Re: Campbell's even crazier than a MANIAC? (archeopteryx climbing)

[don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>]

-- On Sat, 9/20/08, David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:

> > parachuting/gliding capacity. Could we change that to
> 5m? :D.
> 
> Maybe not. Some say the vegetation on the islands where
> Archie apparently 
> lived was only 3 m high.

Heh. OK. Approximately twice as high as 1.6m. Every little bit helps.

More seriously, I see now that I unintentionally have wandered off-topic, and 
this is not a thread about the evolution _to_ A., but a discussion of A.'s 
lifestyle. That is what I get for not following the thread more closely.

> > As well as a roost or nest site...
> 
> However, nesting in trees does not appear to be
> plesiomorphic even for 
> crown-group birds.

Yes, nesting is out. Still, there is roosting. 

> > Works especially well in an area where trees are
> well-scattered, and there 
> > is little undergrowth.
> 
> There may have been _only_ undergrowth.

Maybe. Still, even though close to the equator, there might have been a 
beach/tidal zone that could perch-hunted. Also, an low-lying island covered w/ 
cycads that tends toward aridity (per wikipedia) could have quite a bit of open 
space.

Don