[Taxacom] Poor flying hoatzins dispersed (on flotsam) fromAfrica to S. America?

[Geoff Read]

"Apart from anything, what did they eat on the journey?"

If you have a look at Fig. 2 in Hedges (2006) it will give you some idea
of the 'fantasy' situation. 600 m2 of vegetation raft would feed a few
folivorous birds.

http://www.4shared.com/get/DFQN8nbE/Hedges_2006_PALEOGEOGRAPHY_OF_.html


Geoff


On Tue, October 11, 2011 11:29 am, Adam Cotton wrote:
> The whole idea of these virtually flightless birds travelling across the
> (probably at the putative time somewhat narrower) Atlantic, and then
> having
> enough genetic variation among the individuals that sat calmly on this
> flotsam to produce a viable ppulation when they fortuitously arrived on
> the
> other side sounds to say the least ludicrous. Apart from anything, what
> did
> they eat on the journey?
>
> Although I know very little about birds it seems too far fetched to me,
> and
> I would have to agree that the hoatzins surely must have occupied the
> territory before it split in two.
>
> Adam Cotton.