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It has been suggested that tracks discovered by marine biologists, who were monitoring the seabed in the Bahamas, are similar to fossil tracks left 1.8 billion years ago and could belong to a grape-shaped creature known as a protist. These single celled balls could now provide an explanation for one of the mysteries of fossil history. The problem is that no fossils of these organisms have ever been found, but most palaeontologists agree that a protist is the likely suspect. These animals propel themselves using tiny protruding legs called pseudopodia. A number of openings all over the body act as mouths and outlets for waste. They also move very slowly, taking weeks or months to make a track of just a few centimetres. |
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As odd as it seems, but, by watching fish as they rot, scientists can find out how primitive marine creatures changed as they delayed. Patterns of deterioration are helping scientists more accurately identify very early marine fossils. Dr Rob Sandom, from the University of Leicester, UK, who led the study, compared forensic analyses of these patterns of decay to scientific reconstructions of fossils.reshore.
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Here is a warning for any collector who ignores advice on sensible and safe collecting along the Dorset Coast (or any location for that matter). The National Trust and Charmouth council have won the first order banning a Somerset man extracting fossils out of cliffs over fears of falling rocks. In a separate case, Taunton County Court has also got an injunction against “unknown persons” digging in the cliffs. A few collectors ignore safety warnings in attempts to extract large numbers of fossils putting themselves and others in danger, and it is these people that the trust is now cracking down on. They stress that they do not want to stop fossil hunters in the area or discourage them to collect from the foreshore.
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A local fossil hunter from the Isle of Wight has given 1,000 of his fossils to the Dinosaur Isle Museum, Andy Yule has spent his life collecting from around the island, but has decided that is hunting days are now over due to ill health. Sadly, most private collections are sold and split up, with important information being lost and many fossils can end up being sold all over the world. Andy’s collection includes turtle, crocodile and mammal fossils from Thorness Bay, where he lived during the 1960s. However, Mr Yule felt that, since the remains came from the Isle of Wight, they deserve to stay there.
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Fossilised remains, belonging to the world’s largest snake, have been found in the rainforest of north-east Colombia. The snake would have been as long as a bus and the remains are 58 to 60mya. It has been named Titanoboa cerrejonensis, and has a 13m long body, weighing around 1,140kg. Scientists have been able to calculate that the snake would have needed an average annual temperature of 300C to 340C, based on research that links snake length with climate.
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A new technique can now be used to date very early rocks. This should shed more light on how the Earth's continents were arranged 2.5 billion years ago. At present, we can only give guess at this. The method involves recovering rare micro minerals from rocks and looking at their composition (typically around 100 microns). Minerals, such as baddeleyite, have large amounts of uranium in their crystals, which can be used to date the rocks because this element has an accurate radioactive rate of decay, which gives a precise age. And, by aligning rocks that have a similar age and orientation, the early landmasses can be pieced together. Already, the first results have helped the discovery of new ore and oil deposits, helping the mining industry identify new areas for exploration. In addition, we now know that Canada once bordered Zimbabwe.
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During the 1940s, a fossil fish was unearthed in Herefordshire (Ptomacanthus anglicus). The extinct species was placed within a group of fish known as acanthodians, but little was known about this 415 million-year-old fish until recently, when Martin Brazeau from Uppsala University in Sweden conducted a study. It has a well-preserved braincase and this particular specimen is one of the earliest known jawed fish. In this respect, it provides evidence of the origins of modern jawed vertebrates. However, what made this specimen so different to other acanthodians was that the front of the head was short while the back end was long. This is very different from other species within the group and is more similar to early sharks and armoured fish. The conclusion is that acanthodians do not form a group of fishes that are all closely related to each other, and that some acanthodians are ancestors to all modern jawed vertebrates. Until now, it was widely believed that all of the braincases of this group were similar.
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