[meteorite-list] New Transitional Species Found In Haughton Crater

[Meteorites USA]

ANNE MCILROY
Globe and Mail Update
April 22, 2009 at 1:07 PM EDT

OTTAWA — Canadian and American fossil hunters have found the remains of 
strange new species in the high Arctic, a “walking seal,” that had long 
legs and webbed feet.

It's a transitional form that shows how seals, sea lions and walruses 
went from land animals to sea creatures, the researchers report in the 
latest edition of the British journal Nature.

An expedition led by Canadian Museum of Nature paleontologist Natalia 
Rybczynski found the bones of an animal matching that description in the 
Haughton crater on Devon Island in the summer of 2007.

The Haughton crater is about 20 kilometres in diameter and was created 
when a meteorite crashed to Earth, perhaps as much as 39 million years 
ago. It filled with water to become a lake. Today it is a polar desert 
and researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
and the Canadian Space Agency have used it to test ways of living and 
working on Mars.

FULL ARTICLE: 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090422.wseals0422/BNStory/Science/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

Walking Seal Called Missing Link in Evolution: 
http://www.livescience.com/animals/090422-walking-seal.html

Puijila, the walking seal - a beautiful transitional fossil: 
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/04/puijila_the_walking_seal_beautiful_transitional_fossil.php

-- 
Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA