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Posted on 08/13/2003 9:02:05 PM PDT by nwrep
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2 hours, 55 minutes ago
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By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writer
BOMBAY, India - U.S. and Indian scientists said Wednesday they have discovered a new carnivorous dinosaur species in India after finding bones in the western part of the country.
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The new dinosaur species was named Rajasaurus narmadensis, or "Regal reptile from the Narmada," after the Narmada River region where the bones were found.
The dinosaurs were between 25-30 feet long, had a horn above their skulls, were relatively heavy and walked on two legs, scientists said. They preyed on long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs on the Indian subcontinent during the Cretaceous Period at the end of the dinosaur age, 65 million years ago.
"It's fabulous to be able to see this dinosaur which lived as the age of dinosaurs came to a close," said Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago. "It was a significant predator that was related to species on continental Africa, Madagascar and South America."
Working with Indian scientists, Sereno and paleontologist Jeff Wilson of the University of Michigan reconstructed the dinosaur skull in a project funded partly by the National Geographic (news - web sites) Society.
A model of the assembled skull was presented Wednesday by the American scientists to their counterparts from Punjab University in northern India and the Geological Survey of India during a Bombay news conference.
Scientists said they hope the discovery will help explain the extinction of the dinosaurs and the shifting of the continents — how India separated from Africa, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica and collided with Asia.
The dinosaur bones were discovered during the past 18 years by Indian scientists Suresh Srivastava of the Geological Survey of India and Ashok Sahni, a paleontologist at Punjab University.
When the bones were examined, "we realized we had a partial skeleton of an undiscovered species," Sereno said.
The scientists said they believe the Rajasaurus roamed the Southern Hemisphere land masses of present-day Madagascar, Africa and South America.
"People don't realize dinosaurs are the only large-bodied animal that lived, evolved and died at a time when all continents were united," Sereno said.
The cause of the dinosaurs' extinction is still debated by scientists. The Rajasaurus discovery may provide crucial clues, Sereno said.
India has seen quite a few paleontological discoveries recently.
In 1997, villagers discovered about 300 fossilized dinosaur eggs in Pisdura, 440 miles northeast of Bombay, that Indian scientists said were laid by four-legged, long-necked vegetarian creatures.
Indian scientists said the dinosaur embryos in the eggs may have suffocated during volcanic eruptions.
I get the basic idea, thanks! My vector skills are pretty rudimentary. I think they're going to have to stay that way.
Like you. Don't ever post to me again. Ever. You're a liar and a thief, gall-bladder boy. And a poophead. And if you respond to me to answer these charges, you'll be banned for violating my request to not post to me. So there.
No, it isn't!!!
Eyes work pretty well, considering. The absolute worst part of the humany body is the support of our viscera, which appears to have been designed for walking on all fours.
Off hand, I would ditto general_re’s suggestion that you guys “take it outside” - perhaps the Phoebe thread? This thread has turned up some excellent analysis and research for all of us, there is widespread peaceful discourse and thus any food fight is a distraction.
But at this moment in time I have a special request to make of you, Ichneumon. Something is troubling AndrewC and has been for several days now. And whereas he is usually one of the finest and crispiest debaters in the Creation/Intelligent Design camp – at the moment, something else is on his mind.
It really doesn’t matter what that something else is – it could be the dog died, the wife is angry or a sense of indignation – but right now, IMHO, it is best to ignore AndrewC’s posts – no matter what he says - and let him deal with things in his own way.
I’m hoping that it will not be long before both of you will want to tackle one another on science issues in brisk debate. It is a delight to read both of your excellent posts!!!
He also made a calculation about the age of the earth based on heat flow and current temperatures, but radioactivity was unknown at the time. The extra heating due to the radioactive decay is why his age calculation was wrong.
I knew some geologists who were do do. :)
Sorry. Couldn't resist. ;)
Did man walk on all fours before the Fall? Else why is our gutbag hung from a suspension that only works correctly in a horizontal mode?
Did they specialize in coprolites?
Ah ha! If you rot-13 this post, it translates to "FBZR Nzryvpnaf unir ebgf bs areir, trarenel fcrnxvat!", which is CLEARLY an elliptical reference to me! Listen, poophead, leave me out of your posts. You're just asking for trouble, now...
Incredibly, you sometimes see Kelvin quote-mined with no mention of the source of his errors.
I'll concur. About a year ago, a certain poster posted an ugly column by Roger Ebert, which had been written (and posted) some months before. The interesting thing was that Roger Ebert himself had repudiated the column and apologized thoroughly shortly after publishing it. When I (politely) pointed this out on the thread, the poster went absolutely non-differentiable and--get this--forbade me to reply to any more of "his" threads. He then proceeded to berate me via Freepmail, and became further enraged when I (politely) responded. Next thing I know, I get a Freepmail from JimRob himself asking me not to contact the poster on the forum or via Freepmail.
It may not seem like justice, but actually I was touched by it. Jim knew the score, but he trusted me to swallow my aggravation to keep the peace, and not to bitch about a real unfairness. He physically does not have the time to adjudicate every petty squabble on the forum, and in that case he had an out: he knew that a single word to me would get the matter out of his hair. And it did. (The toughest part is that the poster in question posts so infrequently, I have to remind myself every couple of months what his screen name is. Once I very nearly posted a reply to him by mistake.)
What I'm saying is that the better man will suck it up for Jim's sake. And will everyone please stop pinging him?
Argument from results is not. Name one useful medical product that was invented as a result of assuming humans are not biological cousins of other animals. Name one medical laboritory that does not first test medicines and procedures on animals.
It is interesting that for decades, medical laboratories tested on rats and mice (because the research was useful), and just within the last month we find we are more closely related to rats than to cats and dogs.
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