Re: Coping w/ the rule; was metabolic rate [...]

[john bois <jbois@verizon.net>]

Don Ohmes said:
> Further, here in the 'Newtonian zone', sometimes it is good to be small.
> However, it can be effectively argued that whether engaged in competition 
> for resources, avoiding predation, or efficient utilization of resources 
> obtained, it is _usually_
> advantageous to be bigger than the competition, within the limits inherent 
> to your particular design
> and lifestyle.

But so many exceptions to this: extant dinosaurs avoid predation by being 
small (i.e., for hiding and flying); some mammals avoid predation by being 
fast and not big, some avoid it by being small in order to hide--most do not 
use size to avoid it; lizards and snakes remain small to take advantage of 
their body plan (i.e., it gives them a way to hide); and then there are the 
arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms, and annelids, etc., etc.--all of whom may 
have other limits on size but who nevertheless employ means other than brute 
strength to avoid being eaten.