Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hobbit Is A New Species

Posted by Zonk on from the you-learn-something-new-every-decade dept.

Migraineman writes "Over the last year or so, archaeologists in Indonesia unearthed skulls and bones from eight proto-humanoids. Critics have claimed the meter-tall specimens were either pygmies or "aberrant individuals with a pathological condition" like microcephaly. A recent article in Science[subscription] rebuffs the critics, and claims that the specimens are actually a new species - Homo floresiensis. There's a summary article over at Nature."

14 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. What? by CypherXero · · Score: 5, Funny

    Frodo died???

    1. Re:What? by servognome · · Score: 5, Funny

      OMG, how is parent troll????
      No no no, Troll isn't a moderation, it's the name of what killed him. Like in the obituaries: Mr. Jones -64 (heart attack)

      --
      D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  2. Homo floresiensis by Jensaarai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Homo Florescent lights?

  3. Homo Bagginses? by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if they found anything buried in its pocketses.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:Homo Bagginses? by DrEldarion · · Score: 5, Funny

      From what I hear, one researcher found something, but another killed him and then ran off with it.

  4. it's just a tourist marketing gimmick by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    the island of flores saw the amazing uptick in tourism that new zealand experienced after the lord of the rings movie trilogy, and so that island's tourism proponents decided that they could get in on the tolkien tourism bandwagon too

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. I for one... by bobcat7677 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our new Hobbit-humaniod overl... Oh nevermind.

    1. Re:I for one... by The+Angry+Mick · · Score: 4, Funny
      I for one welcome our new Hobbit-humaniod overl...
      ... under lords?
      --

      I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.

  6. catalog info by PoopJuggler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Scientific name: Bilbous Bagginsis
    Common name: Tricksy Hobbitses

  7. Little Man, Big Plans by MrAsstastic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I truly believe these little people are the early prototype of ancient time traveling alien/human hybrid race. These people are the result of an extra-terrestial alien race mating with primates. The aliens have left but they will be back to check on our progress.

  8. Re:Missing link? by 3nd32 · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, it couldn't be a "missing link". The leading guesses are that it is either an alternate branch that evolved an advanced brain separate from the more recent human lineage, or it is a branch off of Homo erectus that subsequently lost size but retained brain form. Personally, I'm a creationist. Keeps things simpler ^^.

  9. Ho ho ho by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

    But what, then, happened to all the elves?

    Continental drift. The undying lands ended up at the north pole.

  10. Artist's Rendering by messerman · · Score: 4, Funny

    TFA didn't have it, but there's an artist's rendering of this species here (from http://www.mi.uib.no/~respl/tolkien/mapdocs/index2 .html)

  11. Re:The whole idea of a missing link by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Funny

    Zeno! Zeno of Eleas! Is that you? I thought you were lost! It's me, Empedocles of Acagras! Fancy meeting you here!