Shadows of Our Ancestors Part:1

I have been putting off on writing my summary of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by C. Sagan and A. Druyan because I wasn't sure how I should approach it. I have decided not to try to re-tell the story, but instead list some of the brief interesting facts I have come across while reading the book. I will save the longer passages for further blogs. Ok, So here I go!

1. Mitochondria have their own DNA (separate from our own which is why we know they were once an independent organism).
2. The flame (from a fire) is not a gas, or liquid or solid. It is a fourth state of matter called plasma.
3. There is no living ancestor of humans alive on earth. (This seems obvious but many people think when evolutionists say we evolved from apes, they are referring to existing species.)
4. At the time of the Cretaceous impact event the entire earth was consumed with fire. (Evidence is a worldwide layer of soot.)
5. It takes two hours for 16,000 beetles to devour a pile of elephant poop. (This one is kind of random, but I thought it was cool.)
6. Individual asexual organisms die by mistake (i.e not of "natural causes" as we phrase the term.)
7. Sexual organisms are designed to die. It is literally programmed into out DNA.
8. The trade off for being destined to die is a hereditary line of individuals that can quickly adapt to change.
9. Not only can dogs hear better than humans so can sharks and cicadas.
10. In canine behavior a dog that rolls on it's back and exposes it's chest is basically saying "Hey Boss, you can rip out my internal organs if you want, but I'd prefer to be friends."
    
11. The tradition of waving as a friendly greeting began as a sign to others that you (the approaching person) were unarmed and had nothing in your hands.
12. If a human talks to a duck egg during incubation the duckling will peep from inside of the egg, and assume the human is it's mother once it hatches. (So cute to think about!!!)
    
13. Culture is the result of early learning and prolonged childhood. Only species that display such a tradition are capable of culture.
    
14. The sex pheromone 5-alpha androstenol is found in pig saliva, truffles and the human male armpit.

I am going to stop there for now. Look for the next installment soon.