Ancient Flamingos and Grebes similar
Just when you start to believe in species purity, a find like this in Spain sets the evolutionary world on its head.
The short version is this: modern flamingos nest in a very different way than this recently discovered fossilized flamingo nest.
It seems flamingos and grebes may have nested more similarly in the past than now, and as the article states, they are closely related -- maybe a little too close?
Here's the link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/prehistoric-flamingo-nest-eggs-spain_n_1986140.html
Next we'll find out homo sapiens and neanderthal have been diluting the gene pool.
Oh, wait. We have found that out.
Here's an ancient human interbreeding article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050604423.html
But then again, it is an article from the Washington Post. Who can you trust these days?
The short version is this: modern flamingos nest in a very different way than this recently discovered fossilized flamingo nest.
It seems flamingos and grebes may have nested more similarly in the past than now, and as the article states, they are closely related -- maybe a little too close?
Here's the link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/prehistoric-flamingo-nest-eggs-spain_n_1986140.html
Next we'll find out homo sapiens and neanderthal have been diluting the gene pool.
Oh, wait. We have found that out.
Here's an ancient human interbreeding article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050604423.html
But then again, it is an article from the Washington Post. Who can you trust these days?
Comments
If David Abernathy is to be believed, Flamingos make those tall nests to keep the eggs and chicks out of the caustic mud where they would melt. If there was no caustic mud at that site 18,000,000 years ago I could argue that the birds didn't need to all that trouble.
SERIOUSLY? Ancient man would stick his wee-wee in any available orifice? This really needed to be 'studied'? Then, if you've never seen a monobrow walking down the street you're either blind or just don't look up much. Then, how about the very, very firm belief that the black-Africans were animals and a sub-human species by the slave owners that would, yet, lay with them and even pay for the experience in some cases? Once again, science, proves what common sense knew all along!
SERIOUSLY? Ancient man would stick his wee-wee in any available orifice? This really needed to be 'studied'? Then, if you've never seen a monobrow walking down the street you're either blind or just don't look up much. Then, how about the very, very firm belief that the black-Africans were animals and a sub-human species by the slave owners that would, yet, lay with them and even pay for the experience in some cases? Once again, science, proves what common sense knew all along!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 10/22/12 at 01:00 AM
I was interested in the genetic diseases info. This could possibly lead to treatments or cures to certain ones of those diseases. It seems we managed to grab some of the genes that caused Neanderthals to go exstinct and include them in our genome. Grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory goes way back with us apparently.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 10/22/12 at 11:20 AM
I remember a quote, possibly from Isaac Asimov, that a Neanderthal dressed in a suit and tie and groomed to modern standards walking down the street in Manhattan wouldn't draw very much attention. To deride one of our cousins just because he went extinct shows no understanding of the forces at work in Nature. The end result could as easily have gone the other way and Homo Sap could have gone extinct.
Posted by KDP on 10/22/12 at 11:36 AM
"sets the evolutionary world on its head."
I hope you're kidding about that. There's nothing in the article that even comes close to suggesting this is remarkable. 18 million years is more than enough time for nest construction behaviors to diverge several times over based on changes in the environment.
Science reporting is generally abysmal. Reporters will take a fairly routine or mundane tidbit and jazz it up. Then everything becomes a dramatic event that, according to the various articles, require scientists to rethink entire disciplines, when all it *really* does is clarify something. But what the public sees is far more flamboyant, and then the religious morons distort it even further to use it as more "evidence" against reality.
I hope you're kidding about that. There's nothing in the article that even comes close to suggesting this is remarkable. 18 million years is more than enough time for nest construction behaviors to diverge several times over based on changes in the environment.
Science reporting is generally abysmal. Reporters will take a fairly routine or mundane tidbit and jazz it up. Then everything becomes a dramatic event that, according to the various articles, require scientists to rethink entire disciplines, when all it *really* does is clarify something. But what the public sees is far more flamboyant, and then the religious morons distort it even further to use it as more "evidence" against reality.
Posted by Dave on 10/22/12 at 12:23 PM
So modern flamingoes are simply grebes who have moved uptown?
I think the difference between Neanderthals and 'Modern' humans is over-rated. My high school history teacher was 5'4" with a unibrow and hairy knuckles.
I think the difference between Neanderthals and 'Modern' humans is over-rated. My high school history teacher was 5'4" with a unibrow and hairy knuckles.
Posted by tadchem on 10/22/12 at 02:03 PM
That's part of the problem with scientific illiteracy, Dave. I'd bet even money that if you stopped a stranger on the street and asked them to explain how an automobile motor works, they couldn't tell you. Even with all the whiz bang electronics hung on, it all comes down to air, fuel and ignition source.
Posted by KDP on 10/22/12 at 02:41 PM
It is becoming more and more plain that at several times in the past one of our ancestors said, Hey, yon climber with the foothands is HOT and acted upon it. We can't complain if other species were just as loose with their species preference
Posted by Sarah Jumel on 10/23/12 at 08:59 AM
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Category: Animals