Re: Life's scale reduction since the Dinosaurs

[Robert.J.Meyerson@uwrf.edu (Rob Meyerson)]

>Darren then went on to sight the biggest of the land animals: mega-dinosaurs, 
>indricotheres, recent mammoths and recent mammals. Arguing 
>all the time that there has NOT been any reduction in the 
>scale of life.
>
>If I plot the weights of these animals in their time periods I get
>something like (very roughly)
>
>80 MYA      - Mega-dinosaurs     up to about 75 tonnes
>40 MYA      - Indricotheres      about 30 tonnes
>3 MYA       - recent mammoths    about 10 Tonnes
>Present Day -                    Max. weight about 6 Tonnes
>
>I would have thought the trend was obvious (although there is 
>probably considerable scope for improvement in the accuracy of 
>the dates and weights)

Sorry, but this is far from obvious.  Are you intending to include 
labrynthodont amphibians, large pelecosaurs (sp?), and large therapsids in your 
list?  If not, then you are leaving out a good portion of earth history, 
casting doubt on your hypotheses.

Rob

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