Re: Omnivorous dinosaurs

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Donna Braginetz writes: 

> My observation is that many insects avoid predation by dropping to the
> ground when disturbed. Seems like parasites might evolve to cling tight
> to the vegetation until swallowed.

Most ingested parasites that effect herbivores are probably in the form of 
eggs layed on the vegetation. Of course they are designed to be able to 
survive the digestive process, so they probably result in very little in the 
way of nutrients as far as the herbivores are concerned (and any digestable 
proteins like egg casings are almost certainly offset by what the parasites 
then take from the herbivore, and then some). 

However non-parasitic insects also lay eggs on vegetation. It would be 
interesting to see how much insect protein herbivores actually ingest. I 
know that us humans inadvertedly ingest quite a bit of insect protein 
(especially in processed foods like jams or tomato-based sauces). So there's 
really no such thing as a vegan if you consider insect protein as meat. 

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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist         http://www.geocities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia        http://heretichides.soffiles.com
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