The wonderful and learned scholar Olivia Judson, who is everything I am not, has a superb post at The New York Times

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/the-fantasy-genome-project/?8au&emc=au

An irony: this article features the coelacanth, referenced on this page earlier in the week.
Should you unwisely choose not read to Olivia's article, here is something I found amazing.
The coeleacanth, long thought to be extinct for 70 million years, resurfaced (literally) in 1934, when one was caught along the South African coast. They have since been caught near Indonesia.
What stupefies me is they are two different species.
Veritable living fossils, and yet different species.
The human footprint is so large, it's a wonder we can jump.
And maybe we should never walk.
For a reason obviously of much help, my blog toolbar has changed and no longer has a spellchecker. A curse for the 21st Century. Makes me review all those "pass this on or else!" e-mails I trashed.