Re: Warm-Blooded debate

[zenlizard@juno.com (Sam j hogan)]

On Mon, 16 Jun 1997 17:42:33 -0700 (PDT) Steven Howe writes:
>I thought that Komodo dragons 'get by without starving' because there is
a
>lack of large warm-blooded predators to compete with in their
environment.

Komodo Lizards (_Varanus komodoensis_)  get by without starving due to a
wide variety of factors...one of which is a lack of competing top
predators.  Their niche, BTW, is that of tropical cursorial woodlands top
predator.  The young are partly arboreal; often found in trees to escape
the predations of the adults.  Physiology, too, is important...they don't
need to eat as much as a 150-200 pound endotherm.  Their lifestyle is
that of a hide and ambush predator, like crocodiles without the water; if
the chosen prey item isn't killed immediately, they have been known to
track the bleeding wounds for long  (I can't remember how long)
distances, as well.  They are also not adverse to eating carrion.

Essentially, it is all of these factors together which have made these
monitors the success that they are.  Part of the problem they now face is
indeed, competition from introduced predators, but that's only part of
the reason why they're endangered.  Habitat destruction is the main one.

As a model for dinosaur predation and therefore success,  Komodo dragons
are poor. 
Unless, of course, you could find a dinosaur type which matches most or
all of the characteristics evidenced by Komodo monitors-in which case, we
could say that the dragons model that type and only that type of dinosaur
 (and others like it)  well.
-zenlizard

I worship Eris and love fossils