Fossils Bridge Gap in African Mammal Evolution

Reuters to My Yahoo! ^ | Wed Dec 3, 2003 | Patricia Reaney

[Pharmboy]

LONDON (Reuters) - Fossils discovered in Ethiopia's highlands are a missing piece in the puzzle of how African mammals evolved, a team of international scientists said on Wednesday.

Little is known about what happened to mammals between 24 million to 32 million years ago, when Africa and Arabia were still joined together in a single continent.

But the remains of ancestors of modern-day elephants and other animals, unearthed by the team of U.S. and Ethiopian scientists 27 million years on, provide some answers.

"We show that some of these very primitive forms continue to live through the missing years, and then during that period as well, some new forms evolved -- these would be the ancestors of modern elephants," said Dr John Kappelman, who headed the team.

The find included several types of proboscideans, distant relatives of elephants, and fossils from the arsinoithere, a rhinoceros-like creature that had two huge bony horns on its snout and was about 7 feet high at the shoulder.

"It continues to amaze me that we don't have more from this interval of time. We are talking about an enormous continent," said Kappelman, who is based at the University of Texas at Austin.

Scientists had thought arsinoithere had disappeared much earlier but the discovery showed it managed to survive through the missing years. The fossils from the new species found in Ethiopia are the largest, and at 27 million years old, the youngest discovered so far.

"If this animal was still alive today it would be the central attraction at the zoo," Tab Rasmussen, a paleontologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri who worked on the project, said in a statement.

Many of the major fossil finds in Ethiopia are from the Rift Valley. But Kappelman and colleagues in the United States and at Ethiopia's National Science Foundation (news - web sites) and Addis Ababa University concentrated on a different area in the northwestern part of the country.

Using high-resolution satellite images to scour a remote area where others had not looked before, his team found the remains in sedimentary rocks about 6,600 feet above sea level.

[Modernman]

As long as I'm not related to Bubbles the Chimp.

Isn't this a common Creationist mistake? Evolution doesn't say we came from monkeys- it just says we share a common ancestor with them.

[Just mythoughts]

Oh please, I have not changed the subject once, all I require is the "skeletal remains" and all I get are pious "evolving" answers, insults, and sent to some artist's rendition of maybes and probabilities. Followed by the last phase of evolution "mind reading".

The "E's" cannot stay on subject, WHERE ARE THE BONES, give me the "BONES" and then you have credibility.

[Shryke]

May I ask a question? What would, in your opinion, truly define a "transitional" fossil? I assume you have a defined set of characteristics and atrributes, as you have disqualified any fossil found to date.

[general_re]

Was I talking about you? Did I post to you, quote you, or mention your name?

I guess it's true - throw a stone into a pack of dogs, and the one that yelps is the one that got hit....

[Just mythoughts]

Junior is obviously junior. Seeing a picture of a "SKULL" does not make a "LINK" appear.

Now you be real careful out there, keep a sharp eye out for that "big black HOLE".

[William Terrell]

Well, you got me. I used the wrong word. Ok, terms aside, how many transitional forms must there be between, say, a rat and a bat? Let's not misunderstand again. To go from a one celled animal to the diversity of creatures we have now, how many transitional forms must there have been?

[PatrickHenry]

Craterism is a bigger hoax than evolution. Everyone already knows that evolution is the devil's work. But the myth of craterism still lingers, to poison the minds of our children and to destroy their faith in a benevolent God.

Craterite lies must be purged from school books!! NOW!!!!

[Just mythoughts]

Well gee, general as a stone thrower, seems that you have outed yourself as to WHOM you were speaking about.

[null and void]

Ooooooookay...there was the Piltdown Hoax, and then there was...your turn! Name another...

Ping.

[general_re]

Actually, I was talking about an argument that pops up from time to time around here. Seems to have struck a nerve, tho...

[Hunble]

I have no idea how many transitional species are between a Rat and a Bat, but it would not take many. They are both rodents and very closely related.

I must admit that I have not studied the genealogy of the bat.

However, the Trilobites are a most interesting subset of animals and have a long and well documented history. I learned many things by studying the historical record of the Trilobites.

If you want to see thousands of transition species, study the history of the Trilobites.

[Modernman]

You E creatures just can't help being so nice, so I do understand how that it is beyond your ability to think anyone would create you

Belief is one thing, but nobody can prove that we were created. Can you? Evolution doesn't try to prove or disprove the existence of the supernatural- that's an area best left to theologians.

[js1138]

Scientists are abandoning craterism because they know it is not supported by evidence.

[Modernman]

I look at what is evident, what the Bible does in "FACT" say and the evidence does not dispute what is Written, in fact the evidence proves what is WRITTEN

Please provide some examples that are verified by independent sources. For example, can you show evidence that there are humans who lived for hundreds of years?

Your evidence has to meet the same standards (peer review, etc.) that is required by scientists when dealing with evolution.

[Modernman]

No "heaps" of "SKULLS" or "skeletal remains" just artwork and words, quite a fairy tale you got going there.

If you're ever in DC, remind me to arrange a backstage tour of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum so you can see the hundreds of fossils they have in storage and hear about the thousands they keep in a warehouse off-premises.

Now, there are dozens of museums around the world with similarly extensive collections of "skulls" and "skeletal remains."

[null and void]

Do arsinotheres horns have the same medicinal value as rhinoceros horns?

Precisely why they are extinct...

;^)

[Junior]

There are none so blind as those who will not see. Some folks could actually handle the skeletal remains of a hominid and five minutes later deny those remains existed. He asked for bones; we provided him with pictures of bones. The lurkers saw the same pictures. That he denies their existence reflects only upon himself, not the evidence and everyone knows this.

Oddly enough, his rantings about "pictures" sort of remind me of LBB, except this fellow isn't nearly as colorful.

[DeepDish]

Wow, whether or not that hole in the ground in your picture was caused by an alleged meteor or some other phenomena, the county road commission dodged a major bullet. Did you notice how close it came to the highway.

[Hunble]

To me, God is Life and Life is God.

To study how Life evolved, is a study of God.

I still do not understand why this is even a subject of debate.

[Tares]

Your evidence has to meet the same standards (peer review, etc.) that is required by scientists when dealing with evolution.

This assumes that the standard you require is somehow of a higher level than faith in scripture. What empirical proof can you provide that empirical proof is the only acceptable standard for testing the validity of various postulated facts? Without some empirical evidence that empirical evidence is the best standard for judging facts, the scientific standard rests on belief and nothing more. At least belief in scripture is internally self consistent. You can't even claim that much for stand alone science if you can't provide empirical proof that empirical proof is valid.