Dinosaur Omelettes

What killed the dinosaurs?

Current fashion assigns that to asteroid hits; a la Hollywood.

I have always preferred to credit the evolution of placental
mammals. The little-understood trait of estrus pushes the female to
mate whenever she ovulates, without benefit of time-wasting courtship.

Estrus is ONLY found in placental mammals and it transforms them
into continuous baby factories.

The closed pelvis of the eutherian ( placental mammal ) also aids
ambulation, functioning as a stable platform for the rear legs. Compare
the walk of an opposum or a duck with that of a cat.

Ground nesting birds have a very tough time keeping opportunistic
eutherians from feeding on their eggs, particularly at night.

Which is why larger ground-nesting birds tend to be found on
islands remote from eutherian predators.

Antarctica is far from an ideal location to raise a family but
penguins are free from eutherian egg-stealing creatures.

A clear example of the results of such predation are found at:

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Trees are not safe places to keep eggs , unless you factor in the
risk of predation on the ground.

The eutherians ate their way through the dinosaurs and the biggest
and strongest reptile could do little to prevent mouse-like mammals
from burrowing under the nest and feeding on the eggs and young.

Arne


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