Tuesday, February 19, 2008 . 2/19/2008
I don't usually report personal stuff about me but.. this is pretty big. I have this sort of "second ankle" on both my feet, like a bony bump just below my ankles. When I went to get a physical the nurse said it could be an enlargement of a bone there but she didn't know for sure. So since my parents work at a hospital I'm going to be going with them to work next Tuesday to get it checked out, and if possible I'd like to have them removed. The thought of surgery though is scary.. I'd have to use crutches or be in a wheelchair and be crippled for a couple weeks or months or something.Yeah I'm a freak.
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Huge Frog Was Eating Machine
With an armored head and a mammoth 16-inch body, it wasn't quite the frog prince. Scientists have discovered the remains of what might have been the largest and fattest frog ever to have lived on Earth.
A team of researchers unearthed the fossilized frog in Madagascar. Dating from about 65 million to 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, the frog is 3.5 inches longer than the largest living frog, the goliath frog of West Africa.
The scientists named the creature Beelzebufo ampinga, or "devil frog," because its incredible size, frightening appearance and predatory nature made them call it "the frog from hell," said Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause, who led the team that discovered it.
Fierce predators
"They are just these big round blobs, basically all mouth and stomach," Krause told LiveScience. "They were sit-and-wait, ambush predators."
They didn't have very long legs, so they probably didn't hop around much. It was more likely they would let prey come to them. The scientists think they feasted on smaller frogs, lizards and mice.
"When you consider its size, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that it could have consumed some hatchling dinosaurs," Krause said. The largest living frog on Madagascar today, at just over 4 inches long, "would have been a nice hors d'oeuvre for Beelzebufo."
The discovery will be reported on-line this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Read more..
With an armored head and a mammoth 16-inch body, it wasn't quite the frog prince. Scientists have discovered the remains of what might have been the largest and fattest frog ever to have lived on Earth.
A team of researchers unearthed the fossilized frog in Madagascar. Dating from about 65 million to 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, the frog is 3.5 inches longer than the largest living frog, the goliath frog of West Africa.
The scientists named the creature Beelzebufo ampinga, or "devil frog," because its incredible size, frightening appearance and predatory nature made them call it "the frog from hell," said Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause, who led the team that discovered it.
Fierce predators
"They are just these big round blobs, basically all mouth and stomach," Krause told LiveScience. "They were sit-and-wait, ambush predators."
They didn't have very long legs, so they probably didn't hop around much. It was more likely they would let prey come to them. The scientists think they feasted on smaller frogs, lizards and mice.
"When you consider its size, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that it could have consumed some hatchling dinosaurs," Krause said. The largest living frog on Madagascar today, at just over 4 inches long, "would have been a nice hors d'oeuvre for Beelzebufo."
The discovery will be reported on-line this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Read more..
I love biology. From the giant crocodiles of the past to Tiktaalik, it never fails to be interesting to me.
Labels: Biology, Evolution, News, Personal
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