Comments on: Sumatran Rhinos Are Living Fossils

By: cor2879

cor2879 — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:11:20 +0000

The croc hunter had a Sumatran Rhino on his show once. Amazing animals. Not aggressive or anything like the huge white rhinos you find in Africa. It’s a shame they are on the verge of extinction.

By: twocentsworth

twocentsworth — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 22:48:45 +0000

Randy in CT:
Yep, angler works just fine…but I like to use words like “fisherperson” to poke a little self-indulgent sarcasm at our PC world. Another term I like is “fireperson.” That one just cracks me up for some twisted reason! Back to the term “living fossil.” Technically an oxymoron, true enough, but one that is widley used, generally accepted and understood. It is used in many lay discussions for descriptive purposes and works well. My general poor attitude toward our current PC world would make me a “living fossil” for sure! That must make me an oxymoron – or maybe just plain moron? I’m OK with that!

By: crgintx

crgintx — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 19:44:52 +0000

My take on this photo is that the rhino population is now so inbred that its reawakened its wooly rhino gene from it’s original ancestor. I believe that these wooly rhinos are on the verge of extinction once again.

By: Randy in CT

Randy in CT — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 14:13:50 +0000

twocentsworth: Try “angler” instead. Less cumbersome.

By: Tengu

Tengu — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 09:02:28 +0000

It is a “well, ‘just’ what ‘do’ you mean by that” term.

I’d apply it to something really ancient with just a few modern representatives myself. (say, a monotreme)

If you’re going to apply it to something pliestiocene (did I spell that right??) then that mean beasts like reindeer, wolves, and us are living fossils.

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 06:16:30 +0000

Shill, you’re right about not able to be a fossil and living at the same time, but the reason for the term is completely because men of science are so sure of themselves that they will find fossils, and because they have never seen one, it must be extinct. We have several “living fossils” around the world. What I think we need to look at are the similarities and differences of both creatures. I know someone above mentioned size, but the fact that something so big went all this time without being discovered gives hope that soon other things will be discovered.

By: youcantryreachingme

youcantryreachingme — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:24:16 +0000

“Living fossil” to me implies something that’s been around for a long, long, long time, especially if we’ve only recently discovered it.

By: jayman

jayman — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:33:56 +0000

The Wooly Rhino, a Pleistocene animal of the Ice Age megafauna, may have survived until about 10,000 years ago in Siberia.

By: crypto_randz

crypto_randz — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:55:11 +0000

I guess we sometimes get very carried away when we use the phrase a living fossil, referring to a good discovery, but in this case, I will call this great discovery a living fossil.

Now only if a living wooly mammoth is to be alive and well, but that’s only hopeful.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:37:45 +0000

When I first saw a picture of a Sumatran rhino I thought of it as being a small version of a wooly rhino as a passing thought.