fossils •

Amber Slides Provide Insight into Lizard Evolution

March 5, 2016 By Clayton Meason

Perfectly preserved geckos can show us how the modern lizards evolved.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – An old adage says that one man’s misfortune is another one’s misfortune is another man’s treasure. This seems to confirm the latest discovery made by a team of paleontologists in Myanmar. Several amber slides provide insight into lizard evolution, a process previously obscured by the lack of evidence.

Recently, a team of scientists from the University of Texas has stumbled on something that could very way change the evolutionary timeline. Studying a dozen amber slides brought from a dig site in Myanmar, the paleontologists discovered the perfectly preserved remain of several species of lizards.

The 12 amber slides are in perfect condition according to the team of scientists, and their contents are indeed surprising. As we know from the biology courses, amber in comparison with mineral sediments is a far better preservation environment. Unlike stones, which can only preserve some skeletal remains, amber can virtually keep every organ in the body.

This fact is confirmed by the discovery of yet another creature. A shrimp-like animal was discovered not long ago, by a North American team of scientists. Apart from the outline of its body, the researchers also found a perfectly preserved nervous system. According to their statement, were not for the amber, we wouldn’t have found out about this creature’s autonomic reactions.

Same thing goes for the unfortunate lizards who got trapped in the amber prison. Unfortunately, even though the amber preservation chamber lived up to its expectation, it could only preserve parts of the reptiles.

For example, in one slide, the scientists have found the leg of a reptile, and in another just the tip of a tongue. Other amber deposits contained a couple of scales while another deposit contained the creature’s skeleton.

The researcher figured out that one of the remains belonged to a gecko-like lizard because one of the amber pieces held the lizard’s iconic toe pads.

And probably one of the most interesting part owned by the team is the one containing the skeletal remains of an infant lizard which measure less than a centimeter.

The team managed to figure out all of this details, by subjecting each piece of amber to a CT scan. 3D modelling and reconstruction showed them what the lizard looked like before it got caught in the amber prison.

Juan Daza, one of the study’s co-author, who is also a herpetologist declared that this discovery is just amazing because we can now see how modern lizards like geckoes evolved over time.

99-million-year old amber slides provide insight into lizard evolution, from infancy to maturity.

Photo credits:wikipedia

Gigantic Birds Once Roamed the Ellesmere Island

February 14, 2016 By Gary Wymore

This species of birds roamed the high Arctic regions approximately 50 million years ago.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – It is indeed wondrous to see what we can learn from some dusty old bones. A team of scientists from the US and China has managed to reconstruct the model of a gigantic prehistoric bird using a toe bone. According to their assessment, gigantic birds once roamed the Ellesmere Island, a part of the high Arctic region, approximately 50 million years ago.

The discovery itself isn’t entirely new, according to the team of scientists. The toe bone used to reconstruct the profile of the gigantic high Arctic bird was discovered almost 40 years ago by a team of paleontologists. Unfortunately, since its discovery, the toe bone remained in a dark corner, so to say, never to be heard from again.

But, it would seem that the toe bone still has a lot of things to say to the researchers. According to the tea in charge of the project, the event that prompted the scientists into taking another look at the forgotten bone is a recent archeological discovery in Wyoming.

At the digging site, the researchers found the fossils of a gigantic prehistoric bird called Gastornis. Upon further analysis, the researchers have discovered that the toe bone found 40 years ago, matched the fossils recovered from the Wyoming digging site.

Now comes the fun part: the reconstruction of the bird that inhabited the Ellesmere Island, a part of the high arctic region. According to their projection, Gastornis lived approximately 50 million years ago. Moreover, the scientists concluded that although the bird had wings and feather, it was not capable of taking off the ground.

It would also seem that the bird was pretty big in comparison to other species of prehistoric birds. According to their determinations, Gastornis was approximately 6 feet tall and might have weighed several hundred pounds.

A team of scientists from the University of Colorado and Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered that gigantic birds once roamed the Ellesmere Island. But, the Arctic scenery was entirely different back then.

According to the scientists in charge of the project, back when Gastornis was roaming the Earth, the Arctic Circle was devoid of snow and ice. Many of them have speculated that the Gastornis’s hunting ground resemble the cypress swamp region of Florida.

The study was published in the Scientific Reports. Also, it should be noted that the team was not only interested in Gastornis. According to the study’s abstract, along with Gastornis, the team managed to write a few words about another species of Arctic birds called Presbyornis. This species of birds was very similar to modern geese. Also, compared to the Gastornis, Presbyornis was capable of flight.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

Extinct Duck-Nosed Wildebeest was found in Africa

February 5, 2016 By Helen Bradford

The extinct wildebeest had a nasal structure very similar to a species of herbivorous dinosaurs called Hadrosaurs.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A team of archeologists has unearthed a couple of odd-looking fossils from a digging site in Rusinga Island, in Kenya. An extinct duck-nosed wildebeest was found in Africa, a creature so bizarre in shape that it managed to baffle the scientifical community.

The discovery was made by a team of paleontologists from the University of Ohio. The team was led by Haley O’Brian, a paleontologist who manage to offer some insight regarding the creature’s oddly-shaped nose.

According to O’Brian, even though the African wildebeest belong to the mammal family, it shared more physical traits with dinosaurs than it did with other mammals. The African wildebeest dubbed the Rusingoryx, exhibited a peculiar nasal structure.

The team noted that Rusingoryx’s nose consisted of a hollow bone-like nasal passage and protuberance, very similar to another species of duck-billed dinosaurs called the hadrosaurs.

The duck-like nose would enable the wildebeest’s distant cousin to communicate over long distances. According to the scientists working on the project, the bony structure of the duck-billed nose would have permitted the mammal to emit infrasound in order to communicate with other members of its pack.

An extinct duck-nosed wildebeest was found in Africa at a digging site located on Rusinga Island. The bygone mammal roamed the Earth approximately 55.000 to 75.000 years ago and it would seem that the gentle beast had more in common with hadrosaurs than the odd nasal structure. Hadrosaurs, like the Corythosaurus or the Lambeosaurus, roamed the Earth 75 million years ago.

Like the hadrosaurs, the rusyngoryx was a herbivore and usually traveled in large packs. As to the functionality of the duck-like nose, the scientists have theorized that the creature evolved this kind of nasal structure in order to communicate efficiently with its pack members. Moreover, in order to remain undiscovered, the wildebeests would have used sounds with different frequencies, ones that could not be heard by other predators.

No less than 24 wildebeest skulls were retrieved from the digging site. At a close inspection, the team found out that the bony structures found on the skull were hollow on the inside. The bone structure continued with a long nasal passage. At the end of it, the researchers discovered an S-shape tube, which continued down to the airways.

Moreover, by analyzing the earthly remains of the mammals, the researchers were capable of determining what caused their deaths. According to O’Brian, all the fossils found on Rusinga Island, showed signs of stone weapons, meaning that the pack was probably ambushed by a hunter-gatherer tribe.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

Wooly Mammoth Bones Found in Oregon

January 27, 2016 By Clayton Meason

The bones found in Oregon are at least 10000 years old.

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A routine renovation of a local stadium in Oregon revealed that there is more to the field than the player’s hopes and dreams. While digging to consolidate the foundation, a couple of workers unearthed several wooly mammoth bones. The wooly mammoth bones found in Oregon are thought to be over 10.000 years old.

While renovating the stadium at the Oregon State University, the constructors literally stumbled upon several massive bones. According to the team of anthropologists who came in to see this discovery, the massive bones belonged to a wooly mammoth.

Along with skull fragments, the constructors also discovered a massive femur and other types of the bone fragment which, according to the anthropologists are thought to belong to camels and bison.

Loren Davis, who is an associate professor, made a few statement regarding this marvelous discovery. According to Davis, while some of the bone fragmented were damaged, others were preserved in perfect condition.

Recent research has uncovered that the area surrounding the stadium used to be a bog or even a marsh back when wooly mammoths roamed the earth. Also, the researchers working on the case have pointed out that is it highly possible that the bone fragments discovered under the stadium might belong to a mammoth with a death wish, so to say.

It seems that when mammoths were stricken by sickness, they sought the comfort of a welcoming stretch of water in order to die.

The wooly mammoth bones found in Oregon prompted researchers to take a closer look at the digging site. According to the testimonies of these working on the construction site, while digging for the foundation, the workers found a massive femur belonging to a wooly mammoth and several bones belonging to camels and to bison.

The wooly mammoth or the Mammuthus primigenius is considered to be a species of mammoth. According to the researchers, this majestic beast lived during the Pleistocene era. Other measurements have determined that unlike the other members of the mammoth family, the wooly mammoth was smaller. In fact, it would seem that the bygone elephant was no bigger than a modern Asian elephant.

Using bone fragments, recovered from various digging sites, anthropologists have managed to determine the actual size of the beast. According to their estimations, a fully-grown wooly mammoth male would have reached a height of 3.4 meters and weighed about tons. Female wooly mammoths had a total height of 2.9 meters and weighed no more than 3 tons.

The bones recovered from the digging site in Oregon may help paleontologists gain more knowledge on these gentle giants.

Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org

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