Straddling the border between East and West, Azerbaijan contains geographical features of both, resulting in a remarkable range of landscapes, habitats, and climate zones. There are high mountains, extensive coastline and lowlands, reed-fringed lakes, wetlands and rivers
A trek up to Mount Everest might not be the most obvious birding destination, but as Matt Eade discovered it can deliver a breath-taking combination of stunning scenery and exciting montane species.
Dinosaur fossils have always amazed with their horns and spikes, enchanting us with elongated necks and foot-long teeth. But less attention has been paid to the dinosaur derriere – for reasons of taste, maybe, but also because it’s difficult to find a well-preserved bottom in the fossil record of our Mesozoic friends.
But a chance encounter at a German museum has helped us understand the story behind one dinosaur’s behind, revealing that the creature’s back opening might have been “flashed” for communicative purposes – much like baboons use their bottoms for communication today.
The dinosaur rear is different than the mammalian one we’re familiar with. Where mammals evolved separate openings for reproduction and the expulsion of faeces, dinosaurs and their relatives possess one single rear orifice called the “cloaca”. This all-purpose opening was used for defecation, urination, mating, and the laying of eggs.