Who would have thought it, them flowers did it 100 million years ago, just like today. A new study by Oregon State University scientists, George Poinar Jr. and colleagues, of a piece of
amber from the mid-Cretaceous period found in Myanmar shows it.
Amber fossil flower from the Cretaceous period
The findings show the pollen tube actually entering the stigma of an ancient flower. It may surprise you, but really, nothing has changed in that process over all the intervening time. Today’s flowers are fertilized and propagate the same way.
Of course, the flowers are the female part and the pollen the male part in that union. The plant world and societies in general can’t procreate without male/female interactions.
Propagation
As the amber’s evidence shows quite clearly it needs two to tango and they have to be of opposite genders. Only that way can a species propagate and survive as such. Everything else is wishful thinking – despite laws which may tell you differently. Even organisms with sexual polymorphism such as hermaphroditic snails commonly need another one’s infusion of sperm for fertilization.
Flowers, insects, fish, or mammals, propagation of a species depends on the two genders coming together, a process widely termed marriage. You may call it the Yin-Yang principle or whatever, it’s all the same. It has not changed for millions of years and there is no evidence that it might do so anytime soon. In fact, propagation is the utmost drive for any species, beyond the need to survive.
Survival
Survival of a species depends on finding a way to propagate. Even Tyrannosaurus rex and all the other great dinosaurs of the time were wiped out in one of the earth’s cataclysmic events. Mankind also was close to extinction when the super-volcano Toba on Sumatra erupted some 70,000 years ago. It caused the earth’s temperature to plunge for an entire decade.
Now, we are being told that the Yellowstone National Park sits on the cauldron of another
super-volcano-in-the-making. The pressure in the ground there is said to be about 36,000 times that of the atmosphere around us and the temperature of the rock is that of molten iron. The volcano is not supposed to rear its head for at least another 10 years. So, you may have some time but better be forewarned. In the meantime, enjoy Yellowstone’s
Old Faithful, a geyser which has been erupting regularly with spurts of hot water throughout recorded history.
If Old Faithful should drastically change its repertoire of burps then it may be time to look for another venue. In the meantime, propagation is the force majeure – the million-year old style or as Ernest Hemingway expressed it: Did the earth move for thee?
