Happy Birthday, Tetrapod Zoology!

The best site on the net is celebrating its first birthday. Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology is one year old.

I can't say enough good things about TZ. The range of topics is amazingly broad, the writing is always brisk and accessible, and Darren's breadth and depth of knowledge--not to mention command of the literature--is just staggering. Whether it's eagles killing wolves, blind cave salamanders, the curiously interesting common gull, giant sauropods, Incan lap-rodents that were hitherto unknown to science, the preening habits of feathered dinosaurs, Darwin's beard, marine reptiles, English lizards, bats that eat birds, or essentially any other topic related to the evolution, ecology, behavior, discovery, naming, conservation, etc. of tetrapods, Darren is the go-to guy.

So why am I celebrating Darren's accomplishment--his ongoing gift, really, to all of us--with the lurid cover of a kid's paperback? It's because I picked up Time Machine 7: Ice Age Explorer when I was 12 years old, and I was transported. It's experiences like that that led me into science, zoology, and paleontology. Darren's writing makes me feel like I'm 12 again. He opens up the world--not just the world of the past, but the world all around--and in doing so invites us to go out and explore it. Since he fired up Tetrapod Zoology, I have taken more walks, climbed more hills, and generally kept a more alert eye and ear on the world around me. His blog is a genuine addition to life.

Thanks, Darren. You rock. Here's to many more years of TZ, to many more discoveries and rediscoveries, to your unending fascination with the world, and to your skill and generosity in sharing it with us.

Keep 'em coming.