Re: Warm-Blooded debate

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

> They couldn't do this as ecotherms! Take the Komodo Dragon, for example.
> It can run fast, as it has to, but it will sometimes pause in the middle
> of a chase to catch it's breath. I severely doubt that a T. Rex would
> have survived as a predator if it stopped in the middle of a chase.

     Komodo dragons seem to be getting by without starving
to death.  Keep in mind if you are an ectotherm, you may not have as
much energy for an extended chase as an endotherm, but at the same time
you don't need to eat as much anyway so you get to have a few more
unsuccessful chases.  Also keep in mind that if ALL dinosaurs were
ectotherms, the theropods and herbivorous dinosaurs would have the same
physiological limitations. 

> don't think that the 15-inch claw found on the _Utahraptor_'s foot would
> be of much use if it was a scavenger. A slow ecothermic scavenger.

       I am not aware of any modern ectothermic species that get
exclusively by on scavenging. Komodo dragons (as well as all lizards that
I am aware of) and crocodilians are efficient predators that often
succesfully take down WARM BLOODED prey.  You might as well say
that "the sharp serrated teeth of Komodo dragons and the immensely
powerful jaws of crocodilians wouldn't be of much use to a slow,
ectothermic scavenger".  

LN Jeff
A GODLESS PERSON WHO WORSHIPS FOSSILS
O-