Re: [dinosaur] Why birds are living dinosaurs

[Thomas Richard Holtz <tholtz@umd.edu>]

Dawid Marzurek writes:

I see two problems here (excluding the general confusion of lay persons):

1) paraphylethic groups are actually useful. The presence of a "non-avian dinosaur" term is an evidence;

2) professionals refer to K-Pg event as an extinction of dinosaurs.

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Sloppy thinkingÂand dialog, even on the part of professionals, doesn't make it right or reasonable.

Indeed, as decades of work shows, it leads to incorrect conclusions. Hence people who are convinced that "reptiles" have three-chambered hearts and lack parental care, and then assume crocodiles and dinosaurs were the same. Or that "fish" all have the same metabolism or life history strategy. And just because some professional biologists say these things, too (which they do!!) doesn't mean that is okay.

The use of "non-avian dinosaur" is useful in BEING ponderous and unwieldy: it shows the artificiality of the concept.

On Mon, Apr 12, 2021 at 3:49 PM dawidmazurek@wp.pl <dawidmazurek@wp.pl> wrote:

I see two problems here (excluding the general confusion of lay persons):

1) paraphylethic groups are actually useful. The presence of a "non-avian dinosaur" term is an evidence;

2) professionals refer to K-Pg event as an extinction of dinosaurs.

--

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email:Âtholtz@umd.eduÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology

Office: Geology 4106, 8000 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742

Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/

Phone: 301-405-6965
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