Re: the tonight show

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

George,
    I'll have to disagree with you on this one, although it does depend on 
how one defines "closely related", and therefore might be viewed as 
partially quibbling over semantics.
    Even though all living birds are equally related to the common ancestor 
with dromaeosaurs in terms of "chronological years", I would argue that a 
slow-evolving lineage like the tinamous (the most generalized palaeognaths) 
would be the closest relatives of any "dinosaur" in evolutionary terms, 
certainly closer than a penguin, hummingbird, or sparrow.  Evolutionary 
rates do differ significantly in different lineages.
    Therefore I would not quibble with the choice of any paleognath as 
"closest living relative" to "dinosaurs".  And who knows, the cassowary 
slashing toe may well involve "turning on" of some homologous genes to those 
in velociraptors (and therefore closer to parallelism than convergence on 
that count).
    All things considered, and being directed at the generalized audience 
of the Tonight Show, I would say the comparison was a useful one (although I 
must admit that I didn't see that show myself).  And if velociraptors are 
secondarily flightless, then the comparison is even more appropriate.
                     -----Ken
********************************************************
> From: Dinogeorge@aol.com
> Reply-To: Dinogeorge@aol.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: the tonight show
> Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 03:12:12 EST
>
> In a message dated 1/9/01 3:01:59 AM EST, jenny@amnh.org writes:
>
> << and I quote
>  " closest living relative to a dinosaur."
>
>  Jay Leno says "really?"
>
>  response  "yup, closest lving relative to a velociraptor."
>
>  I knew there was a reason I stayed up late. >>
>
> All modern birds are equally closely related to Velociraptor, since they
> share the same most recent common ancestor. That is, the common ancestor of
> any modern bird and Velociraptor is the same species as the common ancestor
> of any other modern bird and Velociraptor.
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