​Mouse dog ancestors were created to fight in Roman arenas ● Crocodiles seem to thrive in the most polluted rivers ● The mystery of Egyptian mummies with golden tongues ● Mars was the first planet in our solar system capable of supporting life

The ancestors of mouse hounds were created to fight in Roman arenas

The last thing you might think when you see a mouse dog with its four-legged Polish sausage appearance is that it is only suitable for fighting lions, bears or leopards in the Roman arenas. And yet, it seems that this is exactly what the Romans had in mind when they created this race.

This fact was confirmed by osteological remains discovered during archaeological excavations in the drainage systems of the Colosseum in Rome. Along with the bones of leopards, lions, bears or ostriches, numerous fossils of small dogs, similar to modern mouse dogs, were discovered.

Most likely, say the Italian archaeologists who conducted the excavations, such dogs were trained and thrown into packs in the arenas to fight against large savages. Another option would be that they were taught to do all sorts of tricks like today’s circus dogs, but that possibility is unlikely given the mix of fossils mentioned.

Dogs of this type did not exceed 30 centimeters in height, which is in sharp contrast to the images of large dogs used in arenas, images found on ancient Roman frescoes. However, the race created by the Romans was the forerunner of the modern mice.

In fact, the mouse breed appeared in the 18th century in Germany specifically for use in hunting, mouse dogs were known for their ferocity and ability to get into the burrows of wild animals. Therefore, they were called “dachshunds”, or badger dogs, both for their small size and especially for their cruelty.

Crocodiles seem to thrive in the most polluted rivers

Although it seems like a fact that defies all logic, crocodiles seem to thrive in some of the most toxic rivers in the world. This is also the case in Costa Rica’s Tarcoles River, a river in which nitrites, nitrates, heavy metals, plastics and human waste have far exceeded the limits at which they can be considered dangerous.

Of approximately 5,000 individuals of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), almost 2,000 are found in the waters of the Tarcoles River. In addition, they do not seem to be affected by the more than 150 species of harmful bacteria that infect the river’s waters.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a recent report stating that the population of crocodiles in the Tarcoles River is not only “robust and healthy” but has also increased in recent years.

Experts believe that it is this ability of crocodiles to withstand extremely harsh conditions that helped them survive, having undergone little change since the time of the dinosaurs.

The mystery of Egyptian mummies with golden tongues

Several Egyptian mummies, which were first discovered in 1989 in the ancient necropolis of Kuweisna in the Nile Delta, represented an aspect never before seen in the history of archaeological excavations in Egypt. Namely, in the place where the tongue should have been, they had gold leaves imitating this organ.

Later, in 2021, four more mummies, two men, a woman and a child, were discovered with the same feature. Egyptologists do not yet have a generally accepted explanation for the presence of such gold objects. One of the most common hypotheses is related to Osiris and the fact that there was a strict rule of silence in the world of the dead. That is why in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the spirit world was also called the “Land of Silence”, and Osiris was also called the “God of Silence”.

It is possible that the golden tongue allowed those who possessed it to communicate silently with Osiris, but this explanation does not answer another pressing question…why do only a small number of mummies display golden tongues? In the absence of additional data, at least for now, experts admit they can only speculate.

Mars was the first planet in our solar system capable of supporting life

The discovery of carbonate meteorites on Mars, meteorites that may contain at least 10% water, combined with data indicating heavy bombardment of the Red Planet shortly after its formation, indicates that Mars may have been a blue planet in its first 100 million years . .

Thus, Mars could be completely covered by a planetary ocean with an average depth of 300 meters. In such an environment, organic molecules brought by the same meteorites could flourish and give rise to life. And this aspect took place at the time when the Earth collided with a celestial body the size of the Red Planet, a catastrophic event that led not only to the formation of the Moon, but also to the possible complete destruction of the first life forms. .

In other words, there could have been life on Mars at a time when Earth was completely barren.

Photo source: profimediaimages.ro