human caring the whole uneasy region might
sink again beneath the sea and begin the cycle all
over again by the slow deposition of new marls,
shales, limestones, sandstones, deltaic conglomerates,
perhaps with a fossil poet pressed and silicified between
the leaves of rocks.
from: Heart of the Desert Wild
quote by: Wallace Stegner
I talk all the time about the pre-historic nature of our desert region when I hike with our guests. I talk in numbers that can hardly be fathomed; like 350 million years ago our beautiful red rock was formed by oceanic pressure. I talk of volcanic action that took place 10 thousand years ago!! We have the most amazing dinosaur tracts that grace the ground, practically in my own front yard!! Zion Canyon was carved by water thousands and thousands of years ago...
And then....
Every once in a while we stumble across these bizarre creatures swimming in a stagnant pool of water that was captured in the rock from a recent rain storm. These creatures look like a Hollywood special effects job!!! Steven Spielberg would be proud!!!
These little guys are called Tadpole shrimps, or can also be known as Triops, dinosaur shrimps or shield shrimps. They're not really dinosaurs, but they have been on earth for about 300 million years.Wrap your brain around this if you can: When these crustaceans first appeared on earth, there were no birds, no dinosaurs, and definitely no humans or other mammals. They are the oldest surviving group of animals.
They live in temporary pools of water on every continent except Antarctica. They grow very quickly, and can reach adulthood in a week. Triops only live for a short time; a record-breaking female only lived to be 100 days. When their pools dry up,adult tadpole shrimp die. Their eggs, however, stop developing for a period of time. When they are in water again, they come to life, and new Triops are hatched. This is because of a state known as diapause, where eggs can lie dormant for up to twenty years before hatching again. The word "Triops" can be broken down into two shorter ones, "Tri" meaning three and "Ops" similar to optics, eyes. They also have up to 72 pairs of legs making it 144 total. The triops eyes are on its stomach and they swim upside down to get food and are in constant motion. The word triops comes from the Greek word, three eyes, because the triops have three eyes. Two of the eyes are compound eyes and the other eye is normal. Triops live on all continents except Antactica.
Once again Im just confirming that our desert here is a remarkable place to live and breath and to accumulate coral dust between ones toes!!!
(Thanks so much Carrie, for the photo and the info!)
1 comment:
That is so cool!! I was telling Will all about them as I was reading your post and we were both in awe. You make me miss the desert, at least some things about it!
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