Paedomorphosis "may have been the linchpin that helped the birds to diversify," Erickson agrees.

To this day, birds' smaller size suits them. With 10,000 different species, they are one of the most diverse groups of land-dwelling animals.

13 Comments

1. 1. Acapulco 01:45 PM 5/31/12

   I thought that only the smallest dinosaurs needed good insulation with feathers, just as the smallest mammals have the thickest fur. So that, in a prolonged 'winter' the small would survive while the poorly insulated huge ones would not. Is this just a simpler version of your story?

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2. 2. fb0252 07:39 PM 5/31/12

   throw a little bird food now and then. help them continue to survive.

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3. 3. vernwrites 05:49 PM 6/4/12

   Good Lord! What ever happened to dinosaurs became birds? Don't tell me I know...finding them in the same place and from the same time put that one to bed.
   So now we're to believe they survived because they had the same characteristics as a late teen age adult, i.e., an organism (who) retains juvenile traits even after it becomes sexually mature. And some confirmation is gotten from the Montana State University paleontology department that 'discovered' that blood and related biologicals last millions of years when they cut into a fossil and find them.
   I'm an old field engineer. If I had tried to solve problems and fix systems using inconsistent ideology as a basis, the U.S. would have lost the use of a number of very expensive war machines...if not worse.

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4. 4. quizzical 01:40 PM 6/6/12

   It is a fictional story alright! The utter complexity and fine tuned synergism found among so many species pretty well precludes the notion of random chance mutations being responsible for all of biology.
   
   Even though Dawkins insists that evolution is not random, there is no reasonable source for all the coherent code that directs the constitution and development of all living things. The only so called naturalistic source of new code is random mutations. The other option is an Intelligent Designer. Just like the Bible teaches.
   
   Unless, of course, you believe in mother earth intelligently hatching out all the myriad species we see.
   
   Does anyone realize that while there are fewer than 474 quadrillion seconds of time in 15 billion years, there are more than 1,152 quadrillion different ways to randomly arrange only 30 nucleotides in any DNA sequence?
   
   Millions of years and all the dreaming in the world just doesn't cut it!

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5. 5. ArthurDental 12:15 AM 6/7/12

   Please go back to Biology 101 before coming on here and spewing quack science again. If you refuse to learn about natural selection and survival of the fittest, and how they completely invalidate the "randomness" argument, then don't try to act like you know. If for some reason I'm off the mark, pick up a copy of the Selfish Gene to learn some real facts, and maybe a scientific theory or two.

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6. 6. jgrosay 05:27 AM 6/7/12

   Is paedomorphosis the same as neoteny?. Salut +

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7. 7. Acapulco in reply to quizzical 10:20 AM 6/7/12

   As a Catholic physician, I know that anyone who thinks human design is intelligent must know very little about either design or anatomy.
   
   We are the only mammalthat habitually stands erect and that causes all sorts of problems. Anyone who has an inguinal hernia, uterine prolapse, hemorroids or varicose veins can testify.
   
   There's so much more. Look an octopus in his intelligent eye, and know that eye is quite similar--but far from identical--to your own.

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8. 8. Acapulco in reply to ArthurDental 10:22 AM 6/7/12

   Well said.

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9. 9. Acapulco in reply to jgrosay 11:01 AM 6/7/12

   I think that both paedomorphosis and neoteny refer to the retention of juvenile characters by adult individuals, but there may be subtle differences. Neoteny is the attainment of sexual maturity during the larval stage (as in the axolotl) while paedomorphosis suggests an increased capacity for further evolution.
   

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10. 10. hcc2009 in reply to quizzical 10:55 AM 6/9/12

    Actually the process is not random. Mutations may be, but the tendency for some mutations to be adaptive and most to simply kill their carrier, is not random at all. The "intelligence" behind nature is that all things living today have adapted to the rules of life in the universe and on this planet. Living things have molded themselves to "fit" nature, NOT the other way around.

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11. 11. hcc2009 11:03 AM 6/9/12

    That is to say, WE molded ourselves to fit, not nature nor any 'intelligent' being.

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12. 12. Acapulco 01:38 PM 6/9/12

    I'm in complete agreement, but 'quizzical' probably isn't even listening. Willful ignorance of observed facts is a major problem for those who try to understand and explain the universe.

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13. 13. rja2012 06:43 PM 6/26/12

    What is the supporting evidence tha paedomorphosis was the basis for the survival of an entore species over another?

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