Bird Co-operation in hunting

[Martin Human <martin@hpentccl.grenoble.hp.com>]

Brian Franczak wrote:

>No bird or crocodilian species alive today - the groups that
>phylogenetically bracket dinosaurs -- hunts cooperatively. Only mammals do.
>
>
>etc etc etc 

This is wrong. There is a species of hawk/buzzard which _does_ hunt 
co-operatively, and what's more, it is _adaptive_ behaviour (I need an 
ornithologist to give me a name, here; it lives in Central America area and is 
spreading north). The theory is that this bird has extended it's range to 
include scrubby desert by adopting co-operative hunting techniques; in it's 
"normal" habitat it is a solitary predator. I saw an absolutely extraordinary 
film of half a dozen of these hawks flushing a rabbit out of cover, chasing it 
through cactus thickets and finally capturing and sharing (albeit with a 
squabble) the meal.

So we _can_ include the possibility that dinos did the same.

martin
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: DINOSAUR digest 210 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 20 Feb 97 00:31:10 PST."
             <199702200831.AAA15572@usc.edu> 
--------