Sunday, February 26, 2006
Egads
The Toronto Star is reporting today that a prehistoric predecessor to the Canadian beaver has been found.
"Displaying the scaly, flat tail of a beaver and the sharp, fish-eating teeth of an otter, the creature’s remains were actually found in a Jurassic-era lakebed in Inner Mongolia, about as far from Canada as you can get."
Yeah, great. Now we have a predecessor to Frank and Gordon, the annoying CGI Bell Canada spokesbeavers. But the really alarming thing comes in the very last line of the story:
"Luo’s fossilized specimen also shows signs of a furry pelt, making it the most primitive known mammal ever to be preserved with hairs."
Now, if I remember my science correctly, preserving hairs preserves DNA. And if prehistoric DNA has been preserved, modern-day scientists can clone it!
Now that's cool!
"Displaying the scaly, flat tail of a beaver and the sharp, fish-eating teeth of an otter, the creature’s remains were actually found in a Jurassic-era lakebed in Inner Mongolia, about as far from Canada as you can get."
Yeah, great. Now we have a predecessor to Frank and Gordon, the annoying CGI Bell Canada spokesbeavers. But the really alarming thing comes in the very last line of the story:
"Luo’s fossilized specimen also shows signs of a furry pelt, making it the most primitive known mammal ever to be preserved with hairs."
Now, if I remember my science correctly, preserving hairs preserves DNA. And if prehistoric DNA has been preserved, modern-day scientists can clone it!
Now that's cool!
