Re: Copeing with mammals

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

>  I follow David in taking little time to see the hole in this argument
> (at least as present): if two species have any form of overlap, be they
> both herbivores, omnivores, or carnivores, but show they were adapted for
> different foods, they cannot, _cannot_ have competed.

Erm... hm. Actually, my argument was opposite: they can only compete if they 
overlap. When they don't, we may be seeing "the ghost of competition past", 
namely competitive exclusion = niche separation, but we aren't watching 
competition in real time.

> In the example,
> hesperocyonines being small, relatively opportunistic dogs whereas
> borophagines, even the smaller ones being more robust crackers,

Both clades have produced forms with both lifestyles. But apparently not at 
the same time.