@robknell
Evolutionary ecologist working on, amongst other things, mating systems and adaptation. Knows enough stats to be dangerous and inflicts R on the innocent. Takes photos of animals. Also running/triathlon/technical diving.
Hey @britishecologicalsociety.org you're listed as still posting on the twitter. Every post you make, every click, you're supporting Elon musk, a man who makes nazi salutes in public. As a member I think you should stop now.
A photo of an old piece of paper dated May 28 1978. It has my name and the text "Dinosaurs are alive and well and living in nests" in childish handwriting
Evidence that I was down with modern thinking even as a nine year old #dinosaurs #birds 🧪
Friend of mine published some stuff on forced copulation (in dungflies) which caught the eye of some really scary and unpleasant people. Fortunately this was before social media so they just sent him disturbing emails.
Like this but a bit bigger with some horns. Box stats the same.
Well Dave you are apparently terrible at palaeontology because you don’t know enough physics. Just remember that, more physics please. We want to know what dark energy tells us about Spinosaurs.
Yeah. Obviously has all the red flags for a crank but I didn't know about the past history and was wondering if he might have something interesting to say. I should know better because they never do. Blocked him now.
Your Pop's caught you smokin', man, he says, "No way!"
That hypocrite smokes two packs a day
Man, livin' at home is such a drag
Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (Busted)
I always thought Mary's dress sways, rather than waves.
Saddened but not surprised to hear this. Yuck.
Yeah. WTF is up with these guys? Trivers made some really fundamental and important contributions back in the day, now he's forever going to be remembered as a virulently transphobic, sexist, supporter of a paedophile. Stupid.
Job reminder: lectureship in Marine Conservation available at Hull. Deadline is the 19th. We're friendly and you can still buy a house on an academic salary here. 🧪 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQF022/l...
I’ll look forward to being educated on the errors of my ways :-)
Knapp, A., et al. (2018). Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society, 285(1875), 20180312.
Knapp, A., (2021). Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society, 288(1944), 20202938.
Knell, R. J., (2013). Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 28, 38–47.
I'm not sure how any of those are relevant to palaeontology: would you sneer at a physicist because they don't know Eryops from Tiktaalik? Anyway, here are some references, you can let me know how much of a loser I am as well.
Let's just say I was an author on a lot of the papers on sexual selection in fossil animals with Darren N and Dave H.
Fascinating, do I also fit into that category, given www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... and zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... and quite a few more?
That sexual selection is one of the primary drivers in evolution is well established. Studies of Mesozoic #dinosaurs and #pterosaurs, however, have been dominated by the view that the variation, extravagance and diversity seen in these animals is not due to the pressures of sexual selection, but...
A gannet diving across the frame upper right to lower left. The sea behind is blue-green. The bird has not yet completely folded its wings.
Two gannet diving upper left to lower right into a grey sea. The lower bird is mostly in the water, the upper bird is about to enter the water. The upper bird has a fishhook embedded in its wing and fishing line trailing from it.
A gannet diving across the frame upper right to lower left. The sea behind is blue-green. The very tip of the bird's beak has just entered the water.
A head-on picture of a plunge diving gannet at the moment the tip of its beak touches the water.
Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #DivingForFood so here are some plunge diving gannets from the North Sea in 2025. Note the upper bird in image 2 has a fishhook embedded in its wing and is trailing fishing line #birds #ukbirds #seabirds
Well, you might think that...
Very briefly, Horner and Kevin Padian claimed that exaggerated traits in dinosaurs (lambeosaur crests, ceratopsian frills and horns etc.) most likely evolved for species recognition. We disagreed and made the case for them being socio-sexual signal traits.
Speaking as someone who was involved in the sexual selection argument referred to here, along with @tetzoo.bsky.social and @davehone.bsky.social, I reckon Horner got thoroughly and convincingly panned. One of my main takeaways was how little actual biology some of these senior palaeo guys know... 🧪
I've always thought Padian deserves a bit of respect for that, he knew he was going into the lions den and turned up, represented and took a beating with reasonable grace. Also he's not married a 19 year old aged 60 or visited Epstein post-conviction.
"Pummeling"? Someone has a very selective memory indeed, and I don't think it's me.
Why this new 'spiny dragon' dinosaur found in China is such a huge deal ... a new article at Discover Wildlife www.discoverwildlife.com/dinosaurs/ha... #dinosaurs
A cliff with many black guillemots lined up on the ledges
A gannet sitting on rocks with the sea behind.
Last week the cliffs were empty. Now the gannets and guillemots are back at @rspb.bsky.social Bempton Cliffs. I declare ornithological spring to have started. #birds #ukbirds #ukwildlife #seabirds
Used to cycle up there regularly. Recommend the treacle tart from the National Trust cafe at the top.
Heard lots of good things about Endurance Artist, looking forward to hearing your verdict.
I saw them several times back in the day…
A cup of splosh ana greasy dog
I’m ’appy when I’m riding me ‘og!