The Science And Nature Thread - All Welcome

[Keyser]

The second part of that film - too B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L for words.
Better than CGI.
T.Y. Keyser, for that uplifting vid!
Nite. x

Thanks Canny actually the sharks of South Africa are rarely fully grown - there are some really big mature ones around the Farallon and Guadalupe Islands.

Like Deep Blue for example - 7 metres and well over 3 tons of predatory perfection.

Goodnight.

[charlie]

The size of her in comparison to the divers is awe inspiring.

[Keyser]

The size of her in comparison to the divers is awe inspiring.

She is absolutely massive and incredibly calm - each shark has a different personality but the very large females seem to have an aura of peace around them - perhaps because once they get to that size they (rightly) feel almost invincible.

[Keyser]

Very rare Mammoth tracks give a revealing insight into their social behaviour and Gene sequencing of the prehistoric elephants, Mammoths and Mastodons.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science- ... 180968256/

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-sequence- ... hants.html

[Keyser]

A rather nice image of Elephant evolution.

Moeritherium andrewsi (the first little one)
Palaeomastodon beadnelli (the second little one)
Gomphotherium productum (upside Moeritherium)
Platybelodon grageri (beside Palaeomastodon)
Deinotherium giganteum (the big on upside Platybelodon)
Stegotetrabelodon syrticus (beside Platybelodon)
Anancus arvernensis (the very long tusks one)
Mammut americanum (beside Palaeoloxodon)
Palaeoloxodon namadicus (the very big one)
Mammuthus primigenius (Do I really must show you what's a Mammoth !?)
Elephas falconeri (the very little one under Mammuthus)
Elephas maximus or modern Asian Elephant (beside Mammuthus)
Loxodonta africana or African Bush Elephant (the last one)

https://img00.deviantart.net/3e91/i/201 ... c29vy9.jpg

[charlie]

A rather nice image of Elephant evolution.

Moeritherium andrewsi (the first little one)
Palaeomastodon beadnelli (the second little one)
Gomphotherium productum (upside Moeritherium)
Platybelodon grageri (beside Palaeomastodon)
Deinotherium giganteum (the big on upside Platybelodon)
Stegotetrabelodon syrticus (beside Platybelodon)
Anancus arvernensis (the very long tusks one)
Mammut americanum (beside Palaeoloxodon)
Palaeoloxodon namadicus (the very big one)
Mammuthus primigenius (Do I really must show you what's a Mammoth !?)
Elephas falconeri (the very little one under Mammuthus)
Elephas maximus or modern Asian Elephant (beside Mammuthus)
Loxodonta africana or African Bush Elephant (the last one)

https://img00.deviantart.net/3e91/i/201 ... c29vy9.jpg

The first and second little ones, suggest that elephants evolved from Tapirs, or the other way round Keys!

But I know from reading up on Tapirs, that they are related to Rhinos and horses.

It's the images of their trunks that perhaps might 'fool' people into believing they are related to elephants?

Anyway, you're the expert, Keys so I'll let you explain. X

[Keyser]

A rather nice image of Elephant evolution.

Moeritherium andrewsi (the first little one)
Palaeomastodon beadnelli (the second little one)
Gomphotherium productum (upside Moeritherium)
Platybelodon grageri (beside Palaeomastodon)
Deinotherium giganteum (the big on upside Platybelodon)
Stegotetrabelodon syrticus (beside Platybelodon)
Anancus arvernensis (the very long tusks one)
Mammut americanum (beside Palaeoloxodon)
Palaeoloxodon namadicus (the very big one)
Mammuthus primigenius (Do I really must show you what's a Mammoth !?)
Elephas falconeri (the very little one under Mammuthus)
Elephas maximus or modern Asian Elephant (beside Mammuthus)
Loxodonta africana or African Bush Elephant (the last one)

https://img00.deviantart.net/3e91/i/201 ... c29vy9.jpg

The first and second little ones, suggest that elephants evolved from Tapirs, or the other way round Keys!

But I know from reading up on Tapirs, that they are related to Rhinos and horses.

It's the images of their trunks that perhaps might 'fool' people into believing they are related to elephants?

Anyway, you're the expert, Keys so I'll let you explain. X

The resemblance is due to convergent evolution more than anything Charlie as you suggested, Tapiers are actually closely related to Horses and Rhinos.

As for Elephants their closest living relatives are not what you might expect - Sirenians (Dugongs and Manatees) and the Hyracoideans (Hyraxes)!

Their prehistoric relatives inclulded the Embrithopods - like the awesome Arisnoitherium!

[Keyser]

Mark Witton's state of the art reconstruction of Dippy.

http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... brity.html

[Keyser]

A shitload of stories.

https://www.livescience.com/61885-weird ... g-lot.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/world/the-c ... jet-engine

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-flipside- ... ly-up.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science- ... 180968254/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science- ... 180968283/

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-high-reso ... veals.html

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-black-hol ... -emit.html

https://phys.org/news/2018-02-secrets-universe.html

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/201 ... e-science/

[Keyser]

Big cat top trumps.

https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conserva ... mps-cards/

[Keyser]

Beautifully preserved 127 million year old Enantiornithe baby bird.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43249509

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-million-y ... avian.html

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/201 ... ozoic-spd/

[art0hur0moh]

A rather nice image of Elephant evolution.

Moeritherium andrewsi (the first little one)
Palaeomastodon beadnelli (the second little one)
Gomphotherium productum (upside Moeritherium)
Platybelodon grageri (beside Palaeomastodon)
Deinotherium giganteum (the big on upside Platybelodon)
Stegotetrabelodon syrticus (beside Platybelodon)
Anancus arvernensis (the very long tusks one)
Mammut americanum (beside Palaeoloxodon)
Palaeoloxodon namadicus (the very big one)
Mammuthus primigenius (Do I really must show you what's a Mammoth !?)
Elephas falconeri (the very little one under Mammuthus)
Elephas maximus or modern Asian Elephant (beside Mammuthus)
Loxodonta africana or African Bush Elephant (the last one)

https://img00.deviantart.net/3e91/i/201 ... c29vy9.jpg

The first and second little ones, suggest that elephants evolved from Tapirs, or the other way round Keys!

But I know from reading up on Tapirs, that they are related to Rhinos and horses.

It's the images of their trunks that perhaps might 'fool' people into believing they are related to elephants?

Anyway, you're the expert, Keys so I'll let you explain. X

The resemblance is due to convergent evolution more than anything Charlie as you suggested, Tapiers are actually closely related to Horses and Rhinos.

As for Elephants their closest living relatives are not what you might expect - Sirenians (Dugongs and Manatees) and the Hyracoideans (Hyraxes)!

Their prehistoric relatives inclulded the Embrithopods - like the awesome Arisnoitherium!

Elephants are excellent swimmers. You can actually see how the trunk became the blow hole of whales. I believe the manity is more closely related to hippo than elephant. Dogs became seals. Seems to me the natural evolution is to return to the water?

Cool, think I will stop by here when I sign in before moving on. Become aquainted with some of the studies you have posted.

[art0hur0moh]

The second part of that film - too B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L for words.
Better than CGI.
T.Y. Keyser, for that uplifting vid!
Nite. x

Thanks Canny actually the sharks of South Africa are rarely fully grown - there are some really big mature ones around the Farallon and Guadalupe Islands.

Like Deep Blue for example - 7 metres and well over 3 tons of predatory perfection.

Goodnight.

The evolution of sharks I find facinating. 200 myo there where thousands of species! The speed and power of these as well as others to propel themselves out of the water is absolutely awesome.

[Keyser]

Elephants are excellent swimmers. You can actually see how the trunk became the blow hole of whales. I believe the manity is more closely related to hippo than elephant. Dogs became seals. Seems to me the natural evolution is to return to the water?

Cool, think I will stop by here when I sign in before moving on. Become aquainted with some of the studies you have posted.

Hi Arthur!

No hippos are most closely related to whales as you can see here.



Elephants have nothing to do with cetacean evolution but ironically Hippos cannot swim - they just walk on the bottom!

Enjoy the thread.

[Keyser]

The grim story of the toad with no face.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/an ... orest.aspx

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180968363/

https://www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/ ... less-toad/