October 27, 2004

Hobbits and dragons and elephants, oh my! "The skeleton was found in the same sediment deposits on Flores that have also been found to contain stone tools and the bones of dwarf elephants, giant rodents, and Komodo dragons." - a newish species of hominid found in the fossil record.
posted by rodgerd 20 years ago
  • Pretty cool... Those damn Hobbitses stole my precious!
  • They're not hobbits. Ooompa Loompas.
  • Fascinating. I always knew there once were little people.:)
  • Both the tiny humans and the dwarfed elephants appear to have become extinct at about the same time as the result of a major volcanic eruption. I blame Smaug.
  • Excuse me, is this the longlost ent-trance to Middlearth?
  • Makes you wonder whether all the "little people" myths have some basis in reality. (Gnomes, leprechauns, the Little People of Cherokee myth, and on and on and on.) What a wild and mysterious world, ours!
  • So funny that someone was actually able to say "The hobbit was nobody's fool" with a straight face.
  • I agree... that was very entertaining! ent-tertaining?
  • I love this island. It has to be one of the most beatiful in Indonesia. It's also home to a tri-coloured lake volcano. At the end of the pontoon in the port, a boat had partially sunk and was rusting away. It had happened a few years ago but no-one had gotten around to salvaging it. Extremely laid back. Unlike the rest of Indonesia the majority of the population are Christian. Also, this island was hit by earthquakes and tidal waves in 1992. I didn't see any Hobbits though.
  • And there you have it, folks. "there was another upright, bipedal
  • Interesting volcano, lovely island, and now I'm off to bait this bear trap with Lucky Charms.
  • They were living the fairy tale.
  • Fantastic hobbity goodness. Ever since I said this, it seems we're being flooded with new hominid and great ape species. And woo yay to that.
  • flashboy mentioned Orang Pendak. And Clockwork Orang Pendek's a sock puppet for another monkey. So that means... Naaaah.
  • Orang Pendak
  • "I can't believe you stole our skeleton. That was totally our little hobbit guy!" *default image of paleontologists still set to "Ross"*
  • The eagles are coming! Moa-killing giant eagles from New Zealand!
  • "...some say they cannot rule out the fanciful possibility that the creatures still exist in the impenetrable forests of south-east Asia."
  • Hobbits, lay low! Keep undercover for a while! I trust ye've long since left yon tropic isle. If ye are smart ye will stay hidden lest modern science thrust ye in a cage, subject ye then to trials forbidden us to put our own sized folk through ignoring whatever a hobbit might say or do.
  • more hobbit bones discovered. Scientists say the bones provide evidence that H. floresiensis ... were a naturally tiny species, rather than suffering from an abnormally small brain size.