Re: Ah ha! That's where therizinosaurs came from

["Demetrios Vital" <demetrios.vital@gmail.com>]

Dear Mr. (Dr.?) Ohmes,

Do you by chance have photos of the dead turkey, or were you able to observe 
whether the hallux was involved in the grip? I've seen dead birds suspended by 
their grip, but only crows and other obvious perchers.

Thanks,

Demetrios


-----Original Message-----
From: Don Ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>
Sender: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:56:51 
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Reply-To: d_ohmes@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Ah ha! That's where therizinosaurs came from

On 8/14/2011 10:15 AM, Jason Brougham wrote:

> What would you say is the adaptive explanation for parrots losing their
> furculae?

They simply do not need them, is the null. Neutral traits can be 
conserved, either by chance, or linkage to other trait(s).

The adaptive question of relevance is "Why did they have wishbones in 
the first place?", which is obviously goes way beyond parrots.

Good thing it did not happen in turkeys -- it would be culturally 
disturbing during the holidays.

Here is an observation -- a wild turkey (American-style) can die while 
gripping a tree-branch, rotate around the branch, and then decompose 
while hanging upside down, it's feet locked on the branch. Still there 3 
weeks later...

I assume the branch diameter was a critical factor.