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

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=000DF3F1-5296-1271-910A83414B7F4945

Thought to be an extinct woodpecker! A Couple found flying in the US

Nature never ceases to surprise us, does it?

nope we learn somthing new everyday. ss

this sounds strange, but some times is good think that species is extinct, because people will keep them alone. if only one person sees I hope that person is not believed, I hope. "extinct" would get some time breed quietly...

has soon as something becomes rare, it is then highly prized, to capture and cage or kill, mainly for money. The(miles)long fishing lines they use out at sea, is now making Dolphins and other sea creatures become rare, man doesn't learn and when he can only see pictures in a book, then its TO late, because man will then be next

What a sobering thought animal.Did anyone see the programme about "hobbits" the night before last.
Adults only three feet tall!!II missed some of it,but what i saw was amazing!!

still have a grin on my face Smurfles, I'm inbetween human and hobbit, I'm a "sod it"taller than 3ft and smaller than 5ft 6ins. I missed the program

This is a report primarily about the hobbits.
But Adelaide brought up the animal sizes and it also ties in a nit with other comments. You can watch the video or read the article.

Animals changed in size to fit their needs, maybe people did too. Makes you wonder if there were giants around when the large dianasours were here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/28/60minutes/main691775.shtml
It is also available on the National Geo site.

The Hobbit’s brain was a third the size of one of ours. And scientists had always used brain size as the most important characteristic separating humans from other animals -- that and the ability to use tools and build fires.

(Building fires was left out of the what makes us human thread. I had never considered that uniquely human but it is )

"The Hobbits may no longer be with us, but the animals they hunted are still here. Komodo dragons are alive and well and hanging out not far from where the young lady skeleton was found. In fact, dragon bones from the same period have been discovered in the Hobbit’s immediate proximity.

"How do you think that the Hobbits actually went about getting the dragons?" Simon asks Professor Mike Morwood.

"You walk up to them in the morning when they’re still cold before they’ve warmed up, and you bang them on the head, OK? You wouldn’t want to try it when the sun’s up and they’re warmed up," says Morwood.

Morwood will tell you that when the Komodo dragon arrived on this island, he wasn’t nearly as large and lethal as he is now. He was just a small reptile. That happens on islands over the millennia.

Small animals get bigger so they can survive better. And big animals get smaller so they can live on less food. Eventually, they evolve into new species. Hence the miniature elephant, the Stegadon, and now the Hobbit.

Little animals. Little people. Ms. Hobbit lived here, eating her dragons and elephants 18,000 years ago.

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(I pasted this post I made on the *end of the world * thread.
Thought you all may appreciate it

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-utahdino5may05,0,7047021.story?coll=la-home-headlines.

Missing links of dinosaurs found in Utah pit
Pretty exciting creatures

The last time I was in Utah they were working on uncovering a(sp?) hairy pre-elephant like massive creature.

I find this sort of thing really interesting,but my attention span isn't what it should be.I should have been an archeologist,the thought of finding old bones,and old ruins fascinates me!!(
(i only need to look in the mirror, don't i)