h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A563267

A first effort. Couldn't find an entry for the Mendips so. . .
Frogbit.

hee hee hee. I like this, since it compacts millenia into a handful of sentences. An interesting and witty talk about hills.

I'd like to add my voice to the appreciative murmuring. Nice work. I liked being made to think from a long term historical perspective. One thought - you say that icthyosaur and plesiosaur had breeding grounds here. Does that mean there have been many archaeological excavations in the area? Have major fossil finds been made in the Mendips?

Thanks Metal Chicken, your comments are appreciated. Major fosil finds are usualy rare in hilly regions becaue corpses tend to lie out in the open and get eaten, rather than sinking into some convenient mud, but because the Mendips are shot through with caves and fissures, there have been many interesting discoveries (early flying reptiles, bipedal Yaleosaurus, gliding reptiles and tiny proto-shrews have all been preserved). The icthyosaurs were found seven or eight miles away in a town called Street. There have been a few found, and rumour has it there are two more under a. . . . .but that would be telling.
Thanks for the interest,
Frogbit.

And at the risk of sounding like a ----, the older stuff is palaeontology. Archaeology is human artifacts only.

Cool, who would have know without this article and conversation thread

Thanks for treating me gently. I wondered about that paleo- v archeo- thing as I typed my previous post.

Two more icthyosaurs under a ...
tree?
telephone box?
council refuse tip?
unpopular bypass?
You can't stop there! Tell me more!

Yes, ok, it was a tree. But I'm not telling you which one.
Frogbit.

OK I'll drop that query and leave the bones to rest in peace.
Still wondering how you know it's a breeding ground rather than just somewhere the big fellas had been passing through on their demise. How much do we know about their lifestyles and family groupings anyway?
(Apologies for the topic drift but I'm sure someone will be along soon to drag the conversation back to critiquing/approving your Mendips article)

No mate. Ask away, I'm sure I'll get into trouble sooner or later. Then maybe someone else will help both of us.
Ok, fair point, we don't know much about these chaps. Icyosaurs gave birth to live young. It would make sense for them to hang around shallowish areas to do this, so the pup wouldn't be introduced to rough weather right away. The coral reefs would have been great feeding grounds, and if icthyosaus hung around in pods, they would need a lot of food. And if you hang around in pods, you breed.

According to Walking with Dinosaurs (top DVD by the way) their icthyosaurs (I think actually it was a different species, but closely related)gave birth to live young backwards so they wouldn't drown during a prolonged labour. They backed this up with fossil evidence of several females giving birth in this manner. I couldn't help but wonder if they'd got their logic the right way round. It occured to me that the reason these females died was because of breach birth, a massive killer amongst wild populations of all mamals.

Yeah!

Froody first entry Frogbit, I liked it and found it funny and informative a must for the guide and I like short factual entries so I say Yeah!, Again!

Z.

Thanks for the encouragement. Just checked your page. 2 interesting coincidences, 1, Pilton (glastonbury) festival takes place about five or seven miles from where the icthyosaurs were found. 2, you recommend schnews, from my home town, Brighton.
Good luck with the case,
Frogbit.

Apologies, that should have been aimed at your homepage. Still, managed to get the icthyosaur in there!

The dinosaur in 'Walking with Dinosaurs' was an opthalmosaurus. Not and icthyosaur, but so close it may have well been.

Opthalmosaurus - is that a big bug-eyed monster of a dinosaur then? I really must get round to watching the videos.
Do you think if we keep talking about dinosaurs for a while we'll keep this conversation near enough the top of the list to catch a scout or two? It's about time they came by and gave your Mendips piece an official thumbs up.
*taps foot impatiently*

D'oh, I thought you were a scout coming by to recommend this , MC

Sadly not.

Yes the bug eyed one.
Near the top?
Well there's an idea. . . .

Just had a look at the opthalmosaur footage. The reverse birth does make sense after all.

What's suddenly convinced you it's more than just drawing far-fetched conclusions from the mid-birth skeletal remains that have been found?

Hello Metal Chicken. Hope all is well. While I compose a (hopefully) coherent answer to you question, may I ask you one in return? (ok, 2 including that one). Did you get round to watching the tapes or are you working from memory? (OK, 3 then.) I only ask so that I'll know how familiar you are with the footage before replying.
Best wishes,
Frogbit.