Thanks Cary. I thought that this special, be it ever so flawed or exaggerated,
still warranted some attention from enthusiasts. Since there is limited material
out there attempting to explain the real story to readers (as opposed to there
being so many dinosaur books), I feel that audiences will be forever tainted by
this CG. It will be hard to tell the kids how things really might have been if
they have 1950's B horror monsters running through their heads. Of course, some
of them were surely more amazing than their hollywood doppleganers. -R--- On Tue
01/10, Cary < ceastk@... > wrote:From: Cary [mailto:
ceastk@...]To: FossilBugz@...: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:26:05
-0000Subject: [FossilBugz] Walking with Monsters on BBC and PBSHi all,From the
makers of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with PrehistoricBeasts comes the
latest in the "Walking with..." series: Walking withMonsters. This show
explores life before the dinosaurs, includinglife
reconstructions of giant sea scorpions (eurypterids), giantdragonflies, giant
spiders, and giant millipedes (Arthropleura). Iencourage members to enjoy the
show for its entertainment value andspecial effects, but I also caution members
to be very skeptical aboutthe so-called "facts" presented in this program. I
read a programsummary from the Discovery Channel
website(http://discoverychannel.ca/on_tv/releases/walking_with_monsters/) andit
has many factual errors and exaggerations.For example,1. Arthropleura was a
giant millipede from the Carboniferous Period,but it probably did not move or
hunt like an anaconda. Scientists arenot even sure that it ate meat. Fossil
plant remains have been foundin the gut area of one specimen. Instead,
Arthropleura may have had alarge body size in order to process plant food (like
a large cow) anddiscourage predators.2. The Earth of the Carboniferous Period
had many coal forests, butthey were centered around the equator--not everywhere
on
the planet. Like today, the Carboniferous Earth had areas with deserts,
temperateforests, beaches, mountainous areas, and large glacial fields.3. An
ice age did not wipe out swamps and giant insects in theCarboniferous or
Permian. In fact, it was during the ice ages of theCarboniferous (and there
were many ice ages!) that the coal swamps andgiant insects existed! If
anything, it was because the ice ages endedthat many plants and animals went
extinct during this time interval.4. Scientists are not sure if 95% of all life
went extinct at the endof the Permian. In fact, 95% is the maximum estimate for
marinespecies that may have gone extinct during this time. The actualpercentage
of marine species is probably less--80%, 85%, 90%??? Thenumber of species that
go extinct on land appears to be closer to 75%or so. The end-Permian mass
extinction is the largest we know about,but scientists don't know the actual
percentages for sure.5. Lystrosaurus (that survived the
end-Permian mass extinction) wasnot a precursor to dinosaurs. In fact, it was
more closely related tomammals than dinosaurs. It definately wasn't the
earliest ancestor ofall mammals. Mammal-like vertebrates go back to the
Carboniferous. Dimetrodon was a mammal-like vertebrate in the early Permian.
Theearliest known chordates (the group which includes mammals) go back tothe
Cambrian.There is much more than could be said, but I must go now. If youwatch
Walking with Monsters, please let us know what you think about it.Best
Regards,Cary R. EasterdayUniversity of Illinois at
Chicagoxenoblatta[AT]hotmail.com
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