Oleg Zabluda's blog
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
 
For all you old farts who were taught in school that Mammals evolved from Reptiles (you know who you are) -- they...
For all you old farts who were taught in school that Mammals evolved from Reptiles (you know who you are) -- they didn't. Welcome to 1988 [1].

Mammals and Reptiles evolved from a common ancestor (Amniote). The branch that Mammals ultimately evolved from is called Synapsids (звероящеры) and were the largest terrestrial animals in the Permian period, 299-251 Mya (go beast-face! kick ass!), after which Dinosaurs took over, you know the rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phylogenetic-Groups.svg

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amniote#cite_note-gauthieretal1988-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapsid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phylogenetic-Groups.svg

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During a recent hike to "Monte Bello" aka "Black Mountain"
During a recent hike to "Monte Bello" aka "Black Mountain"

https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/Y7PUKSrhsi9

we stumbled upon a tree with shiny black berries. Instead of performing a "Universal Edibility Test" [1] from the very beginning (test for contact poisoning), I went straight to to step 11 (swallow a small amount), in my case 2 berries, over the loud moaning and prohibitions by Marianna Dizik and scary warnings by Dmitry Feld, having mostly to do with the final stages of the metabolic process.

I think it was some kind of Huckleberry (of the Huckleberry Finn fame). Maybe Evergreen/Winter/California Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) "Черника яйцевидная" or Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) "Черника обыкновенная" or something.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=%22universal+edibility+test%22+%22US+Army+Survival+Manual%22

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckleberry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/Y7PUKSrhsi9

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