We Go Way Back (Animal Version)
Many animal species living among us now are remarkably ancient. Among them:
Sunday
With a half-billion year history, jellyfish are far more ancient than the dinosaurs. Despite having no brains, blood, bones, or heart, they’ve outlasted about 99% of all Earth’s other species and survived five mass extinctions events. Today, there are over 2,000 jellyfish species with a remarkable range of size and shapes, and some even glow in the dark.
Monday
Crocodilians have a quarter-billion year history on Earth, and ancestors of modern crocodiles walked amongst the dinosaurs in the Late Triassic period. In our time, the American and Orinoco crocodiles are the largest species at about 20-25 feet in length, but some ancient varieties were twice as long.
Tuesday
Sturgeon have been called “living fossils” for good reason, since their bodies have hardly changed 120 million years. They are the oldest of the bony fish, which first appeared about 419 million years ago and predate the cartilaginous fish which dominate modern waterways. These ancient fish live only in the Northern hemisphere, and the largest sturgeon ever caught was a mammoth 16 feet long and 800 lbs.
Wednesday
Another “living fossil” of the seas, the bizarre frilled shark looks the same as it did 80 million years ago. Growing to nearly 7 feet after a lengthy 3-year gestation period, this unusual shark swims in an eel-like serpentine motion. However, fairly little is known about this shark on account of it living at great depths, with only 40 specimens ever documented.
Thursday
Not many birds stand 6 feet tall, but the ancient cassowary, with a body structure 60 million years old, is one of them. Related to ostriches and emus, this big bird cannot fly but should not be trifled with, since it can swim, run 30 mph, jump 7 feet in the air, and has massive talons.
Friday
Sea turtles, which includes seven species of marine turtles, have been swimming Earth’s waters and clumsily walking its beaches for about 110 million years, well into the time of the dinosaurs. Nowadays, they can be found in all but the polar seas, but still face significant threats to their survival.
Saturday
After first appearing about 170 million years before the dinosaurs, coelacanths were believed to have gone extinct with those big lizards before humans first saw one in 1938. A rare “lobe-finned” fish, its unusually-shaped fins are believed to be evolutionary precursors of the limbs of Earth’s first land vertebrates. If this doesn’t impress you, this fish can grow to be 7 feet long, lives over half a mile below the surface, may live to be a century old, doesn’t sexually mature until about 55, and even inspired the horror classic “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”