Guess the Poo

The following quiz comes from "Adventures in Ethics and Science", of all places.

For each of the following dung samples,

(1) what is the animal that produced it,

and

(2) what facts about the animal (in terms of its diet, digestive system, etc.) helped you identify it as the source of the pictured scat

Let's try an easy one first.

What is it about those scats that makes you think they come from an elephant?

Now use that same logic to identify the culprits of these beauties:

The 375 Million Year Old Rose of Tiktaalik

In 2006 an incredible fossil discovery was made of a very important "missing link" - one of those transitional fossils that help scientists piece together major developments in the evolutionary history of life on Earth.

In this case, the fossil was Tiktaalik roseae, an extinct species of sarcopterygian fish. The Sarcopterygii are the lobed-finned fish, an ancient group of fish that are survived today by the lungfish and the "living fossil", the coelacanth, as well as you and me and all other tetrapods. Note the family resemblance...

The University of Chicago has an amazing site that explores the fossil and the science of palaeontology.

Here is an interview with one of the scientists who hunted, located and extracted this muscular fishapod. I recommend this for insights into exactly how one goes about finding fossils.

What might and probably will happen when you die...

Thump the sky and celebrate life. Yes! I'm an organism on this planet. Fleeting as it may be, I will play my part in the forward tumble of generations. We are stepping stones for the leapfrogging double helix. But not all falls to ashes and dust.
Some things do not rot!

History must record our passing, since we will not end up in bogs, and our families or the police or the doctors will sign our last certificate.