our world never fails to astonish.
Posted on 03/17/2006 1:09:31 PM PST by mlc9852
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Scientists and policy makers who want to slow the rate at which species are being lost face a conundrum: No one knows how many different plants and animals there are.
"Some people who study insects think there may be as many as 100 million species out there," said Jeff McNeely, the chief scientist at the World Conservation Union.
"But if you took a poll of biologists, I think most would say there are somewhere around 15 million," he told Reuters by telephone from the organization's Swiss headquarters.
According to the Collins English Dictionary, a species is "a class of plants or animals whose members have the same main characteristics and are able to breed with each other."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
What? No pictures?
our world never fails to astonish.
Of all 5 million species??? You wanna crash FR again?
Now think about Noah.
Okay, I am. Now what? LOL
With alternate life forms like the Hildabeest, Helen T, and the swimmer in his "whale" pose, I bet you won't have to wait long for a pic...
But someday we'll find some elsewhere.
How long would it take him to gather a male and female of each animal? Given that he would have to sail to each continent for it's indiginent species. And bring them to his arc. And feed them. And store them while he sails to the next continent. To Africa. To Antarctica.
2 species: Predators and Dinner.
I've had that discussion with mlc before. She doesn't have any cognitive dissonance with the two ideas of (a) more than 10 million species and (b) the entire world ecology being saved on a bronze-age wooden craft with 8 zoo-keepers in a year-long voyage a few-thousand years ago.
It was my understanding from reading Genesis that God sent the animals to Noah. He just had to convince them to get in the ark. One theory I have heard that God put the animals to sleep - like hibernation. And if the whole world was underwater, there would be no need to go to different continents. I figure if he got a couple of basics, then after they got off the ark, they evolved into even more species. But miracles are usually hard to explain anyway.
Hey, I didn't write the Noah/ark story so why you blaming me?
I don't know if I want to get into this discussion or not...
You're right - it's late in the day and people are already drinking green beer!
Have a great weekend!
Hold it just a minute, you've definitely said in the past that you categorically don't accept any speciation. You appear to be changing tack. How much speciation are you now prepared to accept?
I never said there is no such thing as speciation. I have only said humans didn't descend from an ape-like creature.
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