Re: Subject: Bird hibernation/torpor

[Rob Meyerson <Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu>]

John Bois writes;

>I also argue that
>dinos might not have gone out if there had  been grass.  As you say, none
>of this relates to causation of dinosaur extinction because grass did not
>exist back then.

Except that there is a lot more to a desert ecosystem than the angiosperm 
population.  There are a few conifer species (one paleobotany theory states 
that the conifer group evolved in arid/desert climates, with mostly 
cold-tolerant species thriving today), and a few other "primitive" plant groups 
that could have evolved arid-loving species.  Remember that the evolutionary 
history of plants has been just as dynamic as the one for animals; certainly 
the desert ecosystem of the Mesozoic is totally different, in flora and fauna, 
than the one that exists today.

Rob Meyerson
Orphan Vertebrate Paleontologist

***
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new 
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but  "That's funny ..."
       --  Isaac Asimov