Fossil of bull-sized mouse found

17 January 2008

 In South America the remains of a gigantic rodent have been discovered. This rodent was about the size of a bull but has much similarities (on the parts they found) to rodents alive today. In the past many things were larger from plants to fish to dinosaurs, and now rats. Evolution predicts that things get better over time because the strongest survive and the weakest die out. Why did these large animals die? It would seem that if there were benefits to being large back then (not being eaten by predators, ability to find food being a predator) they would still apply today.

 We observe computers getting smaller and smarter all the time but does this same process happen to plants and animals? It takes many engineers several years to do something as simple as moving 1's and 0's around some circuit boards when the complexity of any living creature is exponentially more complex.

 Giant plants and insects can not survive on the planet to day the way they did long ago. Insects breathe through their skin and as they get larger they have a problem with their surface area to volume ratio. As you get larger your surface area to volume ratio gets smaller. Take a box for an example. A 1"x1"x1" box has a surface area of 6" and a volume of 1" (6:1 ratio). A 2"x2"x2" box has a surface area of 24" and a volume of 8" (3:1 ratio). If an insect gets too large then it does not have enough surface area to take in oxygen. This means that long ago there had to be different atmospheric conditions so these animals could survive. Some have hypothesized that either the pre-flood earth had a higher air pressure or higher oxygen levels.

1. Lots of giant animals in the past
2. Not so many giant animals today
3. Something very different before the flood


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/16/AR2008011602922.html?hpid=moreheadlines

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/18/stories/2008011853551600.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/17/content_7441239.htm