Re: Again: origin of bird flight

["philidor11" <philidor11@snet.net>]

HP Marjanovic:
Though Taylor, in the following article which is all what I have on this
hypothesis, makes a reasonably good case IMHO for *Caudipteryx* being an
insect-eater, like the aardwolf, which also has gastroliths.)
You:
A mammal with gastroliths? Really?!

Me:
http://www.lionking.org/~tiger/aardwolf.htm
Termites usually spit a poison secret on their enemies. That's often enough
for termite eaters - but not for the Aarwolf. Alike his meat consuming
'cousins' he has a very strong stomach. And it seems to be resistant against
the poison. But 'caused by this special gift, the digestion is a lot more
complicated. It's very slow, so the Aardwolf has to be economical with his
energy.

Not everything in this article checks out in other sources.  For example,
the article says they eat 600,000 termites daily, another source 200,000.
Still, interesting discussion of a 'poison secret', and no sign of
gastroliths.