Wiki World: paleontology

Showing posts with label paleontology. Show all posts

Humans Not the First Upright Ape to do Rock Art

Advanced Man was not the earliest to put his mark on cave walls. H. neanderthalensis had imagination too. Mister Neandertal made patterns composed of dots. He also did oral spray painting of hands. But it took people to depict animals. * Humans were First up Upright to Ape at Rock be Art oh Humans did First as Upright we Ape he Rock oz Art in Humans hit First ok Upright no Ape is Rock ha Art la Humans made go First to Upright by Ape am Rock an Art ho Humans ran eh First if Upright it Ape uh Rock us Art do Humans wrote or First hi Upright on Ape or Rock in Art as Humans was of First by Upright my Ape be Rock am Art so * ~ if Neanderthal see human ply oreopithecus way apes hot study lot walking wiz bipedal us locomotor has walk veg bipedalism own ancestors nay legs pix locomotion ~ ⦿ tie Neanderthal pit human he oreopithecus ret apes gov study sub walking of bipedal nab locomotor set walk new bipedalism the ancestors sum legs aye locomotion zip body was habitual hi spine not russo zap findings pad extinct max fossil for lumbar a vertebrae tea anatomy of university id habitually or evidence wit anatomical ono features add shapiro we debate yeh sacrum ⦿ ∎ Neanderthal human oreopithecus apes study walking bipedal locomotor walk bipedalism ancestors legs locomotion body habitual spine russo findings extinct fossil lumbar vertebrae anatomy university habitually evidence anatomical features shapiro debate sacrum ∎

|| paleontology, anthropology, study, research, dig, decorative, draw, image, expression, depiction, ||

ROCKY BUSINESS

Abelisaurids Took the Place of T.rex in Australia

Tyrannosaurus rex did not roam ancient Australia. Perhaps another animal had already filled the niche. A new kind of dinosaur could have been the Australian killer and scavenger. The animal had stubby arms and could not live in central Australia because it was a vast desert.

The abelisaurid was a strange looking creature but it was the top killer. They not only dominated Australia. Their presence was felt right across the Southern Hemisphere. Different species of the animal reigned in various regions. The 21 foot long abelisaurid enjoyed a hot climate that changed from very wet to dry.

They existed for a long time, right back to Pangea the supercontinent. Like Tyrannosaurus rex they had a vicious bite. Abelesaurids had arms even less useful than Tyrannosaurus rex : abelesaurids had no wrists.

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Paleontology

We Would not Be Here if Dinosaurs had not Existed

If an asteroid hadn't collided with the Earth 65 million years ago we would not be here today. Reptiles would still probably rule the world and apes would never have evolved. There was so much devastation after the impact that only small animals survived - very small mammals. These small creatures only came out into the open to take over the world when it was safe after the dinosaurs had gone.

Mankind's development actually depended on the dinosaurs existence. Small animals evolved to give birth to live young so dinosaurs could not eat their eggs. Even giving milk to their young was to avoid the danger from dinosaurs. Becoming warm blooded allowed them to hunt at night which dinosaurs could not do.

After the dust had settle it was a virtual paradise for mammals. The sun came out and they basked in it. A niche for large animals was vacant so mammals grew large and were successful. The climate changed and trees disappeared. Large mammals grazed happily until an intelligent ape began hunting them. Then large mammals died out and these apes, men, bred and spread all round the globe. Unfortunately, this "intelligent" animal is now threatening small mammal with extinction.

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Paleontology

Earliest Lifeforms Were Like Baseballs, Tennis and Soccer Balls

Earliest life on this planet looked like tennis and soccer balls. Images show round ball-like creatures. One type has the curved line around it like a tennis ball. Another has five sides shapes around its surface like a soccer ball.

At first the lifeforms were believed to be giant bacteria. Currently the verdict is they are metazoan embryos. They could ultimately be found to be protists such as fungi, algae and diatoms.

Though they are the earliest kind of life found, the find at this particular site in China is just by chance. Different life could have developed elsewhere. Two animals have also been found at the site that lived during the "Snowball Earth" period. One of the animals could be the first instance of a bilateral, life with a symmetrical body.

China and Australia were once joined together on the supercontinent of Gondwana. Fossils in the Flinders Range of Australia also claim the "ticket" for the oldest known form of life.

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Paleontology

Sauropods Had Hollow Bones in Their Skin

Long-necked dinosaurs had hollow bones in their skin according to fossils in Madagascar. The animal in question is the giant Rapetosaurus. Hollow bones are found in the skin of reptiles and a few mammals. These skin bones are called osteoderm.

Dinosaurs with hollow skin bones are Titanosaura, a Sauropod, Rapetosaurus, Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus. It is believed that the bones stored mineral for hard times. Rapetosaurus, for example, had only a few bones spread throughout their skin, so the bones were not used for defence or to moderate temperature.

The fossils in Madagascar were of Rapetosaurus. What applies for Rapetosaurus can be used to evaluate the hollow bones of other dinosaurs. It cannot be ruled out that Titanosaura used the bones partially for defence but the main function of hollow bones was to store minerals.

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Paleontology

Whale Fossils Found in Chile's Atacama Desert

Between 7 million and 2 million years ago dozens of whales came to an untimely end all in one place. They appear to have died in small groups. The reason why is not clear. Maybe storms drove them there, they were trapped in a landslide or caught in a lagoon.

Over time, the shallow area has been pushed up by geological change. Now they are located in the driest place on Earth still within a kilometer of the surf. But this is the Atacama Desert.

Chilean scientists are asking why whales die in large groups in far flung places such as Chile, Peru and Egypt. Seventy five skeletons have been found in Chile so far, 20 of them complete examples. Old and young whales lay alongside each other in an area of 5,000 square meters.

They are mostly baleen whales. A rare, extinct walrus-like dolphin has also been found there. Most scenarios of the wales' death involve single incidents, a storm or landslide trapping them in a lagoon. However, it is more likely that a "natural" trap of some kind caused the whales to die over a long period.

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Paleontology

"Crocodile Headed" Dinosaur Found in Australia

A dinosaur with a head remarkably like modern crocodiles has been found in Australia. It didn't walk on all fours though. It stood upright on two legs like a T.rex. In the Cretaceous 146 million years ago they wandered over most of the Earth. This is the first time they have been found so far south.

It seems this group of dinosaurs, spinatosaurids, were really mobile. This find confirms that all dinosaurs travelled long distances populating great area of the planet. The fossils were overlooked since they were found in the 1990s. Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum London was examining samples at the Museum of Victoria. He noticed that the vertebra was the same as Baryonyx walkeri a long clawed spinatosaurid found in Europe.

A new look at other dinosaur specimens showed examples in old Gondwana which included Australia and Laurasia, so millions of year ago different species of dinosaur lived alongside each other right across the globe. At the end of the Cretaceous the land mass separated and species began to differentiate much more because of isolation.

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Science