Neanderthals had shorter lower legs than we do, leading scientists to theorize that this was an adaptation to the cold times in which they lived, even if it slowed them down.
But two scientists offer a new explanation for those short lower legs: They allowed these early humans to move efficiently across the sloped terrain of their mountainous homes. Instead of being at a disadvantage on rugged terrain, as was generally thought, Neanderthals even may have been at an advantage, depending on the nature of the slope, they found. The research team also found the same connection between shorter lower-leg bones and mountain life among modern animals.
The end of the Cretaceous was marked by a catastrophic meteor impact that wiped out the non-bird dinosaurs (called the K-T boundary). Turtles also survived the mass extinction because of their slow metabolisms and aquatic lifestyles (land turtles did not survive the extinction). The tough little turtles can survive by eating almost nothing and go into a state of near suspended animation until food opportunities present themselves.
This is a photograph of the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota where fossils of dinosaurs and turtles have been collected. The K-T boundary is located where the yellow sand meets the gray mudstone.
Richard Dawkins, on the laryngeal nerve of the giraffe.
