Re: Feather Flap

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 9:28 AM

> > And I never meant to imply that they did.  I was making the point that you
> > don't have to have specific adaptations to either scansoriality or
> > arboreality in order to get into the trees......  :-)
>
> Didn't mean to single you out, Jim.  :-)   I agree with you.  I once 
> climbed
> a tree quite easily.  Falling out was even easier!

But you _have_ plenty of adaptations for arboreality. You can 
pronate/supinate your forearms alone through an arc of a bit more than 180°, 
your shoulders are far more mobile than those of any dinosaur (while 
articulated) have ever been, and even your legs can do more twisting and 
sprawling than... at least than any single dinosaur (e. g. there is a 
buzzard that can bend its ankles sideways and backwards, but it can't 
supinate the lower legs or sprawl or rotate the leg as a whole; there's a 
little passeriform that lives in reed and sprawls, but AFAIK doesn't rotate 
or supinate; same for plenty of foot-propelled divers).