Posted on 03/09/2006 2:46:21 PM PST by new yorker 77
It has the face of a rat and the tail of a skinny squirrel — and scientists say this creature discovered living in central Laos is pretty special: It's a species believed to have been extinct for 11 million years.
The long-whiskered rodent made international headlines last spring when biologists declared they'd discovered a brand new species, nicknamed the Laotian rock rat.
It turns out the little guy isn't new after all, but a rare kind of survivor: a member of a family until now known only from fossils.
Nor is it a rat. This species, called Diatomyidae, looks more like small squirrels or tree shrews, said paleontologist Mary Dawson of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Dawson, with colleagues in France and China, report the creature's new identity in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
The resemblance is "absolutely striking," Dawson said. As soon as her team spotted reports about the rodent's discovery, "we thought, 'My goodness, this is not a new family. We've known it from the fossil record.'"
They set out to prove that through meticulous comparisons between the bones of today's specimens and fossils found in China and elsewhere in Asia.
To reappear after 11 million years is more exciting than if the rodent really had been a new species, said George Schaller, a naturalist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, which unveiled the creature's existence last year. Indeed, such reappearances are so rare that paleontologists dub them "the Lazarus effect."
"It shows you it's well worth looking around in this world, still, to see what's out there," Schaller said.
The nocturnal rodent lives in Laotian forests largely unexplored by outsiders, because of the geographic remoteness and history of political turmoil.
Schaller calls the area "an absolute wonderland," because biologists who have ventured in have found unique animals, like a type of wild ox called the saola, barking deer, and never-before-seen bats. Dawson describes it as a prehistoric zoo, teeming with information about past and present biodiversity.
All the attention to the ancient rodent will be "wonderful for conservation," Schaller said. "This way, Laos will be proud of that region for all these new animals, which will help conservation in that some of the forests, I hope, will be preserved."
Locals call the rodent kha-nyou. Scientists haven't yet a bagged a breathing one, only the bodies of those recently caught by hunters or for sale at meat markets, where researchers with the New York-based conservation society first spotted the creature.
Now the challenge is to trap some live ones, and calculate how many still exist to tell whether the species is endangered, Dawson said.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Really now for a "so called" Right "Wing Nut" Professor
is that the best you can come up with?
Calling names and accusing me of being an acid head.
My My that's as weak as the ToE.<<
Be nice to the Perfessor, he thinks he has a rapier wit. That in itself explains a few other delusional areas.
DK
Darn, and I was hoping for another song. Purple Haze, maybe?
cool cat...
FYI, DId you know that when a fossil is found in a stratum to which it "theoretically" does not belong, evolutionists use several means of explaining this discrepancy. For example, if it is supposed to be older than the containing bed, it can be said to have been redeposited from an earlier eroded deposit or to indicate the survival of its particular species longer than had been previously believed.LOL! You point out that if a fossil is found in younger strata than it's ever been found before, then either the strata has been mis-dated or the fossil species has lived longer than previously thought. And if the fossil is found in older strata than it's ever been found in before, then either the strata has been mis-dated or the fossil species has existed since earlier times than had previously been thought.If it is supposed to be younger than its stratum, it can be explained as due to the reworking and mixing of 2 originally distinct deposits or else as showing that the animal dates from earlier antiquity than previously thought. OFTEN, discovery of such an anomalous fossil has been deemed sufficient justification for redating the entire formation to conform to the SUPPOSED age of the particular fossil.
And to you, this act of changing our understanding of what happened when new, surprising data comes to light - is a BAD thing.
Oooookaaaaaayyyyyy...
"Darn, and I was hoping for another song. Purple Haze, maybe?"
It took you half an hour to come up with that?
Pitiful...
"You evos are the ones who are ALWAYS having
to defend one thing after another.
and when you are defenseless you call names
Rather childish don't you think."
Apparently, you are right, WKB.
It took you half an hour to come up with that?
Pitiful... <<
It's that rapier wit showing up, combined with delusions of adequacy. Once an unloved nerd, always an unloved and hostile nerd.
It's sad, and you are right, he is to pitied and not to be mocked.
But then again, putting a kick me sign on the perfessor is too much fun, talk me out of it...dixiechick2000
By the way, this will keep him awake for hours. He is that pompous.
Eh Perfessor?
DK
Thank you, DK.
But, you need to abide by the rules of the forum.
You should ping those whom you are addressing.
You've been here longer than I have.
You should know that.
That's the Deep South in me coming out.
We are ALL about manners. ;o)
That being said, I see you are living in the NW.
So am I.
Is it snowing in your neck of the woods?
Now...I'm off for the night.
It has been very nice meeting you. ;o)
Never learned the multiple ping thing, please enlighten me or show me the direction. I like learning things that are useful, and I am sure the Perfessor knows I would be happy to say any of the things I related to you, directly to him. I have.
I was driving earlier and it was snowing enough to slow traffic because of the visibility. It was beautiful. We will have a world of white cold wet stuff tomorrow, and I look forward to the pictures I may have the opportunity to take.
Night.
DK
I just looked at it and it is really easy. Sorry.
How embarassing.
DK
Hey, I'm the guy people throw their digital watches at in a time change.
I have to have those feelings. Deserved or not.
But I hope to continue to grow. Even though pain may accompany growth.
Embarassment is just a part of that pain.
Thanks for the help.
DK
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