Adventure Ausrama Blog

Arriving Europeans plundered Australia for human bones to show in their museums. They took skeletal remains of thousands of Aboriginals. Not surprising the descendants of the deceased Australians want to bury them in this country. Because most "specimens" were taken over recent centuries, the DNA in them is still detectable. Tests are being done to compare DNA from bones with Aboriginals living today in order to find matches. The work is being done by Griffith University in Queensland. Though only a few matchups have been done in the world - remains were returned to North American Indians using the method - native people are interested in doing it. Tapij Wales an elder of the Thanynakwith people in Cape York requested tests be done. The main problem is that many claiming Aboriginality today have a mix of European and Aboriginal genes. Moreover, many natives were removed by European settlers to other regions. The arrival of new settlers was a violent period in Australia...

When a platypus specimen was first viewed in England it was a sensation, Many people including scientists said that it was a fake: it was a combination of parts from other animals. However, it did exist in the Australian niche where it evolved. I should be noted that this was in an era when the English were still struggling with Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. The majority of the population still believed that God created Man. The Garden of Eden was foremost in their minds. Today, the platypus' existence is accepted without question. There has not been a lot of fossil evidence about how it came to be. Recently, this gap has been filled by a fossil of an ancient duck-billed marine reptile. Like most fossils which illuminate family trees it was found in China. Eohupehsuchus brevicollis lived 248 million years ago. Only two other examples of this creature have been brought to light, both in other parts of China. Like the platypus it was small f...