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Slo the Growth
Bigger isn’t always better. Take any given species and as body size increases so does cancer risk. But this rule doesn’t hold between species. Researchers investigate why by studying the genomes of existing mammals and the fossils of extinct mammals, collecting data on body mass and lifespan to mathematically calculate cancer risk. Charting species evolution, they found that before a species evolved to become bigger, genes involved in preventing tumour formation were duplicated. This not only occurred in elephants and their ancestors but also in sloths (pictured), anteaters, armadillos and their ancestors. Although modern-day sloths are small, their ancestors were some of the largest land-dwelling animals of their time. This group, collectively called Xenarthrans, all have a low calculated cancer risk. When investigating the evolution of cancer risk, it's therefore helpful to study both existing large mammals and those descending from extinct large mammals, such as the humble sloth.
Written by Lux Fatimathas
Image of brown-throated three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus), Cahuita National Park, by Christian Mehlführer. User: Chmehl on Wikipedia
Research by Juan Manuel Vazquez et al, Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA
Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5)
Research published in eLife, December 2022
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#science#biomedicine#sloths#anteaters#armadillos#evolution#extinct ancestors#cancer#cancer risk#tumour suppressor genes#three-toed sloths
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Modern Unicorn (left) next to extinct megafauna ancestor (right).. Based partially off of the extinct Kyptoceras + cave painting horses*
#hoof draws#* realistically horses actually became bigger over the course of their evolution so cave ponies would be smaller#but i wanted the pony ancestor to be mega fuckers#idk. the concept of mlp horses being descended from a megafauna caveman species is fun#++also since unicorns are usually depicted with cloven hooves it would make sense for them to be descended from a bovine/cervine species#of which kyptoceras are neither I think? iirc the entire family is extinct
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once you learn enough about evolutionary biology you start seeing ghosts everywhere
#everything alive carries within it the traces of its ancestors' niches#and also some niches are just eerily *empty* where they were once full#and im not talking like “the megafauna here got eradicated by human intervention and hunting and habitat loss”#i mean it in the “there hasn't been a proper aerial macropredator since the azadrchids went extinct 65 million years ago”-sense#which is something you cannot unthink or unsee#especially in island ecosystems
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people being RACIST CUNTS on my aotearoa poll post 0 dead 1 really pissed off
#GOD dude#'what was it called before the maori invaded' ???? you are literally just making shit up??????#there is NO evidence that there were ANY people on aotearoa before the māori discovered it. and if there were it was THOUSANDS#OF YEARS AGO. TENS OF THOUSANDS EVEN.#they didn't invade shit. that was MY ancestors dude hold THEM accountable holy FUCK#then some random asshole was like 'wow.... ): so sad the moa is extinct because of maori people. they died because of maori people guys'#like yes. humans have a habit of causing extinctions its terrible and sad but why mention that when europeans were responsible for over 90%#of the bird extinctions in aotearoa#rant#racism tw#listen to my gibberish boy#I have a headache. I'm going to go and play and have fun with my friends bye [:
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You would not believe the bullshit I can come up with to justify my own character designs to myself
#my furry headworld now contains a species of bugfolk who look very different from other bugfolk#because their ancestors evolved to mimic an ancient mammal species who has been extinct since the dawn of history#those mammals being humans. btw
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Maybe it's because I've been playing these two games back to back recently, but not only does Lilith look like Kalos Pokemon to me, she looks like a one that Diantha could've used in her team.
Like. They'd go surprsingly well together.
#personal thoughts#pokemon#pokemon xy#pkmn xy#champion diantha#fire emblem#fire emblem fates#fe fates#fe14#fe lilith#i've already talked of a pkmn character feeling like a fe character (give wally pointy ears & boom! boy is a manakete)...#... might as well go other way around as well#seriously that girls fishy tiktaalik ass dragon design really gives me pkmn feels#seeing dragon lilith next to pikachu or any other pkmn somehow feels more natural than seeing her next to dragon corrin#& while i dont hate it every time i look at i think that crimes were committed when it was created#as if loki & circe beaker committed science crimes with horses & deer & bats & lizards & various insects in an underground lab to create it#& then put in mewtwo armor because fuck it that's why#also its stupid feet remind me of chalicotheriums. one of my least favorite extinct animals so thats a minus#but back to pkmn a dragon like lilith wouldve definitely felt more natural in dianthas team over tyrantrum#and before anyone says something about the theme her team has - I KNOW. I DONT GIVE A SHIT. IT WAS COMMUNICATED POORLY TO AUDIENCE#that theme might as well not exist for that reason. as if stealing the manakete boys signature pkmn wasnt enough she does this as well#uuuuuuuuuugghh xy was such a waste of potential & i hope legends z does something interesting with kalos#like diantha may be beyond fixing (until xy remake that is) but surely her ancestor(s)/descendant(s) could be better...? i hope?#tldr ash ketchum should be the one feeding lilith rice balls
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PERUCETUS COLOSSUS
When I read about this news, I was amazed. Actually, I'm working on a personal research. I want to create my own encyclopedia on whale ancestors. I'm really addictive to them. The more I learn, more I'm interested. So, if you have any recommandations for my readings, searchings, I'll take it!
Now that I know this new one, I can't wait to be able to read the official scientific article.
This animal could be the heaviest... EVER! More than the blue whale! Incredible, don't you think ?
Picture : (c) hyrotrioskjan on Deviantart
#whale#whales#perucetus#perucetus colossus#ancestors#peru#cetaceans#archeocete#eocene#extinct animals#extinct species#extinct#heavy#basilosauridae#basilosauridés#baleine#baleines#archeoceti#archéocètes#paleontology#fossils#fossile#fossil#prehistoric#prehistoric life
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Finally figured out the full line for my hellbender fakemon, plus an ancient crinoid the line relies on. The final evolutions are supposed to play on fool’s gold, looking and acting regal despite the evolution items coming from a jester-themed fakemon. Though the final evolutions are alternately water and fire, both learn moves of the other’s type.
#digital art#fakemon#love my little hellbender... need a name tho. im so bad at those#im not great at capturing the vibe of original pokemon designs but im having fun. thats what matters to me#anyway if i ever get around to my fangame the crinoid WILL be resurrectable#a researcher will comment that the resurrected crinoids are either rock/water or rock/fire#and they will lament that the reviving process leaves the rock type behind on the pokemon#so theyll never truly know what the original pokemon was exactly like#i want there to be TONS of fossil pokemon in this game btw like dozens i want it to be a huge thing#i love finding fossils... ive found more crinoids than anything tho apparently brachiopods are most abundant in ky#ill def include a brachiopod ofc i just wanted to get a crinoid out before anything. i love crinoids#id also like a researcher to comment that more recent fossils arent very surprising when resurrected#bc the region has been inhabited for so long that there were records of the younger extinctions#but the older fossils are very exciting because humans never lived alongside them#id ALSO like there to be fossil versions of extant pokemon. like either ancestors or relatives that are like noticeable#it would be cool... i want pokemon to be animals more. i love evolutionary biology put these things in an environment yknow#appachia region
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Made an entire alien species to have lore behind my "space angel" alien motherfucker because now he just needs his story and I'm set
I want to figure out organ systems and dietary components and base elements (non-carbon based life forms) and other life on their home planet and much much more, but I'll do that later
#i like creating species and speculative biology#especially because i designed them to be a prey species who- instead of just outsmarting or avoiding predators like humans- made them extinc#extinct*#because its cool and then i can include prey traits on an apex predator species (quills and pads and extra arms for foraging)#and following evolutionary rules every animal on their planet wpuld have to have 8 legs#which is something that bothered me in the Avatar movies because#the whole way you tell the difference between human in a skinsuit and actual Na'vi is an evolutionary difference in their hands#but everything else doesnt line up#unless everything with only 4 limbs has vestigial limbs theres either mulitple evolutionary lines and different ancestors#or they didnt plan very well and i want to know which#my art#alien oc#alien art#speculative biology#speculative evolution
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One of the reasons I think the "cow tools" comic panel from The Far Side is so funny is because real neolithic tools look almost as strange and alien to my modern eyes. Or, you know, like rocks.
#vibrating into eternity#cow tools#ancient hominins#these aren't from our ancestors but an extinct branch of hominin
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New York Post stop spreading scientific misinformation challenge
If anyone wants to read an article that doesn't say that early hominids existed at the same time as dinosaurs: here you go
#kitty screams#this really pissed me off im gonna be honest#they used a fucking painting of stone age people with a pterosaur in the back#THATS NOT WHAT THE SCIENTIFIC PAPER WAS SAYING#IT SAID THAT ANCESTORS TO MAMMALS AND THEREFORE ANCESTORS TO HUMANS EXISTED AT THE SAME TIME#fml#dinosaurs#paleontology#cretaceous period#cretaceous extinction
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Human Ancestors Bottleneck: a human genomics analysis has shown that the total population of direct-line human ancestors plummeted to about 1,280 breeding individuals for a span of about 117,000 years, bringing them close to extinction:
#history#historyfiles#archaeology#hominid chronology#africa#genomics#homo ergaster#human ancestors#early humans#bottleneck#extinction#extinction event#archaeological
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People will be all like “Neanderthals were wiped out 😔 idk how tho” and I don’t either, obviously, but I do know that some of my Homo sapiens sapiens ancestors were sucking and fucking Neanderthals who were also some of my ancestors and I feel like it’s a bit of a disservice to great great grandparents Neanderthal. There might no longer be pure Neanderthals or even mostly Neanderthal hybrids, but my (several hundred at least) great grandparents were Neanderthals and Homo sapiens who were sucking and fucking each other and I for one don’t forgor that. This one goes out to you grandma eyebrows *goes crazy on a bone or reed flute*
#emma posts#this is a very dumb post but it is something that always itches a little#I’m a pre-history nerd and phylogenetics are messy af#and I understand why they are considered extinct. but that doesn’t mean they are completely gone#because in a way. I’m kinda their legacy I guess just as much as I am that of their human contemporaries at the time#where tf is the shrug emoji. give me a second. 🤷♀️#I know that the conditions behind the sucking and fucking are not completely known. maybe some was unwilling. others were willing. but#those Neanderthals and their ancestors are also mine!#this is stupid and not a big deal but it sometimes greats at me#especially when I haven’t taken all my meds#woke up too late for a few because it’s hot af in here and we’re not supposed to open windows yet >:\#great (xMany) greandparents eyebrows are still grandparents!#I knew none of them but it does feel a bit unfair#which is very annoying because prehistory is a very prominent special interest of mine#anyway. I don’t actually have a bone or reed flute#but there are reeds and willows I have access to and I found a pigeon skeleton awhile ago so technically I could probably try making any of#those. I just don’t think I’d do well#looks for other prehistoric instruments I might be able to improvise
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Every so often i think about the fact that it was my ancestors' wildest dream just for me to exist - nevermind speaking our Indigenous languages or carrying songs or keeping cultural practices alive - their dream for me was to not be hunted like an animal and their dreams came true
#i have 3 different Indigenous tribes in my family tree and 1 is “extinct”#their dream for me is so much simpler than so many discussions I've seen on the topic#i cry about it sometimes#i smile about it sometimes#i want to thank them for protecting their children#i want to spite them for sacrificing our culture to do it#i understand im just conflicted about it#Indigenous#ancestors
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rouvastre lore 🥰
#saint.txt#oc: rouvastre#ishgardposting#saving this here for my own reference#for people who aren't aware bc I never talk abt rouvastre's backstory: from arr -> hw their family was accused of heresy#similar to what happened with fran.cel but nobody saved him this time. rouvastre smuggled themselves across the grid.anian border#to escape but the inquisition tried the rest of the family at witchdrop.#in post-hw patches they were acquitted of all charges as the accusation was deemed false but in-universe people are still arguing#about it and about what happened to this day and nobody really knows for sure if it was a political move by a rival or a heretic plot#or a baseless accusation from the inquisitors that stuck bc they already hated them for what happened to the fort or what.#currently rouvastre got adopted by edm.ont after hw and the house is extinct but I go back and forth on that and haven't decided#if she keeps it or not going forward. the joke is that he ceded everything to arto.irel bc they didn't want to deal with the constant#marriage proposals from ishgardian nobility and make him deal with it in her place instead VHSFVHSF#I see west coerthas as a lot more built up and developed than as shown personally I think there should be a lot more towns and camps + fort#there's a lore sidequest in stb -> ew abt tat.aru secretly finding + buying all the heirlooms rouvastre had to sell to escape ishgard in ar#and also she fixed their coat that's used on his DRG glam (the eden one) and it was her dad's and that's why she was so obsessed#with getting good at tailoring for like three expacs#savinien was the name of the ancestor the house was founded by. just some guy who killed a dragon but like in a really cool way
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