Re: Again: origin of bird flight

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@home.com>]

> There must be a reason why 1 *Compsognathus* specimen is known from the
> Solnhofen/Eichstätt area, while 8* specimens of *Archaeopteryx* plus the
> isolated feather are known from there... Ebel suggests the later were more
> likely to die in/above the place where they fossilized.

Some further details on this point, which I answered briefly in my last 
post:

1.  The flying foxes that drown in billabongs in northern Australia do not 
just do so now and again, but apparently frequently enough so that some 
populations of pig-nose turtles (Carettochelys insculpta) rely on them is a 
regular source of protein.

2. Flight is hazardous.  Once an animal is airborne, it may be at the mercy 
of strong winds that can carry it places it had no intention of going, 
particularly if it is not a strong flier in the first place.  Therefore, 
the fact that fossils of Archeopteryx occur in lake beds does not even 
prove that these birds were deliberately flying over water.  They could 
represent animals that had been blown out into the middle of the lake by a 
storm, and could not get back.

3.  Although there are very few specimens of the definitely non-flying 
Compsognathus from the area, there are beautiful specimens of pterosaurs 
from the same beds.  If pterosaurs can end up as fossils in the bottom of a 
lake without being underwater swimmers, there is no reason why the same 
could not be true of Archaeopteryx.  in fact, the one thing these two taxa 
share, the ability to fly, exposes them to the same risk of being blown 
places that they do not wish to go.

I would therefore conclude that, what ever other evidence there may be for 
suggesting that Archaeopteryx was a swimmer (and it should be obvious by 
now that I find this idea ludicrous at best), the fact that its fossils 
turned up aquatic deposits cannot qualify as such evidence.


--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116
1825 Shady Creek Court
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          mailto:ornstn@home.com