well, since *I* rule the world, it's a moot point...

[acroyear]

Page 3.14 : The Age When Birds Ruled The Earth:

I think the article and Ed's response begs an interesting question. Namely, what does domination mean? Ed says "Today, living dinosaurs - the birds - still rule our skies and back in their heyday, they were the dominant back-boned animals on land for millions of years." Were the dominant back-boned animals? Today birds are without a doubt the most diverse terrestrial vertebrates and total bird biomass exceeds mammal biomass by a long shot. So who's really dominating whom? For many birds, we clean their shit, help them breed and feed them. Sounds like they're the ones in charge. The point isn't that we need to free ourselves from our avian oppressors. Rather, the concept of dominance doesn't seem to be very scientific. Biodiversity? Sure. Biomass? Why not. But dominance? Ruling the Earth? Those are terms that don't really mean anything in a scientific sense because, in the end, as Stephen Gould put it, isn't every age the Age of Bacteria anyway?

Comments

[eiredrake.livejournal.com]

Name one bird in the last five thousand years that has eaten a human.

Bacteria has been eating EVERYTHING since the first blobs started in the primordial goo. They also live in basically everywhere on the planet, even in areas where the water is hot enough to melt lead.

It's never stopped being the age of bacteria.