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Re: Hibernating through the K/T?



John Bois writes;

>1.  Birds survived, as you say.  But to which refugium could they fly
>that dinosaurs were excluded.  High latitudes, perhaps.  But we have
>found high-latitude dinosaurs?

By being able to fly, birds were able to reach new food sources more
 easily than their land-bound relatives.  This means that some, but
 probably not all, bird populations were able to hold on by moving in
 search of new feeding grounds.

>2. Some dinosaurs may have hibernated.

NOT!  Although we do find dinos in high latitudes, the plant fossils
 found point to a temperate environment.  Although it probably did get
 cold in the winter, I suspect that the temperature stayed above
 freezing.

IMHO, any hibernation scenerio for survivor species is incorrect.
 With estimates for the bolide winter lasting several years, there is
 no way for any species, especially for endothermic ones, to survive
 that long during sleep (paleozoic coal frogs being a bizarre exception
 to this rule).  I suspect that all Late-K survivors were active the
 whole time.

Rob

***
"No, 'OOOH' in surprise and alarm."
                -MPATHG