Adventure Ausrama Blog

The Green Revolution occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. High-yielding types of wheat and rice were developed. It impacted greatly on the developing world. Chemical fertilizers and managed irrigation added to output. With the population rising on the planet, we badly need a new green revolution. Work is being done on rice specifically modified to produce heavy grain heads that will grow in cabinets where a perfect natural environment is created. For ten years, universities in eight countries have been pushing toward this brave new world of food production. The research consortium is headed by Oxford University and is funded by Melinda and Bill Gates. The aim is improved food production so investigative barriers have been broken: rice is being re-engineered with genes from corn and maize. Less fertilizer and water will be needed. Current Yield will be increase by 50 percent. In Western countries wheat is by-far the most consumed crop. However, more rice is eaten world-wide than any othe...

The fossil of a fish much like a piranha appears to be the earliest flesh-eating fish. It was found in Germany. Having teeth similar to a piranha it lived 150 million years ago. Remains of its victims were found nearby. It mainly ate the fins of fish. Evolving to consume only fins was a survival mechanism. Fish that were attacked did not die immediately. They survived to provide a meal another day. The hunter's teeth were triangular. With serrated edges, they were ideal for cutting flesh. Initially, bony fish could only bite chunks of flesh out of prey or swallow them whole. Slicing of flesh appeared much later. The hunting method of the fossilized fish was identical to modern-day piranhas. Injuries to the attacked were the same. The ancient specimen was a sea dweller. Piranhas live only in fresh water. Oddly, some piranhas are vegetarians mainly eating seeds. They are a normal food for South American people who say they taste like any other fish. It is not understood why they...

Life may have begun on land not in the sea, Multicellular fossils, ancestors of marine life, lived on land. These were microbial colonies like lichen. Ediacaron fossils over 600 million years old have been found in South Australia. High-tech investigative technology showed the ancient forebears lived on land. The soil they were in had "old elephant skin' over it. This phenomenon forms in sandstone beds. It is much like the surface of modern sandy deserts with close wavy lines. Ediacaran fossils were direct ancestors of marine animals, not mammals. The chain of life leading to humans came during the Cambrian era long after these old multicellular fossils. Apparently, the presence of salt and even too much water are barriers to initial life formation. There was more animals diversity on land than in the sea during the Cambrian. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http:/...

The largest animals ever to roam the Earth were sauropod dinosaurs in the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras.  They did not eat meat.  Despite having to constantly eat grass and leaves the heaviest reached 50 tonnes. The periods going back from the present are Cenozoic, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic and Paleozoic.  The last four are grouped into the Mesozoic era.  It is in this general broad time frame that the gigantic dinosaur arose and died off. Though for the most part these creatures walked with their heads in an horizontal position, for feeding it is presumed that they reached up vertically to feed on young branches and leaves high in the trees.  Other herbivores could not reached up to this rich food source.  Mammals had not yet risen.  Giraffes appeared much later. Having plenty of food meant the sauropods could evolve and become very large.  Their bones were light and with a small head the neck became long.  They swallowed fo...