Re: OT Platypus

Free Lunch <lunch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 3 Dec 2007 12:19:20 +1000, in talk.origins
j.wilkins1@xxxxxxxxx (John Wilkins) wrote in
<1i8jooh.1p36k7eghh7cjN%j.wilkins1@xxxxxxxxx>:
r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 3 Dec 2007 11:31:14 +1000, j.wilkins1@xxxxxxxxx (John Wilkins)
wrote:

r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:00:12 -0500, Terry <kilowatt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I was helping my nephew with a homework assignment. This seems pretty
unbelievable to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus

..........Weight varies considerably from 700 g (1.54 lb) to 2.4 kg
(5.3 lb) with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20
in) total length while females average 43 cm (17 in).[7] There is
substantial variation in average size from one region to another, and
this pattern does not seem to follow any particular climatic rule and
may be due to other environmental factors such as predation and human
encroachment.[11]

My sister has a toy Pomeranian that weighs less than 5 pounds.

That would make the platypus a very small animal.


Small is a relative term. There are many mammals smaller than 2 kg.
Pretty much all rodents, mice and rates, shrews and moles, bats. Why
would a small platypus be unbelievable?

What is the median weight of a mammal? I would guess that since most
mammals are bats or rodents, the median would be pretty small.

The average mammal (788 genera) has a mass of 863 grams and the median
a mass of 631 grams. The two values differ because of the long but
thin tail of the very large mammals.

See how easily that tripped off my tongue - fingertips? You have to
know facts like that to be a real biologist.

OK, you have to know how to google and then fake it.
(http://www.microlnx.com/dinosaurs/Giantism.html)

I'm very tahnkful that I'm a philosopher then, because I can never
remember mere facts. But then, I have to Google for *everything*.

My son described the internet as the extension of his brain, after he
asked how people learned to do things before they could look it up
online.

I wonder the very same thing. I vaguely recall these squarish things
made out of paper...
--
John S. Wilkins, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Philosophy
University of Queensland - Blog: scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts
"He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor,
bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT Platypus
    ... with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 ... in) total length while females average 43 cm.There is ... There are many mammals smaller than 2 kg. ... the median would be pretty small. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT Platypus
    ... with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 ... in) total length while females average 43 cm.There is ... mammals are bats or rodents, the median would be pretty small. ... remember mere facts. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT Platypus
    ... with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 ... in) total length while females average 43 cm.There is ... There are many mammals smaller than 2 kg. ... the median would be pretty small. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT Platypus
    ... with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 ... in) total length while females average 43 cm.There is ... There are many mammals smaller than 2 kg. ... the median would be pretty small. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT Platypus
    ... with males being larger than females: males average 50 cm (20 ... in) total length while females average 43 cm.There is ... There are many mammals smaller than 2 kg. ... the median would be pretty small. ...
    (talk.origins)