Slashdot Mirror
Some Dinosaurs Made Underground Dens
anthemaniac writes "Scientists have long puzzled over how some dinosaurs and other creatures survived the asteroid impact that supposedly caused the KT mass extinction 65 million years ago and wiped out all the big dinosaurs. One idea has been that smaller animals, including mammals, could have endured the fallout, the big chill, the subsequent volcanoes, and whatever else by burrowing. Now scientists have come up with the first evidence of burrowing dinosaurs. They speculate that underground dens might explain how some dinosaurs got through long, dark winters at high latitudes, too."
The fake dinosaur bones that god put in the ground to test our faith were positioned in a what was made to appear as an underground burrow.
This all happened sometime last week.
if the dinosaurs were so smart, how come they're dead?
The images shown in the story are quite informative. Apparently, the http://images.livescience.com/images/070323_dino_s cale_02.jpg people's noses were much larger back then, too.
These burrowing dinosaurs must be from the species of Skeletal Dinosaurs we've found living underground for millions of years.
;)
SECRET TIP: Use bludgeoning weapons when fighting skeletal dinosaurs, they're resistant to piercing!
When the great cataclysmic meteorite strikes, only those of us sequestered in basements playing WoW and hacking up patches to the Linux kernel will survive the impact. And, even more certainly, when the atmospheric plume of debris blocks out the sun, others will starve, and only we who subsist on inorganics such as cheetos and mountain dew will live to assert our genes in the remnant ecosystem.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
So, did dinosaurs have to endure those irritating "Duck and Cover" films in school, too?
Burrowing, like all behaviors, can't really be traced phylogenically for a couple of reasons:1.As this article shows us, it's hard to find evidence of behaviors that happened yesterday let alone millions of years ago (though under the right conditions burrowing does leave a trace, as the article shows), 2. Behaviors vary more wildly than the average allele. Though there is a large component of genetics at play with behavior, ultimately behaviors are products of the physiological phenotypes associated with said alleles and sensory input. Different environmental inputs yield different behavioral outputs for the same allele. Therefore there isn't an isomorphic relationship between genes and behavior. Behavioral traits tend to pop up independently of each other quite often, so it is impossible to say that there is one node on the evolutionary branch that "sprouted modern burrowing/hibernating reptiles and mammals".
/. community to comment on this. (That's my way of saying: "Though I may sound like an expert, I very well may be full of crap and would love it if someone with more knowledge would fact check this post").
Granted this is coming from what I learned as an undergraduate so there are probably better people in the
Does this sig remind you of Agatha Christie?
I don't see why dinosaurs would have had to burrow to survive. I'm sure many dinosaurs died because they were close to the blast. But others were on the other side of the world. Global climate changed as a result of the impact, and most of the larger dinosaurs probably died of starvation. The smaller ones probably found enough to stay alive. Notably, most of the early mammals were also small.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
"What you said makes no sense."
True, but I think there is a good question underneath it: When did animals that "sleep" on a seasonal timetable diverge from animals that "sleep" on a daily timetable, or is an animals sleep pattern a recuring mutation in the wiring for the "sleep instinct" that is triggered by climate/daylight/resources/whatever?
"Estivate?"
I'm nearly 50 and would also have said "hibernate". You taught me a new word today, thanks.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
*Why* were dinosaurs the ones to be wiped out completely?
Mammals survived because they're small? There were small dinosaurs.
Fish survived because they're water-dwelling? There were water-dwelling dinosaurs.
Reptiles survived because...?!?
I'm sure it's more complicated than this, and that's why I'm asking -- can someone help me understand? Why every dinosaur on the planet, regardless of habitat/diet/size died, while so many non-dinosaurs survived?
We have a small flock of what I now call the "cluckeraptors", because they certainly *act* like I imagine dinosaurs would act. I mean, they may be small and feathery and soft looking, but watch them run around the yard and interact with each other and you can see how utterly ruthless and focused they are. A few primary drives to them and not much else. For instance if one of them gets injured or the least bit "off" or ill, the others will be merciless with them, it's like they can't stand weakness and translate that to "food". Fascinating to watch really. Lean down close and look a rooster right in the eye, you can see the miniature power there. If they were say ten feet tall or larger, yes indeedy they would be serious nasty predators.
Now scientists have come up with the first evidence of burrowing dinosaurs. They speculate that underground dens might explain how some dinosaurs got through long, dark winters at high latitudes, too.
I believe this proves it beyond a doubt.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
I find it odd that people get so angry when evolution is attacked. Science should be attacked so that science can be explored.I don't think that the fact that all things that exist in corralation to one another. Sand, water, air, creatures, plants, why are they in delicate balance>? Not to mention everything has a mathmatical base. And why do chemicals relate in solid, clear, reactions to one another? Why are there creatures that live in symbiotic relation with certain plants or parasites>? Why does everything although random still have a basic orderly base? Why do animals have genetic pools they come from, even though they vary, they still do not leave that pool, but instead point to a orgin of one set of animals. If evolution does exisit, that means man had to have had relations with a monkey in order to get more of the same species and a purifying of this to the human species we have now. In that case, that would mean that humans are but one of many apes and receding genes would have difinitive characteristics of true apes as the theory suggests. It was even shown on National Geographic that the origin of man has been traced to messopotamia. Believe in the existance of God or do not, science does not really clarify whether or not evolution is the answer. Species hopping seems so odd to me as a concept even after billions of years because you would see these traits no matter how remote in the genetic strain.As for a flood theory, there is evidence among world wide culture there was a flood. It would make sense if animals had procreated beyond their original set pool and variations had happened, then larger species for the most part would have died and climatic changes would have happened as well. Maybe not as we typically veiw a Biblical perspective but close enough. I veiw that slamming either side is rediculous. Look at science with an open mind and you get answers, there may be answers under your nose.