Quote:
Originally Posted by korjik
Where'd the mammals go?
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I watched some of 'THE FUTURE IS WILD", put out by those guys who did the "Walking with Dinosaurs" series. I didn't watch all of it so I might have missed something... but apparently the mammals do go extinct in this future scenario. I asked my friend why & he said "because of their reproductive strategy." I asked for an elaboration & was told something about the Y chromosome and how it is full of mutations.
I think it ties in with a book called "Adam's Curse" (not sure of author but I think his name is Sykes.) This is all about the Y chromosome and how for some reason the mutations aren't selected out and they just keep accumulating. This guy thinks eventually there won't be many males left.
(Hmmm... a mixed blessing!

I guess that means no more beer cans on our lawn and muscle cars up & down the street??)
And of course that means there won't be a lot of reproduction happening among the affected species!
Anyway, apparently non-mammalians don't HAVE a Y chromosome. Sex selection is determined some other way.
Personally I think it's bull. Mammals seem to have evolved the most sophisticated brains and means of locomotion, also they have the most advanced metabolism, as evidenced by their 4-chambered heart and specialized teeth for extracting the most nutrition from their food (which is why they were able to evolve such a high metabolism plus warm-bloodedness.) To my mind, mammals are the best equipped to survive, unless you're talking about a major catastrophe where only the bacteria and sponges survive.