Topic ID #10617 - posted 4/24/2011 7:13 AM
Jennifer Palmer
Webmaster
Fossil Sea Cow Teeth Reveal Steamy Ancient Earth
Jennifer Palmer
Webmaster
Fossil Sea Cow Teeth Reveal Steamy Ancient Earth
Fifty-million-year-old fossils provide unique climate record.
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published April 21, 2011
Fossilized sea cow teeth suggest Earth was surprisingly wet and warm about 50 million years ago, a new study says.
Sea cows, or sirenians, make up the group of marine mammals that includes slow-moving manatees and dugongs.
"They're one of the forgotten groups of marine mammals," said study co-author Mark Clementz, a biologist at the University of Wyoming. "Whales get all of the attention."
Like all mammals, the gentle giants can maintain a constant core body temperature. This makes sea cows ideal for measuring Earth's past climates, because their fossils' chemical makeup isn't distorted by varying temperatures in their surroundings.
Read more here.
Fifty-million-year-old fossils provide unique climate record.
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Published April 21, 2011
Fossilized sea cow teeth suggest Earth was surprisingly wet and warm about 50 million years ago, a new study says.
Sea cows, or sirenians, make up the group of marine mammals that includes slow-moving manatees and dugongs.
"They're one of the forgotten groups of marine mammals," said study co-author Mark Clementz, a biologist at the University of Wyoming. "Whales get all of the attention."
Like all mammals, the gentle giants can maintain a constant core body temperature. This makes sea cows ideal for measuring Earth's past climates, because their fossils' chemical makeup isn't distorted by varying temperatures in their surroundings.
Read more here.
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