San Antonio College Library

Our fascination with birds of paradise has lasted 500 years. In this film, David Attenborough offers his own personal take on the mystery and discovery, obsession and scientific revelation surrounding these elusive birds. He himself has spent a lifetime filming their displays - many for the first time - and researching these birds both in their remote forest homes and in the museums and collections of Europe. He reveals the passion that birds of paradise...

When species exchange genes by interbreeding their morphological and genetic variation increases. Unusual or extreme variants are produced that could be the starting point of a new evolutionary trajectory leading to the formation of a new species. This program illustrates this with finches on Daphne. A hybrid male from the nearby island of Santa Cruz immigrated to Daphne. It was larger than the parental species, Medium Ground and Cactus Finches, it...

This program begins with spectacular scenery of the Galápagos islands, including a volcanic eruption. It introduces the idea of the archipelago being extremely dynamic geophysically and biologically, on both short and long time scales. It then illustrates the rich biodiversity of the archipelago with examples of plants, birds and insects from the small island of Daphne, and fish, sea-lions and sea birds in the marine environment nearby. The program...

This short program illustrates how investigators live on Daphne. It starts with their arrival at Daphne and shows the difficulties of transferring supplies from boat to land and up a cliff because the island that has no beaches. All supplies are quarantined before arrival. Living is in a tent and cooking is done in a small cave with a shade erected to extend protection from sun and rain. There is no fresh water on the island and it has to be brought...

Dinosaurs are so popular that we often neglect their flying relatives that are still among us. Birds, the true "living dinosaurs," deserve considerable respect as successful vertebrates that have evolved, adapted, and survived over a period of 225 million years. The Rise of Birds is the first detailed, illustrated, and comprehensive review of the fossil record of birds in a modern phylogenetic context. Distinguished paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee...

"Language, intelligence, long life span, long-term care of young by both parents... these are some of traits [sic] that we recognize as particularly human. But, as ornithologist Antone Martinho-Truswell points out, we see similar traits in many birds-- a group of animals only distantly related to us. How did we come to be so bird-like? Considering the answer to this question leads to an exploration of the animal world that highlights fundamental and...

"The last few years have witnessed an unparalleled rate of discoveries of early birds and their dinosaurian predecessors. Written by a recognised authority in the field, Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds provides a comprehensive summary of these discoveries and addresses the fascinating topic of how modern birds evolved from fearsome dinosaurs akin to the celebrated Velociraptor. The book focuses on an evolutionary approach...

The discovery of feathered dinosaur fossils coming out of China since 2006 suggests that these creatures were much more bird-like than paleontologists previously imagined. Further evidence -- bones, genetics, eggs, behavior, and more -- has shown a seamless transition from fleet-footed carnivores to the ancestors of modern birds. Mixing colorful portraits with news on the latest fossil findings and interviews with leading paleontologists in the United...