Re: secondary flightlessness (wordy)

[david.lessin@walgreens.com]

>An odd thought I had while looking at Caudipteryx (or pictures of it,
>anyway) -
>a number of birds (eg grouse, cranes) use wing-assisted upward leaps of the
>type Tom is talking about as part of their displays.  I think it is reasonable
>to assume Caudipteryx used that remarkable tail fan in some sort of
>display.  I
>wonder if it is fair to speculate that the arm-feathers may have assisted
>display by allowing airborne, flap-assisted leaps - or to jump even further
>and note that if so, display might have been a driving factor in the evolution 
of
>powered flight (a mechanism I have not seen anyone suggest for the "ground-up"
>hypothesis).  Of course none of this can be proved.......

An interesting hypothesis...possible a LEK system of some sort. However, using 
the correct analysis you could at least determine if it were possible.

David