Re: Miragaia's Fancy New Neck....

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

Quoting don ohmes <d_ohmes@yahoo.com>:

> Therefore, unless one postulates extreme variation in neck length in the
> population under selection, predation avoidance enhancement may serve to
> preserve 'long-nekked-ness' :D, but cannot act as a driver of incremental
> length increase.

You are of course assuming that the neck length evolved slowly. Evolution isn't 
always about slow 
incremental changes. A single mutation in the right gene can have drastic and 
immediate knock-on 
effects, altering the way genes around it are expressed, which in turn can have 
further domino-effects.

Compare a 'normal' whippet and a 'bully' whippet for instance, resulting from a 
relatively simple two-
base-pair deletion in the myostatin gene. You wouldn't think they were the same 
breed of dog if you 
didn't know better.

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
GIS / Archaeologist              http://geo_cities.com/dannsdinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia             http://heretichides.soffiles.com
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