Re: Spinosaurs ate pterosaurs

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Tim Williams (twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com) wrote:

<Really?  Out of curiosity, what are these non-flying insectivores that
prey on flying insects?  Do they actually prey on the insects while the
insect is in flight?  It is a lot more difficult to catch a flying insect
than one sitting on a leaf.>

  Not all toads and chameleons wait for their prey.

<Doesn't this behavior qualify as 'play', and perform an important role in
the social cohesion of a pod?>

  I have seen and witnessed this behavior in a pod of porpoises off the
coast of Florida. They were accompanying the ship I was on and seemed to
use this as "communication." They will do this on their own, or in
association with a vessel. I beleive they have been noted doing this
around whales. The conclusion has been they were "playing," yet for some
reason, this is a rather _costly- play behavior in an animal whose body
form, like seals, are adapted to _reducing_ drag. Yet they "frolic,"
"play," etc., in behaviors that _WE_ infer for them based on our own
psychosocial behaviors. This is akin to Freudian inferences for what _we_
would do being put onto another, independant of what they were doing.
Instead, the energetics they exhibit are beyond the need to move make
dolphins and porpoises exceptional to most marine animals, because it
would seem to be an "unneccessary" behavior that contradicts the
conservation and constraints of the evolutionary form. This may speak of
some intelligence. But it also speaks of a behavior that would not seem to
be _neccessary_ for normal locomotion, yet is still performed.

  So why would a flying squirrel not climb another 30-60 feet back up to
gain a higher vantage point if it needed to forage further? This is much
more expeditious than walking along the ground for those few miles of its
foraging range, where it might become a target. Nonetheless, however
"costly" it would be, they do it, and seemingly with an intent to continue
doing it if neccessary, for whatever reason.

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


                
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail