Re: Origin of feathers

[Dinogeorge <Dinogeorge@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-04-08 16:12:57 EDT, swo@execpc.com writes:

<< You are not alone. I will be giving a paper on this topic: "the
 informational origin of feathers" at Dinofest. It is an old idea. The
 Harvard Biologist Earnest Mayr first suggested that feather might have
 evolved this way in 1960s. Cowen and Lipps presented the "display
 hypothesis" more formally in a 1982 paper (see below*). I published an
 abstract in the journal _Evolutionary Theory_ on the similar
 "informational hypothesis" last August (1997). Finally, I will be
 presenting an updated version of the hypothesis at Dinofest. That's all
 I have to say on the topic until then. >>

As I've said before, pre-feathers cannot have >originated< as display
structures. Display had to evolve >after< the pre-feathers appeared, even if
it was "just after." Before the initial appearance of pre-feathers, there were
no pre-feathers, and no way for natural selection to operate on them in any
way.