From: "Williams, Tim" <TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu> Reply-To: TiJaWi@agron.iastate.edu To: "'Dino Guy and Computer Gal '" <gbabcock@best.com> CC: "'dinosaur@usc.edu'" <dinosaur@usc.edu> Subject: RE: Theory Sez Flight Evolution Linked To Parental Care Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 14:47:13 -0600
Ralph W. Miller wrote:
>Yes, I've wondered how much weight savings one derives from replacing
>teeth with a beak, and loading your gizzard with grit or stones to >process
food!
One theory (as I understand it) is that a beak (cornified
rhamphotheca)provides a better cutting edge than jaws packed with teeth, and
compensates for the lack of clawed forelimbs in birds.
Do you mean for prey/object manipulation? If so, why better than teeth?
I also thought that most Mesozoic birds were toothed; toothless birds (confuciusornithids, gobipterygids, neornithine) were in the minority. Oviraptorosaurs, segnosaurs, ornithomimosaurs and ornithischians had toothless beaks as well, often in combination with teeth.
Tim