Re: Ornithodira, breathing with long necks

["Rob Gay" <rob_redwing@hotmail.com>]

> "Primitive", hm, I'd rather say the ability to fall into torpor is a 
> secondary adaptation in e. g. hummingbirds as well as in e.g. bats and 
> hibernating mammals -- and what are "primitive" birds? Ratites?<
I misspoke. I wasn't implying primitive in a modern sense. I was refering to 
avian, as in living birds, and "primitive avian" to refer to the metabolic 
regulatory systems in more basal avians (that, apparently, bone histology 
suggests was lower but active.) I should have made myself a little more 
clear. Also, this would make sense, since apparently ectothermic muscles are 
more efficient, and it would be benificial for an animal attempting to fly 
to have the most efficient muscles available. Is this making sense, or am I 
being unclear?
Peace,
Rob

Student of Geology
Northern Arizona University
P.O. Box 20840
Flagstaff, Az. 86011
AIM: TarryAGoat
"A _Coelophysis_ with feathers?"

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