The Last Post Game!!!!

[Swatopluk]

I propose we start with insects and work up the foodchain from there

Last _Renfield Post

[pieces o nine]

Last     _{the blood is the life}     Post

[Swatopluk]

I never drink ... horse piss

Last _Pratchettean Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last _{still 95% water} post

[Swatopluk]

That shows how inefficient it is in mammals

Last _{not made for the desert} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last _{clearly made for dessert} Post

[Swatopluk]

Given the difference in size the contemporary mamals could have served only as dessert for the average dinosaur.

Last _{nothing on land above the size of a cat survives a large cosmic impact} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'm not completely sure about that, we have the remains of the largest animals because they have a better chance to survive than smaller bones, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of species and individuals of medium and small size of dinosaurs had higher numbers than the large ones. For comparison current mammals tend to be of medium and smaller size with a few exceptions (which BTW are what comes to mind first when you thing of mammals: elephants, rhinos, hyppos, giraffes, buffalos, horses, etc, not rodents, small deer, prairie dogs, hares, foxes, etc.), in fact our obsession with size was what made Jurassic park's Velociraptors look like -not yet found at the time- Utahraptors, where the regular Velociraptor is the size of an average dog. I'm not debating that mammals were in average smaller than dinos, only that the average dino may have been more like the Troodon or the Compsognathus.

Last _{size matters} Post

[pieces o nine]

Last _{size matters} Post

...said the actressopterus to the bishopod...

[Swatopluk]

Of course dinosaurs too started small (as do giant squids as individuals). It took some million years before the gigantism came into fashion.
Few mammals at the time were bigger than mice and small carnivorous dinosaurs (excluing insect eaters) were likely pack hunters, so they made up in numbers what they lacked in size.

Last _{the last mammal will likely be a rat descendant} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Gigantism is a matter of opportunity, dinos went back to be big during the Cenozoic.

Last _{those birds were a real terror} Post

[Swatopluk]

Now imagine that they also had long arms (or tentacles)

Last _Octobird Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Dunno about octo bird but many maniraptorans had what today would look like four wings instead of two.

Last _{no tentacles} Post

[Swatopluk]

We need more flying squids

Last _{lying squad} Post

We interrupt this program for a message from our sponsor:

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We therefore have to regrettably cancel all enlistment in our glorious service.
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[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

So, no more nuts and bolts?

Last _{just the nuts} Post