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Re: Pileated Woodpecker



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)