Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Journey to 10,000 BC

I was watching Journey to 10,000 BC on the History Channel last night and discovered that camels are from North America and migrated cross Alaska to Asia. According to Wikipedia, “fossil evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern camels evolved in North America during the Palaeogene period.” The Palaeogene period was 42 million years when “mammals evolved from relatively small, simple forms into a plethora of diverse animals in the wake of the mass extinction that ended the preceding Cretaceous Period”. Apparently in North America, the hunter gatherers at the time had the same cognitive abilities that we do today and lived among giant sloths the size of cars, mammoths (the largest mammals since dinosaurs), saber tooth lions, and bears that were twice as big as grizzles. More importantly, they were able to survive a mini-ice age in which 80% of animals went extinct. In the most populous area around Chesapeake Bay (DC area), there was an extremely windy sand storm for about a 1000 years as a result of a melting ice cap. I’m thankful for shows like Journey to 10,000 BC because they remind us the challenges our ancestors overcame to make us who we are today and note interesting facts like the beloved camel being from North America. Some cultures place great importance on learning about their ancestors and Americans have a lot to learn from them. The American educational system teaches children very little about North American ancient history if they cover it at all. Our perception of life would be different if we were continually reminded what our planet and ancestors have been through.

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