I think I prefer living nowadays...

Megafauna are thought to have evolved to such large sizes to cope with inhospitable climates and food scarcity, with fossils found in Australia of prehistoric emus, tree-dwelling crocodiles and carnivorous kangaroos.

This from an article about finding the fossil of a 'Mega-Wombat'...

The fossil of a car sized mega-wombat has been unearthed in northern Australia, scientists said Wednesday -- the most complete skeleton of its kind.

Weighing in at a whopping three tonnes, the herbivorous diprotodon was the largest marsupial to ever roam the earth and lived between two million and 50,000 years ago.

I think the tree climbing crocs are the scariest. Would have taken care of this guy in a second:

Australian man spends 6 days up a tree to escape crocodiles

Don't tell me about walking ten miles to school in the snow uphill both ways

Until you've read this:

A South African village is demanding that a bridge be built across a crocodile-infested river to stop children swimming it to get to school.

Students as young as seven have been making the crossing for two months since the community's boat was stolen.

"There are about 70 households on that side of the river but there are no buses and no-one owns a car," a Kwazulu-Natal local councillor said.

To cross safely would require a 20km (12 miles) detour to get to the school.

On school days, 150 children from Sahlumbe village in the heart of rural Zululand swim across the river in their underwear using rubber tyres and buckets to keep afloat and to keep their school uniforms and books dry.

The older ones help the small ones who cling to the tyres.

"I worry all the time. There are dangerous animals in there, especially crocodiles," says Thuthukani Primary School headmistress Hlengiwe Mthembu.

The children, some of whom also attend Mabizela High School, often arrive tired and unable to concentrate, she says.

"They sit in class and shiver because of the cold and they can't study well because they are worrying about how they are going to get home.

"It is very hard for them. After heavy rains the river gets very full. It can take up to 10 minutes to cross."

[snip]

Mr Nbatha says even the stolen boat was not safe and he wants a bridge built in the area.

"It was old and full of holes. There was only one boat and it was used by the whole community."

He says he has pleaded with the department of transport for five years.

"They just keep us waiting," he says.

"It's very frustrating. You can see the school from the opposite bank but you just can't reach it."

Some people know what education can do for the community, the family, each individual.

Ndwalane/The Mercury

And then we have people here in the US attempting to undo the very underpinings of education and science. Amazing.

Update 4/3: In comments, SanityFound linked to this pdf news alert:

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison,
Mr. Bheki Cele will tomorrow (26/03/08) at Sahlumbe area, Weenen,
near Estcourt, at 09.00am officiate the sod-turning of a river bridge
that will be constructed over Tugela River near Thuthukani Primary
School.
The sod-turning is subsequent to the community outcry beefed up by
media reports that scholars from Thuthukani Primary School and
other local schools cross the river using inflated tyre tubes when
going to school. The bridge is set to serve as an access route for
scholars from the Sahlumbe High School and to the Sahlumbe clinic
and about 70 families residing on the south of the river will benefit
from the bridge.
Reports have indicated that learners also use buckets to keep their
school uniforms and books dry when crossing the river and that
annually four to five children drown as a result of a swollen river. The
bridge will also provide access to public transport to those
communities residing on the north of the river.

Annually four to five children drown as a result of a swollen river.... Jesus.

May this bridge bring education and light to the children, their families and the villages.

Maybe Adam used this one as a can-opener?

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The 80 million-year-old remains of a land-bound reptile described as a possible link between prehistoric and modern-day crocodiles were displayed to the public for the first time on Thursday.

The fossil of the 5 1/2-foot-long predator was found in 2004 near the small city of Monte Alto, 215 miles northwest of Sao Paulo, paleontologist Felipe Mesquita de Vasconcellos said by telephone, after presenting the find to a news conference at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The long-limbed and extremely agile animal, dubbed "Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi," roamed arid and hot terrain that is now Brazilian countryside, Vasconcelos said.

"As a missing link to prehistoric crocodiles, it offers us an excellent opportunity to study the evolutionary transition of these animals," Vasconcellos said. "It has a mix of morphological traits common in prehistoric crocodiles and in the ones that exist today."

How on earth do fundamentalists who believe the world is only 6000 years old explain away something so bristling with predator teeth?

Australian cowboy treed by crocs for a week

But survives. Crocodile Dundee would be proud:

Sydney - It took a week, but Australian cowboy Dave George got the better of the crocodiles that chased him up a tree in the remotest part of far-north Queensland. The 53-year-old rancher told Tuesday of how a lifetime in the Outback and the love of wife Liz and 18-year-old son Ziron helped him outwit the reptiles that laid siege to his gum tree for seven nights.
"All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me, and all night, I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out," George told national broadcaster ABC. "I'd yell out at them, 'I'm not falling out of this tree for you bastards.'"
His ordeal began when he lost consciousness after being bucked from his horse. Still groggy, he remounted and let the horse set a course for home. He woke up to find himself in the middle of a swamp that bore the tell-tale tracks of big saltwater crocodiles.
Leaving the horse to fend for itself, he camped in a tree for the next seven nights, scampering down during the day to scoop up water from the swamp. The horse made it safely back to the ranch.
"The second day I could see the choppers," the father of one said. "I knew they were there. I knew they were looking. I knew my family wouldn't give up so I knew I was right. I had my shirt tied on sticks, and I was flashing my tobacco tin lid and all that sort of stuff."
The cowboy from the town of Coen who survived on two sandwiches was given a chocolate bar by the helicopter pilot who winched him to safety. "It was like a gourmet meal," George said.
Liz George said Ziron had kept her spirits up by believing that his dad would survive. "There were some damn big crocs out there," she said. "There were some days when I was preparing myself for the worst, but my son would just say, 'He's not dead, he's still out there and we are going to get him.'"
Mark Reid, a ranger with the Parks and Wildlife Service, said it was a miracle that George survived, especially considering that they could smell the blood on him from his fall from the horse.
"They are an opportunistic predator," Reid said. "If breakfast, lunch or dinner presents itself in an easy accessible fashion, they'll usually exploit the situation."

Never quit trying

How many lions were on this poor calf along with one determined croc? And it still escaped back into the herd. Best part is the flying lion: (Hijacked from Steve Bates at The Yellow Doggerel Democrat)

Were they explosive?

A woman was stopped at the Gaza-Egypt border for looking odd:

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A woman with three crocodiles strapped to her waist was stopped at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she looked "strangely fat," officials said Monday.
[snip]

The woman's shape raised suspicions at the Rafah terminal in southern Gaza, and a body search by a female border guard turned up the animals, each about 20 inches long, concealed underneath her loose robe, according to Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European observers who run the crossing.

"The woman looked strangely fat. Even though she was veiled and covered, even with so many clothes on there was something strange," Telleria said.

The incident, which took place on Thursday, sparked panic at the crossing.

"The policewoman screamed and ran out of the room, and then women began screaming and panicking when they heard," Telleria said. But when the hysteria died down, she said, "everybody was admiring a woman who is able to tie crocodiles to her body."

In her defense, the woman said she "was asked" to carry the crocodiles, said Wael Dahab, a spokesman for the Palestinian guards at the crossing.

The reptiles, which had their jaws tied shut with string, were returned to the Egyptian side of the border.

Dhabi said the animals were likely meant for sale to Gaza's small zoo or to private owners. The crocodiles would fetch "good money," even in the impoverished territory, he said.