From creationsafaris.com
Lazarus, Come Forth: Living Fossils Rise from the Dead 03/10/2006
An animal goes extinct. Millions of years pass. The animal is found living in some remote jungle. Scientists call this the “Lazarus effect,” after the man Jesus raised from the dead (see John 11). Others call these finds “living fossils,” long thought to be extinct but now thriving in isolated ecological niches. There are many such organisms – plant and animal. Two showed up in recent news.
In Science, Mary Dawson et al. talked about the new species of rodent found in Borneo (see 12/06/2005). They identified it as a member of a long-lost group called Diatonyids, thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago. Live Science writer Bjorn Carey quoted study co-author Mary Dawson calling this the “coelacanth of rodents” after the well-known living fossil fish. Most other mammals exhibiting the “Lazarus effect” spanned time gaps of 10,000 to just over a million years, she said. MSNBC, and National Geographic and CNN all noticed the story. Nobody questioned the 11 million year time gap.
Another living fossil made the news, this time a beak-headed reptile named the tuatara, once thought to be extinct since the age of dinosaurs. Bjorn Carey also wrote for Live Science a report on findings that this lizard-like animal from New Zealand already had advanced walking skills. “Tuataras have been around for 225 million years and haven’t changed much, the fossil record shows.” That stunner was followed by another: “Since they can walk and run, both energy-saving mechanisms probably appeared when the first vertebrates moved onto land, said study coauthor Steve Riley of Ohio University.” The press release from Ohio State claims these lizards cannot survive in temperatures above 77 degrees Fahrenheit. For more on the tuatara, see the 03/31/2002 and 10/02/2003 entries.
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Mary R. Dawson et al., “Laonastes and the ‘Lazarus Effect’ in Recent Mammals,” Science, 10 March 2006: Vol. 311. no. 5766, pp. 1456 - 1458
Lazarus, Come Forth: Living Fossils Rise from the Dead 03/10/2006
An animal goes extinct. Millions of years pass. The animal is found living in some remote jungle. Scientists call this the “Lazarus effect,” after the man Jesus raised from the dead (see John 11). Others call these finds “living fossils,” long thought to be extinct but now thriving in isolated ecological niches. There are many such organisms – plant and animal. Two showed up in recent news.
In Science, Mary Dawson et al. talked about the new species of rodent found in Borneo (see 12/06/2005). They identified it as a member of a long-lost group called Diatonyids, thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago. Live Science writer Bjorn Carey quoted study co-author Mary Dawson calling this the “coelacanth of rodents” after the well-known living fossil fish. Most other mammals exhibiting the “Lazarus effect” spanned time gaps of 10,000 to just over a million years, she said. MSNBC, and National Geographic and CNN all noticed the story. Nobody questioned the 11 million year time gap.
Another living fossil made the news, this time a beak-headed reptile named the tuatara, once thought to be extinct since the age of dinosaurs. Bjorn Carey also wrote for Live Science a report on findings that this lizard-like animal from New Zealand already had advanced walking skills. “Tuataras have been around for 225 million years and haven’t changed much, the fossil record shows.” That stunner was followed by another: “Since they can walk and run, both energy-saving mechanisms probably appeared when the first vertebrates moved onto land, said study coauthor Steve Riley of Ohio University.” The press release from Ohio State claims these lizards cannot survive in temperatures above 77 degrees Fahrenheit. For more on the tuatara, see the 03/31/2002 and 10/02/2003 entries.
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Mary R. Dawson et al., “Laonastes and the ‘Lazarus Effect’ in Recent Mammals,” Science, 10 March 2006: Vol. 311. no. 5766, pp. 1456 - 1458
