Green Options

A new study shows that alligators are remarkably loyal to their sexual partners. This could help to shed light on the mating habits of some dinosaurs as well.

A new species of ghostsharks, a relative of sharks, was recently named. Ghostsharks (also called chimaeras, ratfish or rabbitfish) are some of the oldest fish alive today. The name of the newly identified but ancient species is Eastern Pacific black ghostshark.

Texas A&M professor and world-leading cave researcher, Tom Iliffe, and others discovered numerous new species in an underwater cave a mile long in the Canary Islands recently. The cave was in Lanzarote off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the species might be one of the oldest crustaceans in the world. It might be about 200 millions years old, from the time of dinosaurs.

A dinosaur age hatchling has been found in mainland New Zealand, the first of its kind to be seen there in over 200 years.

Although it may look like a lizard, it’s not. The tuatara (shown above) is perhaps best classified as the last living “proto-reptile”, and it’s the only surviving member of a distinct lineage that thrived 200 million years ago. In fact, it was misclassified as a lizard until 1867, when Albert Günther of the British Museum noted that the unique creature had features similar to birds, turtles and crocodiles.

Over the last 4 years Dr. Steve Sweetman has discovered many ancient species previously unknown to humans. He has unearthed and identified eight dinosaurs, many reptiles and six very small mammals - all from the time of the dinosaurs. One of the dinosaur fossils is a type of velociraptor that he measured as 6 meters in length.

Forget the meteor that slammed into the earth, or massive volcanic eruptions that may have led to extinction of dinosaurs. Here’s a new theory: mosquitoes may have done the deed, or at least contributed to the wipe-out.