Re: RE: Warm Blooded vs. Cold Blooded

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.ATTGIS.COM>]

 From: pwillis@ozemail.com.au (Paul Willis)
 > > I measure the skulls and mouths of sauropods and big
 > >mammals, find there is little difference in gross cropping capacity.
 > >So were is the assumption.
 > 
 > OK, I am just thinking of a couple off the top of my head, 
 > ... but try these:
 > 
 > 1 differences in jaw mechanics relating to rate of cropping.

The differences I am aware of might actually favor the *sauropods*.
The rake-like structure of the teeth may well have allowed browsing
by a simple sweeping motion of the head.

 > 2 differences in ability to orally process cropped material

Now add, ability to process food in a crop.

I rather think these two are pretty much a wash.  Chewing takes time
away from cropping.  Grinding in a crop does not.

 > 3 differences in quality of food

Wide mouthed browser *all* eat low-quaility food.  It is only narrow-
mouthed forms that select high-quality food. In terms of quality I
do not see much difference between the leaves of a "leafy" conifer
like Sequoia or Araucaria and a leptophyll scelrophyllous angiosperm.

 > 4 differences in requirements of food due to differences in metabolic
 > requirements

He wasn't commenting on this - only on raw *phyisical* processing
capacity.

 > Give me time, I could come up with more. The point is that the metabolic
 > requirements of sauropods can not be known and drawing simple correlations
 > between two dimentions.

He wasn't trying to determmine the metabolic requirement, he was only
trying to say they were not *limited* by inability to process enough
food.


swf@elsegundoca.attgis.com              sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.