Fossils show prehistoric whales gave birth on land

Here is an article some people may, or may not, find interesting:

"Early whales gave birth, and probably rested and mated, on land, according to a study that examined 47.5 million-year-old fossils discovered in Pakistan.
The "stunning discovery" reinforces the belief that modern sea-dwelling mammals originated from terrestrial ancestors, said H. Richard Lane, director of the National Science Foundation's palaeontology program, which funded the research.
The team that discovered the Pakistan fossils in 2000 and 2004 were initially baffled when they found whale skeletons so close together, team leader Philip Gingerich of the University of Michigan said.
"When we first saw the small teeth, we thought we were dealing with a small adult whale, but then we continued to expose the specimen and found ribs that seemed too large to go with those teeth," he said.
"By the end of the day, we realised we had found a female whale with a foetus."
The foetus was positioned for head-first delivery, like land mammals but unlike modern whales, according to the study, published in the Public Library of Science's online journal.
The positioning indicated the whales still gave birth on land, Dr Gingerich said.
Other clues, such as the whales' big teeth that would have been well-suited to catch and eat fish, suggested to researchers that the mammals lived most of their time in the sea, but came on land to rest, mate and give birth.
The primitive whale couldn't travel far on land, although according to the study, "they could support their weight on their flipper-like limbs".
"They clearly were tied to the shore," Dr Gingerich said.
"They were living at the land-sea interface and going back and forth."
The discovery gives unparalleled insight into how the early whale gave birth and how it transitioned from land to sea, according to the researchers.
The fossils' species "occupies an intermediate position on the evolutionary path that whales traversed as they made the transition from full-time land dwellers to dedicated denizens of the deep," the authors said in a statement.
"Specimens this complete are virtual 'Rosetta stones,'" Dr Gingerich said.
They provide "insight into the life history of extinct animals that cannot be gained any other way.""

A short update of my life

Hey everyone,

I haven't posted anything in a while so here are the basic updates of my quest to become a Palaeontologist (well really just updates in general)

• I started my final year of high school last week
• I will be starting a university course in march (see http://dino-gal.blogspot.com/2008/12/going-university.html if you dont understand why I am doing university and high school at the same time - basically I am in an advanced program)
• I actaully managed to get the sequal to Jurassic Park from the library and am currently in the process of reading it

Well thats basically all, pretty boring I know. I might not be able to post often as the work load gets heavier with high school and uni so post will probably be really infreaquent. Anyway thats all for now.

Bye guys

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Today I finished the novel Jurassic Park written by Michael Crichton. I know, I know, why haven’t I read it before? Well that would be because I have had no time when I remembered to get it from the library and when I had time to get to the library I usually forgot. I expected the book to be significantly different to the book however I was surprised to discover that the book and the movie are in fact more different then I had imagined.


I grew up with the movie version of Jurassic Park, even when I learnt of the numerous inaccuracies in the movie I still watched it over and over again to the point where I can now quote most of the movie on demand. I found that although the book carries numerous inaccuracies also, such as the size of Velociraptor mongoliensis and the idea of Dilophosaurus being poisonous (ideas which have been replicated in the movie adaptation); I found myself enjoying the book in a strange way far more then the movie.

I was particularly proud of Crichton's mention of the difference (or lack thereof) between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus, a point which I am constantly reminding anyone who mentions Brontosaurus of. The novel also contains quite a few viable theories and commonly accepted research. Even after growing up with the movie I found the major diferences between the book and the movie led me to actually enjoy the book as a story which I have never heard before.

On a negative I was so used to the idea that Lex was older then Tim (she is in the movie) that I often found myself confused. Furthermore the book seems to lack the feminist ideas of a teenage FEMALE computer nerd, and the more important role of Dr. Ellie Sattler in the movie, however disregarding these point I found myself genuinely enjoying the book more then i enjoyed the movie. From a girl who cant live without a good book i give this book a 9/10 (although my tastes often vary from others, so not everyone will agree with that).

Well that's all from me today,

Cya guys

The Mesozoic Era

Okay so now I am going to go into greater detail about the Mesozoic Era. To quote a previous post, "The Mesozoic era is commonly referred to as the ‘age of reptiles’ as during this time dinosaurs evolved into the dominate animal group on earth. Spanning from 248 million years ago to 65 million years ago the Mesozoic era saw the evolution of not only reptiles but also mammals and birds and ended in the extinction of the dinosaurs."

The Triassic Period

The Triassic Period spanning from approximately 248 MYA (million years ago) and ending approximately 206 million years ago is the earliest period of the Mesozoic Era. During this time period the eart was home to a large supercontinent know as Pangea which was the earths only landmass during the Triassic period. This period saw the occurance of the oldest Dinosaurs, crocodilians and pterosaurs. Conifers and cycads also became common during this period. This Period consists of three Epochs as listed below.

• Late Triassic beginning 227,000,000
• Middle Triassic beginning 242,000,000
• Early Triassic beginning 248,000,000

The Jurassic Period

The Jurassic Period spanning from around 206 MYA and ending around 144 MYA is most likely the most well known period of the Mesozoic Era dur primarily to media such as Jurassic Park. During this time period slowly broke apart forming two continents known as Lauraisa (north) and Gondwana (south). During the Jurassic Period Dinosaurs could be considered the dominate creatures on Earth, flowering plants and birds began to appear and giant marine reptiles occupied the sea. The Jurassic Period also saw the occurance of the oldest known mammals. This Period consists of three Epochs as listed below:

• Late Jurassic beginning 159,000,000
• Middle Jurassic beginning 180,000,000
• Early Jurassic beginning 206,000,000

The Cretaceous Period

The Cretaceous Period began approximately 144 MYA and ended approzimately 65 MYA is a massive Extinction event which caused the demise of the Dinosaurs. The continuing break up of the Earths landmass during this period led to a greater diversification of species including Mammals and birds. Pterosaurs began to decline during this time period and the dinosaurs eventually became extinct. This Period consists of three Epochs as listed below

• Late Cretaceous beginning 99,000,00
• Early Cretaceous beginning 144,000,000

I hope all of this was of some interest or use to someone.

Cya guys.

Elliot the Aussie Sauropod

Okay so for my next post I thought I might just write about one of my favorite dinosaurs....Elliot

Height: 3.5 meters high at the hip

Legnth: 16 to 21 meters (approximately)

Diet: Herbivore

Elliot is an Australian Sauropod dicovered at the Winton Formation in 1999 by his namesake, Dave Elliot. This large Sauropod lived almost 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. Elliot most likely spent most of his time browsing in the forest that surrounded the inland sea which covered most of Queensland and cenral Australia during the time in which Elliot roamed the earth. Like many sauropods the immense size of Elliot ensured that he would have had very few predators.

"The remains of Elliot were discovered in 1999 by his namesake, Dave Elliott, a Winton grazier. In 2001, a team from the Queensland Museum investigated the site, and with the help of Dave and his family, unearthed more bones. In 2002, Dr Steve Salisbury (now at The University of Queensland), Dr Alex Cook and Scott Hocknull led a major excavation to the site, enlisting the help of over 40 volunteers. This excavation continued in 2003 as part of The University of Queensland's Winton Dinosaur Project. The discovery represents physical evidence of the largest dinosaur skeleton of any kind ever found in Australia. (http://www.uq.edu.au/dinosaurs/index.html?page=14121&pid=14081)"

Update on how nerdy I am

UPDATE (although it is not life-changing)



I just took the second verion of the nerd test, and the results speak for themselves, I AM COMPLETE NERD.

Proud to be a Nerd

Yes ladies and gentlement I am a nerd, and I am proud of it. There are however somethings about me that contradict the nerd sterotype, such as:

1. I am female
2. I have friends
3. I dont suck at all sports
4. I prefer normal cloths (not skimpy clothes though, as far as I am concerned they arn't normal)

I am not sure why I posted this however it is mainly to post my nerd score. I am addicted to sci-fi, am intelligent, were glasses (only for reading), read alot, quote sci-fi to my usually confused friends, am obsessed with becoming a palaeontologist, spend some of my spare time on dinosaur forums and sci-fi forums etc (the list goes on).......This and the questions which I answered to prove that I am a nerd (nerd score of 98%) is in a strange way something I think I am weirdly proud of.

So thats all from me todays, I know it isnt much just a random thought.

Cya guys.