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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.
It is no wonder it evolves into an evolution/creationism debate with teasers such as this from post 41
While we're at it: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense. From Scientific American.
Your complaint did not come until post 51.
I'm a newbie to the Jewish Kabbalah, so you could probably leave me in the dust rather easily.
There was an article on PYSCHE: Interdisciplinary Journal about the Kabbalah and consciousness. I've lost the link to the specific article and will look for it later tonight, but I have to go off-line for awhile.
If you are interested in consciousness, you'll probably really go for this thread by betty boop. There is a lot of creative thinking going on over there and you'll find some exclusive insights into the scientists involved.
No. I meant StolarStorm who was the person supposed to be liable to be drawn into a flame war.
It seems you are greatly interested in the agreement. Why not sign on to it? Try it; you'll like it.
Why would I desire to do that? I have not been abusive, in my mind, to anyone that was civil to me. That is unless you have something I am not aware of. I need no agreement to be civil. I do not need to shout troll. I merely ask them to cease. Try it, you might like it. It works.
I did not use the subject's name on my posts and will not here because I do not wish to engage at this time under the circumstances. My indirect references have been to answer your questions without being inflammatory.
I have to go soon, too (it's getting on for 10pm here and I have things to do before I go to bed, so ping me with the link or FReepmail me!
And you are no problem, being civil. In fact, as I pointed out to your change, the reason threads are posted are for discussion.
Great website links, thanks!
What I mean is that Mammoth or elephant fossils (or any modern mammals for that matter) are never found in the same strata as dinosaur bones. If one were to speculate that the geological column was laid down as a flood event, then the fossils would be all mixed up. I've heard 'dinosaurs were slow moving so couldn't get to high ground quickly enough' argument, which doesn't really work if you consider that not all dinosaurs were large and slow.
The big problem is the report on Rajasaurus has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed form, and so some of the answers you're looking for are hard to come by. Nonetheless, there is more information on the National Geographic website than in the original article. How do they know it was a carnivore for sure?
Look at the skull. Them teeth ain't for chewing cud!
They only found a partial skeleton and filled in the rest
True, but they found the jaw and parts of the rest of the skull; plus other body parts.
they claim it is 65 million years old? How do they know?
They know the stratum it was found in. That could be cross-referenced to other formations, using the existence of common organisms. Some of those will have been radiometrically dated.
They elaborate that this will help explain the "shifting continents, and how is that?
IIRC, India was originally part of Gondwanaland (the southern continent) but split off, and eventually collided with the rest of Asia, which was part of Laurasia (the northern continent).
Read this article from a perspective of taking away the "geologic column" and remember that the scientists are probably bias, and see what you read.
There has been a lot of hooey written about the 'geologic column'. Most geological strata have by now been dated radiometrically.
Presumably you see no name-calling in post #56.
It's bad form to openly continue trolling for suckers with thoroughly discredited material.
There aren't any mammoths around trilobites, either.
Presumably you see no problem in post #51 which essentially states creationists are not welcome here.
Is this a warning to someone?
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