Re: Evolution in reverse gear

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

> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004416183_webstickleback15m.html
>
> I could be stretching the analogy a bit, but this example may reinforce 
> the plausibility of flighted early dromaeosaurs becoming secondarily 
> flightless and losing some of their "birdy" features in the process.

There is no such thing as "reverse" or "forward" in evolution. First the 
environment favored A, then it favored B, and then it favored A again, and 
the genes for A were still in the population (probably, as the article says 
near the end, even augmented by immigration!). That's all. The Galápagos 
ground finches do that in every El Niño-La Niña cycle.