Ancient Survivors

Ancient Survivors

Introduction

Herbert celebrated his 35th birthday very differently. He should have been celebrating in Glasgow, drinking with friends, eating in restaurants; instead he was standing in marshland in the west coast of Scotland looking at a species of animal which his team had found after an extensive search over the last 2 months. The date was May 20th 2007, and he had really wanted a day to himself, but this expedition was far too important to worry about birthday presents and meeting friends for coffee.

While thinking deeply, he slept. He was so much in his deept sleep that he does not even realize the noises. He was listening the voices but he thought it is a dream. . He only opened his eyes and realised the noise was not in his dream when the hotel TV sprung into action. He had been out with his team for a few drinks the night before to kick-start his birthday celebrations, now he wished he had spent the night in with a Club Sandwich and a cup of tea. His head was stuck and he was unable to do the things properly.

Discussion

Herbert Winston, a professor of Paleontology at Imperial College, London had been seconded to work with a team of scientists in Ayrshire after a very interesting discovery. The team had been searching for a species of animal which may have survived millions of years with little or no evolution, and on this murky day they may have struck lucky.

Herbert was back after few day in the lab in London and had brought five of the prehistoric shrimps with him, still in their swamp water filled tank. Herbert was alone in the lab, he had a solitary lifestyle and had always preferred to work alone. Herbert was performing tests to see how the shrimps reacted to different biological habitats, each one was then left in a different environment. One in pure fresh water, another in sea water, one remained in swamp water, one in mud and the other on dry land.

Herbert looked into the tank, which was sitting precariously on a small mound. The team leader, Hamish, was adamant that the creature should stay outside in the tank overnight to ensure the conditions were similar to its natural habitat. 'Eureka,' he mumbled to himself looking into the tank. The animal looked like a large shrimp around 30 centimetres long, dome shaped with ...