Terror Birds.

Terror birds .

Andre Willers

14 May 2013

Synopsis :

Why did Terror Birds fail ? Because of their egg-laying strategy .

 

Discussion :

1.Dinosaurs in the form of large birds stuck around to the present day . Discuss it with an ostrich .

2.Other large birds  like Moa’s lived to quite recent times . They held their own .

See https://www.google.co.za/webhp?source=search_app#hl=en&gs_rn=12&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=3FMZfioAFCtCxDTStEkR1w&pq=birds%2050%20mya&cp=6&gs_id=1p&xhr=t&q=giant+birds+60+mya&es_nrs=true&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=giant+birds+60+mya&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&fp=2924ba20d437bd9d&biw=1241&bih=584

 

3.How ?

 

4.Individually and as groups the terror birds outperformed mammals .

 

5. Their fatal weakness :

One large egg , one new offspring .See  http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2008/12/flower-dinosaur-and-puff.html

The egg-layer has to invest enough energy in the egg to ensure the offsprings’s survival .

The mammal invested minimal energy in the egg’s development , but only invested energy after birth in the survivors  . Calculate the energy cost yourself .

The bird has to pay up front , while the mammal only pays for the survivors .

The difference is why birds are all small . (Chickens) , instead of chasing you around for a snack .

But it was a fairly close-run thing .

Mammals simply outbred dinosaurs .

 

6. Creating new Terror Birds .

Quite easy .

DNA from present fighting cocks combined with DNA from large Terror Birds from fossils  , in ostrich egg incubators will give you a much easier resurrection of an old line ,

Given the popularity of cock-fighting , this has already been done for the smaller birds . Nobody is going to bet against an enormous Moa-type . But a small , really vicious weasel-type bird will be quite successful against the present rather stupid domesticated species . Been done .

 

7.How smart are they ?

Bird brains are organised differently . Some crows or parrots are equivalent to dogs in certain aspects . Even though the brain mass ratio’s are quite different .

A large terror bird will probably beat the best mammal predator at the moment . They will have to resurrect that old homonid terror , Felix Dino . Tweaked with fox or coyote genes , it could give humans a run for their money in Inner Cities , especially if they are in ruins (like Detroit) .

 

8. Terror bird  vs Felix Dino  fights was not exactly what I had in mind when I started this .

Now you will have to dodge the homicidal birds , carnivorous cat horrors , as well as the usual muggers , drug dealers and panhandlers .

 

Isn’t Ecology wonderful ?

 

Scrambled or over easy ?

 

Gaia’s fast order cook .

 

In memoriam of 400 ppm CO2 .

 

Regards to all the cool dudes in power .

 

Andre

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