New Dinosaur Species Found in India

AP ^ | August 13, 2003 | RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM

[nwrep]

New Dinosaur Species Found in India

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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.

[DittoJed2]

Where did the big bang come from?

[DittoJed2]

Hebrew scholars are all over the map on this one. Some can see ages, some see 24 hour days of creation. Some see big gaps in genealogies, some believe the genealogies are pretty tight. Analyzing the Hebrew does not conclusively prove either.

[Aric2000]

Ahh, but you see Alamo Girl, there is a difference in how you see things and how these creationists view them.

Your view takes the scientific evidence, then uses science again to try and get the proper answer.

Their view IGNORES the science altogether and says it's wrong.

The space time thing I find fascinating, I don't necassarily believe it, but it makes sense, in a scientific way.

Also, your view of the flood is ALSO based on scientific evidence, and does NOT ignore it.

You have come up with a beautifully consistent and scientific view, that backs up your faith that the creation and flood stories are consistent and true.

That is the difference, you have taken science, brought it into your belief structure and have come up with something that is consistent, whereas these other creationists want to throw the science away because it just doesn't compute for them.

This is another reason why I respect you so much. You learn as much as you can and come up with consistent answers to answer your questions, taking the 2 and creating 1 very credible whole.

I have NO argument with your views at all, I find them beautifully consistent with both your religion and the scientific evidence.

[RightWingNilla]

There was a specific essay I am referring to which addresses what the Bible has to say about the age of the universe. Alamo Girl sent it to me a while ago, but I can't find it.

[Lurking Libertarian]

"psychoceramic"
Brilliant. Alliterative, concise, accurate, synonymous, funny... I do believe a new term has been coined. (New to me anyway.)

My late father used to use that, back when I was a kid (late 50s, early 60s).

[StolarStorm]

Of course I'm biased. Who isn't? I wasn't trying to win an award or anything. At least I was honest in my obvious bias and my viewpoint.

[goodseedhomeschool (returned)]

You seem to presume that other creationists here do not look at the scientific evidence as alamo girl does. I wish to comment that I myself always view the evidence and I am a creationist. I suspect others if not all in the creation camp also view the evidence. From what I have viewed of the evidence, it all points to a special creation and a much younger earth than generally believed. I just wanted to clear that up. Thank you for listening.

[RightWingNilla]

From what I have viewed of the evidence, it all points to a special creation

Could you elaborate on this? What evidence in particular?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your reply!

I do understand your frustration. At the same time, I strongly suspect most of the issue based tension comes - not from the physical evidence - but from the theories each side proposes to explain the evidence.

On the one hand, science offers a religion-ignoring materialist explanation which is repugnant to some who counter with a religion-first explanation which is equally repugnant to the other side. Because of the two worldviews, it cannot be resolved - but it is very useful to discuss the issues for those who are looking for answers.

Personally, I rarely get into the biological or geological aspects of the debate because my interest lies with relativity and string theory - physics/math. I think a lot of common ground can be found in that area.

Moreover, because of the posts on Free Republic (Nebullis in particular) I've found some very interesting current research in biological self organizing complexity.

I wouldn't have known about that were it not for these threads and the ongoing discussion.

So everyone's forbearance is much appreciated by those of us who are here to learn.

[PatrickHenry]

I agree with you that none of the recently-accused posters are trolls.

G3k may not, strictly-speaking, be a "troll," although some may disagree. But as my posts on the subject in this thread show, he was without question abusive, he posted truly disgusting insults, he made unsupported accusations -- and did so continuously -- with the result that his conduct was certainly disruptive. There's not much doubt that he had become a "non-complying poster." I used the warning language: "Don't feed the troll!" because it's the only such language in the agreement. I knew it wasn't entirely appropriate considering his specific forms of misconduct, but I followed the letter of the agreement (in an amazingly but necessarily legalistic and nearly ritualistically exorcism-like fashion). Now I'm free to call him anything I want, limited only by Jim Robinson's rules. No one else has to go along, but whatever I do at this point regarding that poster is within the terms of the agreement.

[goodseedhomeschool (returned)]

Your honesty is always appreciated. My point is simply that in this forum there seems to be an uneven number of both sides. The evolution side obviously bigger if not tripled.

[StolarStorm]

"Well, I happen to believe that the universe is approximately 6,000 years old from the space/time coordinate of inception and 15 billion years old (more or less) from our space/time coordinates. I base this on the Word and the inflationary model. Freeper Views on Origins"

I'm unfamiliar with this idea. I'll have to read up on it. I think many evos would agree with you on the flood. There is evidence of a flood that existed throughout the populated portion of the globe... just not world wide.

[Alamo-Girl]

Here's the article: Age of the Universe

Thanks for asking!

[whattajoke]

me: Acer saccharum or Quercus velutina
You: Aren't these species of trees??

Yes, they are. (Sugar Maple and Black Oak, the two most prevalent trees in Western VT and NE NY.) In other words, "Champy" is most logically and likely driftwood.

To another of your points, you stated "evolution is about origins." It is most decidedly, not. It addresses "origins of species," but not "origins." Abiogenesis attempts to handle that. So does Genesis. And many other equally ancient religious texts.

[goodseedhomeschool (returned)]

I would love to elaborate, but I fear that you or others would simply dismiss anything I had to say, so, and let's be honest here, why should I go to all that trouble?

[whattajoke]

My late father used to use that, back when I was a kid (late 50s, early 60s).

Well, that's what I get for being a 30 year old whippersnapper.

[RightWingNilla]

Schroeder...thats him. Thanks. I was talking to an Orthodox jewish classmate of mine a while back who also knew of this essay.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you oh so very, very much for all of your kind words! Hugs!!!

[PatrickHenry]

My point is simply that in this forum there seems to be an uneven number of both sides. The evolution side obviously bigger if not tripled.

That's probably inevitable, as it's mostly science-minded people who would be interested in such threads.

[RightWingNilla]

I would love to elaborate, but I fear that you or others would simply dismiss anything I had to say, so, and let's be honest here, why should I go to all that trouble?

I am just curious to know what evidence you have seen that leads you to Special Creation versus Evolution.