Comments on: New research changes our view of the origin of the Komodo Dragon

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:19:38 +0000

Thanks Greg !

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:03:17 +0000

Rorschach: Western Indonesia never separated from anything …. it is just a bunch of froth riding atop the interaction zone between two plates. The part next to New Guinea is still firmly attached to Austrlia, but separated by sea water that only inundates the continent during full-on interglacials. So, for much of the last 120 thousand years or so, they were connected or very close. All the bits in between are very messsy geologically speaking.

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:06:06 +0000

Took the ex and the kid to here today, and told her this story while looking at the Komodo dragon in the exhibit. When did Indonesia and Australia separate btw?

By: IanW

IanW — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:49:45 +0000

You forgot to add the media blurb that automatically goes with stories like this” New research on Komodo Dragon completely rewrites Theory of Evolution…”

By: John Monfries

John Monfries — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:35:01 +0000

Thanks, I’ll do that.

Mike Morwood obviously has ambitions to be a wizard – first hobbits, now lizards (ie Smaug, sorry – Tolkien reader here)

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:12:30 +0000

John: I’ll bet they can swim really well…. But yes, the article may mention that (can’t remember, I read it like a week ago). But YOU can read it because it is OpenAccess!!!

By: Don Cates

Don Cates — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:06:04 +0000

I believe the Komodo Dragon is the world’s largest living lizard.
B&R

By: JefFlyingV

JefFlyingV — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:41:19 +0000

Greg thanks for the link to the Smithsonian. Those giant Komodos must have been very scary in Australia. Great article.

By: John Monfries

John Monfries — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:42:27 +0000

Did the article not mention how the Komodos may have reached the Indonesian islands? If they reached Java, that means crossing the Wallace line, not an easy think to do, it seems. I see one of the co-authors is Mike Morwood, one of the co-discoverers of the Flores hobbit, who gives much coverage to species dispersal questions in his book.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:23:43 +0000

I don’t actually know. I wrote that up while I was at the cabin using the laptop and the crappy internet connection between bouts of trenching and chopping firewood and stuff, so I kind of let that drop for this one. I will check, though.