Re: Testing for arboreality (was RE: On science (was Re: a bunch of other stuff))

["Jerry D. Harris" <dinogami@hotmail.com>]

> What does the term "arboreal" mean in this context?  Can anyone give me an
> example of an extant "arboreal" avian?  What bird doesn't spend some time n
> the ground? When is a bird a cursor, a scansor or arboreal?  Maybe
> humingbirds fit as non-cursors, but I've even seen them on foot in the 
> grass
> attacking fallen flower blossoms.

  There is obviously a great deal of overlap between the theoretical 
end-members of the cursor-scansor-arbor ternary map of behaviors -- some, 
like birds, as you note, spend some time on the ground and in the trees.  
Likewise, there is some loose-ness to the definition of arboreal -- does 
this simply mean it spends _some_ time in the trees?  How much time?  And, 
more importantly for the question of "arboreal" theropods (non-avian ones, 
that is), does the proper definition of "arboreal" include restrictions on 
_how_ the animal got into the trees?  It's a very different thing to fly 
through the air and land on a branch to be "arboreal" than to have to 
scamper up the trunk and then manipulate ones way through numerous branches 
to get to the same point!

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                     Jerry D. Harris
                 Fossil Preparation Lab
          New Mexico Museum of Natural History
                   1801 Mountain Rd NW
               Albuquerque  NM  87104-1375
                 Phone:  (505) 841-2809
                  Fax: ; (505) 841-2808
           >>>>> dinogami@hotmail.com <<<<<

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