Rafting event Information & Rafting event Links at HealthHaven.com

Rafting events occur when organisms transfer from one land mass to another by way of a sea crossing on large clumps of floating vegetation. Such matted clumps of vegetation are often seen floating down major rivers in the tropics and washing out to sea, occasionally with animals trapped on them.^[1]

Within the order Primates, this is thought to have happened twice. According to genetic evidence, the common ancestor of the lemurs of Madagascar appears to have crossed the Mozambique Channel by rafting sometime between the late Cretaceous and the middle Eocene.^[2]^[3] Likewise, the New World monkeys are thought to have originated in Africa and rafted to South America during the Oligocene, when the continents were much closer than they are today.^[3]

In reptiles, two iguanid species in the South Pacific are believed to have descended from South American green iguanas about 13 million years ago.^[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Mittermeier, R.A.; et al. (2006). Lemurs of Madagascar (2nd ed.). Conservation International. pp. 24–26. ISBN 1-881173-88-7.
^ Roos, Christian; Schmitz, Jürgen, & Zischler, Hans (July 2004). "Primate jumping genes elucidate strepsirrhine phylogeny" (PDF). PNAS 101: 10650–10654. doi:10.1073/pnas.0403852101. http://www.pnas.org/content/101/29/10650.full.pdf.
^ ^a ^b Sellers, Bill (2000-10-20). "Primate Evolution" (PDF). University of Edinburgh. pp. 13–17. http://homepage.mac.com/wis/Personal/lectures/human-origins/PrimateEvolution.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ Cogger, Harold (1974). "Voyage of the Banded Iguana". Australia Natural History 18 (4): 144–149.

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[Mittermeier-0] Mittermeier, R.A.; et al. (2006). Lemurs of Madagascar (2nd ed.). Conservation International. pp. 24–26. ISBN 1-881173-88-7.

[Roos-1] Roos, Christian; Schmitz, Jürgen, & Zischler, Hans (July 2004). "Primate jumping genes elucidate strepsirrhine phylogeny" (PDF). PNAS 101: 10650–10654. doi:10.1073/pnas.0403852101. http://www.pnas.org/content/101/29/10650.full.pdf.

[Sellers-2] Sellers, Bill (2000-10-20). "Primate Evolution" (PDF). University of Edinburgh. pp. 13–17. http://homepage.mac.com/wis/Personal/lectures/human-origins/PrimateEvolution.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-23.

[Cogger-3] Cogger, Harold (1974). "Voyage of the Banded Iguana". Australia Natural History 18 (4): 144–149.

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