Thursday, December 20, 2012

Tyrannosaurus ReXmas

New research has shown that the trees under which we tear open our presents haven’t actually changed that much since the days when Tyrannosaurus Rex tore open his, err, prey..

  
It appears that conifers achieved a natural balance with their environment very early and hence their genes have not mutated all that much in 100 million years. In fact, they have pretty much remained the same since they diverged away from flowering plants around 300 million years ago.


This slow rate of change may partially explain why there are far fewer species of conifers than flowering plants. There are approximately 600 species of conifers on the planet, compared to 400,000 species flowering plants. 

I knew I liked them for a good reason...  and he's never gonna be able to decorate the top of that tree with those nubby little T. Rex arms. He need a good brontosaurus or something. 

I put too much thought into this.

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