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Re: flight beginnings
- To: dinosaur@usc.edu
- Subject: Re: flight beginnings
- From: Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>
- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2015 08:45:35 +1100
- In-reply-to: <CA+nnY_EeLTw6m-EuGvc2hd-Xqi96EH99j=tY55mwNAWpRkDCbw@mail.gmail.com>
- References: <CAGbbAUaMdR3FuoLr-BJKas2WAJouLcWLTBy5a3UYbPE=as7p-w@mail.gmail.com> <CA+nnY_Eo4B_hqELO3=Y1Fc1d8wMF5HMgMN+G8UKFwQNXo6aueg@mail.gmail.com> <CA+nnY_EeLTw6m-EuGvc2hd-Xqi96EH99j=tY55mwNAWpRkDCbw@mail.gmail.com>
- Reply-to: dannj@alphalink.com.au
- Sender: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu
On Tue, Mar 24th, 2015 at 6:18 PM, Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com> wrote:
> It may not be a coincidence that in some of these maniraptorans the
> proportions of the third toe are similar to those of the modern kakapo
> (_Strigops_), a flightless ground-dwelling parrot that climbs tree
> trunks and uses its wings to return to the ground.
The kakapo climbs in order to obtain its preferred food - the 'fruit' of the
rimu tree (a podocarp
that produces fleshy scales on its cones). If its breeding cycle wasn't so
intimately tied to
rimu 'fruit', then chances are it would have become completely flightless (or
'glideless', as the case
may be).
If feathered limbs in early theropods developed for a similar reason, then it
makes you wonder
what arboreal resource those early theropods found so valuable. It's not beyond
the realms of
possibility that they too were interested in 'fruiting' podocarps.
--
_____________________________________________________________
Dann Pigdon
Spatial Data Analyst Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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