From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Jul 26 2002 - 09:35:45 MDT
One more point about size. You can't simply be large, you
have to be so large (or so intelligent, or so well protected)
that you effectively defeat all attempts to turn you into
someones lunch. Being a large plant eating dinosaur doesn't
get you very far if the meat eating dinosaurs kept pace from
a size perspective.
Its only when you have trumped your hazard function (e.g.
man wiping out all large meat eating mammals) that you can
really start to push the K-selection envelope.
I think the discoveries from the La Brea tar pits showed
that being a predator can be a very hazardous occupation.
Many of the saber toothed tiger bones showed signs of
fractures. (Obviously taking down mammoths has to be
done *very* carefully). So you could well be at the top of
the large predator niche but still have a moderately
high hazard fuction and therefore a relatively short
lifespan.
Robert
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