Re: Dietary factors & giant land mammals

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@home.com>]

At 08:44 PM 07/05/01 -0400, John Bois wrote:
> >     Grasses in particular aren't terribly nutritious or easy to 
> digest.  And
> > even large mammoths quickly evolved dwarf forms in environments where food
> > became relatively scarce and/or less nutritious.
>
> Ironic, then, that the largest extant birds live in, and depend upon,
> grasslands.

This is, of course, a recent artifact - if moas and elephant-birds had 
lasted only a few more centuries your statement would not be true.


--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886
International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: (905) 569-0116
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