Posted by:
CKing
at Tue Apr 29 20:41:15 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by CKing ]
>>You cant do a study, get the results, then pass them off because you dont like the results. The study happened, YOU have decided that its not relavent AFTER the study is concluded. This is not science, its conjecture.>>
I have no arguments with the results. I merely disagree with the conclusion. As we all know, all scientific papers have separate results and discussion/conclusion sections. Of course there are times when the results are questionable. But even if scientists agree that the results are reliable, they may not agree with the author's interpretation of the results. Such disagreements are perfectly legitimate. I am not questioning the results of Brodie's experiment with clay models. I am questioning his conclusion that because the tricolored clay models were attacked less often, it means that the tricolored models are aposematic. These models may simply be harder to see for the birds. If the birds do not see them, then they cannot possibly attack the clay models. Brodie's experiment did not address the possibility that the birds simply did not see the tricolored clay models.
>>The fact that they are more or less common has no relavence. To bring up your thoughts, how they look on roads is immaterial. There havent always been roads you know.>>
Of course I know. Tricolored kingsnakes, when they are removed from their natural environment, look striking. One of the situations in which they are found in unnatural settings is when they venture out onto roadways. When they are out on roadways, which is an unnatural environment for them, they look conspicuous and striking.
>>Aposamatic coloration for poisonous snakes and their mimics has been shown as a deterrance to predation.>>
Not at all. Harry Greene, who is one of the supporters of the aposematic theory of the tricolored pattern, pointed out in his own book that there is not one single observation in nature that shows the tricolored pattern has deterred a predator from attack. Not one, despite countless man-hours of observations by scientists, amateur naturalists, nature lovers, state and national park employees, hikers, farmers, ranchers, and other people who just happen to be outdoors. Imagine the staggering odds against the lack of evidence if the tricolored pattern is really so effective at deterring attacks. Yet, if you ask Harry Greene himself whether he thinks the tricolored pattern is aposematic, he would almost certainly say that it is.
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RE: Banding and striping - CKing, Tue Apr 29 20:41:15 2008
