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To: mlc9852

Am I the only one who finds this a little suspect? Why would their beak sizes reverse so quickly? First of all, these birds have a much longer lifespan than the moths, so you wouldn't expect them to revert as quickly as the moths do.

Secondly, I wouldn't expect something as trivial as beak shape to so greatly impact the outlook of a species. With moths, you have a very clear selective advantage in camoflauge.

With beaks, you have a specialization, but change should occur slowly. Further, unless humans are destroying large swaths of habitat, the long-beaked birds should still have a survival advantage for their selected niche because they are best suited towards that food source (even if the other birds are best suited towards human habitation).


44 posted on 05/08/2006 2:06:46 PM PDT by CheyennePress
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To: CheyennePress

It is strange. Just wanted to see what everyone else thought about it.


45 posted on 05/08/2006 2:07:36 PM PDT by mlc9852
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