Dino Dreams Shattered

There can hardly be one of us (well from the male half of the population), who don't harbour a secret dream about the Jurassic park being true ... that mosquito's trapped in amber will allow us to reconstitute DNA strands of the mighty beasts of yesteryear ... whether that's the Woolly Mammoth or the Tyrannosaurus Rex .... but so far its not happened.

Mammoth Reconstruction Is Still A Dream

Creationist In White House

How long have we been on the earth?

Well  the Christian scholars in bible studies (Bishop Usher et al).....have always said about 6,000 years old (as do many 'intelligent design' proponents as they are largely one and the same groups) ... Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC to be precise (although other Bible  scholars have come up with date ranges of 3761 BC (Jose ben Halafta), 3952 BC (the venerable Bede), and 3949 BC (Usher's near-contemporary Scaliger), even scientists such as Johannes Kepler or Sir Isaac Newton  had a go (c 3992 BC and c. 4000 BC respectively).

Modern science on the other hand, puts the age of the Earth as billions of years, and modern humanity alone in the hundreds of thousands of years (that's ignoring the Neanderthals and earlier direct lineage human species). The latest reports on rock art in Spain and Portugal dates some of it at about 40,000 years ago.

40,000 yr Old Hand Rock Art - Spain

Now either the science is just completely and utterly wrong, and the world was created around 6,000 years ago, or the creationists are complete nut cases (I know what I think). What makes this interesting is that all US Presidents have to profess a belief in a God (usually Christian .... although many still believe that Obama is a secret Muslim), but can't actually say out loud whether they believe the Bible is right or wrong on the matter.

Creationist Noah and His Ark Full Of Dinosaurs

This belief in the creationist theory rises significantly the more Protestant the Christians get. So for example in the US only 8% of Jehovahs Witnesses believe in the theory of Evolution, and only 22% of Mormons .....  which means that about 20% of Americans claim that the Bible is the only correct explanation for the origin of the Earth and humans. ... we have plenty of these creationists here in the UK, but they only ever turn up on blogs and discussion websites.

But what makes this really interesting is that Mitt Romney, Republican Presidential nominee, is from a very high profile and important Mormon family (his great, great grandfather Miles was one of the earliest converts to Mormonism in England in 1837) ... maybe he will be the first to go public and declare himself a creationist?

Age of the Dinosaurs Returns

Everyone loves dinosaurs, and TV programs and films about them are always popular, especially with children ... however we never really understand how big they truly were.

Tyrannosaurs Rex  .... bath time

This picture, makes you realise just how truly massive these beasts were  ..... one snap of the jaws, and the man on the ladder would simply be gone.

There are a number of theories about why they got so big. But its likely to be a combination of a much warmer earth, with higher CO2 levels, which allowed for fantastic plant growth, which in turn provided more Oxygen, a combination which meant plant eaters could grow bigger, and the meat eaters in turn were forced by evolutionary pressure to get bigger as their prey grew larger.

Oddly, the world is now warming up, plants will grow bigger and ......... well while we are here, nothing. But should we disappear, then who knows. Maybe the age of the dinosaurs is nearer than we think.

Modern Dinosaurs

Recently Dinosaur Archaeologists uncovered the largest land predator to have ever lived - the Spinosaurus of the late Cretaceous period. At 17m (56ft) long, and weighing 11 tonnes, it is the largest land predator ever known.


Spinosaurus - At 17m (56ft) long, and weighing 11 tonnes.
The largest land predator ever known.

Move forward several hundred million years to the Philippines, which is a home to saltwater crocodiles, which can reach prodigious lengths ....  they can grow to 23ft (7m) and can live for more than 100 years. In a story much reported around the world, the local villagers of Bunawan have captured a veritable monster of a crocodile, 6.4m (21ft) in length and weighing 1,075kg (2,370lb). Impressive or what?


Monster Crocodile in Philippines

Well Josefina de Leon, wildlife division chief of the environment ministry's protected areas and wildlife bureau was ...  "Based on existing records, the largest that had been captured previously was 5.48m (18ft) long," she told the AFP. The captured crocodile will now become the main attraction at a planned nature park in the area.

But in a nice twist to the tale, the crocodile hunter Rollie Sumiller who led the capture said this reptile may not be the killer they have been looking for after at least one attack on a human was reported in the area.

"We're not really sure if this is the man-eater, because there have been other sightings of other crocodiles in the area," he told AFP ..... so don't go swamp fishing too soon.