Re: Bird bones cells surface area + next-generation paleornithology + worm lizards and end-Cretaceous mass extinction

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

On Sat, Apr 4th, 2015 at 1:19 AM, Dan Chure <danchure@easilink.com> wrote:

> Relative to the amphisbaenian paper mentioned below, out of curiosity 
> how extensive are the modern observations of vertebrate rafting across 
> oceans?  I know rafting has been seen but there is a difference between 
> finding an African vertebrate on a raft 200 km out into the Atlantic and 
> a raft with an African verebrate 200 km off the coast of South America. 
> Certainly small vertebrates would seem to be more prone to successful 
> dispersal via rafting than larger ones.  Continental drift still plays 
> into the rafting scenarios in that it can eventually move land masses so 
> far apart that the distance, which via ocean currents may not be the 
> shortest direct path, makes successful rafting effectively impossible.

The likelihood of a terrestrial species surviving long-distance rafting across 
oceans would seem to 
depend on the species involved. Small species that can drink salt water (small 
cats, kangaroo rats, 
salt marsh harvest mice, etc) would have a much longer window of survival, as 
would ectotherms 
that can survive longer on fewer resources (small lizards, snakes, etc).

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Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst               Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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