OT: Giant what?

Loser · #1 May 27th, 2003, 05:58 AM

Quote:

"Humans have always been very good at killing big animals," Myers said. "Ten thousand years ago, with just some pointed sticks, humans managed to wipe out the woolly mammoth, saber tooth tigers, mastodons and giant vampire bats. The same could happen in the oceans."

Giant Vampire Bats?

Why have I never heard of this before?

Why does a search of the internet turn up only refrences to this article and fiction?

And why, oh why, did she swollow the fly? I guess she'll die.

narf poit chez BOOM · #2 May 27th, 2003, 07:07 AM

well, i can understand wiping out the giant vampire bats with just some pointy sticks.

dogscoff · #3 May 27th, 2003, 10:38 AM

I saw a really interesting program a while back about this guy (Japanese I think) who is searching all these glaciers and things for frozen wooly mammoths. Quite a few have been found that way in the past, some of them in remarkably good condition. There is even a story about a bunch of people finding one and eating it.

Anyway, he wants to find a frozen male mammoth, extract some sperm, fertilise an elephant with it and that way resurrect the species. The first generation would be half elephant, half mammoth (mammophant), then over successive generations he'd make it more and more mammoth until the elephant genes were insignificant. Assuming he finds his sperm, it would take decades or even centuries to complete the project because it takes so long for elephants to reach adulthood and produce offspring.

Imnagine meeting him at a party. "So, what do you do for a living?"

Loser · #4 May 27th, 2003, 02:10 PM

It sounds like this guy was referring to some sort of prehistoric giant vampire bat. That's what I'm looking for data about. Anyone ever heard of that?

Baron Munchausen · #5 May 28th, 2003, 12:16 AM

A quick Google turns up this page: http://www.strangeark.com/strange/mammals.html

Quote:

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The Giant Fossil Vampire Bat

A giant vampire bat, Desmodus draculae, was found fossilized in a cave in the State of Monagas, Venezuela. The total humerus length of this fossil was 51 mm, compared to an average of 37 mm for Desmodus rotundus, an extant species of vampire bat. The skull length for D. draculae was 31.2 mm. D. r. rotundus has an average skull length of 24.8 mm. The author suggested a late Pleistocene age for this species, but could not rule out a Recent age, so it's possible that this species still survives. Actually, vampire bats aren't that big anyway, so this giant species isn't monster-sized, but it would still be interesting to see.

---

Now, the remaining question is where does the connection to 'ancient man' come in? What evidence is there that these existed in the same place with humans and that humans killed them off? That I found no sign of. So if you want to know you'll have to contact the author of that article and ask about the 'giant vampire bats' and any evidence that they interacted with humans.

[ May 27, 2003, 23:18: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Loser · #6 May 28th, 2003, 01:08 AM

Wouldn't the half-and-half be a sport, like a mule or a zebra-horse-hybrid?

And what about the bats!?!? How the heck did those get in there? Why on earth didn't we learn about that in school? Was the guy just making that part up?

Gryphin · #7 May 28th, 2003, 01:19 AM

Don't tell me the schools have stopped teaching about giant vampire bats. I wonder what they are covering up now. Clearly a conspiracy is affoot.

minipol · #8 May 28th, 2003, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Imnagine meeting him at a party. "So, what do you do for a living?"

yeah, and imagine that he then wants to shake hands

Loser · #9 May 28th, 2003, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by minipol:
yeah, and imagine that he then wants to shake hands

There is that line from Clerks:

Quote:

It's important to have a job that matters, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for purposes of artificial insemination.

On a side note, the actress who delivers that dialog in the Guidance Councilor scene is Kevin Smith's sister.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gryphin:
Don't tell me the schools have stopped teaching about giant vampire bats. I wonder what they are covering up now. Clearly a conspiracy is affoot.

Giant VAMPIRE BATS!?!!?!
What the flying [radio edit]?!?!?!

Aloofi · #10 May 28th, 2003, 01:54 AM

Giant Vampires Bats?

"Desmodus rotundus, also known as vampire bat, is a member of Phyllostomidae family. They can move side to side and backward, similar to a spider. A vampire bat requires about two tablespoons of blood each day. If vampire bats do not get their share of blood on a regular basis, they rapidly deteriorate. It may be close to starvation within 2-3 days."

"Vampire bats feed only on blood, a fact that sets the human imagination racing. The three species are medium-seized, with adult wingspans of 320 to 350 mm and weights of about 40 grams. While they are larger than most of the bats of the temperate zones of the world, vampire bats are much smaller than Gigantic Flying Foxes, which weigh in at 1,500 g. Horror movie depictions of vampire bats often use flying foxes as models because larger bats are easier to photograph. This contributes to the public perception of vampire bats as large, terrifying animals. But animals that feed on blood, whether they are insects, leeches or bats, tend to be small because blood is a precioous commodity and hard to obtain in large amounts. "

Link: Vampire Bat Hub

[ May 27, 2003, 12:57: Message edited by: Aloofi ]