Michael Roberts wrote:
> Yes, but! If he's got that good a balance , puppies might be conceivable!
> After all whales and walruses can do it with no legs.
You all know that I know that you know this but -
The relevant question (if we can keep straight faces) is not
can 3-legged dogs survive (which would of course require micturition)
or
can 3-legged dogs engage in sexual intercourse
or
can 3-legged dogs procreate
but
are 3-legged dogs, on the average, over the long haul, likely to
compete successfully with 4-legged dogs for resources & breeding
opportunities?
Answers to that questions are likely to be prejudiced by the
supposition that "3-legged dog" is an animal with the basic structure of
"4-legged dog" but with one leg removed. Such an animal would obviously be
somewhat awkward & the answer to the question could reasonably be guessed to
be "no." But an animal with a more balanced arrangement of 3 legs might be
able to perform quite well. In some situations tricycles work better than
bicycles.
George Murphy - on a slow Sunday
afternoon
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Aug 19 2001 - 16:10:38 EDT