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Ancient 'Texas Serengeti' Had Elephant-like Animals, Rhinos, Alligators and More

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday April 13 2019, @05:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the bone-to-pick-with-history dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

During the Great Depression, some unemployed Texans were put to work as fossil hunters. The workers retrieved tens of thousands of specimens that have been studied in small bits and pieces while stored in the state collections of The University of Texas [(UT)] at Austin for the past 80 years.

Now, decades after they were first collected,a UT researcher has studied and identified an extensive collection of fossils from dig sites near Beeville, Texas, and found that the fauna make up a veritable "Texas Serengeti—with specimens including elephant-like animals, rhinos, alligators, antelopes, camels, 12 types of horses and several species of carnivores. In total, the fossil trove contains nearly 4,000 specimens representing 50 animal species, all of which roamed the Texas Gulf Coast 11 million to 12 million years ago.

[...]In addition to shedding light on the inhabitants of an ancient Texas ecosystem, the collection is also valuable because of its fossil firsts. They include a new genus of gomphothere, an extinct relative of elephants with a shovel-like lower jaw, and the oldest fossils of the American alligator and an extinct relative of modern dogs.

Texas's abundant land and similar ecosystems have also made it a refuge for extremely endangered animals like the Oryx in modern times.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @06:35AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 13 2019, @06:35AM (#828895)

    To talk about the wild apes still found in the Houston region.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 13 2019, @10:35AM (1 child)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday April 13 2019, @10:35AM (#828924) Homepage Journal

    It's Texas. Of course it's chock full of less evolved apes. You know what we call three-hole bricks in OK? Longhorn bowling balls.

    Note: The above is said in humor stemming from the OU/UT rivalry rather than malice stemming from being from CA or NY and thinking my shit don't stink.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:56PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday April 13 2019, @02:56PM (#828971) Journal

      I've always enjoyed those inter-state rivalries. "longhorn bowling ball" is a good one.

      Montana ribs North Dakota as not having ice cubes, because "the lady that knew the recipe, died."

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.

  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday April 14 2019, @06:30AM

    by driverless (4770) on Sunday April 14 2019, @06:30AM (#829279)

    Texas's abundant land and similar ecosystems have also made it a refuge for extremely endangered animals like the Oryx in modern times.

    This is more than balanced by it's equally abundant rednecks with guns...

    Well, what do you feel like doin' tonight, Cooter?
    I think we should go shoot us some endangered species!
    Well, come on, let's go get in the truck!