Re: New Article in Experimental Zoology

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Sat, 24 Aug 2002 Dinogeorge@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 8/24/02 5:54:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> jbois@umd5.umd.edu writes:
> 
> << Arboreal mammals?  What was so wonderful about these creatures that led
>  them to crush arbodinos after so many millions of years of
>  dominance?  After all, mammals and dinos had coexisted, right? >>
> 
> Who knows? I guess it might have something to do with the appearance of the 
> placental birth and parental care in mammals. All you really need is 
> differential survival rate: if more mammals survive to reproduce per 
> generation than dino-birds, the mammals will in time take over, assuming they 
> are competing for the same niches.

Why would placental mammals enjoy greater survival rates? As another post
said: archosaurs still dominate the arboreal niche--parental investment is
presumably a big part of this!