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Re: Island-dwelling dinosaurs (was Re: Gargantuavis neck vertebra)
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- Subject: Re: Island-dwelling dinosaurs (was Re: Gargantuavis neck vertebra)
- From: Mike Keesey <keesey@gmail.com>
- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:04:42 -0700
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On Sun, Jun 17, 2012 at 10:12 PM, Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> But this might be putting the cart before the horse. Large
> island-dwelling birds have a poor track record when they encounter new
> mammalian predators. Rather, the ancestors of big flightless birds
> might have evolved ways of dealing with non-avian terrestrial
> predators *before* they became flightless. This promoted the loss of
> flight, rather than the other way around.
Interesting idea. Secretarybirds and ground hornbills might be good models here.
--
T. Michael Keesey
http://tmkeesey.net/