Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by sexually vulnerable CPR dummy
Did prehistoric birds migrate? and how is it that migratory birds can detect magnetic fields when humans have to use metal devices?
Good question. I'm assuming several species did, not much different from nowadays looking for a better climate to breed and might have probably done so in flocks. I couldn't find information regarding this issue in terms of finding fossils in different areas, so I'll continue searching.
As for the second question, while not all birds actually depend on magnetic fields to guide themselves (though a large amount do), it is rather unknown though there are theories.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vizier
Good question. I'm assuming several species did, not much different from nowadays looking for a better climate to breed and might have probably done so in flocks. I couldn't find information regarding this issue in terms of finding fossils in different areas, so I'll continue searching.
As for the second question, while not all birds actually depend on magnetic fields to guide themselves (though a large amount do), it is rather unknown though there are theories.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by yawanur
What other bonus senses from the animal kingdom might we have in small amounts? I want to shock my friends like an electric eel!
The only one that comes to mind is human echolocation. Some blind people have the ability of navigating using clicking sounds and sensing the location of things with the echo from that.
Things like electroception or magnetoception are pretty much reserved to some animals, though, like I mentioned in my last post, it might be possible for humans to have a minuscule amount of magnetoception.
__________________
Pursue happiness with diligence.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrY
How did plate tectonics factor into the prehistoric diet or even evolution of species.
Pangea and on.
You name it; weather changes, climate phenomena, the creation of different biomes and ecological habitats for different species to grow and evolve or adapt or go extinct..the opening and closing of new seas which could have influenced things like ice ages or droughts or monsoons.
__________________
Pursue happiness with diligence.
The story is simple: a bunch of black rats almost wiped out a bunch of gigantic bugs on a little island far, far away from most of us. A few dedicated scientists, passionate about biological diversity, risked their lives to keep the bugs going. For the bugs to get their homes and their future back doesn't depend on scientists any more. They've done their job. Now it's up to the folks on Howe Island.
Quote:
It felt like stepping back into the Jurassic age, when insects ruled the world.
The following users say "It is so good to hear it!":
I posted up pictures on totse once, it was a good 9 to even as much as 12 inches long. Great purple and violet wing flaps, and able to fly really well (which is quite a sight). I think I want to go look for some more now, knowing that they're endemic to this area..
In other news there's a good reason 'mam do the hump mam do the hump' is ranked No. 2 on US charts, No. 1 on Uk charts, and No. 69 on Australian charts- because, what the fuck is this shit?
__________________
"As far as I'm concerned massive fast food outlets are like Amercan mosques." - M00fire
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
A little sample from my midterm. let me know if you want more
Quote:
1) A) List and define three synapomorphies (shared derived characters), which indicate that Gnathostomata is a monophyletic group (explain what this means) (3 pts.).
Monophyletic: Single branch or clade all derived from one common ancestor.
Jaws only present in organisms with neural crest cells (influence hox genes?), leteral line system, and an enlarged stomach
2) Briefly trace the evolutionary history of the third (hyoid) gill arch from jawless fishes through to its function in tetrapods (4 pts).
The hyoid arch starts with the gnathostomes, and is assumed to be an exapted gill arch. Continued in placoderms with their autostylic jaws. Next step was in sharks (chondricthyes) and their amphistylic or later hyostylic suspension of upper jaw. Acanthodii also had an amphistylic jaw through to the Permian. In tetrapods it became part of their “neck” in most cases.
__________________
Forty Seven
R.I.P. &t
Last edited by 47 47 47; 03-03-2012 at 12:36 AM.
The following users say "It is so good to hear it!":
A Siberian research institute has joined forces with the world’s most controversial geneticist to clone the woolly mammoth – a species that has been extinct for thousands of years.
Vasily Vasilyev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic and Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation have signed an agreement, and say they hope to produce a living mammoth within six years.
The union is no accident.
Although mammoths once roamed Earth, they survived the longest in Northern Siberia, with the last dying out less than 2,000 years ago – some 8,000 years after they disappeared elsewhere. The cold climate also meant that they were best preserved in that part of the world, meaning Russian research institutes like Sakha University have access to more frozen mammoth parts than any other.
Hwang is one of the world’s leading geneticists, and a celebrity in his native country. He was the first to clone a dog (Snuppy the Afghan hound, born in 2005) but was later given a suspended prison sentence for embezzlement and ethical violations when it was found out that he had faked some of his research.
South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk (L) shakes hands with Vasily Vasiliev, vice director of North-Eastern Federal University of Russia's Sakha Republic (AFP Photo / Jung Yeon-Je)
But despite the perfect match, the cloning is anything but straightforward – Russian and Japanese scientists have been working on cloning the mammoth for the best part of a decade, and the two countries already have a world-class team at Sakha University.
One of the problems is that the DNA needs to be perfectly preserved. Hwang said that finding undamaged tissue would be the “primary difficulty,” and labeled the job “a tough task.”
If scientists did isolate perfect DNA from the mammoth, it would need to be implanted into the eggs of an elephant. The embryos would then be carried by an African elephant – the closest surviving relative of the mammoth – during a 22-month pregnancy.
But despite the difficulty, seeing the creatures – famed for their colorful fur and 5 meter-long curved tusks – alive on Earth again would constitute perhaps the greatest scientific achievement of the century.
If the project is successful, it would be the second time an extinct animal has been “resurrected.” The Pyrenean ibex – a type of wild goat that became extinct in 2000 – was cloned three years ago, but the billy died within minutes.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
My final exam
1) Compare and contrast the adaptations for:
A) flight in pterosaurs vs. birds vs. bats (9 pts)
Features birds pterosaurs bat________
(fingers involved in
wing support) _____
sternum
body insulation:
pelvic modifications:
B) swimming in plesiosaurs vs. ichthyosaurs vs. whales:
Features plesiosaurs ichthyosaurs whales______
modification of
hands and feet
mode of propulsion
2) List a morphological specialization and give its probable functional significance for each of the following features/organisms: (10 pts.)
a) jaws in mosasaurs:
b) jaws in snakes
c) teeth/jaws in hadrosaurs:
d) cervical vertebrae in Tanystropheus
e) tail in neornithes:
f) canines in cats
g) scapulae in turtles:
h) teeth/tongue in anteaters
i) incisors in rodents
k) stomachs in giraffes
3) Define the following terms, discuss their evolutionary significance, and name a group that possesses each (18 pts., 1.5 each)
a) Pachyostoseus
b) Thyroidal fenestra
c) Articular and quadrate
d) Double occipital condyles
e) Mesaxonic foot
f) Hypsodonty
g) Pygostyle
h) Carnassial
i) Streptostyly
j) Tribosphenic
k) Coronoid process
l) Pineal opening
4a) List a shared derived character of the pelvis of all dinosaurs (1 pts)
b) how do pelvises of the two main groups of dinosaurs differ? (2 pt)
c) List and define four OTHER unique, derived traits of ornithischian dinosaurs (2 pts.)
d) Extra credit list 4 specific examples of each order seen at the Cincinnati Museum Center
5) List the name and age of each of the following (4 pts.):
a) thick massive headed (head butting) dinocephalian:
b) herbivorous synapsid with long neural spines
c) massive Permian anapsid with grotesque knobby head
d) herbivorous,archosauromorph with parrot-like beak, slicing teeth
e) horned ornithischian
f) duck-billed ornithischian with unusual headgear
g) early herbivorous saurischian with moderately long neck
h) group probably ancestral to birds:
6) Describe the following taxa in a few words and give age(s). (Write these like the choices of a multiple choice question Do 22; 11 pts.)
a) Eosimias
b) Tanystropheus
c) Lystrosaurus
d) Pterodactyloid
e) Scleromochlus
f) Coelurosauravus
g) Phytosaur
h) Tuatara
i) Palaeognathan
j) Lycaenops
k) Cetartiodactyla
l) Placodont
m) Multituberculate
n) Australodelphia
o) Xenarthra
p) Diarthrognathus
q) Rauisuchian
r) Pachypleurosaur
s) Cryptodira
t) Pliosaur
u) Xenarthran
v) Chalicothere
w) Pareiosaur
x) Hovasaurus
y) Phorusrhacus
6) List four differences between each of the following paired groups (6 pts.)
a) Lepidosaurs vs. Archosaurs
b) Placentals vs. Marsupials
c) Dinosaurs vs. Crocodiles
7) Compare these three groups: (12 pts.)
Euryapsida Diapsida Synapsida_________Anapsida
Diagnostic
Features
(list bones
involved)
__________________________________________________ ___________________________
Major extinct
taxa included
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
Major living taxa
evolved from each
(extra credit list
specific examples
seen at the zoo)
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
8 (4pts) What are typical dental formulas and distinctive tooth features of:
a) Bovids?
b) Rabbits?
c) Modern elephants/mammoths?
d) Humans?
9) (6 pts) a) List four differences between Orders Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla:
b) List 4 families that belong to each: (extra credit list specific member seen at the ZOO)
c) list two groups of ungulates that evolved in South America.
d) What preyed upon these animals?
10) (6 pts.) How many holes are on each side of the skull (List what these holes are from anterior to posterior including lower jaw) of a:
a) theropod dinosaur like Allosaurus?
b) crocodile
c) turtle
d) lizard
11) (6 pts) Compare and contrast (tell what specific parts are involved and which specific taxa had them):
a) selenodont vs. lophodont
b) inertial homeotherm vs. endotherm
c) pillar erect vs. buttress erect
12) How many fingers and toes and which ones are present in (5 pts):
a) Allosaurus
b) Archeopteryx
c) Hyracotherium
d) Proboscidean
e) Batrachomorph
VERT PALEONTOLOGY Name:____________
LAB TEST
Winter 2012
Examine the numbered specimens and skeleton book provided and answer the following
1) a) Examine the bird material and identify the structures marked with tags and for each discuss function in relation to the bird’s mode of life.
b) What fingers are utilized in forming the wing? How does this differ from the wing of a bat? Of a pterosaur?
c) What feature(s) might identify the bird as an archosaur?
2) a) Examine the cat skeleton and identify the tagged unknown bones (see diagram provided)
b) What are the phalangial formulae of the hands and feet?
c) Is the cat plantigrade or digitigrade?
d) Examine the skull; does it have a saggital crest? What is its function?
e) Give the dental formula. How does it differ from the idealized placental mammal?
f) Which teeth are the carnassials?
3) a) Examine this skull and determine its dental formula. (Yes, I know it’s hideous, but it won’t bite, pick it up and count it’s teeth!)
b) What is its mode of feeding?
c) List classification (be specific: Subclass, division, order, genus); how do you know?
4) a) Give the dental formula. How does it from the idealized placental formula?
b) How are the cheek teeth modified and what do they indicate about diet?
c) Describe the incisors? What color are they? Why?
d) List the classification of the skull.
5) a) Identify the unknown areas of this skull labeled with tags.
b) What is unusual about the incisors? How does this relate to its feeding?
c) Does this skull show a diastema? If so, which teeth is it between?
d) How would you describe the cusps of the cheek teeth? (bunodont, hypsodont, selenodont, lophodont) explain.
e) Give the classification for the skull.
6) a) Give the dental formula of this skull?
b) What do the front and cheek teeth indicate about how was food processed?
7) A) Give dental formula.
B) What is unusual about the incisors?
C) To what order does this skull belong? (list classification)
8) Using the skeleton book compare the ankles and feet (discuss foot symmetry, number of toes, phalangial formula, modification of astragalus) of the following:
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Pat-Man
what the fuck is the evolutionary advantage of taste.
Animals, including humans, rely on chemical perception, including the senses of taste and smell for protection against the harmful compounds found in nature. It helps us differentiate between beneficial nutrients and harmful toxic bullshit. This was extremely important during expansion into new environments, AKA immigration, AKA mozlems.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
What caused all these mass extinctions and strata lines? I allude to the cause in my thermal neutron thread, although it's still undetermined what actually happened.
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrY
How did plate tectonics factor into the prehistoric diet or even evolution of species.
Pangea and on.
Australia was separated from other continents and largely avoided the Eocene eutherian takeover, leaving the endemic marsupials free to dominate and fill a variety of niches. This changed when humans (and later, dingoes) entered and devastated the native wildlife; only a fraction of the marsupials survived
With respect to Pangea, many animals of the time were widespread and barely distinguishable. Since the biosphere was uniform throughout the land, a Lystrosaurus from Antarctica looked very similar to one from India. When the continents broke up, geographical isolation and changes in the climate and vegetation brought about increased evolutionary pressure, and eventually the animals changed accordingly
__________________
I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress,
The following users say "It is so good to hear it!":
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
What was the purpose of Deinotherium's tusks on its lower jaw?
__________________
I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress, I repeat myself when under stress,
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
Re: Ask Vizier anything about Prehistoric Life thread
