Adventure Ausrama Blog

"Come oooon..n..n..n..n... Give me one! Give me one!" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

Dinosaurs did not start out being large. Probably the oldest dinosaur ever found going back 243 million years was only as big as the average dog. This is only supposition of course. Some scientists say this animal, the Asilisaurus , was only a relative of dinosaurs. Research into the matter is difficult. Only fossil fragments have been found. The specimen in question called the Asilisaurus lived in Tanzania. Another similar animal was found in the Tanzanian Manda Beds in the 1930s. Named a Nyasasaurus , it had a crest of bone along 30 per cent of its upper arm where large chest muscles would have been attached. This is a major feature of dinosaurs. Many kinds of dinosaur seem to have suddenly appeared 10 million years after the Tanzanian fossils. This indicates a common origin from one creature. This ancestor could have been the early dinosaur Nyasasaurus or its relative the Asilisaurus . http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blo...

"It's a bit of a squeeze, but it will be comfy." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

Climate change is making butterflies more active. They are coming out 10 days earlier than they used to in spring. The change has been caused by a 0.91ºC increase in temperature in Melbourne. All species that interrelate with the Common Brown butterfly ( Heteronymph Merope ) breed earlier as well. A group of academics funded by the Australian Research Council has researched this issue. Members of the group studied caterpillars bred at the old and new temperature in the laboratory and noted the change. Observation of the butterfly in the wild has confirmed that caterpillars are changing into butterflies earlier. If butterflies are coming out sooner then other insects must be doing so as well. This means that crops will have to be planted earlier to be fertilized by insects. Bees are not the only insects needed to grow crops.  People in cities do not understand the importance of pollination on food crops. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustrali...

"Am I doing this right?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

Contrary to popular belief crocodiles don't have scales on their heads. They are just cracks in the thick skin on their skulls. The rest of the body does have scales. How the animal develops biologically is interesting. Each scale forms from a discrete scale primordium. For example, scales at similar points each side of the body are identical. The deep lines on the head are unique to each crocodile, like a fingerprint. Indeed, the lines are not symmetrical. Now it is possible to identify young crocodiles without tagging, to follow their growth. Having no primordia on a crocodile's head is functional. Mounds of skin build up and form an active memrocobrane. Receptors detect fine vibrations in water. This helps in hunting. It has been hypothesised that fingerprints form in the same way as the "cracks" on the heads of crocodiles. This unregulated gene formation building on earlier skin development is probably the reason why identical twins have different fin...

Evidence of alien landings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos