Re: mammal mystery

[Jeffrey Martz <martz@holly.ColoState.EDU>]

> I think here we need a specific definition of what "successful" means in this
> context. Is it longevity of lineage, fecundity and diversity of lineages, or
> some combination (which?) of these?

     I was thinking along the lines of "number of species existing
contemporaneously at a given time".  Five isn't too bad for a large
mammal.

> <<       Also, applying the results of human activities to ecological changes
>  and extinctions across all geologic time is a little innapropriate. >>
> Why? Humanity is as much an agent of species extinction as, say, an impacting
> asteroid.

     Asteroids have been smacking the earth with much greater frequency.
Humans are a one-shot quirk.

LN Jeff.
O-