Re: Dino feathers=Ptero fur?

["Nicholas J. Pharris" <pharrinj@PLU.edu>]

On Fri, 9 Feb 1996, Nicholas R. Longrich wrote:

> > To answer your second question:  
> > 
> > Yes, based on foot and braincase features, I believe arctomets (including 
> > _Tyrannosaurus_) to be more closely related to modern birds than 
> > _Archaeopteryx_, although Tom and George, just to name a few, disagree.
> 
> Okay, so I was reading you right. I assume you mean that they're 
> secondarily flightless, rather than a second evolution of flight. 

Yes, that is my interpretation.  I believe I'll post a clarification of 
my views on this particular subject to the list soon, if you're interested.

>       On the subject of T. rex running- it doesn't really make much 
> evolutionary sense for an animal to be able to run faster than it safely 
> can or would. It would seem to make about as much sense as paying for a big 
> 250 horsepower outboard and putting it on a little rubber raft, and never 
> going full-throttle because you know you'd kill yourself if you tried- 
> it'd be wasteful, and that's one thing selection takes care of pretty 
> quickly. One would think that T. rex probably used all the speed it 
> evolved to have. 

Indeed!

>       -Nick L. 
> 

Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(206)535-8204
PharriNJ@PLU.edu

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -- Harry S Truman