Re: Mammals preying on giant azhdarchid pterosaurs!

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@home.com>]

> > No clue.  How does this relate?
>
> My guess would be that he is asking why so many
> species of marine reptiles suffered the same sort of
> sudden termination suffered by all species of
> non-avian dinosaurs, and at the same time.  Mammals
> may have been intrepid at getting at eggs, but not
> that intrepid.  Not a bad question.

To be perfectly fair to John (though I certainly do not accept his 
hypothesis) the one group of Mesozoic marine reptiles known to be 
live-bearing, the ichthyosaurs, apparently died out long before the end of 
the Cretaceous.  Of course I'm still trying to figure out how egg-eating 
mammalian predators (which presumably have been around since the Triassic) 
not only wiped out dinosaurs at the K-T, but ammonites, rudist corals, 
belemnites etc....

--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116
1825 Shady Creek Court
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          mailto:ornstn@home.com