Science is all around you: San Pedrito
Submitted by Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz on
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Presented by:
Greetchen Díaz and José Almodóvar
Greetings! This and every month, we will introduce a special section on our blog called science is all around you. In this section we will share images where you can observe the presence of science in our environment. That's not all. Also you will learn interesting facts about the images and we will share links to external resources available to learn more.
So, share the images on the blog with your friends, at work, in the classroom or admire them simply because they are part of our lives and is the science that is all around you!
April:
Is Earth Day and today we present a colorful picture of a bird endemic to Puerto Rico: The San Pedrito.
Look at the beautiful colors of Todus mexicanus, a Puerto Rican bird. Photos by: José Almodóvar
José: "The San Pedrito is my favorite bird, is tiny but equipped with beautiful colors and a nice size. You can see another picture which shows his character, in my free online publication: Animals and Plants with Stories, written by me and Dr. José A. Mari Mutt, from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. "
Greetchen: "The scientific name of the San Pedrito is Todus mexicanus. Wait? Mexicanus?! I know, you're wondering why is that confusion ... I was confused too, so I searched the web and found that the Puerto Rico Ornithological Society (SOPI) published an excellent article which explains why the San Pedrito has that name and generated further discussion that is very interesting, so I recommend you to read it. Also, on their website you can hear the sound of San Pedrito! Another good resource is written in the Blog Caribbean Paleobiology entitled: The San Pedrito of Puerto Rico and why scientific names sometimes do not make sense. "
José: "Also in Animals and Plants with Stories, we have a section that explains the taxonomic concept known as priority principle and its relation to the controversial scientific name of this bird."
If you enjoyed this Blog post "like" it and tell us if you've had any experience with the San Pedrito and if you know something about this Puerto Rican bird.
Want to know more? Here we include other related resources:
If you have a striking image that shows the science all around, it might appear here! Contact: gdm610@cienciapr.org
