A new finding shows that alligators have birdlike lungs, in which air flows in only one direction instead of in and out of chambers. In birds, this is an adaptation to low-oxygen environments in the upper atmosphere.
Birds and crocodiles share a common ancestor, which also gave rise to the dinosaurs. Since it is unlikely that such a structure would evolve twice in close relatives, it seems nonbird dinosaurs also had such lungs.
Interestingly, the alligators in the study were either under anesthesia or dead . In other words, alligator wrestlers were too expensive to hire.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8453053.stm
-Brown Rhino
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Future of Biosphere
Our class, Ezine, is over. Our magazine can be found at Magcloud- it's called Biosphere. So it's time to talk about the blog.
It seems like an eternity has passed since this was last updated. Despite this, Biosphere's story is not over. Although updates will be sporadic, they will, hopefully, exist. In other words, this isn't over yet.
-Brown Rhino
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