Dinosaurs Invent Sauna

In an amazing news article last week, it was announced that temperatures may reach levels not seem since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, 65,000,000 ago. Wow. Just think of how great that will be not to depend on Florida for you winter vacations. But that wasn’t all the article had to say. It implied that since the flora and fauna will be in peril since the higher temperatures have not been seen in their species life time. This in itself makes me suspicious of the article. I know that the temperature was in the mid-50’s this morning when I woke up and it is in the mid-80’s this afternoon. Temperatures fluctuate on a daily basis and I do not see whole segments of the animal population galloping toward extinction. Of course they may mean over a larger period of time then just 24 hours.

That would be maybe a year. Let’s just think about the temperature variations in a year. Hum, anywhere from -10 degrees to 100 degrees would be an accurate range for northwest Ohio. I guess the disappearance of a large segment of the plant and animal life for a portion of the year would technically be considered extinction. But then spring comes and they all come back. I again am searching for the connection between temperature variations and our vanishing wildlife. Maybe my time frame is still too small. Let’s look at the last ice age and see what changes have happened in say the last 10,000 years.

Well, the last ice age ended about 9000 years ago. This would mean that it has gotten warmer which is indicated by the absence of glaciers in my neighborhood. I have not seen any saber tooth tigers, giant ground sloths, or wooly mammoths running around. I guess you could say that a change from an ice covered landscape to one with forests and meadows has caused a mass extinction of animal life. I do not see the extinction of all plant and animal life in the last 10000 years. I see a change in the size and make up of the species. Mammoths depended on the cold to survive. Saber tooth tigers need large prey on which to feed. As the large animal species died off, so did the tiger. Sloths, well they just died of laziness I guess. But all three species survive in a smaller version that is better suited to their current surroundings. So as you interpret the data presented by these illustrious men of science, remember that Velociraptors hold the original patent on Swedish saunas. It was a product of their environment. Too bad they let the patent expire.

Icool

Cobb