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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Dinosaurs Today's Dinosaur News

Posted by Mary Traverse on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 3:29 PM

Today is National Fossil Day!!

The National Park Service and the American Geological Institute are partnering to host the third annual National Fossil Day on October 17, 2012 during Earth Science Week. National Fossil Day is a celebration organized to promote public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as to foster a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational value.

In celebration I bring you this fossil news: an ancient marine reptile, previously known as Predator X (which sounds like a terrible sequel) has been officially classified as a new species. Now known as Pliosaurus funkei (which makes me think of this), the fossil was initially discovered six years ago.

"They were the top predators of the sea," said study co-author Patrick Druckenmiller, a paleontologist at the University of Alaska Museum. "They had teeth that would have made a T. rex whimper."

Learn more and see artists' renderings here and here... I'm gonna have nightmares.

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I wonder what common mechanism in genes creates food chains and pedators. All through time, it seems to appear over and over as a survival tactic. But it sounds counterintuitive. Food chains sustain life. And create monsters.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on October 17, 2012 at 4:01 PM

Actually, the mitochondria in your cells that provides ATP power is something we ate a long long long long time ago.

So, it predates the dinosaurs.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on October 17, 2012 at 5:26 PM

@1: Living organisms aggregate nutrients, collecting and/or synthesizing them. There's always going to be a niche for something that, instead of gathering the nutrients itself, goes after the energy-rich cells or tissues of other organisms.

@2: Mitochondria also predate the divergence of unikonts and bikonts. In fact, the original endosymbiosis event seems to have come about around when eukaryotes were first emerging.
Why the fuck are you bringing up mitochondria? (Also, "mitochondria" is plural; the singular is "mitochondrion".)

Posted by venomlash on October 17, 2012 at 6:13 PM