Adventure Ausrama Blog

Australia has a new dinosaur and a handsome devil he is. He has the necessary accouterments such as spiny tail, armour with spines and small brain.   Unfortunately, he has a beak not teeth. Well, you can't have everything.  Oh, and he was only as big as a sheep. Kinbarrasaurus ieversi is a member of the ankylosaur family, an early type, a new genus. The animal foraged for leafy material and grass. The fossil specimen remained on the shelf from 1989 until now. It is complete showing fossilized skin texture and stomach contents. Though ankylosaur, kunbarrasaurus has features unlike any other animal. Its ear and nasal structure is unique, though it is similar to the tuatara reptile. apparently, it helped to keep the creature cool. The skull was easy to study because there was no armour covering it. Dinosaurs usually have armour fused to the skull. Anthropology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia Funny Animal Photos Funny Weird Things Ar...

There are serious problems involved in breeding top class cattle for the market. Like in breeding budgerigars recessive genes coming together can cause some young to be victims of early death. In creating the "perfect" animal, weaknesses have been seen in Angus cattle. The disease is call Development Duplication (DD). Its general name is polymelia. Embryos are dying and some are born with extra limbs. The disease is common in all cattle, but selective breeding has increase its prominence in Angus cattle. Some affected animals have had operations to remove extra limbs. This is complicating the issue particularly if they are used for breeding. Tests are available to identify the recessive gene causing the problem. It occurs at a rate of 3 per cent in the Angus breed. Pairing a sire with the recessive to a dam without it produces a normal calf. The recessive gene is passed on, however, not eliminated. It is believed that the presence of the gene has improved growth a...

We have large brains due to social interaction.  In early societies culture meant things had to be remembered.  Another important function leading to large brains was tools use, though chimpanzees use tools.  The most intelligent people would inevitably become leaders and have the choice of mates, thus passing on their genes. Intelligence and brain size are of course interdependent.  Animals such as dolphins and elephants have social structures.  They are also very intelligent.  Higher intelligence appears to be naturally selected for in any species. Apparently, when society develops intelligence must increase otherwise an individual will be "put upon" by the smarter ones.  There is some evidence that really clever individuals tend to be disruptive to a society.  The naive are certainly at a disadvantage. A thorn in the side of the above theory is that some highly structured societies are composed of small creatures with tiny brains....

People living in different places "breed" at different rates. Reasons put forward are level of income, education of women and access to contraceptives. Family size has also changed at various places in history. The adventurous ones who ventured far and wide had more children than those who remained in established urban centers. This is particularly the case for British and French settlers in North America. Resources were more plentiful in new unsettled regions. For example, buffalo and native animals could easily be shot and eaten on the spot. New settlers were also healthier, being active for most of their lives. An examination of Canadian records since 1608 shows that couples on the outer edge of expansion had 20 per cent more children than those remaining in established regions. They also married younger. The pioneer contribution to the gene pool was four time greater than those who settled in populated areas. Church records were the main data source. If the numb...