Kömp's Fossils and Minerals

Canadaspis      Canadaspis was a very odd genus of anthropoid from the Cambrian Era. Today, I'm mainly focusing on Canadaspis Perfecta, but I may cover the other species in the future.  Its name means "Shield of Canada", as it had a large shield type body part that had covered its head. This shield is actually called a carapace.  Canadaspis probably used its legs to crawl on the Cambrian seafloor, scavenging plants or smaller animals. Most Canadaspis' are found in the Burgess Shale in Canada but they can be found in areas like Utah, Nevada, and China.     Canadaspis most likely used its multiple legs to stir up the sediment on the seafloor, in turn kicking up possible food and directing it into their mouth(s?). They were also likely prey for larger animals, but due to their extremely small size (roughly 47 millimeters long), they probably weren't targeted by large predators such as Anomalocaridia. A Canadaspis compared to  a 1.8-meter tall person      The Canadasp

Are Birds Conscious?      The topic of consciousness is one with many different loose ends. Many believe that humans are the only being capable of being conscious, whilst others believe that multiple animals including ourselves are conscious, or at least semi-conscious. I am a firm believer that other animals such as crows, dolphins, octopi, and others might have the ability to be conscious.  But, birds of the corvid family seem to be smarter than other birds.      I recently read an interesting article about testing the consciousness of a corvid bird. It's a good read, and I'll leave a link to where you can find it at the end of this post. It begins by discussing how human consciousness is associated with the cerebral cortex. Birds, on the other hand, evolved a different brain since they diverged from mammals 320 million years ago. A bird's pallium holds organizational principals close to a mammal's brain, but their brains lack a layered cerebral cortex as mammals have