Re: Penguins And Rexes

[Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>]

At 7:35 PM +0000 8/12/05, Phil Bigelow wrote:
>
>The following is pure speculation.  If a huge *terrestrial* animal could
>not extricate itself from a fall, or it could not extricate itself from
>an "unsual" rest position (e.g., laying on its side), then I propose that
>the animal never existed in the first place.

Any number of fossils are counter examples -- they fell into pits, caves or 
cracks where they were trapped and couldn't get out. The point is that the odds 
of this happening should be small. Animals wouldn't survive if they couldn't 
get up in the morning, or couldn't get themselves out of normal situations they 
would encounter every day. But there are evolutionary tradeoffs in dealing with 
unlikely situations. An animal that evolved on the plains may trade off the 
ability to climb a rare tree for faster speed on the plains because that means 
more chance of day to day survival. -- Jeff Hecht