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Old 11-23-2018, 12:31 AM
 
Location: UK
6,908 posts, read 6,824,788 times
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The Independent UK newspaper

Quote:
The discovery of an enormous pre-historic animal, which lived during the Triassic period 200 million years ago, indicates early dinosaurs were not the only group growing to large sizes at the time.

Though dinosaurs went on to dominate the subsequent Jurassic era, a group known as therapsids, which are the ancestors of all modern mammals, thrived even before the dinosaurs’ reign.

The fossilised remains of a mammal-like reptile discovered in Poland reveal a creature which weighed nine tonnes and stood as tall as an elephant.
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Old 11-30-2018, 09:39 AM
 
11,230 posts, read 9,228,975 times
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What exactly does the term "Mammal-like" mean when applied to a reptile?

If it nourishes its young with milk, it's a mammal. If not, it's not. Ever wonder where the term "mammal" comes from? It comes from "mammary".


OK, I read the article; an accurate headline would have been "Mammals' reptilian ancestors were much bigger than we knew" or something like that.
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Old 12-01-2018, 07:34 AM
 
16,825 posts, read 17,671,345 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3 View Post
What exactly does the term "Mammal-like" mean when applied to a reptile?

If it nourishes its young with milk, it's a mammal. If not, it's not. Ever wonder where the term "mammal" comes from? It comes from "mammary".


OK, I read the article; an accurate headline would have been "Mammals' reptilian ancestors were much bigger than we knew" or something like that.
Mammals like all groups have a collection of traits. Warm blooded would make a reptile more "mammal like" than a true poikilotherm. So the term "mammal like" is perfectly fine.

Besides the above definition relies on the definition of "milk". If you define milk as a parent produced material that nourishes the young and provides immunity, than there are other animals that do that. If you define milk as the liquid secreted by mammary glands than you have a circular definition, a logical fallacy.
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