Re: Body size for mammals

[Dinogeorge <Dinogeorge@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-05-01 03:21:53 EDT, jhecht@world.std.com writes:

<< In any case, John Alroy of the Smithsonian tested Cope's law by comparing
 the masses of successive species of North American mammals, estimated from
 the size of their first molar teeth (a technique verified with living
 mammals), and found that the average increase from one species to the
 successor species in the same genera was 9.1%. This verifies Cope's Rule,
 that animal sizes tend to increase, at least for the North American
 mammals, which were what Cope studied in the first place. It may not hold
 for other animals. >>

Ahh---! (Need I say more? But remember--it's just a tendency, not a "rule.")