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Dinosaur herd buried in Noah’s Flood in Inner Mongolia, China by Tas Walker Published: 14 April 2009 An international team of scientists have uncovered graphic evidence of the deadly terror unleashed on a herd of dinosaurs as they were buried under sediment by the rising waters of Noah’s Flood in western Inner Mongolia (figure 1).[1] Dinosaur bones were first discovered at the site, located at the base of a small hill in the Gobi Desert, in 1978 by a Chinese geologist. After about 20 years, a team of Chinese and Japanese scientists recovered the first skeletons, which they named Sinornithomimus,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2008 – The number of daily attacks in Iraq has dropped nearly 95 percent since last year, a U.S. military official said yesterday. Iraq suffered an average of 180 attacks per day this time last year. But over the past week, the average number was 10, Army Brig. Gen. David G. Perkins, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said. “This is a dramatic improvement of safety throughout the country,” Perkins told reporters during a wide-ranging news conference in Baghdad yesterday. He added that the country’s murder rates have dropped below levels that existed before the start of American...

Lucia Otgongerel (Photo credit: UCANews) Ulan Bator, Aug 20, 2008 / 09:03 pm (CNA).- Lucia Otgongerel was born in Mongolia 30 years ago without hands or legs.  She lived in a deep depression until 2002 when she converted to Catholicism and, as she explains, discovered “true joy.”  Today she works in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, as a teacher for seven children with special needs.Now Lucia claims, “I could not live without my faith.”  She overcomes the challenges of her physical condition though an intense life of prayer: including the daily Rosary, meditations and study of the...

Russia's nationalized oil company, Rosneft, supplies more than 90% of Mongolia's oil. Over the past three months, it has increased prices twice -- by an average of 20% each time. This comes on top of surging prices that, since 2006, have pushed inflation in Mongolia to over 15% annually. Rosneft recently told Mongolian officials that it would "lower" oil prices if given the rights to "run oil production" in the country. Moscow also wants to build 100 gas stations throughout the country, which would solidify its overwhelming presence there and reduce consumers' energy choices even further. Similar tactics are afoot...

(WU XING, CHINA) — For as long as anyone can remember, Bator and his ancestors were horse-riding herdsmen, free to roam the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia with their animals. On a spring day in 2002, his freedom was abruptly cancelled. A Chinese official drove his jeep to Bator's pasture, brandishing a piece of paper and announcing that the government was terminating the Mongolian way of life. Since then, Bator has not been on a horse. Today he lives in a small brick house in a new Chinese village, crowded among hundreds of other dispossessed herders. He survives on a...

“God has done great things for us, and we are glad!” said the apostolic prefect. The Church is increasingly present in the country with concrete deeds and works of evangelisation. The path covered leads to today’s challenge: how to increase local vocations. Ulaanbaatar (AsiaNews/UCAN) – The Catholic Church has celebrated 15 years in Mongolia. “God has done great things for us, and we are glad!� said Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, as he took stock of the lessons this period will have for the future.The Filipino prelate from the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM) arrived...

BEIJING, January 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Mongolian professor of history has said America was discovered by the Mongolians and not Christopher Columbus, as is popularly believed, the Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday. Professor Sumiya Jambaldorj from the Genghis Khan University in the Mongolian capital, UIan Bator, performed a study proving the similarity between American place names and words in the Mongolian language. "About 8,000 to 25,000 years ago, Mongols with stone tools crossed the Aleutian Islands and arrived in America," Jambaldorj was reported as saying. The academic said that over 20 place names in the Alaskan Aleutian...

This morning President Bush visited the National Defense University in Washington DC to discuss the Global War on terror. He also talked about the fires in Southern CaliforninaTranscriptStatement on Federal Disaster Assistance for CaliforniaThe President today declared an emergency exists in the State of California and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local response efforts in the area struck by wildfires beginning on October 21, 2007, and continuing. The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused...

An Australian man has completed a three-year journey from Mongolia to Hungary, following in the footsteps of the Mongolian leader Genghis Khan. The journey took more than double the time Mr Cope anticipated When Tim Cope began his 10,000 km (6,200 mile) journey in June 2004 he expected it to take 18 months. However, a stint at home when his father died and other delays meant it took more than double that. Throughout the trek he travelled on horseback and relied on the hospitality of local people, including nomads. He travelled with three horses at any time, one to carry...

BEIJING, Aug 30 (AP) -- Gay sex was punishable by death under Genghis Khan's rule. That was among the findings of Chinese researchers who spent more than a year compiling the legendary Mongolian conqueror's code of laws, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday. His early 13th century empire stretched across Asia all the way to central Europe. Article 48 of the code said men who "committed sodomy shall be put to death," according to experts at a research institute in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia. The experts at the Research Institute of Ancient Mongolian Laws and Sociology said...

India quietly expands ties with Mongolia By Rahul Bedi, New Delhi, Aug 9 : India is quietly expanding its defence and security links with Mongolia in a bid to monitor China's space and military activities in the region. Furthering these links presently are four Indian Army colonels attending the 10-day Khaan Quest 2007 command post exercise (CPX) in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. Co-hosted by Mongolia and the US, the meet ends Aug 10 and is to be followed by the third joint Mongolian-Indian military exercise - Nomadic Elephant - at the Five Hills Training Centre, 65 km west of Ulaanbaatar,...

When he was 19 Garbold Azzaya left his grandparents and their cattle and sheep in the foothills of Bulgan in northern Mongolia and joined the army. Two years later, when he was a sergeant in the 150th Peacekeeping Battalion, he flew from a sub-zero Ulaanbaatar to the 40C (105F) heat of al-Hillah, near the ruins of Babylon, to man the guard towers of Camp Charlie, the headquarters of the multinational division in Iraq. Sixteen days after he arrived Sergeant Azzaya, armed with an AK47 six years older than he was, saw a blue car too close to the wall at...

By CLAIRE BATES - More by this author » Last updated at 16:53pm on 13th July 2007 Comments (4) In terms of height they are worlds apart. The world's tallest man, Bao Xishun today shook hands with He Pingping who claims to be Earth's shortest. But these two men actually hail from the same region of Inner Mongolia. Read more... World's tallest man sweeps bride off her feet at traditional Mongolian wedding Scroll down for more... Mr Xishun shakes hands with Mr Ping Ping While Mr Xishun, 56, towers above everyone at an astonishing 7.9ft, 19-year-old Mr Pingping is a...

World's tallest man marries, sweeps bride off feet ERDOS, China (Reuters) - The world's tallest man married a woman two-thirds his size and almost half his age on Thursday in a traditional Mongolian ceremony sponsored by at least 15 companies hoping to cash in on his fame. Bao Xishun, 56, a 2.36-metre (7-ft, 9-inch) herdsman from China's vast Inner Mongolia region, was carried to his wedding on the back of a mobile yurt pulled by camels at the Genghis Khan holiday resort on the grasslands near Erdos city. Hundreds of people, some travelling for hours, turned up to see Bao...

A historic resolution accepting Tibet as an independent state was passed at the recently concluded three-day International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) Asia - Pacific Committee Meeting held in the Mongolian Capital, Ulaanbaatar. Among other things, the resolution accepts Tibet as an independent State and condemns the illegal occupation of Tibet. The meeting, which was held from June 8 to 10, 2007, was hosted in the in the Official Meeting hall of Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building in Ulaanbaatar. More than 25 delegates representing around 10 different Countries from the Asia - Pacific Region participated in the meeting. Mr....

BANGKOK, Thailand - The next time you take a Thai Airways flight to China, a passenger with a wingspan of 9.2 feet and a taste for rotting carcasses may also be on board. The country's national carrier announced Wednesday that it will transport a juvenile cinereous vulture to Beijing on March 21 to help return the rare bird to its natural environment in Mongolia. The vulture — normally not found in Thailand — has been nursed back to health by veterinarians at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, after apparently getting lost in late December and ending up dehydrated and near death...

The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards. Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China. Attempts to use instruments failed as the dolphins contracted their stomachs. Guinness World Records list Mr Bao, 54, as the world's tallest living man at 2m 36.1cm (7ft 8.95in). Veterinarians turned to Mr Bao after attempts to extract the plastic shards at the aquarium in Fushun, Liaoning Province, had failed. The mammals had...

Celebrating Genghis Khan's Big Year September 29, 2006 by Eric Powell Eight centuries on, the Mongolian conqueror continues to influence culture worldwide. Mongolians love their Khan. Before I traveled to Mongolia last year to report a story on Bronze Age nomads, I'd read about the country's devotion to a man known throughout the rest of the world as the most ruthless and bloodthirsty conqueror in the planet's history. But I was still surprised by the ubiquity of his presence in the capital city Ulaanbaatar (sometimes spelled Ulan Bator, or "Red Hero" in Mongolian). Not only is his visage (sometimes benevolent,...

He's one of the most famous names of the last millennium, and he's the father of his country, which turns 800 years old this year. That's why the D.C. region's Mongolian community would like to see a statue erected of Genghis Khan, the George Washington of Mongolia.

Archaeologists find 2,500-year-old mummy in Mongolia, tattoos and all Thu Aug 24, 2:18 PM ETAFP/DDP/GAI-HO Photo: This undated picture released by the German Archaeological Institute (GAI) shows a mummified body from... BERLIN (AFP) - An international group of archaeologists has unearthed a well-preserved, 2,500-year-old mummy frozen in the snowcapped mountains of Mongolia complete with blond hair, tattoos and a felt hat. The president of the German Archaeological Institute, Hermann Parzinger, hailed the "fabulous find" at a press conference to present the 28-member team's discovery in Berlin. The Scythian warrior was found in June at a height of 2,600 meters (8,500...

In Mongolia archaeologists discover permafrost mummy with fur coat. Written by Ulaanbaatar correspondent Thursday, 17 August 2006 Research workers of the German archaeological institute have discovered a mummy in permafrost at excavation work in Mongolia of approximately 2,500 years old. At the "sensational find" of a sepulchre chamber of the Scythian rider people a crew of the German television sender ZDF were present. In front of the camera the archaeologists opened the sepulchre where the mummy of the Scythian soldier was stored. The mummy, conserved in permafrost, carried still a fur coat and had a decorated gilded head ornament. According...

The United States is all set to hold peacekeeping military exercises with Chinese neighboors Mongolia, Thailand, Bangladesh and India next week. The two-week drill, scheduled start on August 11, is the last in a series of joint military exercises U.S. Armed Forces have conducted to help "improve international cooperation in resolving armed conflicts" and "restoring civilian infrastructure", the U.S. State Department said in a press release today. Participating in the exercises will be about 220 American soldiers, 630 from Mongolia and 242 from India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Fiji and Tonga, the statement said. Observers from China, Japan, Russia, the U.K., France...

Dear Colleague: The extinguishing of a people does not have to be done with troops or death camps. Isn't it genocide to indoctrinate into the contraceptive mentality the youth of a small nation with a low birthrate? Kinder, Gentler Genocide in Mongolia, Joseph A. D'Agostino It is often useful to examine the front page of a major newspaper or home page of a website just to see what is being presented and how. Watching solely the front page of a major newspaper could, over time, tell you the most important biases and lies in which that newspaper engages. Similarly, watching...

World briefing Irresistible rise of the dictators' club Simon Tisdall Tuesday June 6, 2006 Guardian Tony Blair's promotion of shared global values and inclusive institutions in his Georgetown speech last month took little account of the rise and rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Few may yet have heard of it. But out of the east comes a radically different paradigm for 21st-century international organisation, short on idealism and long on hard-headed self-interest. The "universal" principles of "liberty, democracy and justice" lauded by Mr Blair are hardly its driving force. Founded by China, the five-year-old SCO groups together like-minded authoritarian...

IRAN'S controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is flying to Shanghai tomorrow to take part in a summit that will seal China's plans to lead an Asian rival to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation - whose meeting has forced the shutdown of much of the city this week - is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and is preparing to expand its membership well beyond the present China, Russia and four strategic central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui refused at a briefing yesterday to disclose the countries that wished to become observers...

Asia Rising Donald Rumsfeld infamously made a distinction between Old Europe and New Europe. He has been scored ever since for his sweeping and impolitic language, but he wasn't sweeping enough: In geopolitical terms, all of Europe is old, the world's most tourist-friendly museum piece. For the future of high-stakes U.S. diplomacy and of great-power politics, look no further than Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the U.S. It is Asia that should occupy an outsized place in our strategic thinking, and it is Europe that should be the relative afterthought, not the other way around. The media and foreign-policy...

REGULAR meals of mammoth meat helped some early human tribes to expand more quickly than their largely vegetarian contemporaries, according to a genetic study. Human populations in east Asia about 30,000 years ago developed at dramatically different rates, following a pattern that appears to reflect the availability of mammoths and other large game. In the part of the region covering what is now northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia, vast plains teemed with mammals such as mammoths, mastodons and woolly rhinoceroses and the number of early human beings grew between 34,000 and 20,000 years ago. Further south, where the terrain...

BEIJING. April 13 (Interfax-China) - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit, due to be held on June 15 2006, will discuss the issue of renaming and reforming the organization's secretariat, said the SCO's Executive Secretary Zhang Deguang. "The Secretariat was set up at the organization's onset. The SCO has gone through significant change and development, which requires that the Secretariat be reorganized and renamed," Zhang said. The upcoming summit will also address the issue of granting the status of permanent members to individual observer states, at their request, he said. Regarding talks between the SCO defense ministers, set for the...

Seasonal Sandstorms: a Survival Guide Satellite images released by the Korea Meteorological Administration of sandstorms that blanketed the nation between 4:30 a.m. Saturday (top) and 11 a.m. on Sunday. As the annual sandstorms are blown into Korea from the arid wastes of Mongolia, the annual health questions emerge. Are an itchy nose and itchy ears a sign of danger? Will sunglasses protect the eyes? The Chosun Ilbo has the lowdown on surviving seasonal sandstorms. First of all, bear in mind that you inhale as much as three times more dust than normal when the sandstorms descend. And the dust contains...

In the present study, nuclear (autosomal and Y-chromosome short tandem repeats) and mitochondrial (hypervariable region I) ancient DNA data previously obtained from a 2,300-year-old Xiongnu population of the Egyin Gol Valley (south of Lake Baikal in northern Mongolia) (Keyser-Tracqui et al. 2003 Am. J. Hum. Genet. 73:247-260) were compared with data from two contemporary Mongolian populations: one from the same location (Egyin Gol Valley plus a perimeter of less than 100 km around the valley), and one from the whole of Mongolia. The principal objective of this comparative analysis was to assess the likelihood that genetic continuity exists between ancient...

Bishop Sees Hope as Government Opens Up to Democracy KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, MARCH 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Mongolia's only Catholic bishop says there is more hope for the Church in the country as the government opens up to democracy. "When the first Catholic missionaries, one from Belgium and two from the Philippines, arrived here in 1992, almost nobody in Mongolia had ever heard about Jesus," Bishop Wenceslao Padilla said during a recent visit to Aid to the Church in Need. "Since then, we have established three parishes with currently about 300 baptized Mongolian Catholics," said the 56-year-old prelate. "And now that the...

Mongolia's former communists met yesterday to discuss who should become the next prime minister after the central Asian country was thrown into disarray with the ouster of reform-minded Tsakhia Elbegdorj. About 250 members of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) gathered in central Ulan Bator to choose a candidate to lead the impoverished, landlocked nation, a party official said. "They will discuss whom to nominate as the next prime minister," the official said, a leading member of the party's youth organization. He said the talks began shortly before 4pm. The most likely choice was MPRP chairman Miyegombo Enkhbold, a former...

Indian elephants preparing to perform in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator are drinking daily doses of vodka to help them survive temperatures as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius, a media report said. The elephants are working for the Moscow State Circus, which on Sunday plans to hold its first show in Mongolia in 25 years, the UB Post newspaper said in a report posted on its website. The elephants had to travel on trucks from Moscow to Ulan Bator because they were too large to be transported by rail with the rest of the circus. To help the...

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) _ Some 1,500 protesters swarmed the city's central square and a main government building on Thursday, one day after the country's biggest political party pulled out of its 15-month-old ruling coalition. The demonstration began around noon (0400 GMT) when the crowd gathered in the city's central square. After two hours, they moved to the headquarters of the Mongolian People's Revolution Party, which pulled out of the government Wednesday, accusing the leadership of failing to fight corruption and worsening poverty. There, the protesters kicked and pounded on the main glass doors until they shattered. They entered...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President Bush, sounding hoarse (as though he has a cold), delivered his weekly radio address from the ranch in Crawford today, as he and his family continued to enjoy the holiday together. Former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush spent Thanksgiving at the ranch along with their granddaughters, Jenna and Barbara. Even on a holiday, President Bush had work to do. He has frozen the U.S. assets of 128 people and 33 entities deemed to be "hindering democratic reform in Zimbabwe," including President Robert Mugabe. On Thanksgiving Day, President Bush said that he is...

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush conclude their far eastern tour by visiting Mongolia being the first serving President to visit that country. After visiting Mongolia they flew back the USA. The Vice President gave a speech on the War on Terror at the American Enterprise Insitute in Washington. Last Friday Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld concluded his Australian visit and on his return to the US did the rounds of Sunday talk shows. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia - In the wake of congressional unrest over his war policies, President Bush thanked Mongolia on Monday for standing with him in Iraq and compared the struggle against Islamic radicalism to this country's battle against communism. Bush said Mongolia has stood with the United States as "brothers in the cause of freedom." Bush's four-hour stop in Mongolia was the first ever by an American president. The brief visit was a reward for Mongolia's pursuit of democracy and support for the U.S. fight against terrorism.

In the first visit by a sitting US president to Mongolia, George W. Bush announced that he was in Ulan Bator to deliver an “important international message�, then after a pause, added: “Secretary Rumsfeld asked me to check on his horse.� His comment got a knowing laugh from the watching Mongolian elite, dominated by officers festooned with gold medals. When Mr Rumsfeld visited Mongolia last month, the defence secretary received a horse as a gift, which he named Montana. However, Mr Bush had a more serious reason for being here: to highlight Mongolia’s symbolism as an emerging democracy in the...

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For Immediate ReleaseNovember 19, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio     APEC Summit 2005     President's Trip to Asia      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I am currently traveling in Asia on a trip to Japan, South Korea, China, and Mongolia. I'm visiting with friends and allies in the region to discuss issues vital to the future of all Americans. One important issue for American workers, entrepreneurs, businesses, and farmers is to access foreign markets for our goods, services, and farm products. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea, we have advanced America's case for free and fair trade.  Radio Address 20052004200320022001  Radio...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The President and First Lady are spending a quiet weekend at the White House. Tomorrow they leave for a seven-day trip to visit enthusiastic allies Japan and Mongolia. They also will visit China and South Korea, where the President will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Conference summit in Busan. The 21 member states are expected to agree to support free-trade talks at the World Trade Organization. In contrast to the usual happy talk that precedes presidential visits, President Bush made little effort to downplay differences with China. "It's a mixed relationship," he told a reporter...

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has recently done a whirlwind world tour from China to Lithuania stopping along the way in South Korea and Mongolia. See the following link for more details of trip Travels with Rumsfeld The following is a pictorial record of his travels, there are also some more photos at the above link

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) - A chat with a Buddhist monk. An encounter with a gift horse named Montana. A peek inside a yurt, the traditional felt tent home. A word with Mongolian veterans of the war in Iraq. No outpost is too distant, no audience too small for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, globe-trotting to bolster support for Iraq, Afghanistan and the wider fight against terrorism. The roaming Rumsfeld dropped in Saturday for an official visit with senior leaders of this once communist nation of about 2.7 million, home of the legendary horseman-warrior, Genghis Khan. Rumsfeld wound up...

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia, Oct. 22, 2005 – A group of almost 200 Mongolian Army soldiers got a personal thank you today from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rumsfeld, who made a stop here during an eight-day trip to China, South Korea and Lithuania, praised Mongolia for its support in the war on terror. "You are a sovereign nation and you made a choice," Rumsfeld told the group, assembled in an auditorium in Mongolia's Government House. "It showed political courage and it showed personal courage on the part of your troops." But that decision, he...

Aerial photography sheds light on Kublai Khan's capital BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Aerial photography has helped shed new light on the capital of Kublai Khan's empire, also known as Xuanadu in Marco Polo's Travel Notes. The description of the metropolis Shangdu (Xuanadu) by Marco Polo some 700 years ago has somewhat been confirmed by aerial photography, Yang Lin, director of the center of remote sensing and aerial photography of China's National Museum, told Xinhua on Saturday. "We can see the spectacular city with its scale and the density of buildings," Yang said. The ruins have been overgrown with...

US President George W. Bush's personal interest in Mongolia might be considered limited. Yet, when the country's then leader visited Washington last year, the US president enthusiastically declared "a new era of comprehensive partnership." Mongolia's 2.6 million people occupy an area of 1.6 million km2 (the UK has nearly 60 million people in 246,000km2). While Mongolia has oil, its main resource is 20 million sheep and goats. But ruminants were not the reason Bush was all riled up. Mongolia is geographically sandwiched between China and Russia. And it has been steadily drawn into what Walter Russell Mead of the Council...

GACHUURT, Mongolia - For most of her 53 years, she has lived as a nomadic herder under Mongolia's wide blue skies, raising nine children, surviving snowstorms and drought, and hauling the family's white felt tent to a new site each season in search of grass for their sheep. But never did Tsahiriin Daariimaa think life would be as hard as it is now, on the eve of Sunday's presidential elections. With the end of communism in Mongolia 15 years ago, Daariimaa said she and her husband are no longer guaranteed monthly wages from a government farm, but must sell their...

Ulaan Baatar (AsiaNews) – Since May 1st, the Assumption of Our Lady’s Church in Ulaan Baatar has a new tool for evangelisation in Mongolia. Groups of Korean Catholics living in the landlocked country have set up two Legio Mariae presidia—the Legio Mariae or the Legion of Mary is an association of lay people devoted to prayer, charity work and evangelisation funded in 1921 by Irishman Frank Duff. The ceremony establishing the Legio Mariae in Mongolia took place at the Korean community’s 6 pm mass. And the presidia took the names of ‘See of the Wisdom’ for men and ‘Our...

Sunken Fires Menace Land and Climate January 15, 2002 Fires are burning in thousands of underground coal seams from Pennsylvania to Mongolia, releasing toxic gases, adding millions of tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and baking the earth until vegetation shrivels and the land sinks. Scientists and government agencies are starting to use heat-sensing satellites to map the fires and try new ways to extinguish them. But in many instances -- particularly in Asia -- they are so widespread and stubborn that miners simply work around the flames. There is geological evidence that grassland and forest fires, lightning...

Gomphos had long hindlimbs, just like a modern rabbit The fossilised skeleton of a rabbit-like creature that lived 55 million years ago has been found in Mongolia, Science magazine reports. Gomphos elkema, as it is known, is the oldest member of the rabbit family ever to be found. Gomphos was surprisingly similar to modern rabbits - and probably hopped around on its elongated hindlimbs. The fossil adds weight to the idea that rabbit-like creatures first evolved no earlier than 65 million years ago. "This skeleton is very complete," co-author Robert Asher, of Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany, told the BBC News...