New Dinosaur Species Found in India

AP ^ | August 13, 2003 | RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM

[nwrep]

New Dinosaur Species Found in India

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.

[VadeRetro]

As an aside, I have spoken to f.Christian via telephone in the past, and I can assure you that he is indeed real and does live in Hawaii.

How does he pronounce the hyphens?

[RightWingNilla]

I think English is not f.Christian's first language (I believe he is a Russian immigrant). His posts really aren't that hard to understand. He has a pretty good sense of humor too.

[LeeMcCoy]

Well, we agree except for the troll provision, because I see it being used as an incitement, much like being called a lawyer.

Troll calling makes me uncomfortable, but it is a part of the agreement.

[LeeMcCoy]

Our conversations have been quite normal, just common colloquial English.

[LeeMcCoy]

Out for the afternoon.

[Alamo-Girl]

I keep hoping that someone from the Evolution camp will bring issues of non-compliance from their own side.

I've tried to do this on the Creation/Intelligent Design side --- much to the chagrin of those who share my views.

Truly, it creates ill will when those of one side (whether signed-on or not) are only pointing to non-compliance by the other side and not to non-compliance on their own side.

The objective after all is to make and keep the peace - not to find fault.

[Aric2000]

Thank you, for some reason that word always throws me.

And I was a spelling bee champion too, who'd a thunk it? LOL

[StolarStorm]

"There is another side to the coin - it could be said of ALL of us that we have "issues" or don't have real lives simply because we are addicted to a message board."

lol! very true. I'm really just amused more than anything about the space alien comment, partially because he hit upon something involving my previous career. I'd dare say he would have a lot more issues after seeing some interesting tapes from a Space Shuttle downlink (the ones that don't make TV.)

[VadeRetro]

Our conversations have been quite normal, just common colloquial English.

Consider yourself outed, Effdot!

[AndrewC]

John Woodmorappe: Does He Exist? (No.)

If he does not exist, someone is making a living off of the name.

Amazon.com

[BMCDA]

Jan Peczkis placemarker

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank y'all for your replies! I'm not suggesting withholding any material information. I merely hope that all parties make an effort to "put themselves in the other guy's shoes." IMHO, that will help all of us to raise the level of mutual respect.

[Aric2000]

OK, enough of the FC thing.

He's a little over the top sometimes, but it just wouldn't be a proper thread without his comments.

FC is kind of like a piece of the furniture around here, something that is confortable because you know it's there, but if it were missing, we'd all realize that we'd been robbed.

So, let's let it be now and move back onto the subject at hand.

[VadeRetro]

I was away for a few hours, so my post about JediGirl was done before I realized that I was over 50 posts behind in my reading.

You're excused.

Poophead!

[Aric2000]

I was only making an observation, not accusing you of anything, although it probably sounded like it.

I apologize if it came out that way, I did NOT mean for it to.

I will refrain from making observations and a posters name in the same post, because it did sound accusatory, and I apologize.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I-was-offline-for-the-weekend-and-have-a-lot-to-catch-up-on placemarker.

[DittoJed2]

These "observable results" make many invalid assumptions. One of them being uniformity.

I've long tried to figure out why creationists keep accusing scientists of "uniformity". Science does *not* presume "uniformity" in the way that creationists mean it, and haven't for well over 100 years. Geologists, for example, are well aware of such non-uniform occurrences as floods, earthquakes, meteor strikes, volcanic eruptions, and so on. True "uniformitarians" haven't existed for ages.
Science assumes that the basic conditions found on earth have always been the same. That is what I am referring to. These conditions affect the decay rate of C14, the age of species, all sorts of things.

Another biggy is that the geological column is correct.

Are you somehow asserting that it's *not* "correct"? That the geologic column doesn't actually exist or something? Or that it's somehow a fake? If so, who piled up all those rock layers to fool us?
Oh no. I agree there are millions of dead things piled up in rock layers. However, where the column is incorrect is in the ages that it assigns to the forming of these strata. It assumes millions of years between layers. This is where it is incorrect, as well as in missing layers where there shouldn't be, objects from one age found in another, etc.,

These "branches of knowledge" invalidate themselves in many cases
Examples, please.
Punctuate equillibrium, Catastrophism, and evolution over millions and billions of years via natural selection. Scientists observe features that one or the other of the evolutionary theories does not explain, so they come up with something like Panspermia or the like to explain what evolution can't explain.

and "scientists" go back to the drawing board to try to come up with a better theory that will explain the impossible.

Which "impossible" things do you think scientists are trying to explain? I know a few who are trying to explain impossible things like vapor canopies and global floods, but they're hardly representative...
How something can come out of nothing. How impersonal matter can form personal beings. How one kind of life can become something completely different. How irreducably complex life can spring forth from cooling magma. How that "missing link" that everyone keeps looking for found a wife to mate with (some partial ape had to mate with a human at some point in time according to evolution, unless everyone just "Evolved" at once).

Evolution says in the beginning nothing exploded.
Um, no, it doesn't. Would you kindly tell us where you "learned" this?
From the big bang theory. It is usually put forth in two forms, either there was NOTHING, or there was matter which they "scientifically" proclaim always existed. I could go on an endless string of "where did that come from" with any evolutionist and eventually we are going to get to a theory where the evolutionist is accepting by faith that something came from nothing.

You sort of left out a few steps...
Consider it the Reader's Digest condensed version of the big bang.

( a figure that crawfishes all the time),

"All the time", eh? Please inform us of the last time the accepted age of the Earth was modified by over 10%.

I was discussing the big bang, not earth age. The age for the universe has varied considerably over recent years. Ages older than 4.6 billion are discarded because they don't meet with "conventional wisdom.

Of course, there are many many evidences of a young earth. To give you one such evidence, consider human population increase. The population of the earth is said to double roughly every 35 years or so. If you extrapolate backwards the number of years that evolutionists claim for human evolution, then you have an impossibly overcrowded earth. If you extrapolate back to where young-earth creationists place the flood, you have a very believable figure. That is just ONE argument for a young earth. Other young earth evidence can be found here and elsewhere. and whalah- one day, we had man- all by chance, all contrary to the rules of reason.

Evolution is not "chance". Again, you might want to learn more about it before you attempt to dispute it.
Baloney! Unless you are theistic evolutionist, which has major problems in itself, you believe that all are here by chance! You have not proved otherwise.

[VadeRetro]

Yes, John Woodmorappe is quite a figure in the YEC/ID world. His career shows the overlap between the supposedly separate domains quite nicely. In fact, Woodmorappe has a funny overlap with seemingly non-creationist "Illinois high school science teacher Jan Peczkis":

Here, for instance, Woodmorappe cites Peczkis. One funny little detail not mentioned: Peczkis is "Woodmorappe." Peczkis is real.

[Nataku X]

The recent couple of days has made me believe that your idea of shunning was correct.

Troll-calling should be made on an individual basis, not as a consensus. PatrickHenry may shun Gore3000, but I will not, and so forth. I do not agree that any recently-accused posters in here are trolls...

[Aric2000]

Evolution NEVER states that "chance" is the driving force.

YOU need to learn a bit about evolution before you go critiquing it, because your ingorance of the basic theory is absolutely astounding.

And your YEC evidence has been refuted so many thousands of times on this board that I will actually be amazed if Ichneumon takes the time to respond to such things.