Re: mammal mystery

[Larry <dunn1@idt.net>]

John Bois wrote:
 
> Increasing size doesn't mean thriving; it means increasing size. 

Thriving is precisely what increasing size means.  Animals living in an 
environment that can support greater size get bigger.  It's been a simple 
fact since the Paleozoic.  Being satisfied with the statement that 
"increasing size means increasing size" is somewhat less than a bold 
scientific investigation!
 
> If you
> ask me, a group of species which keeps no really small things (moussize)
> among their members is doomed.

Can you be serious?  A "group of species" is referred to as a "genus." Do 
you mean that elephants are doomed because there are no mouse-sized 
elephants?  Are we doomed because there are no mouse-sized hominids?

 
> Dinosaurs were bipedal.  This hampered them in close cover where things
> suc as mammals, snakes and lizards had an advantage of close-to-the-ground
> stealth.

Many, many dinosaurs were not bipedal.  Even assuming they were, what's 
your point?