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Re: Where are the zoologists?
Richard Sharpe (sharpe@nmesis)
29 Dec 1994 04:55:55 GMT
patdooley@aol.com (Pat Dooley) writes:
:
: >Umm, many species that we would call quadrupedal also include bipedal
: >locomotion in their behavioural repetoirs. For example, bears, which
: >walk plantigrade and are quadrupedal, also, on occassion, can move about
: >bipedally. Chimps, which habitually employ knuckle walking, will also
: >move about bipedally.
:
: My cat could walk on two legs given enough incentive. It could also
: swim, but it was very slow to learn that pooping on the carpet
: earnt it a swim in the pool. Circus trainers can "teach" many mammal
: species to walk on two legs. That is not bipedalism. There are no
: structural changes to facilitate it. It is not the preferred mode of
: locomotion. In quadrupeds or knuckle walkers it is inefficient.
: Citing occasional two-legged walikng in mammals is a straw man
: argument in its crudest form.
Pat, you have removed the context from post which would have made it
obvious what I was arguing.
I cannot decide whether or not you could not understand what I was
arguing, or was simply being dishonest. Can you let me know which?
Adding back in the context we get:
>patdooley@aol.com (Pat Dooley) writes:
>: In article <3cipq6$8a6@badger.3do.com>, jjh@3do.com (Joel Hanes) writes:
>:
[Some deleted here]
>:
>: In software terms, going from quadrupedalism to
>: bipedalism means rewriting all the locomotion routines,
>: the balance routines and the make program.
>
>Umm, many species that we would call quadrupedal also include bipedal
>locomotion in their behavioural repetoirs. For example, bears, which
>walk plantigrade and are quadrupedal, also, on occassion, can move about
>bipedally. Chimps, which habitually employ knuckle walking, will also
>move about bipedally.
That is, I was responding to your assertion that "going from
quadrupedalism to bipedalism means rewriting all the locomotion
routines, the balance routines ...". You were asserting that whole new
behaviours need to be laid down. I was pointing out that many
quadrupedal animals already contain that sort of behaviour in their
repetoir, albeit with limited expertise. Expertise comes with greater use.
I emphatically deny that I was introducing a straw man.
: Pat D
Regards
--------
Richard Sharpe, sharpe@nmesis.enet.dec.com, Ph: 61-8-235-7237, FAX: ...-7299
Digital Equipment Corporation, 139 Frome St, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, OZ
* I have children to keep me poor in a monetary sense, but rich in so many *
* other ways! *
All opinions are those of the author, not of Digital Equipment!
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