tool making by our closest primate relatives
(page 331, main capsule).
This Encyclopedia is an unprecedented academic undertaking reflecting an extraordinary new vision of world history, this landmark multivolume encyclopedia focuses on specific themes of human development across cultures era by era, providing the most in-depth, expansive presentation available of the development of humanity from a global perspective. Well-known and widely respected historians worked together to create and guide the project in order to offer the most up-to-date visions available. In the fields of history and history education, there is a growing trend toward focusing on the big picture, a history unlimited by borders focusing less on dates and countries and more on the defining themes of modern life.
[Publisher's site]
Van der Geer AAE. Ten capsules and sidebars on South Asia within
Era 3 (Classical Traditions 1000 B.C.E.-300 C.E.), Era 4 (Expanding Regional Civilizations 300-1000)
Era 5 (Intensified Hemispheric Interactions 1000-1500)
World History Encyclopedia
, 20 vols plus intro vol, general editor Alfred J.Andrea. Santa Barbara, ABC-Clio, ISBN 978-1-851-09929-0.
Early popular literature in India
The origin of drama
The Pala dynasty
The Pala School of Art
The export of Pala art
Early medieval South Asian art
The Rajputs, warriors by caste
Rajput origins
Early medieval industries
Gujarat, a centre of commerce
[Publisher's site]
Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA, Van der Geer SB.
Letter to the Editor: Microcephaly in ancient Greece, the Minoan microcephalus of Zakros.
Child's Nervous System
27 (7): 1035. doi: 10.1007/s00381-011-1465-2
[PDF at Publisher]
Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA.
Field Trip Guidebook. 9th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists.
32 pp.
[Go to the EAVP site and Download the Field Trip Guidebook]
Van der Geer AAE
Wilde Beesten Boek
, in Dutch.
Illustraties door Sudha Devi. Den Haag, Fairbooks.
Toegankelijk (voor)leesboekje over wilde dieren in India met prachtige illustraties van Sudha Devi en met amusante wetenswaardigheden over de afgebeelde dieren, bijvoorbeeld over de strepen van de Bengaalse tijger, het moederschap van de zeekrokodil en het modderbad van de pantserneushoorn. Fairbooks draagt bij aan eerlijke handel in traditionele kunstuitingen en helpt achtergestelde traditionele kunstenaars zich verder te ontwikkelen. Voor het drukwerk wordt FSC papier gebruikt. Fairbooks boeken zijn verkrijgbaar in de Wereldwinkel.
[Meer informatie hier]
Van der Geer A.
Dierportretten in steen in Zuid-Azie door de eeuwen heen
, in Dutch.
Aziatische Kunst
40 (3): 2-16.
Afgaand op de overgeleverde beeldhouwwerken uit het hele subcontinent blijkt maar een handvol wilde dieren uitgebeeld te zijn door de eeuwen heen. Deze alom bekende wilde dieren zijn leeuwen, herten, beren, apen, katten, muizen en ratten, schildpadden, hagedissen, krokodillen, ganzen en pauwen. De rest is eenvoudigweg blijkbaar onbekend en/of onbemind en wordt vaak maar op een enkele sculptuur aangetroffen. Afbeeldingen van Indiase bizons, nilgai, steenbokken, wilde geiten en schapen, antilopen en gazelles, tapirs, eekhoorns, jakhalzen, rode honden, hazen, otters, luipaarden, tijgers, neushoorns en vossen zijn buitengewoon zeldzaam, vooral in relatie tot de overweldigende totale hoeveelheid sculpturen in Zuid-Azië. Rivierdolfijnen zijn met moeite te herkennen in een handvol
(watermonsters) en zeekoeien zijn al helemaal nergens te vinden.
Het grootste aandeel van afgebeelde dieren betreft de grote huisdieren en de olifant. Vooral de dieren met een bijzondere status, hetzij in de maatschappij, hetzij in religie, zijn prominent aanwezig in heel Zuid-Azie, met de olifant als absolute topper, gevolgd door zeboestieren. De waterbuffel komt veelvuldig voor vanwege zijn rol als demon die door de godin Durga gedood wordt en zijn connectie met Yama, de god van de dood. De enige uitzondering is de dromedaris, die ondanks zijn grote economisch belang maar mondjesmaat in beeldhouwwerk vereeuwigd is, iets wat geheel verklaard kan worden door zijn beperkte voorkomen: de halfwoestijnen van het noordwesten en sporadisch in 12e-14e-eeuwse Zuid-Indiase hoofdsteden als geimporteerde strijddieren.
De kleinere en minder in aanzien staande huisdieren zoals honden, katten, geiten, schapen, mangoesten en varkens komen bijna niet voor in steensculpturen. Als dat al het geval is, dan in associatie met een godheid, meestal een mythe duidend, zoals de hond met Shiva, de kat met de zesde moedergodin Shasthi, de ram met de vruchtbaarheidsgod Naigamesha, de god van het vuur Agni en met de schoolgaande Boeddha, de mangoest met de god van de rijkdom Kubera en het varken met Vishnu's derde avatar; honden en katten figureren daarnaast nog in een paar volksverhalen.
Van der Geer A, Lyras G, De Vos J., Dermitzakis M.
Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands
Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell (ISBN-13 978-1-4051-9009-1), 479 pp., index, figs, 26 full-colour plates.
With this richly illustrated book, the first of its kind, the authors offer a much-needed synthesis of recent advances in the exciting field of the evolution and extinction of fossil insular placental mammals. Extinct insular mammals were as diverse and successful as mainland mammals, represented by a wide range of species of dwarf elephants, dwarf hippos, dwarf deer and other 'mini-macromammals' and giant rats, giant insectivores, giant pikas and other 'mega-micromammas', plus a variety of truly bizarre forms. In the recent years, a tremendous amount of research has been conducted on this important subject. The
Evolution and Extinction of Placental Island Mammals
synthesizes this research into a single, comprehensive volume. Here I, in collaboration with George Lyras, John de Vos and Michael Dermitzakis, explore a variety of topics, including the history of island rules, common patterns and trends, ways of dispersal, speciation and extinction events. A team of distinguished international experts reviewed the separate chapters and provided updated insights in their field. A landmark reference,
The Evolution and Extinction of Island Mammals
belongs in the library of every paleontologist, mammalogist, and evolutionary biologist.
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Van der Geer AAE, Lyras GA, Rook L.
Body size of insular carnivores: evidence from the fossil record
Journal of Biogeography
37: 1007-1021.
Aim: to (1) assess the generality of one aspect of the island rule—the progressive trend towards size decrease in larger species—for fossil carnivores on islands, (2) offer causal explanations for this pattern and deviations thereof, both as far as fossil carnivores are concerned, and (2) estimate the speed of this trend.Results: Dwarfism is observed in two canid species. Moderate body mass decrease is observed in one hyena species. Gigantism is observed in one otter species. Moderate body-mass increase is observed in two otter species, one galictine mustelid and perhaps one canid. Negligible or no body-mass change at all is observed in five otter species, three galictine mustelids and one genet. Size changes in teeth do not to lag behind in comparison to skeletal elements in the dwarfed canids. The evolutionary speed of dwarfism in a canid lineage is low.
Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M.
Fossils in pharmacy: from snake eggs to Saints bones; an overview
Hellenic Journal of Geosciences
45: 323-331. This article is the paper version with photographs of the article published in the electronic journal
Calicut Medical Journal
2008; 6 (1): e8.
Hoek Ostende LW, Meijer HJM, van der Geer AAE.
A bridge too far, reply to "Processes of island colonization by Oligo-Miocene land mammals in the central Mediterranean: New data from Scontrone (Abruzzo, Central Italy) and Gargano (Apulia, Southern Italy)" by Mazza P.P.A and Rustioni, M. 2008, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 267, 208-215.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
279 (1-2): 128-130, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.029.
The recent attempt of Mazza and Rustioni (2008) to revive land bridges as a means of colonization of oceanic islands is potentially highly interesting. They suggest that land bridges played an important role in the colonization of the Abruzzo-Apulian bioprovince, as shown by the fossil vertebrates from Scontrone and Gargano. Their evidence however falls short, and even though their paper provides new insights in the history of the insular faunas of the Apulia platform, there is no reason to assume that land bridges played any role in the colonization of these islands. The bizarre insular Apulian fauna is better explained by evolution in isolation by mammals that reached the island through sweepstake dispersal. The new age estimate provided by the Scontrone site places the faunas in the Late Miocene rather than in the Pliocene, and thus in the same time frame as other Italian insular fauna sites such as the Baccinello-Cinigiano fauna of Tuscany and the Fiume Santo fauna of Sardinia (Rook et al., 2006; Abbazzi et al., 2008).
[Science Direct]
Van der Geer AAE, De Vos J, Dermitzakis M, Lyras G.
Hoe dieren op eilanden evolueren. Majorca, Ibiza, Kreta, Sardiniie, Sicilie, Japan, Madagaskar, Malta
Utrecht: Veen Magazines, 229pp. ISBN 978 908571 169 8 / NUR 949.
Op afgelegen eilanden ontwikkelen dieren zich anders. Soms worden ze groter, soms kleiner dan soortgelijke dieren op het vaste land. Dat heeft alles te maken met de uitzonderlijke condities op de eilanden. Dieren die zich het best weten aan te passen aan een dergelijke omgeving, overleven. De aanpassing leidt vaak tot nieuwe varianten. Zo kennen we de miniolifanten, minineushoorn, de kleine vos en de kleine mens op Flores. Dit boek laat zien hoe nieuwe varianten of zelfs nieuwe soorten op de eilanden ontstaan. Ontdek de verdwenen wereld van de reuzenratten, vijfhoornige herten en miniatuurolifanten en lees de spannende verhalen over hun ontdekkingen!
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Van der Geer.
Digging into the past
In: MI Papagrigorakis, K Dermitzaki, T. Doxanaki, D. Staboliadi (eds.)
Geological and Palaeontological Heritage: Retrieval, Conservation, Management and Display
. Summer School Professional Development Program, Postgraduate Course of Museum Studies pp.43-48.
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Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis DM.
Dental eruption sequence in the Pliocene Papionini
Paradolichopithecus arvernensis
(Mammalia: Primates) from Greece.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
28 (4): 1238-1244.
The chronology of tooth emergence can be used to infer life history patterns for extinct species. Comparative studies of extinct primates are hindered by a lack of data on dental development for most species. Here we describe a mandible of the Pliocene papionin
Paradolichopithecus arvernensis
at an incomplete stage of dental eruption and compare it with published sequences as for living cercopithecoids. The order of tooth eruption is similar to those observed for living papionins. Occlusal ward rotation of developing molars occurs only in the m3, as in other papionins. Age at the time of death is estimated at between 5.0 and 5.3 years. The studied individual died during puberty, which is a stressful period for papionin males. The high percentage of
juveniles which died at this stage can be either explained as taphonomic bias or as due to a high rate of mortality during puberty.
[BioOne full text]
Van der Geer AAE.
Animals in Stone. Indian mammals sculptured through time
Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 2 South Asia
(ed. J. Bronkhorst).
Leiden: Brill. lxxii, 814 pp, c. 700 ill, index. Hardback. ISBN 978 90 04 16819 0, ISSN 0169-9377, e-ISBN: 9789047443568.
This magnificently illustrated study of a vast amount of South Asian animal stone sculptures provides an art history covering almost four and a half thousand years, analyzing the art historical, archeological and cultural context of animals in society.
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Lyras GA, Dermitzakis DM, Van Der Geer AAE, Van der Geer SB, De Vos J.
The origin of
Homo floresiensis
and its relation to evolutionary processes under isolation.
Anthropological Science
117, 33-43.
Since its publication in 2004,
Homo floresiensis
has been attributed to a species ofn its own, a descendant of
H. erectus
or another early hominid, a pathological form of
H. sapiens
, or a dwarfed modern human related to the Neolithic inhabitants of Flores. In this contribution, we apply a geometric morphometric analysis to the skull of
H. floresiensis
(LB1) and compare it with skulls of normal
H. sapiens
, insular
H. sapiens
(Minatogawa Man and Neolithic skulls from Flores), pathological
H. sapiens
(microcephalics), Asian
H. erectus
(Sangiran 17),
H. habilis
(KNM ER 1813) and
Australopithecus africanus
(STS?Sts 5). Our analysis includes specimens that were brought to the fore by other authors to prove their conclusions. The geometric morphometric analysis separates
H. floresiensis
from all
H. sapiens
, including the pathological and the insular forms. It is not possible to separate
H. floresiensis
H. erectus
falls apart from all other skulls. The Neolithic skulls from Flores fall within the range of modern humans and are not related to LB1. The microcephalic skulls fall within the range of modern humans, as well as the skulls of the Neolithic small people of Flores. The cranial shape of
H. floresiensis
is close to that of
H. erectus
and not to that of any
H. sapiens
. Apart from cranial shape, some features of
H. floresiensis
are not unique but shared with other insular taxa, such as the relatively large teeth (shared with Neolithic humans of Sardinia), and changed limb proportions (shared with Minatogawa Man).
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Van Der Geer AAE.
The effect of insularity on the Eastern Mediterranean early cervoid
: the study of the forelimb.
Quaternary International
182, 1: 145-159. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.09.021.
On the Tertiary paleo-island Gargano a highly endemic, unbalanced vertebrate fauna evolved including the five-horned deer
. Its post-cranial material contains four size groups.The question whether the morphotypes are chronomorphs or ecomorphs is addressed. Sexual dimorphism is ruled out as the underlying principle of size separation in this case, based upon body mass estimations and data from living deer. Chronomorphs is the best explanation for the
Megaloceros cazioti
lineage (Pleistocene, Sardinia) and the
Myotragus balearicus
lineage (Pliocene–Holocene, Mallorca). Ecomorphs are a better explanation for the size groups of
(Pleistocene, Crete) and
Cervus astylodon
(Pleistocene, Ryukyu Islands). An adaptive radiation into several trophic types took place, promoted by the ecological meltdown of the ancestral niche. The drive behind this speciation is increased interspecific competition. For
, although the hypothesis of chronomorphs cannot be discarded, that of ecomorphs seems most likely, based upon the coexistence of two or more size groups per fissure, and upon the presence of a huge morphotype, larger than mainland species, in the younger fissures.
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Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis MD.
Fossil medicines from snake eggs to Saint s bones; an overview
Special article.
Calicut Medical Journal
2008; 6 (1): e8.
During the centuries, fossil remains of invertebrate and vertebrate animals have been widely used as medicines to cure a disease or relieve a symptom, or as amulet to prevent a disease or symptom. The most common medicinal fossils are the invertebrate remains (sea urchins, ammonites, belemnites, trilobites), followed by shark teeth and palatal teeth of bony fishes. More rare, but surviving on a large scale till the present day, is the use of fossil mammals, known as "dragons". Knowledge of the use of fossil medicines broadens the view of especially medical practitioners in remote or tribal regions. These people hold strong beliefs in the working principles of the fossils and this should not be dismissed too easily. The working area of fossil medicines have a wide range including poisoning, sore throats, internal pains and cramps, infertility and obstetrical problems, bladder and kidney diseases, eye infections and diftheria.
[Related PowerPoint Presentation "Fossils as Medicines in Past and Present"]
Van der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis MD, De Vos J.
Fossil Folklore from India: The Siwalik Hills and the
119: 71-92. London: The Folklore Society.
The Siwalik Hills, below the Himalayas, are strewn with impressive Plio-Pleistocene vertebrate fossils. We suggest that the region was seen as the historical stage for the legendary battle as described in the Indian epic
, during which hundreds of mighty and sometimes gigantic heroes, horses, and war elephants died. Their remains are seen in the fossil bones, skulls, jaws and tusks of hippopotamuses (
), proboscideans (
), four-horned giraffes (
), giant tortoises (
), sabre-toothed tigers (
), camels (
), and other species. Moreover, thousands of ancient bronze javelins and spears are found on the surface in the same region. These archaeological artifacts along with the paleontological remains appear to have influenced the setting and context of the great battle in the Indian epic.
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Dermitzakis M., Iliopoulos G., Van Der Geer A, Lyras G.A.
The Rise and Fall of the Cretan Deer.
XVII INQUA Congress, July 28 – August 3 2007, Cairns, Australia. Quaternary International.
Lyras GA, Van Der Geer AAE.
The Late Pliocene vertebrate fauna of Vatera (Lesvos Island, Greece)
. Cranium 24 (2): 11-24.
De vos J, Van Der Geer AAE.
Fossiele faunas van de eilanden van de Middellandse Zee
2007 (3): 87-90.
De Galapagos eilanden hebben bij Charles Darwin een belangrijke rol gespeeld omtrent het denken over evolutie. Hier ontdekte hij dat, hoewel de dieren op deze eilanden overeenkomsten vertonen met die van Patagonie (de zuidelijke punt van Zuid-Amerika), ze toch verschillend zijn. Ten tweede realiseerde hij zich dat de soorten van eiland tot eiland verschillen, ook al liggen de eilanden minder dan 100 km van elkaar. Op deze gedachte was hij gebracht door mr Lawson, een Engelsman die gouverneur was van de Galapagos eilanden. Deze vertelde DArwin dat hij onmiddellijk kon zien van welk eiland een bepaalde schildpad kwam. Elk eiland heeft blijkbaar zijn eigen evolutionaire geschiedenis. Van recente eilanden is bekend dat ze vreemde faunas kunnen hebben, denk aan de Darwinvinken van de Galapagos eilanden, maar dat dit ook opgaat voor fossiele faunas is minder bekend. Dit artikel laat zien wat voor vreemde faunas er in het verleden op de eilanden van de Middellandse Zee hebben geleefd.
Van Der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M, De Vos J.
Crete before the Cretans: the reign of dwarfs
13: 121-132. Athens: Netherlands Institute.
When archaeologists speak of prehistory, they have epochs in mind as bronze age, stone age: epochs that are revealed to us by means of artefacts, left overs of a human culture from a time before the emergence of written or pictographical sources. However, there is far more prehistory than history, and major part lies well before the archaeological prehistory. This is the domain of the palaeontology, where geological epochs are revealed by means of fossils in the broad sense. The island of Crete as we know, yielded a vast amount of cultural remains, among which those of the Minoan culture became world famous. But Crete also appeared to be a treasure box of much older remains, and 63 localities with fossils have been reported. From the 1970's on, Dutch researchers (University of Utrecht) started excavations on Crete, in close collaboration with the University of Athens. Based upon the hitherto described fossils, the pre-prehistory of Crete and its early inhabitants can be reconstructed. In this article, we focus on that part of the Cretan history between the time of its emergence as we know it and the first arrival of humans on the island.
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Van der Geer AAE, De Vos J, Lyras G, Dermitzakis M.
New data on the Pleistocene Cretan deer
sp. II (Mammalia, Cervinae)
In: Kahlke R-D, Maul LC, Mazza P (eds).
Late Neogene and Quaternary biodiversity and evolution: Regional developments and interregional correlations. Proceedings of the 18th International Senckenberg Conference (VI International Palaeontological Colloquium in Weimar)
vol. I. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 256: 131-137.
A composite skeleton of
species II revealed new features that were not detected in the isolated elements. The species differs from all known recent and extinct mainland deer, mainly in its body proportions and considerably shortened distal limb elements. The species had a more or less normal vertebral column length relative to continental large deer, and moderately upwards curved lumbar section, both features reminding us more of the insular dwarf bovid
than of mainland small deer like
Axis axis
. Combined with an increased massivity of all bones and pronounced muscle scars, this change in body proportions appears to indicate that the species evolved towards the niche of goat-like bovids in rocky environments. Other additional diagnostic features are the horizontally directed transversal processus of the vertebras, fusion of the lateral metacarpal to the main metacarpal, a tail length of ten vertebras, a more pronounced difference between anterior and posterior hooves, and the presence of lateral toes upto the third phalanx, anterior as well as posterior.
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Lyras GA, Van Der Geer AAE.
Adaptations of the Pleistocene island canid
Cynotherium sardous
(Sardinia, Italy) for hunting small prey
23 (1): 51-60.
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Lyras GA, Van Der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis MD, De Vos J. 2006.
Cynotherium sardous
, an insular canid (Mammalia: Carnivora) from the Pleistocene of Sardinia, and its origin
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
26(3): 735-745.
The phylogenetic position of
Cynotherium sardous
remained unsolved for more than five decades, mainly because inherited ancestral characters and acquired adaptations to different ecological pressures could not be separated. In this study the problem is approached again, with the use of morphological features that were either overlooked or could not be explained properly, in combination with results from recent major revisions of canid phylogeny.
is the most parsimonious ancestor of
. This large hypercarnivorous canid, once on the island, faced a rather different menu consisting of small and swift prey only. The subsequent necessary adaptation resulted in a small-sized dog which carried its head much in the way foxes do and was able to hold its body low to the ground and move its head laterally better than any living canid. Its dentition and brain morphology remained much the same, whereas its skull lost the typical fortifications seen in the other hypercarnivorous canids.
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Dermitzakis MD, Van Der Geer AAE, Lyras GA. 2006.
Paleopathological observations on a population of fossil deer from the Late Pleistocene of Crete
In: A Kalofourtis, N Papadopoulos, C Spiliopoulou, K Maravelias, A Chatziioannou (eds)
Volume in honuor of Professor Andonis Koutselinis
. pp.43-51. Athens.
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Van der Geer A, Dermitzakis M, De Vos J.
Fossils and myths in North India: is there a connection between the Siwalik Hills and the Mahabharata?
The 19th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, 27-30 June 2006, Leiden the Netherlands. Abstracts: p 124. Leiden: IIAS.
All over the world, people have explained fossil findings as the proof for the historical value of legends, stories, myths, or used them as a basis for a new legend. North India does not differ in this respect. In Nepal and northernmost India, fossil ammonites (
) are worshipped as
, be it the disc of Vishnu or the Buddhist wheel, or seen as links to the divine snake Kundalini. Offered to the mountain gods, they yield protection. Fossil sea urchins were found in neolithical graves in the Salt Range of Pakistan; most likely they had some magical function, as elsewhere in the world. In Kashmir, Jurassic fossil brachiopods were copied in wood and painted. They probably were worshipped as the sacred tortoises known in Buddhism. In this contribution, we investigate the possibility of a link between the famous fossil bone beds of the Siwaliks and the plain of Kurukshetra, the historical stage for the legendary battle as described in the epic
, during which hundreds of mighty and sometimes gigantic heroes, horses and elephants died. Their remains, added with those of their huge, wrecked chariots, and thousands of javelins and spears, may very well be seen in the fossil bones, skulls, jaws and tusks of long extinct hippopotamuses (
), proboscideans (
), giant giraffs (
), giant tortoises (
), sabre-toothed tigers (
), camels (
), and so on.
Dermitzakis M, Roussiakis S., Van der Geer AAE.
Sto Mouseio -
. In Greek and English
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Museum of Palaeontology and Geology, Athens; 55 pp. Educational material (not for sale) for students. Partly based on information and plates from
The Oceans of Kansas
by Michael Everhart.
Sondaar PY, Van Der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M
The unique postcranial of the Old World monkey
: more similar to
than to baboons
Hellenic Journal of Geosciences
41, 1: 19-28.
Special volume in the memory of Paul Yves Sondaar.
This article deals with the unique postcranial of
Paradolichopithecus arvernensis
and its possible way of locomotion insofar this can be inferred from the present material. The postcranial material is described and compared with that of its living close relatives
, and
. As some unique features were found in
, the comparison was extended to
Australopithecus anamensis
A. afarensis
(AL 288-1) and
Pan troglodytes
. The features that discriminates
from the African apes, also set
apart from baboons. This parallel was unexpected in the light of the general morphological differences between monkeys and apes. The study of
might help us understanding the locomotion of
, which differed from that of chimpanzees by an increased frequency of an energetically expensive bipedal mode with bent knees, certainly different from that of
as can be inferred from the totally different talar bone architecture.
was more terrestrial than baboons and likewise
was more terrestrial than chimpanzees (of today), but not in the same way as us.
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Van Der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis M.
Relative growth of the metapodals in a juvenile island deer:
(Mammalia, Cervidae) from the Pleistocene of Crete.
Hellenic Journal of Geosciences
41, 1: 119-125.
Special volume in the memory of Paul Yves Sondaar.
One of the diagnostic features of
are its apparently shortened and more massive metapodals in comparison to its ancestor. The question is whether this shortening and increased massivity are already present at birth or arises during postnatal ontogeny due to differences in relative growth speed. From this study it appears that the shortening is already present at birth but increases further during postnatal ontogeny due to a relative slower growth speed. The same holds for the increased massivity.
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Van Der Geer AAE, De Vos J, Lyras GA, Dermitzakis MD. 2005.
The mounting of a skeleton of the fossil species
sp.II from Liko Cave, Crete, Greece
Proceedings of the International Symposium Insular Vertebrate Evolution: The Palaeontological Approach.
Monogafies de la Societat d Historia Natural de les Balears
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Van Der Geer AAE.
Island ruminants and the evolution of parallel functional structures
. In: Cregut E (ed.):
Les ongules holarctiques du Pliocene et du Pleistocene. Actes Colloque International, Avignon, 19-22 septembre
. Quaternair 2005 hors-serie 2: 231-240.
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Sondaar PY, Van der Geer AAE.
Evolution and Extinction of Plio-Pleistocene Island Ungulates
In: Cregut E (ed.):
Les ongules holarctiques du Pliocene et du Pleistocene. Actes Colloque International, Avignon, 19-22 septembre
. Quaternair 2005 hors-serie 2: 241-256.
The pattern of faunal evolution on islands differs fundamentally from that on the mainland. Major faunal turnovers on the mainland are mainly triggered by global climatological changes but mainly by changes in paleogeography and the new arrival of predators on islands. Three types of Pleistocene islands are studied here: continental islands (Sardinia, Corsica), oceanic-like islands (Crete, Cyprus, Central Ryukyu Islands, Japan) and filter-bridge islands (Late Pleistocene Sicily and Japan). The origin of the founder population of the first type is a mainland fauna, while the second type is colonized by overseas sweepstake dispersal. The third type is characterized by filter dispersal from the continent. The lack of transitional faunas between the founder population and the endemic population shows that the evolutionary scenario in the ungulate fauna on islands of the first and second type is characterised by rapid major evolutionary changes in the founder poulation, explained as adaptation to the island environment, followed by a relatively static period, which in some cases ends abruptly with a dramatic faunal turnover. The duration of this equilibrium differs from island to island, but as a rule comes to an end after new arrivals. Again there is no transitional fauna between the original endemic fauna and the newer endemic fauna. Neolithization of islands causes extinction of the endemic impoverished island fauna, which is replaced by domestic live stock they brought in. The third type of island is less predictable in its faunal content, as the effect of a filter bridge is highly dependent on the nature of the filter. In the case of Sicily, the ungulate fauna is characterized by a gradually replacement, where the smaller endemics of the previous period coexist with the newly arrived mainland taxa.
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Van Der Geer AAE.
The postcranial of the deer
(Mio-Pliocene; Italy): another example of adaptive radiation on Eastern Mediterranean Islands
Monografies de la Societat d'Historia Natural de les Balears
12: 325-336.
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Dermitzakis MD, Van Der Geer AAE, Lyras GA. 2004.
The phylogenetic position of raccoon dogs: implications of their neuroanatomy
Proccedings of the 5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology, 14 to 20 April, 2004, Thessaloniki, Greece
, p. 307-310.
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Lyras GA, Van Der Geer AAE. 2003.
External brain anatomy in relation to phylogeny of Caninae (Carnivora: Canidae)
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
Caninae is one of the most studied mammalian groups, nevertheless there are relatively few comparative studies on their neuroanatomy. This work contributes to a better knowledge of this subfamily since it describes the external cerebrum anatomy of 29 out of the 35 living Caninae species, 11 of which are described for the first time. Information about their frontal region appears to be a welcome supplement in the study of the phylogeny. Two distinctive features are recognized, that can be traced back in the fossil record: the sulcal pattern medial to the coronal sulci, and the shape and relative size of the proreal gyrus. Four types are described for the first feature, (1) orthogonal:
, (2) pentagonal:
(extinct), (3) parenthesis-like:
, (4) heart-shaped:
Pseudalopex culpaeus
. Three types are described for the second feature, (1) elongated and bilaterally compressed:
Nyctereutes sinensis
N. tingi
(extinct), (2) small:
, (3) wide and low:
Nyctereutes procyonoides
. On the basis of these features some phylogenetic interpretations are presented: the fossil Asian
is close to
is close to
is not related to
differs from
Pseudalopex culpaeus
differs from the rest of the
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De Vos J, Van Der Geer AAE.
Major patterns and processes in biodiversity: taxonomic diversity on islands explained in terms of sympatric speciation
In: Waldren & Ensenyat (eds).
World Islands in Prehistory, International Insular Investigations, V Deia International Conference of Prehistory. Bar International Series
1095: 395-405.
Pandemic biodiversity is due to evolutionary processes in which every species evolves from another species through natural selection in a broad sense. Selection is mainly initiated and directed by availability and character of ecological niches. Radiation within a taxon takes place as soon as a new, free ecological niche is entered successfully, in other words, after an innovation of this taxon or after a mass extinction of other, competitive taxa. For example, the development of jaws (innovation), and later fins, in the agnatha was followed by a large-scale, long-term radiation into numerous groups of fishes during the Devonian. A similar pattern is seen in amphibians in the Carbonian (innovation: land dwelling), the amniota in the Trias (innovation: egg with membranes), sauriers in the Mesozoic (survivors of mass extinction), and mammals in the Kenozoic (survivors of mass extinction; innovation: versatile dentition). The same is seen in lower phylogenetic levels, resulting in medium-scale, medium-term radiations, e.g. ungulates (innovation: stilt-like limbs to run the plains), mainly in the Miocene. Each newly evolved taxon displays a minor change from the innovative ancestor, and as a specialist occupies a part of the total newly entered niche. Thus, after each innovation, sympatric speciation events take place, later followed by dispersals and allopatric speciation events. The speciation leads to homochronuous specialists, each adapted to a subniche of the main niche that was originally occupied by the innovative pioneer or colonizer.
This explains the small-scale, short term radiation seen in endemic insular taxa. On islands, biodiversity within one taxon is the rule, and the most parsimonious explanation is to consider this diversity, too, as determined by availability and character of ecological niches, as on the mainland. The colonizers have no competitors, so have the unique possibility to radiate beyond the degree seen on the mainland, where close niches are always already occupied. Island species, depending on plasticity of functional structures, will enter all possible niches, and adapt to all available niches. Clear examples are the large continental islands: the carnivorous marsupials and herbivorous mammals of South America during the Tertiair, and the marsupials of Australia during the Kaenozoic were able to radiate into a huge variety of taxa after colonization. The biodiversity as seen in endemic insular monophyletic genera in the form of adaptive radiation is in complete accordance with the major patterns and processes that gave rise to the long-term, large-scale and the medium-term, medium-scale biodiversity on the mainland.
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Sondaar PY, Van Der Geer AAE.
Plio-Pleistocene terrestrial vertebrate faunal evolution on Mediterranean islands, compared to that of the Palearctic mainland
Proc. of the 1st Int. Workshop "On Late Plio/Pleistocene extinction and evolution in the Palearctic. The Vatera site."
Annales Geologiques des Pays Helleniques
1e Serie 39, A: 165-180.
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Sondaar PY, Van der Geer AAE.
Arboreal and terrestrial traits as revealed by the primate ankle joint.
Proc. of the 1st International Workshop "On Late Plio/Pleistocene extinction and evolution in the Palearctic. The Vatera site."
Annales Geologiques des Pays Helleniques
1e Serie 39, A: 87-98.
The tarsal bones are important in the study of primate locomotion and posture, as it is here that the body weight is transferred to the ground in standing, walking and running, each with its particular demands. Though there are systematic differences in general morphology between cercopithecoids and African hominoids, for example the shape of the talar trochlea and the groove for the large toe flexor, there are clear parallels in function. In the proximal talar joint, movement is restricted to dorsal and plantar flexion, whereas in the distal talar joint also rotation and medio-lateral movement are possible. Especially the distal talar joint is useful to discriminate between arboreal and terrestrial ways of life, for example, rotation is typical for arboreal primates. The proximal talar joint is useful to specify the type of terrestrial locomotion. The degree of possible flexion differs between species, furthermore, in a number of species there is no medial rotation during maximal plantar flexion at all, whereas in most species at least a minimal degree occurs. In the species without medial rotation, such as
, the ridges of the trochlea tali tend to run more parallel than in other terrestrial species, like
, resulting in minimal trochlear wedging.
A functional analysis of the newly discovered ankle joint of
Paradolichopithecus arvernensis
leads to the conclusion that this monkey had not only a terrestrial way of life, but has also a gait similar to that of
Australopithecus afarensis
, revealing thus a parallel evolution between cercopithecoids and hominoids in this respect. This puts question marks to the degree and type of bipedalism in
[PDF download:
Van der Geer AAE, Sondaar PY.
The postcranial elements of Paradolichopithecus arvernensis (Primates, Cercopithecidae, Papionini) from Lesvos, Greece.
Proc. of the 1st International Workshop "On Late Plio/Pleistocene extinction and evolution in the Palearctic. The Vatera site."
Annales Geologiques des Pays Helleniques
1e Serie 39, A: 71-86.
The morphological features that are unique for
amongst the monkeys are described for the talus, distal tibia and the humerus, and are as follows. The talus is discriminated by its almost parallel trochlea, the large flap-like, protruding fibular suspensory facet, and a slightly deeper facet for the spring ligament on the talar head. These features are suggestive for a baboon-like ankle joint with the body weight more evenly distributed over the talar trochlea, a greater proportion of the weight transfer through the lateral (fibular) side, and with approximate the same stability in maximal dorsiflexion as in maximal plantar flexion. The distal tibia is discriminated by a more massive, square and blunt malleolus that lacks the typically pronounced ball-shaped area, a wider groove (sulcus malleolaris) for the tendon of the M. tibialis posterior, a more square cross-section, clear scars for the fibula, and a double tendon groove on the dorsal surface (either for a bifurcated tendon for the M. flexorum tibialis posterior or a pronounced groove for the long toe flexor), which follows the parasagittal plane. The combination indicates a maintainance of the close-packed situation from dorsiflexion to plantar flexion, an increased importance of the fibula in weight transfer, a stronger plantar flexion, and possibly a slightly abducted foot. The humerus is discriminated by an increased articulation area on the head compared to Papio, a wide and deep groove for the biceps tendon, a gradually descending capitulum, and an oblique axis for flexion-extension through the elbow joint. During flexion, the ulna deviates from the parasagittal plane, and ends in a position medially to the humerus instead of parallel above it, due to the trochlear shape and axis. This unique feature yields a significant increased mobility.
[PDF download:
Lyras GA, Van Der Geer AAE, Dermitzakis MD. 2001.
Evolution of the brain of Plio-Pleistocene wolves
[go to Cranium]
Van der Geer B, Van der Geer AAE.
Dagboek van een opgraving: Corbeddu, zaal IV
18, 2: 3-14. In Dutch with English summary.
Sondaar PY, Van der Geer S
Mesolithic environment and animal exploitation on Cyprus and Sardinia/Corsica
. In: Mashkour, M., A. Choyke & M. Buitenhuis (eds).
Proceedings of the IVth ASWA Symposium
, IVA: 67-73. Paris.
[PDF download:
Van der Geer AAE
On the astragalus of the Miocene endemic deer
from the Gargano (Italy).
7: 325-336. Rotterdam: Natuurmuseum. This report compares the astragalus of the insular deer
with that of a number of recent and fossil ruminants. It appears that the profile of the dorsal border deviates from the expected situation. In addition, in many astragali the axis through the cranial and the caudal half meet each other at an angle, yielding an oblique appearance. This situation resembles that of
Myotragus balearicus
, another endemic ruminant from the Mediterranean. A probable explanation is the decrease of muscular power needed, and the increase of stability, in relation to the convergence of the upper legs, due to a larger abdomen.
certainly was neither a runner nor a jumper.
[PDF download:
Van Der Geer AAE.
The Bhasa Problem. A statistical research into its solution.
PhD Thesis. Rijksuniversiteit Leiden; 243 pp.
[go to my PhD]
Van der Geer AAE.
De reuzen, dwergen en rariteiten van de Gargano
Over hoorns gesproken
15, 2: 75-83 and 111-123. Both in Dutch with English summary.
Van Der Geer AAE.
Samskrtabhasa B1, cursus Sanskrit voor beginners
Samskrtabhasa B2, cursus Sanskrit voor gevorderden
. Leiden: Talen Instituut Console; 366 and 233 pp resp. Both in Dutch.
[go to my Sanskrit course (in Dutch)]
Van Der Geer AAE.
. Klein Duimpje Reisgidsen. Leiden: Uitgeverij Console. Both in Dutch.
[go to my travel guides Sardinia and Saxonia (in Dutch)]
Van Der Geer AAE.
Isco sa limba mea. Sardijns in 10 lessen
Woordenboek Nederlands-Sardijns. Ditzionariu Sardu-Olandesu
Ittesisiat, Sardijns voor op vakantie
. Leiden: Talen Instituut Console; 229 pp, 240 pp and 15 pp. All three in Dutch and Sardinian.
[go to my Sardinian language course (in Dutch)]
[home page]
[who am I]
[animals in art]
[animals on islands]
[publications (pdf download)]
This site has been designed and developed by Gregory Lyras


text:
By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called U.S. President Barack Obama and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton "co-founders" of Islamic State on Thursday, igniting fresh criticism of his inflammatory campaign style. The New York real estate developer has previously attacked Obama and Clinton, secretary of state from 2009-13, for how the United States pulled out of Iraq after the war, saying it helped create the militant Islamist group that has seized swaths of Iraq and Syria.
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The Instigator
4 Points
The Contender
Pro (for)
0 Points
Resolved: The Death Penalty is a Morally Tenable Punishment
Post Voting Period
The voting period for this debate has ended.
after 2 votes the winner is...
|Voting Style:
|Point System:
|7 Point
|2 years ago
|Post Voting Period
|850 times
|Debate No:
Debate Rounds (4)
Comments (4)
Votes (2)
I accept.
Noted political theorist and philosopher Charles de Montesquieu once said that There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice. It is because I agree with him that I negate the Resolved: The Death Penalty is a Morally Tenable Punishment. For today's debate I will be offering the value of Government Legitimacy, which is defined as a people believe that their government's actions are appropriate uses of power carried out by a legally constituted government. Government Legitimacy has to be the paramount value for this debate because the government is the sole actor in the resolution. Government Legitimacy will be upheld by a Value Criterion of Deontological Justice, which is a moral system in which we give people their due by treating each individual with inherent value, never using them as a means to an end.
Contention One: Deterrence Treats Individuals as a means to an end
Deterrence is one of the chief justifications for the death penalty, whether it actually deters crime or not is up for dispute, but what is indisputable is that using this as a justification for the death penalty deprives individuals of their worth and humanity by using them as a means to achieving the end of deterring further crimes. This creates a state of affairs that sets a precedent for the government being able to justly use individuals as a means to an end to achieve policy goals, creating an unjust state of affairs where people are stripped of their humanity.
Contention Two: The Death Penalty runs counter to the very definition of Justice
Where the definition of justice is giving each their due, the death penalty does nothing to further giving any party in the Criminal Justice System their due. Let's take a moment to show the distinction between giving each what they deserve and giving each what they are entitled to and why, since the government is the actor in this resolution, the two are completely distinct. First of all, there is no way to objectively determine what one deserves, which is why there is such a great distinction in how justice is administered nation to nation. In the US, where we administer justice based on upholding the rights and entitlements of other, we deliver punishments that protect said rights. In nations like Saudi Arabia where Sharia Law is administered, punishments are administered based on what one deserves. This creates a morally untenable state of affairs where, since in Saudi Arabia people subjectively believe that homosexuality, infidelity, and apostasy ought to warrant severe beating/whipping or death, the government wills it so. I think that the merits of the US justice system v. the Saudi Arabian system stand on their own. That being said, the death penalty does not further the rights or entitlements of either the victim, the perpetrator, or any other party (like society). Since we have already established that deterrence violates our rights by treating people as means to an end and therefore stripping them of their humanity, that cannot be a reason forwarded. Secondly, life in prison without parole would have the same affect at face value of protecting the liberties of our citizenry, in the event where there is no chance for the criminal to be rehabilitated, taking them off the streets for the remainder of their life would be the same as killing them, the difference being one truly administers justice. Third, the victims of families of victims are not due retribution since if we assumed retribution was due by the state for one act it would be due for all, creating another morally untenable state of affairs where things like circumstance aren't taken in to account. Finally, it costs more after all the appeals processes to implement the death penalty than life in prison, where according to deathpenaltyinfo.org the death penalty costs significantly more than life in prison.
For these reasons I negate the resolution and look forward to my opponents rebuttal.
I would like to thank Rosalie for hosting this tournament as well as my opponent, Objectivity, for coming up with the topic and challenging me.
My Round 2 will be a rebuttal of Con's Round 2 contentions.
Rebuttal 1: Deterrence Treats Individuals as a means to an end.
Con states that the government using capital punishment as a means of deterrence strips off the humanity of the convicted by using them as a means to an end.
The government's use of the death penalty does not intentionally use the condemned as a means to an end. Deterrence is merely a byproduct of justice. When a person sees justice being served out to a wrongdoer, he is less inclined to commit the same offense and potentially have to face the same punishment.
Rebuttal 2: The Death Penalty runs counter to the very definition of Justice.
Con states that the definition of justice is giving each their due. I would rather give the Merriam-Webster definition of justice: "The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments" [1]. So justice is giving each person a reward or punishment based on what is just, not what they are due.
Con shows us the difference between what a person deserves and what they are due. This is a wrongly worded comparison. The real comparison should be between what is just and what is due.
What a person is due is what they have a right to, or as my opponent states it; what they are entitled to. The Declaration of Independence boldly entitles every man to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" [2]. These are the basic dues of a human being.
What is just is what is "Consistent with what is morally right." [3] This requires us to determine what is morally right, something that varies by its basis. If the government were to base its morals off of Sharia Law, the death penalty would be considered just for a large range of offenses. If the government were to base its morals off of the Bible, the death penalty would be considered just in cases of murder [4]. If the government were to base its morals off of popular opinion, the death penalty would again be just in cases of murder [5]. These three common bases of morality all agree that the death penalty is just.
Since I have shown the difference between what is just and what is due, I will now show how they relate to capital punishment.
A person is due "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". I believe the most important of these to be life since without life neither of the others matter. If a person takes the life of another person they are disregarding what that person was due and therefore forfeit their own right to life by making it disregardable. It does not matter that the death penalty does not further their rights since they, in effect, forfeited them.
The just punishment for taking a life (according to the three major bases of morality listed above) is death. It is our government's duty to execute this punishment.
Rebuttal 3: Life in prison without parole would have the same affect at face value of protecting the liberties of our citizenry.
You talk about how using criminals for deterrence strips them of their humanity, yet you openly suggest confining them for their entire life? Cages are used for animals. Prison is essentially a large cage. You are suggesting that we treat criminals like animals. How is that any more an administration of justice than capital punishment?
Rebuttal 4: The families of victims are not due retribution.
This point does not directly relate to the resolution, however, I will give my thoughts.
The victim's family is not due retribution but I certainly believe that the death penalty will give them some sort of closure which they deserve.
Rebuttal 5: It costs more after all the appeals processes to implement the death penalty than life in prison.
I would concede this point to my opponent if I thought it had any correlation to the resolution. Cost has nothing to do with morals.
I apologize for the poor formatting, my computer has been unreliable so I was not able to finish this as early as I hoped and I am nearly falling asleep while trying to format this from Google into DDO.
I look forward to your Round 3.
[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com...
[2] http://www.archives.gov...
[3] http://www.thefreedictionary.com...
[4] Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed".
[5] http://www.pewresearch.org...
Since my opponent has offered no constructive arguments affirming the resolution, it's already game over for him in terms of the burden of proof. The BOP unless specified otherwise is shared, and even if not one of my arguments stands (I'll explain why they do momentarily), having 0 constructive arguments on the affirmative of any debate, and especially this resolution means that my opponent hasn't proven why the death penalty is a morally tenable punishment. Simply disproving my arguments as to why it is morally untenable doesn't mean it IS in fact tenable.
According to the debate.org wikipedia "Bilateral burden of proof' or 'shared burden of proof' is a case in which both debaters have to fufill a burden of proof (BoP). Technically, "shared BoP" indicates that the two debators are arguing in favor of two opposing resolutions.
For example, an instigator may wish to debate that "Apples are better than Oranges" and for her opponent to debate that "Oranges are better than apples". In this case, a shared BoP would be perfect, because each debater would be equally obligated to defend their own claim and rebut their opponents' claim.
Whereas a debate with a unilateral BoP is concerned with the evidence for or against a single claim, a debate with a Bilateral BoP focuses on both claims. In these debates, the winning party is the one who successfully convinces the judge that their position is more likely than their opponent's position, using both rebuttals and constructive arguments. Unlike unilateral BoP, if there all constructive arguments are negated or equally balanced, then it is possible to have a tie"
Based on this analysis the best my opponent could hope to achieve in this debate is a tie, and that is assuming he can effectively refute ALL of my constructive arguments. Moving to my side of the flow:
Rebuttal 1 Response: Deterrence is offered as one of the primary justifications for the death penalty, and my opponent basically dodges this by forwarding the same argument critiqued in a different light. If my opponent concedes that he does not support the death penalty at all because of deterrence then the issue flows to neither side, if he says he supports the death penalty even in part because of deterrence, this has to flow to neg because he is supporting the death penalty in part because of deterrence, meaning he is still using individuals as a means to achieving the end of deterrence.
Rebuttal 2:
That might be the linguistic definition of justice, prefer "to each what he is due" because it is the most commonly agreed upon philosophical definition of justice that originated from Socrates himself and has been the crux of most philosophical debates on the actions of the government. Administering justice then becomes about protecting the rights of others and delivering punishment in such a way that it achieves said end, not about giving someone what they "deserve". My opponent attempts to frame justice in a way favorable to him and in a way that is circular, he essentially says that justice is giving someone a punishment based on what is just, I advise voters to think about that for a moment. Since my opponent's definition of justice is both circular and merely linguistic whether than philosophical prefer my definition.
My opponent then defines what is just as "what is morally" right and subscribes to complete moral subjectivism with no warrant, if my opponent wants to do this he has to drop the idea of governments in the first place since a government has to be comprised of people who all agree on certain moral values as being objectively true for a working social contract, and if my opponent doesn't believe in moral objectivity he can't believe in governments in the first place. My opponent has yet to warrant his affirmative position and makes a self defeating claim by erasing the actor in this resolution since if I decide to adopt absolute anarchy my opponent can't coherently say why that is immoral, and without a government there is no actor to impose the death penalty meaning there is no solvency on the affirmative, this will be a huge voting issue.
My opponent further states that without life all other rights don't matter, but don't buy this argument since there is no objective consensus on this, I allude to founding father Patrick Henry who said "Give me liberty or give me death", some people would rather die free than live in slavery, and affirming begins to lead us down this path by stripping us of our humanity, as earlier shown.
Therefore, Point #2 still stands since if we follow my opponent's logic he automatically loses this debate.
Rebuttal #3
Opponent draws a false equivalency between death penalty and life imprisonment. I never specified how I would treat prisoners either and I don't think I'm obliged to present a plan to negate so I won't be, all I will say is that we can treat prisoners humanely in the negative world and my opponent just assumes I want to "lock them in a cage" with no warrant.
Rebuttal #4
Fair enough
Rebuttal #5
Fair enough, both 4 and 5 can flow to neither side since aff agrees to both.
Back to you aff
I concede.
4 comments have been posted on this debate. Showing 1 through 4 records.
Posted by Objectivity 2 years ago
Posted by wipefeetnmat 2 years ago
Why should I have to put forth arguments claiming that the death penalty is morally tenable? It would make more sense for me to prove that it is morally tenable (able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection) by defending it against your attacks.
Posted by Objectivity 2 years ago
Posted by wipefeetnmat 2 years ago
2 votes have been placed for this debate. Showing 1 through 2 records.
Vote Placed by Cobalt 2 years ago
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Reasons for voting decision: Concession.
Vote Placed by dsjpk5 2 years ago
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Realtor Resources
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- Handouts with more information on programs and benefits of NFC Loans:
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Click here to download our "Top 10 Reasons Why an NFC Loan is a Smart Move" Cedar Rapids handout!
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Visit the How to Apply page for more information.
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PLEASE NOTE: Neighborhood Finance Corporation does not make any guarantee that the potential borrower will qualify for a mortgage based on any balances or calculations input to any of the calculators. To prequalify for a mortgage, the potential borrower must complete the prequalification form and bring it and the appropriate supporting documents to NFC. A loan originator will review the potential borrower's materials and request a credit report. Using all of these documents, and possibly others, the loan originator will determine the potential borrower's loan eligibility.


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Prayers for Those Killed in Battle
38 Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and kept the sabbath there.
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Optimize Your Blog Using Web Analytics: Part 1
Posted on Sep 30, 2008 in BloggingThis is a introductory post into the series Optimize Your Blog Using WebAnalytics. This series will be a few posts long and will cover great depth and detail on using Web analytics. This post is only a introductory and the other parts will put in much more detail. If you liked this post, be sure to check out Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 as well.
What are web analytics?
Web analytics is the study of the behavior of website visitors. In a commercial context, web analytics especially refers to the use of data collected from a web site to determine which aspects of the website work towards the business objectives.Let me take it down a little bit if you still don't really get what Web Analytics are.Web analytics are what businesses use to track their visitors. They use Web Analytics to fully optimize their websites for sales and to learn more about their visitors. In a sense, I guess you could say that they "spy" on you every time you visit their website. Kind of creepy eh? Well, this is how they find out what you, the consumer, will buy and what you will not buy.Lets take a look at a few ways Businesses use Web Analytics to optimize the sales value of a website:
- Regional information- Many company's only sell to a specific type of buyer. Many visitors who visit websites come from a vast variety of countries. With web analytics, companies can find out where the majority of their visitors reside from. They can then use this information to drive traffic from the specific country that they choose.
- Top content – Top content is usually the pages that are viewed the most by visitors. Top content is your most viewed pages, top landing pages, and top exiting pages. A neat feature that is also added in most web analytic programs is the report on what your users click. Here they give the number of clicks and exactly where on your page your visitors click. This is great if your doing affiliate marketing on your website. Companies will take this information and determine what phrases work and others that don't
- Visitors – Businesses love to see how many visitors visit their site regularly. They will also find out the number of page views and average time that visitors spend on their site. This information is important because if a company has visitor information they will have a better chance at selling private advertising on their website. It's always better to have the information and facts to back your words up. It's also noteworthy that most web analytics software will allow you to view your visitors IP, browsers, internet connection and many other things. With web analytic software you will get to know you visitors very well, and you must know your visitors very well if you want to make a living online.
- Traffic Sources – It's always good to know where your traffic is coming from. If you can find out where your traffic is coming from, you can then use that information to focus on the areas you need to improve on and the areas that you are already doing well. For example, SEO is very important in driving traffic to your website. Here, you can find out if your website is generating enough SEO traffic or if it needs some improvement.
How can Bloggers use Web Analytics to their advantage?
Here are a few ways that Bloggers can use Web Analytics to optimize the traffic they get.
- Find out how your readers are getting to your website.
- Find out what content is getting the most views.
- Optimize your SEO
- Get statistics for your blog
- Learn more about where your readers come from
- You can also determine if people find your blog interesting or not by watching the Bounce Rate.
- Use this information to sell private advertising on your blog


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- Getty's Free Photo Embed Service - Free isn't always free. There's often a catch. You better take a look at the legalese in the Terms of Service.
- 9,125 Days Later - The World Wide Web turned 25 last week. Jeremy Keith (Adactio) explains the difference between "the web" and "the internet," the need for an open web, net neutrality, and "the potential for long-term storage of knowledge."
- Some reading material on Pono - Neil Young's Pono music store and triangular music player are coming soon. Marco Arment discusses the pros and (mostly) cons of the whole thing.
- Confused About REM and EM? - REM can be confusing, especially without a solid understanding of its partner EM and their archvillain, the PX. Jeremy Church explains the the relationship between rem, em, markup and inheritance.
- Wearing Apple - What new product categories is Apple working on? Craig Hockenberry presents some views. Will the long-awaited iWatch turn out to be an iRing?
- Have We Gone As Far As We'll Go? - Has photo image quality reached a plateau? Veteran photographer, writer, and Nikon watcher Thom Hogan is convinced at this point that most people can't see any tangible differences in their images past a certain point.
Reading List - March
Time to read: one minute


text:
Steve Anderson
Associate Professor
Steve Anderson is a scholar-practitioner working at the intersections of media, history, technology and culture. He teaches classes in the production and theory of digital media in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media.
His book Technologies of Vision: The War Between Data and Images (MIT Press, 2017) surveys the emergence of competing regimes of computational and photographic image making from the 1830s to the present, focusing on cultural implications related to space, visualization and surveillance. His previous book, Technologies of History: Visual Media and the Eccentricity of the Past (Dartmouth, 2011), investigated the emergence of experimental history across a range of visual media including film, TV and digital games.
In 2015, Anderson was awarded a Digital Innovation Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies to create Technologies of Cinema, a longform video essay and critical digital archive of technology as seen on American TV and film.
He is the founder/principal investigator of the public media archive and fair use advocacy network Critical Commons. Along with Tara McPherson, he is co-editor of the interdisciplinary electronic journal Vectors and co-principal investigator of the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, developers of the open source electronic publishing platform Scalar.
His scholarly work has appeared in the journals Visible Language, InTransition, American Literature, GAME: The Italian Journal of Game Studies, The Journal of Media Literacy Education, Frames Cinema Journal, Profession, Pre/Text, The Moving Image, Release Print, The Independent, Filmmaker, Res Magazine, Intelligent Agent, Film Quarterly and Digital Humanities Quarterly, and is anthologized in the books Transmedia Frictions: The Digital, the Arts, and the Humanities; F Is for Phony: Fake Documentary and Truth's Undoing; Television Histories: Shaping Collective Memory in the Media Age; Digital Youth, Innovation and the Unexpected; and New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader.
Before coming to UCLA TFT, Anderson taught for 15 years in the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he was the founding director of the practice-based Ph.D. program in Media Arts + Practice and a faculty member in the divisions of Interactive Media & Games, Media Arts + Practice and Critical Studies.
A former documentary film editor, Anderson worked on numerous productions for National Geographic, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, NHK and ABC. He also served for more than a decade as a board member of Los Angeles Filmforum and continues to co-curate with Holly Willis a screening series devoted to experimental digital media titled Blur + Sharpen.
His work has received funding from the American Council of Learned Societies, the NEH Office of Digital Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
As director of the Transient Media Lab, Anderson catalyzes experiments with a deliberately unstable array of media and technology positioned at the intersection of documentary, interactive and immersive media.
Anderson received a Ph.D. in film, literature and culture from USC and an M.F.A. in film and video from CalArts.


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Hockey Goalie Gets 30 Days in Jail for Viciously Smashing Opponent's Face With Stick (Video)
An amateur hockey goalie from Fort Erie, Ontario, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for destroying an opponent's face with his stick.
The vicious attack took place at a 3-on-3 tournament in Fort Erie on May 7, 2016. Todd Ball, 38, was initially charged with aggravated assault, but he pled down to assault causing bodily harm. On Wednesday he was sentenced to 30 days in jail plus one year probation, with jail time to be served on the weekends.
Victim Ryan Cox, 27, was on a breakaway near the end of the game. Just as he was about to shoot the puck, Ball left the crease, went down on one knee, and took a two-handed swing at Cox with his stick like he was trying to chop the guy's head off.
The incident was caught on CCTV camera. Take a look:
Cox immediately fell to the ice, bleeding profusely, before EMS responders came and transported him to the hospital. He suffered a concussion, a shattered nose, a fractured orbital, and fractures on either side of his nose. He's undergone several reconstructive surgeries, has plates holding his face together, and has not been able to return to work.
Here's a photo of Cox taken at the hospital:
Cox, whose life has not been the same since getting his face smashed in, is not thrilled with the sentence.
"I feel they should have made an example out of him," he told the St. Catherine's Standard outside the courtroom. "I just don't want this to happen to anybody else.
"He only got 30 days for breaking someone's face. My life has never been the same.
"I can't feel my face. It is numb. I get bad headaches. It is hard for me to sleep. I've had facial surgeries and reconstructions. The sentence was too lenient. It's an injustice. It's ridiculous."
Hat Tip – [Deadspin]


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Eritrea new 10-nakfa note confirmed
Apr 06, 2014 10:00 AM Category: Africa
10 nakfa, 24.5.2012. Like BOE B3, but new date, new signature, new color scheme, and windowed security thread on back. Intro: 2014.
When other denominations underwent color changes, they continued the prefixes from the preceding issues. Curiously, this new note reverts back to prefix AA.
Courtesy of Hartmut Fraunhoffer (www.banknoten.de), Dennis Zammit and Alexander Petrov.