Posted on 10/05/2015 2:36:03 PM PDT by Red Badger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world had been wrecked. An asteroid impact in Mexico compounded by colossal volcanism in India 66 million years ago had killed about three-quarters of Earth's species including the dinosaurs.
But relatively soon afterward, a plucky critter that looked like a beaver was thriving, exemplifying the resilience of the mammals that would arise from the margins of the animal kingdom to become Earth's dominant land creatures.
Scientists on Monday announced the discovery in northwestern New Mexico's badlands of the fossil remains of Kimbetopsalis simmonsae, a plant-eating, rodent-like mammal boasting buck-toothed incisors like a beaver that lived just a few hundred thousand years after the mass extinction, a blink of the eye in geological time.
Kimbetopsalis, estimated at 3 feet long (1 meter), would have been covered in fur and possessed large molar teeth with rows of cusps used to grind down plants.
Asked what someone's impression of Kimbetopsalis might be, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science curator of paleontology Thomas Williamson said, "They would probably think something like, 'Hey, look at that little beaver! Why doesn’t it have a flat tail?"
It lived in a lush area of forests, rivers, streams and lakes as Earth's ecosystems began to recover from the catastrophe that ended the Cretaceous Period and opened the Paleocene Epoch.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
Win.
Thank you for that.
I may have to take a half day!
That would be a Post Doctoral beaver..............
Thanks Red Badger.
..I knew this would be a good thread..
Unping to the comments?
You are right I am 73 and still have fond memories, prostate cancer sort of slowed me down lol.
I own a small lake and once had a beaver, it rebuilt the dam that had been improperly replaced after a road had been built along side the lake. Built it back to the level it should have had according to perimeter stakes. But spring rains scared the other owners and they had the state live trap it and move it elsewhere. Now the dam is washed away again and my lake is half gone. The beaver did not build a lodge along the bank or in the middle as I have seen in other illustrations. Instead it lived in a hole in a steep bank at the bottom of a big hill. Now with the water level down the hole is clearly visible. I WANT MY BEAVER BACK. I want my lake back.
I looked at the rest of the article and found this other interesting site which SC might want to post separately.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/mysterious-blazing-fast-ripples-racing-around-star-defy-173038145.html
It’s truly sad when you lose your beloved beaver..........................
I will show you how, if you’re interested......................
I’ve heard tell that in rural Canada, bridges are always built upstream of a beaver dam, because the beavers work 24-7 to maintain the water level, and also they pass down dams to offspring.
I’d like to know how.
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