Wonder of wonders Chapter X 47

World inside

( Paleontological wonders )

The story of Life, oh! whenever I heard

always charmed me like a child enthralled
hearing the tale of ‘Alice in wonderland’
or ‘Gulliver’s travels’ to strange distant lands.

So when I became a student of Biology

it was like a dream come true in reality
many facets fascinated and some more
its imprints on ‘the sands of time’ all the more.

That geology and palaeontology hold the clue

made me turn to them to discern how far it was true
and it drew attention to the great geological ages
the evolution of life through these in various phases.

geological history of earth and paleontological history

of life
luckily go hand in hand from the very beginnings of life
hence scientists can tell the period to which fossils belong
and indicate the forms which roamed the earth from eon
to eon.

pre Cambrian Palaeozoic Mesozoic or Caenozoic period

revealing evidence through fossil record of time period
showing that invertebrates preceded the vertebrate forms
unicellular bacteria and Archie preceded all other forms
fungi parted early and Chlorophyta algae or plants later
protozoa first and members of animalia much thereafter ;

enabling construction of a tree of life with fossils acting

as a guide
taking us through the ages showing specialties of each
form and type
and we could go through the scenes of era after era as in
a cinemascope
Wonder of wonders 48

viewing the developing and changing patterns of life in

all its scope .

but even now some times It makes me think

Oh how painful it would have been, I sadly feel
when living beings got fossilized against their will
by getting buried alive dying and getting crystallized

during volcanic eruptions ,floods ,earthquakes, other

catastrophes.
which heavens have executed in past several epoches

But today for us the fossils buried even very deep

getting exposed during excavation or natural causes
are valuable source of knowledge of the life forms
of the past
telling us who were they when where and how far
did they last.
Radiometric dating ,stratigraphy and molecular clock
help us in knowing so much as if they were alive
this clock .

but to tell you the truth as youngsters in our teens

we did not know a b c d of all this and imagined
playfully trying to guess in our own childish sweep
what would happen if we dig down deep deep deep
from one side to another side of the globe and peep
and supposed we would surely come out somewhere
in the northern or central America or paataal lok.there
may be yaksh and rakshshas were still lurking there .

And when we learnt that the earth inside was

very very hot
we would get baked, roasted and toasted before
we could cross
even half the hard mental which the earth wears
all around its liquid hot interior surrounding the center
Wonder of wonders 49

we were all, believe me , almost in tears

sorely disappointed and very very cross.

but were recompensed when more and more

interesting features came to light and fore
we could hardly believe then and somehow even now
that till the early periods of palaeozoic eon
land mass of the whole earth remained baron
uni or multicellular organisms of earliest epoches
lived only in oceans for many many millions of years
and merrily carried on without brain(s) or bone (s), dear;
and till date successors live on as plankton in the seas
providing food for millions of modern bony babies;

Since we heard about Cambrian profusion

a question haunts leaving us still in confusion
if life could flourish so well so long in those times
by banking on vegetative or asexual reproduction
and even today bacteria algae fungi and prototista
Bryophyta Pteridophyta and many of higher strata
in both animal and plant kingdoms these modes were
serving nicely the designed purpose of procreation
Why God created Adam and Eve in the ‘garden of Eden’ !
and let Shetaan tempt them to eat the fruit forbidden ?
creating all sorts of problems and sexual complications
(keeping heaven for himself ! giving hell to poor mortals, anon ?).

Although every one is born only to die! ultimately

mass extinctions from time to time in life’s history
still raise a question again and again oh! why after all why?
Permian/Triassic one particularly deserves mention
along with Dinosaurs of Jurassic fame’s extinction
providing a point to ponder and make us wonder
after 5 so far what and when next and who are to suffer ?
It is any body’s guess and debate can go on for ever and ever .

The most interesting outcome of palaeo biological study

is however in the evolution and related phenomena basically
How aquatic creatures inched from the sea to the land ?
How amphibians continue to relish both the realms since then !
Wonder of wonders 50

How Dinosaurs gave rise to birds is difficult to conceive

but fossil Archeyoptarix and the like compel us to believe.

The Land was full of Ferns and Gymnos in Mesozoic epoches

the former had neither flowers nor fruits to bear we know
Naked seeded gymnoes did not bear any fruits you know
so veg. dynoes could have ‘salad’ but no fruit ‘chat’ poor fellows.

But in cretaceous and coenozoic earth became you see

beautifully clad in the robes of lovely flowers all over
colourful and gay, hail and hearty in good company
making merry in coevolution with butterflies and bees
and a variety of chirping birds flying almost every where
Mother earth became ready to welcome our forefathers
the great apes in the current holozoic period, epoch, or era ;
And even a child now knows we ‘men’ are still babies in a way
born a little while ago just 1 MY old infants even today
with great potential to make or mar our own future
remaining confined to earth or hopping sooner or later
from planet to planet and moving on and on further and farther
in the universe , to other star systems some day somewhere.

Santosh Ratan
5/108 SFS
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Mansarovar jaipur