• Re: origins of flight

    From Daud Deden@daud.deden@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Thu Feb 1 07:17:28 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it?
    <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.
    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From erik simpson@eastside.erik@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Thu Feb 1 09:35:46 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>>> On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which >>>>>>>>>> discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth: >>>>>>>>>>
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke? Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to. Why would anyone try to breed some that could? Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses? After all, they work well for elephants. I don't see
    any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From John Harshman@john.harshman@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Thu Feb 1 10:28:51 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/1/24 9:35 AM, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson
    wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,
    69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its
    deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi >>>>>>>>>> qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like >>>>>>>>>> other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated >>>>>>>>>> third finger, that appears to have helped to support a
    membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi >>>>>>>>>> were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the >>>>>>>>>> wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is >>>>>>>>>> unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in >>>>>>>>>> wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown >>>>>>>> in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail >>>>>>>> and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is >>>>>>>> a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone >>>>>>>> known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb
    bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This
    would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern
    bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex >>>>>>>> ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite >>>>>>>> close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone >>>>>>>> makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, >>>>>>>> and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. >>>>>>> Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between
    twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg.
    hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well,
    dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the
    forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be >>>>> selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal,
    frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths
    and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features.
    Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke?-a Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to.-a Why would anyone try to breed some that could?-a Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses?-a After all, they work well for elephants.-a I don't see any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.

    You might be able to interest hereditary priests of Ganesh.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From erik simpson@eastside.erik@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Thu Feb 1 10:49:34 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/1/24 10:28 AM, John Harshman wrote:
    On 2/1/24 9:35 AM, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote: >>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson
    wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson >>>>>> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,
    69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its
    deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: >>>>>>>>>>> *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. >>>>>>>>>>> Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, >>>>>>>>>>> elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to
    support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes >>>>>>>>>>> of Yi qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached >>>>>>>>>>> to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based >>>>>>>>>>> plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have >>>>>>>>>>> resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats. >>>>>>>>>>>
    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was
    shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like >>>>>>>>> tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi >>>>>>>>> is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone >>>>>>>>> known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb >>>>>>>>> bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This >>>>>>>>> would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern >>>>>>>>> bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex >>>>>>>>> ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are
    quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone >>>>>>>>> makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in
    bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. >>>>>>>> Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between >>>>>>>> twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. >>>>>>>> hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, >>>>>>> dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the
    forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might
    be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, >>>>>> frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required? >>>>> Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different
    paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features.
    Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke?-a Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to.-a Why would anyone try to breed some that could?-a Why
    not a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses?-a After all, they work well for elephants.-a I don't
    see any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who
    would cooperate.

    You might be able to interest hereditary priests of Ganesh.
    I hadn't thought of that - I'll log in to GoFundMe right away.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Daud Deden@daud.deden@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Sat Feb 3 09:21:11 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On Thursday, February 1, 2024 at 12:36:00rC>PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5, daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4, peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4, 69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video which >>>>>>>>>> discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated third finger, that appears to have helped to support a membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest, alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke? Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to. Why would anyone try to breed some that could? Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses? After all, they work well for elephants. I don't see
    any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.
    Hoatzins fly rather than brachiate, but they eat foliage, often along forested rivers.
    Hummingbirds fly among thick foliage seeking flower nectar, being small they can do so quickly and easily.
    Hoatzins being larger need more aerial space to fly around, along open rivers. Their metabolic needs and digestive systems may have prevented them from getting smaller.
    An alternative to shrinking body size for better/faster access to food is to develop alternative locomotion methods.
    Primates generally do not locomote between branches via brachiation, hominoids being exceptional, with smaller gibbons able to swing from thin twigs which are hard to leap from/onto and hard to walk quadrupedally above branch. If the New World Monkeys had not arrived in South America, Hoatzins would only compete with slow sloths for foliage in the forest canopy, (and perhaps some others which I don't know).
    Either way, hoatzins hanging in suspension or brachiation would have some advantages in food getting.
    Of course, my message is that humans could genetically produce brachiating birds within a short time, because some have alternating front limbs. And a fast brachiating cassowary would be incredibly cool to watch at the zoo.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Popping Mad@rainbow@colition.gov to sci.bio.paleontology on Sun Feb 4 08:47:35 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/1/24 12:35, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson
    wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,


    Why answer a 2 year old thread.


    69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its
    deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi >>>>>>>>>> qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like >>>>>>>>>> other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated >>>>>>>>>> third finger, that appears to have helped to support a
    membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi >>>>>>>>>> were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the
    wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is >>>>>>>>>> unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in >>>>>>>>>> wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown >>>>>>>> in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail >>>>>>>> and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is >>>>>>>> a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone
    known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb
    bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This
    would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern
    bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex
    ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite >>>>>>>> close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone
    makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, >>>>>>>> and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like.
    Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between
    twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg.
    hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well,
    dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the
    forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be
    selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal,
    frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required?
    Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths
    and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features.
    Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke?-a Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to.-a Why would anyone try to breed some that could?-a Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses?-a After all, they work well for elephants.-a I don't see any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Daud Deden@daud.deden@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Wed Feb 14 14:06:13 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On Sunday, February 4, 2024 at 8:47:52rC>AM UTC-5, Popping Mad wrote:
    On 2/1/24 12:35, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote: >>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson >>>>> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,
    Why answer a 2 year old thread.
    69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its
    deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi >>>>>>>>>> qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like >>>>>>>>>> other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated >>>>>>>>>> third finger, that appears to have helped to support a
    membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi >>>>>>>>>> were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the >>>>>>>>>> wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is >>>>>>>>>> unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in >>>>>>>>>> wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown >>>>>>>> in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail >>>>>>>> and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is >>>>>>>> a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone >>>>>>>> known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb >>>>>>>> bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This >>>>>>>> would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern >>>>>>>> bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex >>>>>>>> ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite >>>>>>>> close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone >>>>>>>> makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, >>>>>>>> and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. >>>>>>> Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between >>>>>>> twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. >>>>>>> hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, >>>>>> dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the
    forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be >>>>> selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, >>>>> frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required? >>>> Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths >>>> and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features.
    Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion.
    Is this a joke? Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they don't have to. Why would anyone try to breed some that could? Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with prehensile noses? After all, they work well for elephants. I don't see any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would cooperate.
    Monkey & parrot symbiosis https://x.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1757814956722889141?s=20
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From erik simpson@eastside.erik@gmail.com to sci.bio.paleontology on Wed Feb 14 14:43:56 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/14/24 2:06 PM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Sunday, February 4, 2024 at 8:47:52rC>AM UTC-5, Popping Mad wrote:
    On 2/1/24 12:35, erik simpson wrote:
    On 2/1/24 7:17 AM, Daud Deden wrote:
    On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:57:44rC>PM UTC-5, Daud Deden wrote: >>>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:14:48 PM UTC-5, erik simpson wrote: >>>>>> On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 12:56:20 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, erik simpson >>>>>>> wrote:
    On Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 4:01:58 AM UTC-8,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 12:58:18 PM UTC-5,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 4:52:56 PM UTC-5,
    daud....@gmail.com wrote:
    On Friday, November 4, 2022 at 10:45:36 PM UTC-4,
    peter2...@gmail.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 4:35:20 PM UTC-4,
    Why answer a 2 year old thread.
    69jp...@gmail.com wrote:
    The following is a link to a 20-minute "Real Science" video >>>>>>>>>>>>> which
    discusses how flight evolved at least four separate times on >>>>>>>>>>>>> Earth:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZaZAH2WHAY>
    It's nowhere near as good as the YouTube videos you linked in >>>>>>>>>>>> the thread
    you started on bipedalism, but rather than go into its >>>>>>>>>>>> deficiencies so
    close to my weekend posting break, I just address your "at >>>>>>>>>>>> least four separate times."

    There has been a fifth candidate for the honor since 2015: *Yi >>>>>>>>>>>> qi*, a non-avian dinosaur.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
    Excerpt:
    It was a small, possibly tree-dwelling (arboreal) animal. Like >>>>>>>>>>>> other scansoriopterygids, Yi possessed an unusual, elongated >>>>>>>>>>>> third finger, that appears to have helped to support a >>>>>>>>>>>> membranous gliding plane made of skin. The planes of Yi qi >>>>>>>>>>>> were also supported by a long, bony strut attached to the >>>>>>>>>>>> wrist. This modified wrist bone and membrane-based plane is >>>>>>>>>>>> unique among all known dinosaurs, and might have resulted in >>>>>>>>>>>> wings similar in appearance to those of bats.

    This webpage even shows two reconstructions of what its wings >>>>>>>>>>>> might have looked like.
    It's not like any wings I've ever seen. What do you think of it? >>>>>>>>>> <snip to get to your words, Daud>
    Yi qi has the shortest genus name and shortest species name of >>>>>>>>>>> any dinosaur.
    This falconoid drone is a remarkably lifelike flapping flyer, >>>>>>>>>>> with folding membrane wings. https://t.co/r7ulc2d1N2
    Great catch, Daud! freezing the video at 1:02, when it was shown >>>>>>>>>> in slow motion (8x slow),
    reveals a bat-like wing structure that belies the bird-like tail >>>>>>>>>> and bird-like general impression
    when it is in full flight. It would take very little to modify >>>>>>>>>> it to resemble one of the Yi Qi reproductions,
    keeping in mind that what looks like the last finger of Yi Qi is >>>>>>>>>> a "styliform element":

    "Unlike all other known dinosaurs, a long, pointed wrist bone >>>>>>>>>> known as a "styliform element", exceeding both the third finger >>>>>>>>>> and the ulna in length, extended backward from the forelimb >>>>>>>>>> bones. This styliform, an adaptation to help support the
    membrane, may have been a newly evolved wrist bone, or a
    calcified rod of cartilage. It was slightly curved and tapered >>>>>>>>>> at its outer end.
    ...
    The membrane stretched between the shorter fingers, the
    elongated third finger, the styliform bone, and possibly
    connected to the torso, though the inner part of the wing
    membrane was not preserved in the only known fossil.[1] This >>>>>>>>>> would have given the animal an appearance similar to modern >>>>>>>>>> bats, ... However, in bats, the membrane stretches between the >>>>>>>>>> fingers only, no styliform wrist bone being present."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)

    [1]
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275669107_A_bizarre_Jurassic_maniraptoran_theropod_with_preserved_evidence_of_membranous_wings

    The life restoration by Emily Willoughby in the Wikipedia
    article maximizes the batlike appearance
    of the wings. It suggests a possible separation of the pollex >>>>>>>>>> ("thumb") from the rest of the wing, as in bats.
    It replaces the first two flight digits in bats (which are quite >>>>>>>>>> close together) with the second digit,
    which is much shorter than that in bats but still gives a nice >>>>>>>>>> membrane structure between it and the third
    and last [2], highly elongated digit. Then the styliform bone >>>>>>>>>> makes up for the absence of one more distal digit.

    [2] Like all theropods and birds, only three digits are present >>>>>>>>>> in fossils. In the above scheme,
    the third wing digit of Yi Qi corresponds to the fourth in bats, >>>>>>>>>> and the styliform bone to the fifth in bats.
    Peter Nyikos
    Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
    Univ. of South Carolina at Columbia
    http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos
    Thanks, bit by bit we get closer to what early flight was like. >>>>>>>>> Perhaps it started as small treebranch climbers leapt between >>>>>>>>> twigs (eg. monkeys, bush babies) or bridged between twigs (eg. >>>>>>>>> hominoids, spider monkeys)?
    Primates are in the process of evolving flight capability? Well, >>>>>>>> dinosaurs managed it, but the image of brachiating dinosaurs
    boggles the mind.
    Actually, a hoatzin chick climbing trees with wing claws, if the >>>>>>> forest was twice as thick with lianas & canopy vegetation, might be >>>>>>> selected against flight and towards brachiation with a few
    favorable mutations, reduced wing feathers, broader chest,
    alternative strokes, longer hook claws. Already bipedal, arboreal, >>>>>>> frugivorous like gibbons, same tropical environment as spider
    monkeys, already warm-blooded. Not too much reengineering required? >>>>>> Bipedality in mammals vs. dinosaurs evolved via very different paths >>>>>> and the resulting postures are not remotely similar.
    Requesting a "few favorable mutations" to turn a hoatzin into
    something resembling a brachiating lesser ape doesn't
    look parsimonious to me.
    Actually I think it will be very doable, in the genetic engineering
    sense, maybe in 25 years if the cause were to be well funded. Not
    that a brachiating hoatzin would look very gibbonish, but
    functionally I don't foresee much difficulty. Both gibbons and
    hoatzins are bipedal on branches with grasping feet, both already
    have curved appendages, both have generally similar facial features. >>>>> Hoatzins have broader fields of vision, easily corrected.

    Then there's "beakiation" among parrots.
    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/parrots-move-branches-beakiation-animals-physics
    Atelid spider monkeys use their prehensile tail during their
    pseudo-brachiation across branches, parrots use their beaks. Hoatzins
    could be bred for that as well, to assist forelimb arboreal locomotion. >>> Is this a joke? Hoatzins don't "brachiate" like gibbons because they
    don't have to. Why would anyone try to breed some that could? Why not
    a breeding program (well-funded, of course) to breed humans with
    prehensile noses? After all, they work well for elephants. I don't see >>> any difficulty in principle, except perhaps finding people who would
    cooperate.

    Monkey & parrot symbiosis https://x.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1757814956722889141?s=20
    That's definitely a cute video, but I doubt the macaw will teach the
    monkey how to fly.
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  • From Popping Mad@rainbow@colition.gov to sci.bio.paleontology on Mon Feb 19 20:09:31 2024
    From Newsgroup: sci.bio.paleontology

    On 2/14/24 17:43, erik simpson wrote:
    That's definitely a cute video, but I doubt the macaw will teach the
    monkey how to fly.


    They share 92% of their DNA ...

    You should see Wicked.
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