Yes, I do still browse reddit, mainly for hockey and some niche subs that aren’t here yet. Once in a while I dip my toes into r/all to see the garbage that floats to the top and this one popped up today.
r/conspiracy has always been a shithole, but when I first saw this post I thought it was on a meme sub, but no, those morons actually believe this shit. Truly blows my mind how amazingly stupid a lot of people are.
If you feel like having some of your brain cells commit suicide you can read the comments here - https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1m6p3p6/octopuses_lived_before_dinosaurs_and_were/
If there’s a better way to share a reddit post without giving them clicks let me know and I’ll edit my link. I know I’ve seen it before but I don’t remember what it was.
You… are looking at a fossil of one. That’s what the post is about. I mean, maybe they fossilize less frequent than other animals, but it seems like they do.
Yup. It’s not that soft tissue DOESN’T fossilize, it’s just that the conditions to do so are much rarer, and soft tissue is obviously much more susceptible to degradation before fossilization.
Not gonna lie, I was assuming even the picture was made up/AI bullshit. Bit of egg on my face there
The sentiment is still correct though, even bone fossils are exceedingly rare. I can’t remember the exact estimate but of all the people alive in the US, archeologists 1 million years from now would be lucky to find 60 human bones. I’m not sure if that included teeth however.