From: Philidor11@aol.com
To: mbonnan@hotmail.com
CC: donosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: The Continuing Story of Gliders to Dinosaurs
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 1999 18:27:50 EDT
In a message dated 9/25/99 5:30:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mbonnan@hotmail.com writes:
<< Loss of the big caudofemoralis longus muscle that pulls the thigh back
in
most dinosaurs would have forced bird ancestors to use knee flexion and
extension which would help reorient the center of gravity over the feet.
As
a result of this, suddently
arboreal niches open up to once terrestrial animals. >>
If the disappearance of a muscle were creating significant difficulties,
wouldn't the muscle stop disappearing? Doesn't this imply that the bird
ancestors had already found the flexion/extension alternative before the
muscle disappeared? Would flexion/extension be advantageous to a
non-arboreal animal?
Thanks, Matt.