Re: Warm-Blooded debate

["Tony Canning" <tonyc@foe.co.uk>]

On Jun 17,  9:46pm, Jonathon Woolf wrote:

> "A Cold Look at the Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs" is the published transcript
> of the proceedings of a conference held around 1980.  I've never seen a
> copy, it's apparently very rare, but it casts a very skeptical (one
> could almost say jaundiced) look at the evidence as it was known then
> for dinosaurian endothermy.

Very critical remarks if you've never seen this book!  Yes, it is out of date
now, but still contains valuable material.    Supporters of endothermy are
represented, included Bakker himself..

> The difference between ectothermy and endothermy is not simply a matter
> of "powering up."  Endotherms don't simply have more energy, they have
> more endurance and a very different cellular chemistry.  Ectotherms have
> no endurance because they can only generate energy anaerobically.  (A

I think Michaelf T. already pointed out that this statement is false.  ALL
vertebrates
are primarily aerobic, secondarily anaerobic during vigorous exercise.  There
are differences in the absolute and relative lengths of time these two forms
of exercise can be sustained.

> lizard or a crocodile has to kill in its initial rush -- if it doesn't,
> it has no energy left for a second attempt.

This statement is also false, I'm afraid.  Remember this next time you're
attacked by a crocodile !


That's why all modern
> reptiles are ambush hunters.)

>-- End of excerpt from Jonathon Woolf

Sorry, some reptiles are sit and wait predators, others actively forage.  Many
do both.
And ambush is not a good strategy for a herbivore!


Tony Canning
tonyc@foe.co.uk