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Re: Extinction due to "blue balls"



At 4:16 PM -0400 4/21/04, Brad McFeeters wrote:

The other paper you are thinking of is probably this one:

Paladino, F. V., Spotila, J., Dodson, P. and Hammond. J. K. (1989). Temperature dependent sex deterinination for reptiles, and the implications for dinosaur population dynamics and possible extinction. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 238: 63-70.

That sounds about the right time.


I haven't read either of them yet, so I don't know what new information Miller et al. are adding.


I don't understand how this theory is to have any scientific value, since no one knows how to study sex determination in non-neornithean dinosaurs. They might as well be writing about the implications of dinosaurs having been a particular colour. Looks like a publicity stunt to me: "Dinosaurs", "Extinction" and "Sex" in one headline!

The scientific value would be in trying to deduce a pattern of survival and sex determination, but I'm not convinced that's possible. The headline value is certainly there, and explains how it got reported anywhere. -- Jeff Hecht