Re: Bird Brains

[dbensen <dbensen@gotnet.net>]

>>We haven't been around as long as some of the avian/dinosaur forms of life,<<
Um, no.  Mammals evolved in the Triassic birds evolved in the Jurassic (yeah,
the Jurassic, those BCF people can bite, er, peck me).  So mammals have been
around longer than birds.

>>so it would stand to reason that, with longer to evolve some of their
systems are going to be more advanced/efficient. <<
Um, no.  Evolution doesn't work that way.  (read Steven Gould) organisms become
better adapted for their environment only in the most scattershot and
shortsighted manner.  The only reason, for instance, that sharks and cockroaches
have been around for longer than mammals had, is not because being older, they
are more advanced, but that the adaptations they've gone through have (by
coinsidence) continue to be advantageous.  I would be willing to say that some
neural adaptation that mammals made way back when we were living underfoot in
the Mesozoic doomed us to our inefficiant brains, but that's just a wild guess.

Dan