beavers the size of bears

Aaron L · Jul 18, 2003

Dang, this is a cool read.

Eben · Jul 18, 2003

Reading this thread is like watching the tech-scenes in The Next Generation.

Hand of Evil · Jul 18, 2003

This link was posted some time ago but topics come back...

MegaFauna

http://www.kokogiak.com/megafauna/default.asp

Fenes 2 · Jul 18, 2003

Ravellion said:
They have found fossils in Scandinavia of sabretooth cats. Your normal, average, housecat sized creature (only slightly larger)... with sabreteeth. It preyed on deer and the like.

Just today my sister told me her cat had a dispute with a deer and drove it off. I'll have to tell her she should check the cat's teeth.

Mark · Jul 18, 2003

"Well, that's no ordinary rabbit!" - Tim

Pickaxe · Jul 18, 2003

That's fascinating! Do you know any references for that?

There was a short review in either Science or Nature at the time that the latest terrestrial whale discoveries were published, either 2001 or 2002. I'm actually working with that literature now, so I'll edit this post with a more specific reference when I get back from work.

--Axe

Edit: Here' s the ref for the journal:

Science vol. 293, 21 September 2001

The article I have at hand is by Gingerich et al. starting on p. 2239. There's another article describing a similar (but completely independent, believe it or not) discovery by Thewissen et al. in Nature. There's also a News and Views kind of review by someone (deMuizon?) near the front of the issue, but I can't remember if it's the Science or the Nature.

Here's the full ref for the Nature article:

Thewissen, J., E. Williams, L. Roe, and S. Hussain. (2001) Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls. Nature 413: 277-281.

EDITED AGAIN: In order to add the info for the Nature article.

Bob5th · Jul 18, 2003

If you want ideas for some weird animals watch The Future is Wild on Discovery if it's still showing. Only saw part of it once but they had odd animals.

Utrecht · Jul 18, 2003

Bran Blackbyrd said:
Someone mentioned the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine). Some people say there are still Thylacines roaming the outback. It IS a big place...

After all the Celeocanth IS extinct

Wait, they found some - well never mind.

As an interesting Game note, there is a Really cool game called American Megafauna by Sierra Madre Games. While not necessarily "fun" in the traditional sense - it is fun in the geeky paleontologist sort of way

Desdichado · Jul 19, 2003

Bran Blackbyrd said:
Someone mentioned the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine). Some people say there are still Thylacines roaming the outback. It IS a big place...

So is the American West. That doesn't mean I think Bigfoot's hiding out there somewhere.