 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · | ||
Posted on 06/13/2008 7:36:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A dinosaur bone discovered in Australia has defied prevailing wisdom about how the world's continents separated from a super-continent millions of years ago, a new study said.
The 19-centimetre bone was found in southeastern Australia but it comes from a very close cousin to Megaraptor, a flesh-ripping monster that lorded over swathes of South American some 90 million years ago.
The extraordinary similarity between the two giant theropods adds weight to a dissident view about the break-up of a super-continent, known as Gondwana, that formed the continents of the southern hemisphere, the authors said on Tuesday.
Gondwana broke up during the Cretaceous period to form South America, Africa, Antarctica and Australia. The standard theory is that the first continents to go were South America and Africa, which pulled away from Gondwana around 120 million years ago.
Australia remained attached to Antarctica before the two entities drifted apart around 80 million years ago, according to this theory. Australia began an insular existence that incubated flora and fauna which remain unique to this day.
The forearm bone, found near Cape Otway in the state of Victoria, is the first link ever found between a non-flying theropod -- or two-footed dinosaur -- in Australia and another component of Gondwana.
The investigators, led by Nathan Smith of the University of Chicago, say the two dinosaurs are so similar the two land masses of South America and Australia could not have been separated for so many millions of years beforehand.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...
|
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · | ||
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Eye-yeeeeeeeeeeee!
The Dinosaur Song
~Heywood Banks
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic,
Don’t ya know it’s funny how the time goes by
Seems like only yesterday we slithered out of the sea
And now we got to wear a suit and tie
For fifty-seven million years the dinosaurs ruled the land
But now they’re dead and that’s just fine you will conclude —
Now I’m not saying they weren’t real nice,
Once you finally broke the ice,
But some of them were really rude!
Oh, way out in Montana, although not very recently
Where the Stegosaurus grew and grew
Everyone knew he had hips like a bird and bony plates along his back
But he never would admit it was true
Out of his tail grew great big spikes and if you mentioned it he would likely
Whip that tail at you angrily
‘Cause even though his brain was actually only the size of a walnut
He was just as proud as you and me
Tyrannosaurus Rex had a head four feet long
And it made it tough to buy a toupee
His teeth were seven inches long,
And he had little teeny arms
And it made it hard to brush every day
Triassic period Jurassic period Cretaceous comma
Hey there Mama, where did all the dinosaurs go?
Some say a meteor hit the Earth and killed them all for what it’s worth
But then again we don’t really know
I can now explain at last, it wasn’t ice or greenhouse gas
That stopped their little hearts from a-tickin’
A caveman who had happened by
Discovered when they were deep-fried
Dinosaurs tasted just like chicken!
once upon a time, when the earth was smaller, not tilted, one landmass almost totally covered by swamp and warm, shallow sea, the critters had relatives all over...
that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
:’)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.