Re: The duck that ruled the world

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Sat, 27 May 2000, Ahmed al-Mahasa Sha'ad wrote:

> Maybe this was not  obvious -   I was being sarcastic (i was thinking of tge 
> reason give for dinosaurian extinction by one memeber) ;-)
> 
> Yes, man killed dromornids just as he did moas and elephantbirds (and dodo 
> and great auk and etc etc etc )

We don't like obvious sarcasm on this list, especially when we are its
target.  Instead of targeting poor list members, ask yourself relevant
questions such as: If moa, elephant birds, and dromornithids are so
easily snuffed, why doesn't man drive rhea, ostriches, and emus into
extinction?  Because they can hide, that's what!  Why don't moa
hide--or, alternatively, why don't moa-size birds evolve where man
is?  Because they're too damn big to hide.  The next question: Why didn't
any moa-sized species (the biggest moa, anyway) evolve (anywhere
else but islands) during the entire Cenozoic, when there was no Man?