Posted on 12/12/2013 2:07:17 PM PST by Renfield
Air flows mostly in a one-way loop through the lungs of monitor lizards -- a breathing method shared by birds, alligators and presumably dinosaurs, according to a new University of Utah study.
The findings -- published online Dec. 11 in the journal Nature -- raise the possibility this breathing pattern originated 270 million years ago, about 20 million years earlier than previously believed and 100 million years before the first birds. Why remains a mystery.
"It appears to be much more common and ancient than anyone thought," says C.G. Farmer, the study's senior author and an associate professor of biology at the University of Utah. "It has been thought to be important for enabling birds to support strenuous activity, such as flight. We now know it's not unique to birds. It shows our previous notions about the function of these one-way patterns of airflow are inadequate. They are found in animals besides those with fast metabolisms."..
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Ping
Fish do one-way respiration, so it’s not surprising that reptiles do it too, being as close they are to fish evolutionary-wise, scales and all.
“Why remains a mystery.”
The answer is found in rocks from that long ago time - about ancient atmosphere. There was a global oxygen collapse.
It did not happen quickly but over time. The formation and breakup of Gondwanaland was central to this event.
The animals you’ve referred to all have the ability to store air in their bodies. Those reptiles that did not went extinct.
The best read on this event is: Out Of Thin Air, by Peter D. Ward.
And in other news we could be breathing air that’s millions of years old. >hak< >coff< >coff<
I always accused my wife of wearing an oxygen tank on her back that would automatically pump oxygen into her lungs so that she did not have to stop talking in order that she could breathe! ;-)
Now I know how she does it! ( It is lucky that she does not read FR! )
I assumed lizard breath came from improper oral hygiene.
Including air that dinosaurs once farted out.
But seriously, the atoms in our bodies are billions of years old. The simplest of which, hydrogen, could not be produced in stars and so predates them, going back to nearly the beginning of time.
Probably why they can’t use people to hold up cue cards for Dear Leader.
Don’t tell me I’m that old .....LOL
Think of the bright side, the atoms that make up your body will continue to exist billions of years into the future.
But who will know? *sob*
Sorta like a cosmic Timothy Tredwell.
Perhaps the universe will collapse in a “big crunch” in the far distant future and your atoms will reassemble.
Lol. Who would want to get that close to him anyway? They couldn’t pay me enough.
Morning “Lizard Breath” will soon show up in mouthwash commercials.
The stars will know. :)
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