![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Greedy Grannies
Oct. 28th, 2004 10:37 amI'm still reeling a bit from the affair of the misappropriated photographs. It makes me sad. Mainly I want to give the person concerned a big hug and say, "hey, forget about it. We all make mistakes. Now get back to posting."
Otherwise I've been excited by the discovery of a race of little people on the island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago. OK, the ones they've found are all dead, but they haven't been dead all that long in evolutionary terms- just a few thousand years. Islanders speak of having seen them around as recently as the early 19th century- which means there could still be some of them alive out there in the deep jungle.
The islanders call them ebu gogo- which means something like "greedy grannies". The scientists have nicknamed them "hobbits".
These little guys had brains no bigger than a chimpanzee's but made delicate stone tools. They hunted pygmy elephants and were hunted in their turn by giant rats. And, no, check the calendar- it isn't April 1. This is bona fide, cutting edge science.
We've got used to thinking of ourselves as the only humanoid species around, but here's proof that, until quite recently, there was at least one other living alongside us. The received wisdom is found to be wrong- again! I find this thrilling.
Otherwise I've been excited by the discovery of a race of little people on the island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago. OK, the ones they've found are all dead, but they haven't been dead all that long in evolutionary terms- just a few thousand years. Islanders speak of having seen them around as recently as the early 19th century- which means there could still be some of them alive out there in the deep jungle.
The islanders call them ebu gogo- which means something like "greedy grannies". The scientists have nicknamed them "hobbits".
These little guys had brains no bigger than a chimpanzee's but made delicate stone tools. They hunted pygmy elephants and were hunted in their turn by giant rats. And, no, check the calendar- it isn't April 1. This is bona fide, cutting edge science.
We've got used to thinking of ourselves as the only humanoid species around, but here's proof that, until quite recently, there was at least one other living alongside us. The received wisdom is found to be wrong- again! I find this thrilling.
