Posted on 02/23/2005 11:38:15 PM PST by FairOpinion
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A new species of crocodile which lived 40 million years ago has been discovered in tropical Australia, filling a gap in the evolution of the prehistoric-looking crocodile, researchers said on Thursday.
Two nearly complete skulls and a lower jaw of a new species of crocodile that belonged to a group called Mekosuchinae were unearthed by miners in the northern state of Queensland, said Australia's Monash University researcher Lucas Buchanan.
"There is a big gap from about 30 to 60 million years ago of which we have no clue, except for these guys," Buchanan told Reuters on Thursday.
Buchanan said the new species of crocodile was living in the early Tertiary period, from 65 million years ago until five million years ago, during which time climate change possibly had a major impact on the evolution of the modern-day crocodile.
During the period, Australia and Antarctica broke apart and most of eastern Australia became warmer, leading to an increase in rainforests -- an ideal environment for crocodiles.
Buchanan said the new species of crocodile was very similar to the modern-day freshwater crocodile, suggesting the modern crocodile had changed little in millions of years of evolution.
"This croc would have looked much like a modern freshwater crocodile, which is the beautiful thing about crocodiles. They found something that works and stuck with it all through history," he said.
However, the ancient crocodile had sharper and laterally compressed teeth enabling it to sheer prey and an extra jaw muscle to give a stronger, more powerful bite.
Buchanan said researchers were examining more crocodile fossils and hoped to add to the crocodile evolution puzzle.
"It will also help us place this unique Australian group with the bigger picture of where they fit in with other lines of crocodiles," he said.
GGG PING
"There is a big gap from about 30 to 60 million years ago of which we have no clue, except for these guys," Buchanan told Reuters on Thursday.
Buchanan said the new species of crocodile was living in the early Tertiary period, from 65 million years ago until five million years ago, during which time climate change possibly had a major impact on the evolution of the modern-day crocodile.
During the period, Australia and Antarctica broke apart and most of eastern Australia became warmer, leading to an increase in rainforests -- an ideal environment for crocodiles. "
And they know all of this-how?
They don't-it is all speculation and conjecture.
Well, they ought to learn how to spell.
The word is "shear", to cut or slice, not "sheer", meaning steep or abrupt.
Homonymic misspellings are on the rise these days. It is a sign of declining educational standards.
Whoops! Meant to say "homophonic", not "homonymic".
Whoops! Meant to say "homophonic", not "homonymic".
Self-deception is a problem of pervasive importance in science. The most rigorous training in objective observation is often a feeble defense against the desire to obtain a particular result. Time and again, an experimenter's expectation of what he will see has shaped the data he recorded, to the detriment of the truth. This unconscious shaping of results can come about in numerous subtle ways. Nor is it a phenomenon that affects only individuals. Sometimes a whole community of researchers falls prey to a common delusion, as in the extraordinary case of the French physicists and N-rays, or -- some would add -- American psychologists and ape sign language.
Expectancy leads to self-deception and self-deception leads to the propensity to be deceived by others. The great scientific hoaxes, such as the Beringer case and the Piltdown man discussed in this chapter, demonstrate the extremes of gullibility to which some scientists may be led by their desire to believe. Indeed, professional magicians claim that scientists, because of their confidence in their own objectivity, are easier to deceive than other people. Betrayers of the Truth (1982) p.108 William Broad and Nicholas Wade
We'll have no Homophonia on this forum ;-)
Sounds like this guy is being pretty straightforward about the limits of what they know and what they don't know. Stop being such a victim. If you've got another explanation besides, "This is all made up" or "They don't know what they're talking about", share it.
<< We'll have no Homophonia on this forum ;-) >>
Don't be such a homosappy'n'!
<]:^)~<
They have no proof of any of this.
As for their 'gap' of 30-60 million years, they do not even have evidence of the 30-60 million years!
Evolution is one big myth, that keeps getting spread around like a fact.
Lets see in a year or so, how old those Croc's turn out to be.
For a good critque of evolution I suggest you read 'Darwin's Black Box'and how a scientist (not a creationist scientist), proved that it is impossible for the human eye to have evolved.
Ofcourse, science knows this, but has to keep the 'public'sold on evolution.
The alternative is too dreadful-God!
avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called (1Ti.6:20)
Ya mean it wasn't found in Africa? Who would believe.
Where is the science?
Crikey!
It is a historical piece . I agree it is not a scientific one but I just hope people focus on the issue at hand.
[Don't tell me you guys poison every historical piece with your YEC rubbish ? Does ever single science discussion have to be a creation/evolution debate with 5000 posts ?]
Well said.
Evolution is not history.
There is as much history in the piece as there is science!
Maybe you can show me the historical facts of the piece.
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