Re: Herbivore protection

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

> Maybe hadrosaurs also ran on a three- or five-year cycle, so
> that the reproductive rate and the long-term losses to predation more or
> less balanced out.

Yes.  This could be a possibility.

> Beware of "post hoc ergo propter hoc."  Modern large herbivores are all
> mammals.  I can't think of any herbivorous mammal larger than a warthog
> that produces more than one or two young per year.  I wonder if a large
> viviparous animal *could* produce more than one or two young per year. 
> K-strategy may be a less-than-optimal strategy that was forced on large
> mammals by other aspects of their physiology.  

I don't know of any reason why a wildebeest couldn't have many small
babies rather than one big one.  I would be really interested to find out
though if there is such a physiological constraint.  I'll post this on
sci.bio.evolution, if you don't mind.  In the meantime, ponder a
K-strategist elephant--eighteen tiny elephants--does it compute?