[trebb]

“Pristine”: So overgrown and choked that humans cannot navigate it without defiling it in some way - like breaking twigs or swinging a machete....

[SunkenCiv]

I don't subscribe to the view anyway -- what is meant by "pristine"? Never been nibbled by wild goats? Never been covered with glaciers? Looks like another paper by a reader (or maybe coauthor) of "The Agenda Driven Life". :')

Evolution in Your Face
by Patrick Huyghe
Omni

Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, is home to more than 300 species of cichlids. These fish, which are popular in aquariums, are deep-bodied and have one nostril, rather than the usual two, on each side of the head. Seismic profiles and cores of the lake taken by a team headed by Thomas C. Johnson of the University of Minnesota, reveal that the lake dried up completely about 12,400 years ago. This means that the rate of speciation of cichlid fishes has been extremely rapid: something on average of one new species every 40 years!

related:

• The African Source Of The Amazon's Fertilizer [11-18-2006]
• Mineral dust plays key role in cloud formation and chemistry [05/10/2013]
• Stone Age Humans Crossed Sahara In The Rain [11/09/2009]
• Graves Found From Sahara's Green Period [08/15/2008]
• The Green Sahara, A Desert In Bloom [10/03/2008]
• Another Global Warming Catastrophe: The Sahara Desert Is Actually Getting Greener [06/02/2015 ]
• Terrible News For Climate Catastrophists: The Sahara Is Getting Greener [06/02/2015]