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Comment Threads

• Scott Sanford commented on Evolver
  ... fetch or windage hitting above-water trees provides a heck of a lot more force than harnessed sharks would. Since floating debris naturally gets a cloud of life around it in the deep ocean, there's honestly no reason for a floating forest to expend energy trying to move to get nutrients. Agreed; the plants would have very little reason to want to be anywhere but a relatively peaceful ocean gyre. If we want to see biological sailing, it might be more plausible as another creature imposing this on the floating raft. For example, nesting birds might 'sail' their bushes into...
• Scott Sanford commented on Evolver
  Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is (AFAIK) the biggest floating plant. Now all of these can smother a lake in a layer of dead plants a meter deep, but they're all freshwater plants. The key, I think, isn't that they're salt intolerant (they are, but salt tolerance happens). Rather, the lakes they prefer have a lot of nutrients in them, so they can get away with not having a highly developed root system. Sadly, I think you're right. It's too bad; it would be a lot of fun to see evolved weaver ants setting up homes in saltwater tolerant water hyacinth...
• RDSouth commented on Evolver
  Upright walking bear. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pedals-the-bear-believed-dead_us_58037fa6e4b0162c043c7b83?section=&...
• RDSouth commented on Evolver
  This one's better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk-HHyGRSRw This is how it starts....
• Scott Sanford commented on Evolver
  I agree bears have many advantages but fear they may have too many; it's hard to see what environmental stresses would get bears evolving into tool users faster than more easily threatened and faster reproducing animals. Raccoons and beavers may be closer to the hypothetical sweet spot than bears. We're lacking a lot of information about this process, not all of which we know we don't know, just because we have only one example tool user to study....