Re: Homing Pigeons? Try Homing Crocodiles...

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, Dann Pigdon wrote:
> Richard W. Travsky writes: 
> > On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, Dann Pigdon wrote:
> > > Guy Leahy writes:
> > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7015561.stm Using phylogenetic 
> > > > bracketing, it would seem that
> > > > homing instinct is deeply nested within archosaurs,
> > > > since both birds and crocodiles exhibit this behavior.
> > >
> > > Either that, or the reason crocs and birds survived is because they had 
> > > this ability, while other archosaurs didn't.
> >
> > Survived - what? The big impact? I'm not sure I see how a homing
> > ability would aid in surviving that...
>
> Survived. Period. As opposed to being extinct (which embodies a distinct lack 
> of survival).

Well, yeah, in a general sense, but on this list "survived" takes on extra 
dimensions ;)

> The point is that we can't assume that anything extant crocs and birds have 
> in common must also have been present in dinosaurs, due to the simple fact 
> that the former two still exist, while the latter are extinct. It may have 
> been the case that the surviving species managed to survive because of 
> adaptations they had (and still have) that dinosaurs didn't.