RE: Monotremes

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

Anthony Docimo writes:
 > >  > > > if you say "monotreme"/"monotrema", I know you're talking
 > >  > > > about a mammal that lays eggs rather than having live
 > >  > > > birth.
 > >  > >
 > >  > >But only from the parochial view of the Neogene.
 > >  >
 > >  > Whereas if we use the view from the Cambrian or the
 > >  > Cambiferous(sp), there's no such problem.  ;)
 > >
 > >What?  No!  The view from _any_ absurdly short slice of geological
 > >time will be parochial.
 > 
 > ah.  I thought it was parochial because it was from the perspective
 > of the Neogene.  (whereas the Cambrian, for example, is before the
 > arrival of *any* sort of vaguely mammalian things)

No indeed.

 > >I honestly don't know any more whether you're honestly asking
 > >questions because you want to know the answers, or whether you're just
 > >trolling.
 > 
 > I want to know.

OK.

 > >  > Is it "parochial" because its human?
 > >
 > >No.
 > 
 > ah.
 > 
 > then *why* is it parochial?  that's what I don't understand.

Let me quote myself (or you can just scroll up 25 lines :-)  The view
from _any_ absurdly short slice of geological time will be parochial.
As palaeontologists, our task is to look at the _whole_ of time (well,
the range of time that encompasses the organisms we study, anyway.
Personally I can live without the Miocene.)

 _/|_    ___________________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor    <mike@indexdata.com>    http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  Among palaeontology grad students with dissertations to write,
         side-projects are what makes the world go round.