The Red Queen is the fourth chapter in the Fourth Configuration. The Red Queen theory is introduced here along with an alternative explanation why Sauropods like Apatosaurs had long necks.
Plot[]
In the High Hide, Richard Levine and ian Malcolm watch the herbivorous dinosaurs grazing and drinking across the field. Levine notes their spatial arraignment and believes its a sort of defense perimeter. Below, Eddie finishes reassembling a spherical cage that Levine explains is a sort of 'shark cage', but protection against dinosaurs. The cage is fastened to the bottom of the High Hide and if any aggressive dinosaurs wander too close to the Hide, people on the ground can get into the cage for protection. Levine, however, believes that the pungent odor of the nearby ferns, Dicranopteris cyatheoides being used to camouflage the High Hide which are mildly poisonous will deter any of the herbivores from coming too closely. Levine then continues on with his theory that modern-day plant defenses are the result of plants defending themselves from over-grazing from dinosaurs.
Noting that despite the abundance of Apatosaurus, most of the trees seem relatively intact and not denuded as one would expect, Levine theorizes that the apatosaurs don't actually eat from the tops of trees as one would expect. This is due to the physical stress of having such a long neck including breathing issues and pumping blood up such a long neck. These herbivorous would rather eat from the lower branches and use their neck as a sort of counter-balance for when they use their tails as a weapon of defense. Malcolm interjects that there is something even more remarkable about the dinosaurs they've seen: none of them have attained true adulthood. Levine is unconcerned, believing that dinosaurs simply need more time to grow. Malcolm doesn't believe that explanation for a second and throws Levine's arrogance back in his face by stating that the answer is obvious, much to the enjoyment of Kelly and Arby. Levine, annoyed, states that it could simply be due to being constrained on the island or that they were engineered to be smaller than the fossil record dinosaurs. Malcolm concedes that "Maybe you are right. But then again, maybe you are not."
Trivia[]
- Levine was discussing about the "Sauropod Neck Posture", see this. It corrects what Michael Crichton wrote regarding Sauropod eating in Jurassic Park. There is a contrasting article.
- The Red Queen hypothesis is real. See this article as an example. It was mentioned previously. in Prologue: "Life at the Edge of Chaos".
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