Re: Causes of floresiensis' Dwarfism

From: Jack Black (jackblack_at_myself.com)
Date: 10/28/04 

Date: 28 Oct 2004 13:52:04 -0700

Rich Travsky (quoting nature.com):
> > > Other mechanisms must have been responsible for the small
> > > body size of these hominins, with insular dwarfing being
> > > the strongest candidate.

Jack Black
> > If selective factors on Flores favored dwarfs then it is odd
> > that the rats and the lizards were so large.
> >
> > . . . unless they both have shrunk since then.

John Wilkins
> Don't rats enlarge only when there is no small carnivore on the
> island?

Evidently the carnivore in this case was homo florensis. It is
unlikely that the stone tools found at the dig were ornamental.

It would be nice to get measurements of contemporary rat bones
and compare them to measurements of the earlier rats bones.