Posted on 12/09/2005 11:59:17 AM PST by Red Badger
LUCKNOW: "Do you know that the evolution of mighty whales took place in India around 55 million years before present.
And, though the Ostrich is not found in India anymore, but according to scientists, the bird also evolved here about 12 million years before present.
Interestingly, these facts are part of a science curriculum in the West, but Indian students are largely unaware of the same.
This was revealed by Ashok Sahni, emeritus professor, Chandigarh University, in his lecture delivered at a seminar on "Northward Flight of India in the Mesozoic - Cenozoic: Consequences on Biotic Changes and Basin Evolution", at the Geology department of Lucknow University.
"The largest sea water mammal — the Whale — evolved to fill in the vacuum caused by the extinction of dinosaurs living in sea water," he said.
"The dinosaurs were dominant animals. They became extinct around 65 million years before present. Simultaneously, large sea reptiles also became extinct. It created a vacuum in the sea as well as on the land. Thus there was a need of large animals, both on land and water, who could feed on fauna and flora to maintain the equilibrium. Thus whales evolved to fill in the aquatic ecospace.
However, it took ten million years for whales to evolve," he said. Actually, he said, whales and hippopotamus are decedents of Artiodactyle, a mammal, living on the earth in the dinosaur age.
In fact, he said, extinction of dinosaurs provided an opportunity for mammals to grow. "We have fossil evidences that the ostrich also evolved in India, and from here, it reached other parts of the world," he said.
Similarly, elephants also evolved in India from its ancestor Tethyere, he said. Prof Sahni said India houses one of the richest biodiversity 'hot spots' in the world.
This is mainly because the Indian land mass once was a part of Gondwana land mass in southern hemisphere. The land mass broke and the Indian plate drifted towards the northern hemisphere. It collided with the Asian plate.
It took million of years to drift from south to north. Thus India has fauna and flora found in southern regions as well as in Asia, he said. Rhinoceros is an Asian animal, which came to India after collision. Similarly, some varieties of fish and rodents are also from Asia. Indian crocodiles resemble those found in Argentina and Madagascar.
Five years back, a variety of frog was discovered in Nasik, which are only found in Seychelles, he said. India is very important to understand animals and plants on global basis, he said and emphasised on the need of preserving this biodiversity.
Other prominent speakers on the second day were SK Biswas, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; Shiladri S Das, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkota; A Govindan, Asian Biostratigraphic Services, Chennai; Jyotsana Rai, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow; Prof SB Bhatia, Chandigarh; DS Bora, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun; Prof Jai Krishna, Benaras Hindu University; Prof K Matsumaru, Japan; Prof IB Singh, Lucknow University; Sunil Bajpai, IIT Roorkee; Amit K Ghosh, BSIP, Lucknow and Prabha Kalia, Delhi University.
Did an ostrich ever die and come back reincarnated as a whale?
What's interesting about this statement is that its author clearly doesn't understand natural selection--and his preferred language strongly smacks of intelligent design.
No, but one did come back as Helen Thomas..........
I think he's Hindu, not so Intelligent............
Shhhh...Nobody tell A.Pole or Willie Green!
Right--I didn't mean ID in the creationist sense. I meant that he speaks as if species evolve because the ecosystem needs them for something, which is all bass-ackwards. His language supposes that evolution is goal-directed, which is roughly synonymous with ID.
Nature abhors a vacuum. We're still waiting for Al Gore's head to be filled........
Another land animal that took to the sea for a while and evolved there was our simian ancestor.
It's the reason we walk upright. Check out your webbed fingers!
Simultaneously, large sea reptiles also became extinct. It created a vacuum in the sea as well as on the land. Thus there was a need of large animals, both on land and water, who could feed on fauna and flora to maintain the equilibrium.This sentence exhibits a very weak understanding of evolution. Here's a better way of describing what happened:
The exinction of sea dinosaurs and large sea reptiles created a vacuum in the sea as well as on land. Biological niches opened up for large animals, niches consisting of huge sources of unexploited fauna and flora. Whales evolved to fill some of those niches.
There is no "need" for anything in nature, and though equilibrium does occur, it is not "needed".
In had a girlfriend in HS that had webbed toes...........
Evolove?
Please, he's Pelosi's stage dummy....
Are there crocodiles in Argentina today, or are they speaking of fossil crocodiles found in the territory of modern-day Argentina?
Dan Aykroyd has webbed toes. He's a "Celebrity Mutant".
Torn between LOL and shuddering at that visual. :-)
A patent absurdity!
Since we have no facts with any certainty from 50 million years ago, nor any from 50 million into the future, anything that can be said, will be said!
As Mark Twain put it, "Such large returns of conjecture from such small investment in facts."
There probably are crocs in Argentina. Evita was certainly one.........
Or she's his.......
God did not create Man by 'Intelligent Design'. It was the other way around.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.