Word: modern
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...strangest thing about these animals isn't their names, though; it's the fact that many of them weren't flat to the ground, like modern crocs, but stood upright and walked on their legs, like modern mammals. "We have an idea of what a crocodile should be and what a mammal should be," says Sereno, "but you have to break down these categories to see what was going on in Africa back then." BoarCroc, for example, was 20 ft. long and had three rows of fangs, like a boar from hell, which made it what Sereno calls a "dinosaur...
...similar diet. DuckCroc, about 3 ft. long, had a broad snout for rooting in shallow water and onshore, ducklike, for fish and frogs. And PancakeCroc was named for its wide, flat head, which it kept low, jaws open, waiting for an unsuspecting dinosaur to step into the mouth. "Modern crocs can take prey three times their size, if necessary," says Sereno - which means that the 20-ft.-long PancakeCroc could have taken down some reasonably large dinosaurs, like a multiton, long-necked sauropod, for instance. And SuperCroc, which was probably too heavy to run and likely lurked at the water...
Oddly enough, it was a modern crocodile - an Australian freshwater croc known as a "freshy" - that helped Sereno figure out how some of the ancient crocs behaved. "It's able to get up and gallop, unlike the saltwater crocodiles that live nearby," he says. Since many of the ancient crocodiles have legs like the freshies but tails like the salties, he figures they were both good swimmers and good runners - a lethal combination that may explain something intriguing about dinosaurs...
Christina Hoff Sommers, an American author known for her controversial writings on feminism in modern culture, called for a “new version of feminism” last night, igniting a vocal debate among audience members...
...former Clark University philosophy professor argued that the modern feminist theory—espoused by many liberal college campuses—fails to acknowledge innate behavior differences in men and women during the discussion hosted by True Love Revolution, the student advocacy group for premarital abstinence...