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dinosaur

Evolution disruptors

By Dinosaurs

The unpublished works of Charles Darwin – Evolution Disruptors

Why T-rex has short arms

  Yes, you’ve probably heard of Endocrine Disruptors, but have you heard of Evolution Disruptors? Here’s my definition:

Evolution disruptors are man-made or naturally occurring objects that, at certain levels of exposure, can interfere with the natural selection genetic process and alter the future evolutionary path in animals. It can result in adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and genetic mutations in both humans and wildlife.  A wide range of objects, both natural and man-made, are thought to cause evolution disruption, including the selfie stick.

Can you think of another examples?

The other supersaurus

By Dinosaurs

…and this one is a veggie-saurus, enjoying tomatoes

Soup-ersaurusAnd yes, supersaurus actually did exist. Discovered in America in 1972, he was aptly named supersaurus (pronounced SOUP-er-SORE-us … see, there is a soup connection after all), because of its whopping length – about 30 m (110 feet) long.

 

 

Beware of food beyond its use by date

By Dung Beetles

A coprolite is fossilised feces, with its derivation coming from the Greek words kopros (dung) and lithos (stone).  For paleontologists they are significant, in that these trace fossils provide insight into the deceased owner’s diet.

I wonder how many budding palaeontologists sign up knowing that it’s not just bones that they will be playing with?

Dinosaur bones with a difference

By Dave the dot to dot dinosaur

Dinosaur fossils (Latin  fossus, meaning ‘having been dug up’) aren’t made of bone, they are made from rock (silica).

According to Wiki there are 6 ways of achieving this, but I’ll only describe the permineralization process. First, the dinosaur had to die and be covered up pretty much immediately (such as sinking in mud) before the scavengers found it. As time passes, more sediment covers the remains and the flesh starts to rot away, leaving only the bones which decay slower.  As they decay, groundwater carrying rich minerals seep into where the bone once was. Effectively it is a mineral replacement process with the replacing of ‘bone’ mineral with ‘rock’ mineral. Once the bone has all been replaced you have a perfect replica of the original bone, but now made from rock.

Thanks to Murphy, our beautiful lady golden retriever, for modelling for this cartoon.