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Post-apocalyptic 'beaver' thrived after dinosaurs died
https://ca.news.yahoo.com ^
| 10-05-2015
| By By Will Dunham
Posted on 10/05/2015 2:36:03 PM PDT by Red Badger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world had been wrecked. An asteroid impact in Mexico compounded by colossal volcanism in India 66 million years ago had killed about three-quarters of Earth's species including the dinosaurs.
But relatively soon afterward, a plucky critter that looked like a beaver was thriving, exemplifying the resilience of the mammals that would arise from the margins of the animal kingdom to become Earth's dominant land creatures.
Scientists on Monday announced the discovery in northwestern New Mexico's badlands of the fossil remains of Kimbetopsalis simmonsae, a plant-eating, rodent-like mammal boasting buck-toothed incisors like a beaver that lived just a few hundred thousand years after the mass extinction, a blink of the eye in geological time.
Kimbetopsalis, estimated at 3 feet long (1 meter), would have been covered in fur and possessed large molar teeth with rows of cusps used to grind down plants.
Asked what someone's impression of Kimbetopsalis might be, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science curator of paleontology Thomas Williamson said, "They would probably think something like, 'Hey, look at that little beaver! Why doesnt it have a flat tail?"
It lived in a lush area of forests, rivers, streams and lakes as Earth's ecosystems began to recover from the catastrophe that ended the Cretaceous Period and opened the Paleocene Epoch.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: beaver; catastrophism; dinosaurs; godsgravesglyphs; paleontology
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To: Red Badger
I will sleep well tonight.
2
posted on
10/05/2015 2:37:48 PM PDT
by
boomop1
(Term limits is the only source of change.)
To: Red Badger
3
posted on
10/05/2015 2:37:52 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
To: Red Badger
gonna have to watch this thread. bkmk
4
posted on
10/05/2015 2:37:57 PM PDT
by
Uncle Miltie
(We must first defeat RINOs before we can even encounter a Democrat to fight)
To: DannyTN
5
posted on
10/05/2015 2:38:16 PM PDT
by
knarf
(I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
To: Red Badger
Nothing better than good Beaver.
6
posted on
10/05/2015 2:38:30 PM PDT
by
boomop1
(Term limits is the only source of change.)
To: boomop1
“Post-apocalyptic ‘beaver’”
I may have seen one of those once, though I was very drunk at the time.
7
posted on
10/05/2015 2:39:05 PM PDT
by
Uncle Miltie
(We must first defeat RINOs before we can even encounter a Democrat to fight)
To: Red Badger
Where’ s the Costanza popcorn Gif?
8
posted on
10/05/2015 2:39:23 PM PDT
by
GQuagmire
To: knarf
Please tell me this is not a Hillary thread.
‘Cause even post apocalypse ...
9
posted on
10/05/2015 2:40:01 PM PDT
by
Uncle Miltie
(We must first defeat RINOs before we can even encounter a Democrat to fight)
To: Red Badger; beaversmom
10
posted on
10/05/2015 2:40:32 PM PDT
by
Diana in Wisconsin
(I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
To: Red Badger
Ward, weren’t you a little hard on the Paleobeaver last night? she said stonily.
11
posted on
10/05/2015 2:41:27 PM PDT
by
tet68
( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
To: Red Badger
Dodging an asteroid. That’s a close shave.
12
posted on
10/05/2015 2:42:23 PM PDT
by
Raycpa
To: Red Badger
13
posted on
10/05/2015 2:42:39 PM PDT
by
Diana in Wisconsin
(I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
To: boomop1
If it weren’t for the beavers we wouldn’t be here...................
14
posted on
10/05/2015 2:44:02 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
To: Uncle Miltie
That would be a “Post-Apoplectic” beaver...............
15
posted on
10/05/2015 2:44:51 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
16
posted on
10/05/2015 2:45:40 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
To: Red Badger
17
posted on
10/05/2015 2:46:03 PM PDT
by
Diana in Wisconsin
(I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
To: Red Badger
I’ve got a million of ‘em!
18
posted on
10/05/2015 2:46:47 PM PDT
by
Diana in Wisconsin
(I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
To: GQuagmire
19
posted on
10/05/2015 2:47:16 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
We’ll be here all night ! TRY THE VEAL!....................
20
posted on
10/05/2015 2:48:11 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(READ MY LIPS: NO MORE BUSHES!...............)
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