[Geology2] Not King Gesar, but dinosaurs -- Tibetan people worship big footprints

Not King Gesar, but dinosaurs -- Tibetan people worship big footprints
People's Daily [China], January 16, 2011

The large footprints on the cliff, which look like traces of giants, are
mysteries for the native people in Qamdo Prefecture in southwest China's
Tibet Autonomous Region, surrounded by white kha-btags year round.
"People believe that the footprints belong to King Gesar," said Ngawang
Donden, a local resident in Qamdo, who often passes by the prints when
traveling for business as director of Gamdo Radio and Television Center.
Known as the chief of the ancient Tibetan kingdom, King Gesar was born
in the 11th century as the son of the supreme god Indira. The king, with
supernatural powers, conquered the "kingdoms of demons" in a heroic epic
created by Tibetans. Who left the big footprints? An article "First
Record of Dinosaur Tracks from Tibet, China" published Saturday in the
Geological Bulletin of China, revealed the mystery with scientific
research -- the tracks belonged to dinosaurs from the Early-Middle
Jurassic period.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90873/7262215.html

Other paleo news:

Researchers discover 'Great-Grandmother' of crocodiles
PhysOrg.com [USA], January 12, 2011

In the tropical rainforests of West Texas, which looked more like Costa
Rica some 225 million years before cattle ranches and cotton fields
would dot the landscape, it hunted by chasing and wrapping its
tooth-filled jaws around its prey. Modern man probably wouldn't
recognize its body, which was built more for land speed than aquatic
surprise, said Sankar Chatterjee, curator of paleontology at the Museum
of Texas Tech. That is, until we saw the eyes and unmistakable head of
possibly the oldest crocodile ancestor found to date. The fossil was
discovered on a ranch and prepared by Doug Cunningham, fossil preparator
at the Museum of Texas Tech University. Chatterjee said he has yet to
name the animal, and it probably won't debut in scientific literature
for another two years.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-great-grandmother-crocodiles.html

New species of flying reptile identified on B.C. coast
PhysOrg.com [USA], January 10, 2011

Persistence paid off for a University of Alberta paleontology
researcher, who after months of pondering the origins of a fossilized
jaw bone, finally identified it as a new species of pterosaur, a flying
reptile that lived 70 million years ago. Arbour, a PhD student in
paleontology, says the first clue to the fossil's identify came after
she compared it to known species of pterosaurs, "I found a previously
published paper describing the teeth of a previously discovered
pterosaur and ours was very close," said Arbour.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-species-reptile-bc-coast.html

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/geology2/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/geology2/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
geology2-digest@yahoogroups.com
geology2-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
geology2-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/