Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Oolon Colluphid · 02-18-2002, 08:03 AM

<a href="http://www.nature.com/nsu/020211/020211-7.html" target="_blank">Chameleons walk on water</a>, from Nature Science update. Well actually, they dispersed from Madagascar by balancing on floating logs, but that's a less interesting headline...

Oolon

[ February 18, 2002: Message edited by: Oolon Colluphid ]</p>

Oolon Colluphid · 02-18-2002, 08:09 AM

Here’s the Nature abstract:

Nature 415, 784 - 787 (2002)

Quote:

Chameleon radiation by oceanic dispersal

C J Raxworthy et al

Historical biogeography is dominated by vicariance methods that search for a congruent pattern of fragmentation of ancestral distributions produced by shared Earth history. A focus of vicariant studies has been austral area relationships and the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana. Chameleons are one of the few extant terrestrial vertebrates thought to have biogeographic patterns that are congruent with the Gondwanan break-up of Madagascar and Africa. Here we show, using molecular and morphological evidence for 52 chameleon taxa, support for a phylogeny and area cladogram that does not fit a simple vicariant history. Oceanic dispersal—not Gondwanan break-up—facilitated species radiation, and the most parsimonious biogeographic hypothesis supports a Madagascan origin for chameleons, with multiple 'out-of-Madagascar' dispersal events to Africa, the Seychelles, the Comoros archipelago, and possibly Reunion Island. Although dispersal is evident in other Indian Ocean terrestrial animal groups, our study finds substantial out-of-Madagascar species radiation, and further highlights the importance of oceanic dispersal as a potential precursor for speciation.

Oolon

Writer@Large · 02-18-2002, 08:18 AM

HA! More proof of the Genesis Flood Theory! Evil-lutionists always ask how the kangaroos got to Australia, but now science has provided the answer. After all, if chameleons can travel great distances over water by clinging to floating trees, why not koala bears and kangaroos? The Deluge must have ripped up a lot of trees and chunks of Earth, some of them mighty big, and since there were only two of each kind (or maybe seven), they wouldn't need that many. Praise Jebus!

--W@L, taking bets on how long it will be before some cretinist takes a serious stab at the above ...

Oolon Colluphid · 02-18-2002, 08:23 AM

LOL!

Just in case anyone does want to take that seriously however, the question isn’t only how they got there, it’s why only there, and why not placental mammals too.

Oolon

Quetzal · 02-18-2002, 10:45 PM

Oolon: What surprises me is that no creationist has used basilisks (Basiliscus spp.) as an example of a critter than could easily cross water. I got to witness a striped basilisk (Bsiliscus vittatus) skitter across a 200 meter-wide stream in Nicaragua. Funniest damn thing I ever saw. No wonder the locals call it "iguana de Jesu Cristo" (Jesus Christ lizard).

Obviously basilisks could have survived the flood simply by running between those vast floating vegetation mats the cretinists are always on about.

Oolon Colluphid · 02-19-2002, 12:26 AM

...but then of course the bible would be wrong in saying that "all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died". (Gen 7:21-22)

Oolon

Vorkosigan · 02-19-2002, 03:43 AM

Silly! The marsupials floated because those pockets held air, but the placentals drowned because they were too heavy! See how easy it is?

Seeing the lizardly title here reminded me of a friend of mine in Africa.....in Kenya people consider chameleons to be bad luck, and they kill them. One day an unsuspecting American friend of mine found a chameleon on the road and put it on his shoulder. Walking down the road, an African came upon him, and killed the chameleon with one blow of his machete. Which sent my friend to the hospital with a machete in his shoulder. Yep, they sure are bad luck.

Michael

02-18-2002, 08:03 AM	#1
Oolon Colluphid Contributor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alibi: ego ipse hinc extermino Posts: 12,591	Chameleons walk on water <a href="http://www.nature.com/nsu/020211/020211-7.html" target="_blank">Chameleons walk on water</a>, from Nature Science update. Well actually, they dispersed from Madagascar by balancing on floating logs, but that's a less interesting headline... Oolon [ February 18, 2002: Message edited by: Oolon Colluphid ]</p>

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

02-18-2002, 08:18 AM	#3
Writer@Large Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 7,198	HA! More proof of the Genesis Flood Theory! Evil-lutionists always ask how the kangaroos got to Australia, but now science has provided the answer. After all, if chameleons can travel great distances over water by clinging to floating trees, why not koala bears and kangaroos? The Deluge must have ripped up a lot of trees and chunks of Earth, some of them mighty big, and since there were only two of each kind (or maybe seven), they wouldn't need that many. Praise Jebus! --W@L, taking bets on how long it will be before some cretinist takes a serious stab at the above ...

02-18-2002, 08:23 AM	#4
Oolon Colluphid Contributor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alibi: ego ipse hinc extermino Posts: 12,591	LOL! Just in case anyone does want to take that seriously however, the question isn’t only how they got there, it’s why only there, and why not placental mammals too. Oolon

02-18-2002, 10:45 PM	#5
Quetzal Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ecuador Posts: 738	Oolon: What surprises me is that no creationist has used basilisks (Basiliscus spp.) as an example of a critter than could easily cross water. I got to witness a striped basilisk (Bsiliscus vittatus) skitter across a 200 meter-wide stream in Nicaragua. Funniest damn thing I ever saw. No wonder the locals call it "iguana de Jesu Cristo" (Jesus Christ lizard). Obviously basilisks could have survived the flood simply by running between those vast floating vegetation mats the cretinists are always on about.

02-19-2002, 12:26 AM	#6
Oolon Colluphid Contributor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alibi: ego ipse hinc extermino Posts: 12,591	...but then of course the bible would be wrong in saying that "all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died". (Gen 7:21-22) Oolon

02-19-2002, 03:43 AM	#7
Vorkosigan Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Barrayar Posts: 11,866	Silly! The marsupials floated because those pockets held air, but the placentals drowned because they were too heavy! See how easy it is? Seeing the lizardly title here reminded me of a friend of mine in Africa.....in Kenya people consider chameleons to be bad luck, and they kill them. One day an unsuspecting American friend of mine found a chameleon on the road and put it on his shoulder. Walking down the road, an African came upon him, and killed the chameleon with one blow of his machete. Which sent my friend to the hospital with a machete in his shoulder. Yep, they sure are bad luck. Michael

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.