Re: possible role of echolocation in K-T survival

[Stephen Faust <smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu>]

Certainly not as mammals do. Ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs were
reptiles with a reptilian jaw structure - no reduction of post dentary
bones to form the structure of the mammalian middle ear with subsequent
modification for echolocation.
 
Steve

Stephen Faust                   smfaust@edisto.cofc.edu

On Mon, 9 Mar 1998, Betty Cunningham wrote:

> isn't echolocating similar in principle to sonar?  The medium is
> different, and the reception of sound is through different body parts
> (ears vs. melon), but isn't the principle of issuing sound to recieve
> sound wave bounces the same?
> 
> Could ichthyosaurs have used sonar?
> 
> -Betty Cunningham
> 
> Pat Grant (Library: Serials Catalog wrote:
> > 
> > Given that only small terrestrial animals survived the K-T
> > event, and given that, among terrestrial animals, SKAIK only the small
> > ones echolocate, has there been any attempt to link ability to
> > echolocate with survival at the K-T?  (Not that I can suggest any
> > means of testing such an idea, even approximately--it just seems
> > intuitively likely that something that could help an animal locate
> > food and others of its own kind, even in conditions of total darkness,
> > might be a significant contributor to survival in some of the proposed
> > K-T scenarios.  Especially since it may be a primitive character for
> > mammals--perhaps fossilized auditory bullae could give some evidence?)
> > 
> > Pat
>