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Re: Pileated Woodpecker
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Re: Pileated Woodpecker
- From: Norman Budnitz <nbudnitz@duke.edu>
- Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 11:19:31 -0400
- In-Reply-To: <20000523223756.19563.qmail@hotmail.com>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
At 03:37 PM 5/23/00 -0700, you wrote:
Amazing how well this bird [Pileated Woodpecker] (of the deep forest in my
childhood) is adapting
>to human development.
> Could not the Ivory-bill as well have adapted to a smaller, less
> specialized habitat than that which it is alleged to have
>required.... :-)
>
>**Rob Gluck Chapel Hill thrush@hotmail.com
This raises an important issue about the workings of evolution. Some
species are indeed *more adaptable* than others. Black and Turkey Vultures
vs California Condors, for example. Downy Woodpeckers vs Red-cockaded.
What makes some species genomes *more flexible* than others? A fascinating
question being pursued by evolutionary biologists. Was Homo sapiens
sapiens more adaptable than Home sapiens neanderthalensis? (I think the
current wisdom says that we are related as subspecies rather than distinct
species. But I could be wrong.)
Food for thought to be sure. Long may the Pileateds thrive in any case.
Norm
***********************************************
Norman Budnitz 919-684-3592 (day)
nbudnitz@duke.edu 919-383-0553 (eve)
919-684-6168 (fax)
(work) Department of Zoology, Duke University
Box 90325, Durham NC 27708-0325
(home) 4115 Garrett Drive, Durham NC 27705-8005
PROGRESS: the victory of laughter over dogma.
(Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas)