Re: Subterranean K-T strategies (was "I know why...")

[HPB1956@aol.com]

Ken Kinmen wrote on 07/18/2001:

> Anyway, those birds which did survive the extinction
> (less than a dozen species?) were probably mostly
> southern and liked to dig holes.

Of course it helps to be as far away from where disaster strikes. But after
immediate survival as an individual you need to find a mate in order to
maintain your species.

Birds capable of flight have one advantage: they can cover bigger distances
in search for a mate. I think that a surviving bird population can more
easily recover than e.g. a surviving population of mammals of equal size
(weight) and numbers spread out over the same area. Additionally birds may be
able to alert acoustically other members of the same species at greater
distances, making it easier to find them.

Cheers

Heinz Peter Bredow