I am guilty of repeating the urban legend that botanists were frantically trying to breed giant turkeys after realizing that the seeds of a certain endangered tree couldn't germinate without passing through a dodo's digestive system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideroxylon_grandiflorum : "To aid the seed in germination, botanists now use turkeys<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_%28bird%29>and gem polishers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumble_polishing> to erode the endocarp to allow germination." No mysterious digestive juices required. --rwg And while I am this far off topic, why do nearly all fish bother to swim upright? This supposedly requires rocks in their heads--"otoliths", of which my father had a collection. Wouldn't bird|dinosaur-style "gastroliths" (well anyway, belly ballast) be simpler? Do fish go belly-up the moment they die? --rwg