{"id":18949,"date":"2021-10-25T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=18949"},"modified":"2021-10-25T11:23:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:23:36","slug":"episode-462-of-humans-and-dinosaurs-and-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=18949","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 462 OF HUMANS AND DINOSAURS AND SURVIVAL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 462 \u00a0 OF HUMANS AND DINOSAURS AND SURVIVAL<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2021<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Note: \u00a0I originally wrote this article in 2018 for no particular reason.<\/div>\n
Interest in our short time on planet earth might have been the reason.<\/div>\n
Today the issue of Climate Change seems to be accelerating.\u00a0 So\u00a0<\/div>\n
the story below may have current interest. \u00a0 It is a much shortened version of the original.\u00a0 No doubt I have made mistakes in this<\/div>\n
article so consider it an early primer rather than a definitive\u00a0authority.<\/div>\n
An article to make you wonder.<\/div>\n

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We dominate the planet earth in this year 2021. Sure.\u00a0 Iinsects\u00a0 \u00a0outnumber \u00a0us \u00a0but we\u2026human beings,..dominate this obscure planet in our \u00a0obscure solar system<\/div>\n
in a universe \u00a0so \u00a0large that we cannot ever understand \u00a0its \u00a0size. \u00a0 We are home \u00a0here on earth. \u00a0 We move around a lot using. \u00a0for the most part, \u00a0mysterious \u00a0pools of \u00a0oil that we find here<\/div>\n
and there beneath the earth\u2019s surface.\u00a0 Oil created by the pressure of ancient sediments on the equally ancient bodies of creatures \u00a0that once lived \u00a0on our earth millions and millions \u00a0of years<\/div>\n
ago. \u00a0 Creatures \u00a0deep in the depths \u00a0of time that once dominated the earth as we do today.\u00a0 How long were these creatures around?\u00a0 A \u00a0lot longer that we have been.\u00a0 Millions \u00a0of years<\/div>\n
longer than \u00a0us.\u00a0 Hard to believe\u2026very hard to believe.<\/div>\n

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7FFC5714-0B86-4079-AC9C-9B84B7193C89@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/10a94ebb-163a-45f8-85a0-39f6f97a9482″ alt=”Two reconstructions of Homo erectus” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”><\/div>\n
Reconstructed faces of homo erectus, our ancient ancestor who seems to have emerged some 2 to 4.5 million years ago. (various sources) \u00a0Homo Sapiens, (ourselves in other words) \u00a0emerged from homo erectus \u00a0some 400,000 to 600,000 years ago. (various sources)<\/div>\n
Both of \u00a0these people (term?) could walk \u00a0erect which \u00a0freed \u00a0their hands for the making of tools.\u00a0 Tool making took a long time to reach \u00a0today\u2019s incredible \u00a0sophistication.\u00a0 One break point was the emergence of civilized\u00a0<\/div>\n
society in ancient Irag some 2,000 to 3, 000 years ago.\u00a0 What tool? \u00a0 Lots to choose from but for the sake of argument I have chosen the pencil.\u00a0 Pencil? \u00a0 OK, wrong term but you will get the idea.\u00a0 Ancient Sumerians \u00a0developed<\/div>\n
a \u00a0form of writing using a sharpened \u00a0stick making a \u00a0variety of indentations on wet clay. \u00a0 So the Sumerian form of a pencil, to my mind, was the break \u00a0point between a nomadic intelligent human beings and \u00a0settled civilized<\/div>\n
human beings with more time on their hands to invent increasingly more sophisticated tools \u00a0culminating in the iPhone of today.<\/div>\n
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How \u00a0long have we been around\u201d?\u00a0 Not very long at all. Creatures from which we have \u00a0evolved were moving about on land and sea some six million years \u00a0ago.\u00a0 But they were not<\/div>\n
remotely like us really.\u00a0 They just became us. \u00a0 Modern humans evolved 200,000 years \u00a0ago \u00a0I \u00a0am told. \u00a0 They may have looked \u00a0like us a bit.\u00a0 But shocking to modern \u00a0eyes. \u00a0 \u00a0Creatures like us \u00a0are very \u00a0recent<\/div>\n
wanderers through the thin atmosphere that hugs \u00a0planet earth.\u00a0 Only 6,000 years ago did we emerge and \u00a0began our way to dominance. \u00a0<\/div>\n

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None of this would have happened \u00a0had \u00a0trees \u00a0and \u00a0plants not emerged first.\u00a0 Green plants \u00a0breathe in CO2\u2026extract the carbon\u2026and \u00a0exhale\u00a0oxygen.\u00a0 Our atmosphere \u00a0contains the 20% oxygen that we need \u00a0to breathe. \u00a0 If we climb too high on our mountain ranges, \u00a0we cannot breathe. \u00a0 We die.\u00a0 We \u00a0dare not delve deep into our oceans for we are unwelcome there.<\/div>\n

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Civilization as we know it today\u2026industrial \u00a0civilization\u2026emerged \u00a0just 200 years ago with the industrial revolution.\u00a0 My oh my have we done well.\u00a0 We are tool users and tool makers<\/div>\n
par excellence. \u00a0 We are also extremely vain.\u00a0 Few of \u00a0us \u00a0ever think about our tenancy on this round ball hurtling through space.\u00a0 Most of us think we will always \u00a0be<\/div>\n
here\u2026all 7 billion \u00a0of us.\u00a0 Our population has doubled \u00a0in less than \u00a0100 years.\u00a0 A hundred years is just a fleck of time\u2026nothing. \u00a0<\/div>\n

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\u201cChange,\u201d it has been said, \u201cis the only sure thing in life.\u201d \u00a0Change, however, can \u00a0be very slow \u00a0when measured against the lifespan of human \u00a0beings.\u00a0 Almost imperceptible really.<\/div>\n
Changes are happening though.\u00a0 I noticed \u00a0the first Opossum in Ontario just 30 years ago. \u00a0 Now those sharp nosed, rat tailed, creatures are common in Ontario.\u00a0 Not as \u00a0cold up here<\/div>\n
as it used to be.\u00a0 And the gingko trees, most ancient red on earth, are moving north as well.\u00a0 Disconcerting things are happening.\u00a0 Frogs \u00a0are disappearing.\u00a0 Frogs that once<\/div>\n
numbered in the billions sometimes \u00a0so thick on country roads that they were squished by our rubber tired \u00a0gasoline consuming transport machines.\u00a0 Changes are happening.\u00a0 The great\u00a0<\/div>\n
sheets of \u00a0ice that once capped \u00a0the north and \u00a0south poles \u00a0of \u00a0planet earth are melting.\u00a0 Our planet is getting hotter.\u00a0 This heat is changing earth as we know it. \u00a0<\/div>\n

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Where is this going? \u00a0 First, I would \u00a0like to prick \u00a0our ego inflated vanity.\u00a0 And second, \u00a0having achieved my first goal, I would \u00a0like \u00a0to consider those ancient creatures<\/div>\n
who preceded \u00a0us \u00a0millions and millions of years ago.\u00a0 In particular the dinosaurs.\u00a0 These huge creatures were not alone on the earth but their fossilized remains have struck \u00a0wonder<\/div>\n
into human psyches from the first moment they were found.\u00a0 For the last two centuries, while \u00a0our inventions have made life \u00a0easier for all of us, we have at the same time marvelled<\/div>\n
at the bones, the teeth in particular, found in ancient sedimentary rocks.\u00a0 This includes coal deposits.\u00a0 Coal has been created by \u00a0the compressed bodies of ancient forests whose\u00a0<\/div>\n
deaths were abruptly covered by mud and water where \u00a0they could not rot and return to the atmosphere as \u00a0rotting vegetation normally does. \u00a0 In among these sedimentary layers of<\/div>\n
rock were \u00a0the fossilized bones of creatures \u00a0once dominating the earth as \u00a0we dominate today. \u00a0<\/div>\n

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Two events have \u00a0triggered this interest on my part.\u00a0 First is \u00a0my bathroom reading \u00a0material of late.\u00a0 A BBC \u00a0book on the ages \u00a0of dinosaurs.\u00a0 A book \u00a0that makes \u00a0my \u00a0mind soar deep \u00a0into a dark past that\u00a0<\/div>\n
I cannot fully understand. \u00a0 The second event occurred at a warehouse remainder sale on Cawthra \u00a0Road.\u00a0 A salvage operation where goods gathered from bankruptcies are marketed \u00a0cheaply.<\/div>\n
Among the goods on November 22, 2018, was a \u00a0collection of dinosaur claws\u2026evil looking things designed \u00a0to rip flesh. \u00a0 The \u00a0ancient residents of our earth was \u00a0\u2018red in tooth and claw\u2019 as<\/div>\n
Darwinians would say. \u00a0\u201cSurvival of the Fittest\u2019 was real and happened over millions of years. Slowly. ”\u00a0<\/div>\n

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Extinctions \u00a0happened in the deep past.\u00a0 At least five major extinction events \u00a0have been \u00a0identified by earth scientists.\u00a0 All five are somewhat mysterious. \u00a0 \u00a0the extinction event that<\/div>\n
wiped out the dinosaurs is thought to be the arrival of a \u00a0large meteor that slammed into the Gulf \u00a0of Mexico and \u00a0covered \u00a0the earth with so \u00a0much dust that the sun could \u00a0not<\/div>\n
break through to trigger photosynthesis denying \u00a0living creatures plants to \u00a0eat and plants to maintain a livable level of oxygen.\u00a0 That happened 65 million years \u00a0ago most scientists<\/div>\n
believe.\u00a0 Other, even more devastating extinction events have occurred deeper in the past. \u00a0 Just staring at the moon on a nice summer \u00a0evening or on a crisp \u00a0winter night should remind<\/div>\n
us that we \u00a0have \u00a0been bombarded by space objects in the past.\u00a0 The surface \u00a0of the moon is devoid of life\u2026no water (or very little\u00a0water frozen in its\u00a0icy form)\u2026nothing \u00a0obscures the beating it has taken\u2026each meteor has left a mark.<\/div>\n

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EB774BB8-E652-4809-9AE5-13D8001C5D13@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/83430ac0-6dcb-446f-acc3-2e8c49b9cd24″ alt=”Ni1AidyVSxKl3qkvPmroFw_thumb_977b2.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”>7D5CF7A7-2C26-41FC-9195-596EB5B33F73@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/7b294da4-c815-4e0a-b9e1-7785eb601ccd” alt=”8M3XHD2xQlikj4GjxRf2EQ_thumb_977b5.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”>D8B8F9CE-2438-4D66-8F18-F3AC787B9CDD@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/9acf52a0-0a7c-456c-bcca-6bb058128e5e” alt=”3RYkRZKtRBqWT3W3R29AnA_thumb_977b1.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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3C7170D1-BAF4-44AC-809E-0C8BE2F08F59@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/f169343e-b7c8-4be7-b389-31dd9f103966″ alt=”UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_97713.jpeg” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”>AF8CBAFA-476B-4B9E-ABE9-7C62DEBCA741@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/d53817d2-c90a-4b05-aeca-0a07029e0e86″ alt=”UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_97715.jpeg” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”><\/div>\n
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Amazing that these \u00a0vicious looking \u00a0fingers \u00a0from two ancient dinosaurs \u00a0have survived. \u00a0 One is a replica \u00a0of the hooked \u00a0thumb of Boronyxm a creature\u00a0 that lived \u00a0in the Early Cretaceous\u00a0Period some<\/div>\n
125 million years ago.\u00a0 And the other is \u00a0the first toe of a \u00a0dinosaur familiar to us all, good \u00a0old \u00a0Tyranosaurus \u00a0Rex who gorged himself (herself) on the flesh of other dinosaurs up until his \u00a0abrupt extinction 65 million years ago.\u00a0<\/div>\n
He (or she) was the last of the dinosaurs.\u00a0 Tyranosaurus \u00a0Rex dinosaurs emerged late in the age of dinosaurs but still lived \u00a0for millions of years.\u00a0 Let\u2019s arbitrarily say TR (acronym) species existed \u00a0for two \u00a0million years\u2026evolving 67 million years ago and terminated by that massive meteor 65 million years \u00a0ago.\u00a0 Two million years TR\u2019s scavenged flesh wherever it was found.<\/div>\n
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So what? \u00a0 So \u00a0we human beings \u00a0emerged 200,000 years ago but really appeared \u201cHuman\u201d 6,000 years. Even then we were primitive creatures.\u00a0 The sophisticated \u00a0humans \u00a0who could write and\u00a0<\/div>\n
form civilized society are 2,000 years old linked to Sumerian \u00a0civilization in modern day Iraq. \u00a0 So let\u2019s compare our longevity to that of TR. \u00a0 \u00a02 million divided \u00a0bye 200,000 means we have been around only .001 years compared.<\/div>\n
if the number 6,000 is divided \u00a0into 2 million the result is .00003. \u00a0 Mere infants. \u00a0 And if we chose ancient Sumer as the year we became fully evolved the number becomes .00001. \u00a0 Hopefully we will live for more than \u00a02 million years as did TR.\u00a0 But the prospects \u00a0are not good. \u00a0 We may be just a \u00a0flash in the pan; as they say.<\/div>\n
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POSTSCRPT: \u00a0 IN case you meet a TR, remember he or she can<\/div>\n
out run you. \u00a0 Were creatures like us around in the age of dinosaurs?<\/div>\n
Yes….our mammal ancestors\u00a0were there, probably as mice like creatures which were too small for TR to want to eat. \u00a0 By good luck these tiny<\/div>\n
mammals seem to have survived the fifth extinction.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 I have no idea…\u00a0<\/div>\n
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A89D92F5-D276-4AD6-B7E7-865B83534810@hitronhub.home&gt<\/a>;” src=”blob:https:\/\/mail.google.com\/9d8da58f-5ce9-45a2-b879-befcb4e095c6″ alt=”Tyrannosaurus by Paul Heaston” type=”application\/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-td-attachment-page-image gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”>Quick Tyrannosaurus Facts<\/h2>\n
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  • This dinosaur had 60 razor sharp teeth<\/li>\n
  • The teeth on the Tyrannosaurus could be up to 9 inches long<\/li>\n
  • This dinosaur used its tail to maintain balance<\/li>\n
  • The Tyrannosaurus weighed as much as an Asian Elephant<\/li>\n
  • This dinosaur\u2019s top speed was about 18 MPH\u2014faster than humans!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n


    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    EPISODE 462 \u00a0 OF HUMANS AND DINOSAURS AND SURVIVAL alan skeoch Oct. 2021 Note: \u00a0I originally wrote this article in 2018 for no particular reason. Interest in our short time on planet earth might have been the reason. Today the issue of Climate Change seems to be accelerating.\u00a0 So\u00a0 the story below may have current […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}