|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 06/22/2007 : 08:40:10 [Permalink]
|
And don't minimize the role of predatory animals:
Bone-crushing wolves that specialized in hunting giant prey once roamed the icy expanses of Alaska, an international team of researchers now finds.
The scientists unexpectedly discovered what apparently was a novel subspecies of gray wolf(Canis lupus) as they analyzed genes from skeletal remains that had sat in museum collections for up to a few decades after excavation from Alaskan permafrost deposits. The ancient DNA, which dated back 12,500 to 40,000 years, did not match any modern wolves, and closer investigation of the bones uncovered remarkable differences.
These extinct predators had strong jaws and massive teeth, ideal for killing and devouring mammoths and other megafauna. |
One bit that I found particularly interesting:| "The density of these large predators was likely much greater than any we see today, even than in Africa," Van Valkenburgh told LiveScience. |
So more predators per square mile than any current environment. That makes for a lot of grumbling bellies...
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
 |
|
Pleistocene Overkill
