Re: dinos and birds

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Messages ----- 
From: "James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>

> > No, no -- the prey must provide more energy than the efforts to get it,
and
> > I can't imagine this would be the case in an animal that would live off
> > climbing up a tree over and over again.
>
> Doesn't the effectiveness of that practice depend upon the glide ratio?

Just to show my usual ignorance... do parachuters have a glide ratio in the
first place?

> > I researched those warm fuzzy pterosaurs.   They did have hair, since
they
> > also had lightweight bodies and strong wings it is logical to think they
> > flew, and that adds up to they must have been warm blooded.
>
> Although I do personally think that they were warm-blooded, it isn't
required by
> their flight style, and the fact that they flew can't be equated directly
to
> warm-bloodedness.

Does this only apply to the big ones, or to, say, anurognathids as well?

> Not my specialty, but doesn't that depend upon who is doing the
classification?

So far, yes.

I'm off to France for the rest of the month.