hallux, and dinosaur movie scripts

[longrich@alumni.princeton.edu]

> In a message dated Thu, 15 Aug 2002 10:23:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> DinoBoyGraphics writes:
>
> > I doubt that a reversed hallux is as informative about aboreality as 
> > many suppose.  A reversed halluz is good for prey manipulation.<

	Well I think the thing to do is look at the appearance of a hallux- 
or hallux-like structures- and ask, "in what context do these things 
appear?". The double-thumb of koalas, the opposable toe of phalangers, 
the opposable toes and fingers of primates, the permanently opposed 
digits of chameleons, the additional opposed digits of parrots and 
woodpeckers- all of these are found in arboreal animals. Swifts have a 
strong grasping ability and opposability and they aren't really climbers 
but still they are grasping far off the ground, not prey. So I think 
it's safe to say that a hallux-like structure is strong evidence for 
arboreality in a lineage (although its absence does not preclude 
arboreality, e.g. sloths don't have opposable digits). The most notable 
exception might be the grasping structure of pandas, which is used to 
grasp bamboo on the ground. Unless it is also found in lesser pandas, 
the implication would be that a hallux-like structure can evolve for 
non-arboreal purposes. On the other hand, it *is* used for grasping 
branches, just not for climbing said branches.



Re: improving upon the Jurassic Park movies, I myself have developed a 
screenplay:

It is entitled "Dinosaurs vs. Robots".
	A fleet of spaceships heads for earth, robots from Planet Ten 
demanding total submission of the human race to their empire. Just then, 
a second conquering armada appears- Dinosaurs from Planet Eleven! A 
terrible space battle ensues. They decide to negotiate. Whichever  side, 
Dinosaurs or Robots, can terrorize/eat/kill more earthlings will get the 
planet. Dinosaurs and Robots proceed to terrorize/eat/kill humans. In 
the end, the Dinosaurs win but still decide to attack and destroy the 
Robots... because they're dinosaurs and they attack and destroy stuff.
   At the risk of being too obvious about the symbolism, the movie is a 
deep philosophical commentary on the effects on humanity of being caught 
between the conflicting forces of Nature and Technology. Issues of 
permanence-vs-transience and life-vs-death and the inevitable question 
of "what happens to us after we die???" are explored in "Dinosaurs vs. 
Robots vs. Zombies" which also includes dinosaur zombies, zombie 
cyborgs, and cyborg-dinosaur-zombies. I'm still sketching out the 
details for Part III of the trilogy.
   Bidding for the script starts at one million dollars.