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Re: Egg Theives at the K/T?



S.S. Lazarus said:
>Egg predation is probably one of many sub-plots, but I don't think
>it's the main storyline. The Dinosaurs are only one facet of the K/T
>extinction, this idea can't explain the whole K/T event.

I agree with this, in spite of my other silly posting.  That was just
Torosaurus Coprolites.  But, still, I think it is useful to consider
the major groups of terrestrial vertebrates and plants for that
matter, that did survive the K/T.  What special skills and abilities
did they have that allowed them to cope with the K/T "Event" whatever
that was; be it Lucifers Hammer, Goodyear Vulcanism or those damn
unstable Irridium Fusion Reactors.  Even if Dinosaurs were already
extinct due to any or all of the other proposed scenarios, how did
Crocs, Turtles, Snakes, Lizards, Frogs & Salamamders, Mammals, and
Birds survive the catostrophic event that deposited a thin layer of
irridium rich blue clay world wide.  I think that all of these modern
groups so familiar to us today because they did survive the K/T event;
had built in stratigies that Dinosaurs didn't have.

Look at Mt St Helens as a microcosm.  Some toads and salamanders and
small mammals survived within the blown down forest and all that ash
fall because they were caught in their burrows.  You can be sure that
the elk and bear and yes the toads, salamanders and small mammals
caught on the surface did not.  Seedlings of many kinds appeared the
following spring.  Some conifers require fire to open the cones and
release the seeds.

Look at the everglades as a microcosm.  'Gators and Turtles survive
wildfires in the everglades simply by submerging for a few hours/days.
Look at snakes, tortoises and lizards on the high desert in any
winter.  They are hibernating!  Look at Puxsutawney Phill.  Do you
think He likes being jerked out of his hole in the dead of winter and
made to look at his shadow?  He doesn't care about his shadow, He's
Hibernating too!  (For those of you outside the U.S., this is a
reference to our foolish Ground Hog Day) I think it's been suggested
that some dinosaurs migrated; Hadrosaur fossils have been found above
the Cretaceous Arctic Circle, haven't they?  But I don't think that
Dinosaurs hibernated.  Does anyone out there think that Dinosaurs
hibernated?  With the exception of birds, I believe all of the modern
groups mentioned above, survived because of some sort of
Hibernation/Hunker Down and wait it out stratigy.  And Birds have a
special ability that Dinosaurs don't have: they could Fly!  Doesn't
this suggest that birds could escape, migrate across mountain ranges,
across oceans, find a refuge.  Assuming again that they weren't all
extinct already . . . .  . Dinosaurs were earthbound, stuck, no
escape.  They couldn't migrate fast enough or far enough and they
couldn't hibernate.  I know I'm painting with a broad brush, but I'm
trying to understand the big picture.

I posted something similar to this notion several months ago, and
except for some spellimng corrections, and nit picking around the
edges, I was greeted with the equavalent of a bunch of blank cyber
stares.  I would really like to hear your considered thoughts on this
idea.  I know, I know, Pterosaurs could fly too, why didn't they
survive like the birds. I know, I know it's more complicated than
that.  This is making my head hurt again.

        "I can only contemplate the infinite for a finite period of time."

Bill Hunt - Hunt Studios -  Wildlife - Paleo Wildlife
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