Re: Killer whales and theropods (was Longest Animal?)

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 07:01 PM 3/22/98 +0100, Berislav Krzic wrote:
>Larry Dunn wrote:
>
>It is interesting though, but I can't recall even the bird species 
>that uses cooperative ways of hunting. A pair of eagles maybe? The 
>inteligence of birds (the closest relatives to dinosaurs), however, 
>shouldn't be underestimated (the capabilities of parrots and crows 
>are quite impressive).

Quite so.  Recent evidence causes me to assess the intelligence of one
species of parrot as comparable to that of the chimpanzee.

On the other hand, it is also a fact that avian encephalization quotients
are well above all but the "brainiest" dinosaurs.  (Troodontids enter the
low avian range).

On the gripping hand, (non-avian) theropods EQs are rather larger than that
of oras.  So some more sophisticated cooperation is not out of the question
even if they could not match the precision cooperation of orcas or
chimpanzees.

[Hmm, 'ora' and 'orca' are oddly similar words for such different animals].

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com